Awards Daily TV

As if “RuPaul’s Drag Race” couldn’t appeal any further to the homosexual demographic, in this week’s episode the queens were challenged with putting on a musical, “Shade: The Rusical” to be exact. And the episode lived up to its title with more shade thrown around than wigs in the work room.

The mini-challenge was kind of a take on the “Fashion Police” segment where you see close-ups of photos and have to decide whether it’s a hooker or an E! fixture selling her body for a spot on a tabloid. Only with the “Drag Race” version it was, “Female or Shemale,” with photos of everybody from Tan Mom to Michelle Visage (Darienne Lake thought Michelle was a man. . .ouch).

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I’m not sure which is funnier, the fact Chelsea Handler absolutely served talking sack of potatoes Piers Morgan his tiny balls on a paper plate, or that his own network CNN rather gleefully blogged it. This guy can’t get off my TV fast enough.

Check out the clip after the jump.

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[Editor’s Note: Please welcome new Awards Daily TV contributors Megan McLachlan (@heydudemeg, Megoblog.com) and Joey Moser (@JoeyMoser83, Movie MoJoe). This week, Megan and Joey dig into the 3rd episode of this season’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the reality competition series that airs Monday nights on Logo.]

The formula to Logo’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is as follows. Typically, from the first episode on, a dozen drag queens are thrown together, and compete in a series of competitions until one queen is crowned. But in season 6, Ru threw everyone for a loop when she had two big opening episodes (sexual pun VERY intended), each focusing on 7 queens instead of audiences being overwhelmed with 14 at once. Two queens were eliminated, and in the third episode entitled, “Scream Queens,” the remaining prospective drag superstars finally met, in what could be dubbed as “When Sallys met Sallys.”

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The biggest mystery for me going into the end of True Detective was how it could possibly resolve itself in a way that would satisfy all of the enormous expectations I’d built up for it after watching and rewatching and rewatching the previous 7 episodes. Turns out it was a wonderful end to a terrific and unique program. I haven’t looked around much to see what the wider reaction to it was, but I have a suspicion a lot of people are going to be really pissed off by how much was left unresolved and how ultimately unimportant the show’s central mystery was.  Read on for more, but be forewarned that there are spoilers.

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“The police do terrible things to people, with impunity.” These are the words from Rust (McCoanughey) in episode two of the HBO series. That is probably the key to the whole thing.

If you have watched the show up to the last episode, coming Sunday, some of the things I’m about to write might make sense. Otherwise, they could be a spoiler depending on what it is you’re looking for. True Detective is not a typical television show where things happen that can get spoiled – unless you’re talking about episodes 4 and 5 where the filmmaking itself is so surprising knowing anything about it going in could be a spoiler. But I don’t think either of those episodes have much to do with how the story turns out.

All of the clues you need to figuring out the plot is is, according to writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto. After watching the episodes many times and going back to episode one there are a few things worth noting.

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From IndieWire’s Shadow and Act blog:

Comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have joined the cast of the highly-anticipated TV series adaptation of the Coen brothers classic Fargo, which will debut April 15 on FX.

The comedy duo will guest star in an arc that will span the final four episodes of the 10-episode limited series.

Key and Peele will play FBI partners Webb Pepper (Peele) and Bill Budge (Key), who, after a violent run-in with Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton), become obsessed with finding him again. Their search ultimately brings them to Bemidji, Minnesota, and into the larger circle of the show.

The Fargo plot is to be wholly original, but adhering to the comical setting of just plain folk amid extreme crime and violence. The Coens are partly behind it.

Agh, I can’t wait for this.

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It’s the heat of Oscar season and all anyone can talk about is House of Cards and True Detective. When did it become all about TV? It’s hard to say when but television has provided a global community in ways that film can’t quite match. David Fincher’s Netflix series House of Cards has revolutionized how production companies roll out TV shows but it has done more than that. Not only does House of Cards offer a seamless array of diverse cast members – women, African Americans, Asians – it does this without breaking a sweat, proving that it really is about how minds open and close that determines casting, not a white-centric ticket-buying audience or television viewership. Moreover, two of the episodes from House of Cards Season 2, are directed by women – Jodie Foster and Robin Wright. The strongest characters on the show are easily the women. Anyone who binge-watched the show recognizes this – and not girly women, straight up, strong, adult women.

While it’s true that television affords that luxury more than film – the power center isn’t determined, as is the Oscar race, by a mostly oldish, white male consensus. Television is more democratic. Film relies only on the box office numbers, particularly opening weekend. House of Cards, for instant, is simply not beholden to that crippling restriction. Art is flourishing on television. It is dying on film, where the box office is being driven only by big effects movies, dumb comedies, and the occasional Oscar movie. There are directors who are still making vital films worth seeing but a dumbed American public buying tickets on opening weekend should not be the determining factor is what kinds of films Hollywood makes. And yet…it is.
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