Reading is Fundamental: The Bitterness Thread

[kieyra]

Since a lot of us seem disenchanted with season 7, and the episode threads seem to get pretty meta in that sense, I thought I'd start a thread for us bitter bitches.

I've been wondering almost since the beginning what went wrong with season 7. It mainly feels like a casting failure, especially compared to season 6, but I'm curious to hear other thoughts.

Editing seems way off, too. I remember not being a fan of things like the Coco/Alyssa engineered drama at the time, but now I can only look back on season 4/5/6 drama with a sense of "don't know what you've got until it's gone".

Edited April 30, 2015 by kieyra

[snakenax]

I think it's a basic problem of casting for good looks out of drag rather than casting for a wide net of different styles and personas of drag. Drag isn't modeling so pulling primarily from the beautiful doesn't mean you're going to get the best.

 

I'd also say a lot of bad challenge design. The Glamazon Airways and the Ru Hollywood Stories are the only two challenges that i'd say range above the standard of the specific type of challenge they're doing, most of them have ranged much, much below. Shakesqueer probably being the worst. And ultimately, Spoof! and the Snatch Game are the only challenges that have really let them flex their creative muscles.

 

Oh and just awful lip sync song choices, only two have been even passable and the rest are pretty much the worst of the show.

[kieyra]

Shakesqueer becomes particularly painful if you go back and rewatch S5/Drama Queens (Telenovela) and S6/Scream Queens for comparison.

[vrocotamy]

I'll post more later on this topic, but I think the terrible lip sync song choices (and, by extension, the mediocre lip syncs) have been the icing on the mediocre-cake in this lukewarm season. The two LSFYLs that were memorable for me have been Ginger/Sasha's performance in "I Think We're Alone Now" (Tiffany) and Katya's performance in "Twist of Fate" (Olivia Newton John.) I know they have a lower budget for LSFYL song rights since they lost the Absolut and Orbitz sponsorships, but they should really cut money from somewhere else (Demi Lovato as guest judge?) and put it into song rights. It ruins the climax of every episode and one of the key elements in what has made RPDR many cuts above virtually any other competitive reality TV show.

Edited April 30, 2015 by vrocotamy

[EmZeeGee]

I want to agree with snakeax and say I think the failure is in the writing and challenge producing. They cast quite a few look/fashion based queens, and yet, besides the first challenge, there hasn't been a strictly design challenge. Clearly they know how to mold challenges to particular competitors to display their strengths. Stand up comedy for Bianca, Rusical for Adore and Courtney, ballet for Alyssa Edwards, I could go on. But more than that is that the writing we do get is just awful. The Shakesqueer, RuHollywood and John Waters scripts were just horribly written, unfunny and boring. Awful scripts make for awful performances. They were also too self-referential. The snake shouldn't be eating its tail just yet.

 

Cater to the skills of those you cast. They'll excel and we'll be excited. Watching constant failure or mediocrity is boring.

 

I also want to echo vrocotomy and say they need to spend their limited budget more wisely. Is Demi Lovato really bringing a viewership worth her fee? Was there any particular reason they couldn't have had Mink Stole (who I imagine isn't as expensive) there instead? And who is responsible for music selection? There are too many brilliant b-sides from the 80s and 90s that I would think shouldn't be prohibitively expensive.

 

This isn't a particular criticism of this season, but something I'm also very bitter about is the diversity on this show. For once, I would like to see a Black queen who isn't a pageant type. They exist! I don't think we've seen a Black avant garde queen. Milan might have been the closest thing and Vivacious was a fossil not young! new! exciting! in the way a Max, Pearl, Violet or even Adore. It's a trope I'm annoyed with.

[snowblossom2]

Do we know the t on why Absolute and Orbitz pulled their sponsorship?

[SteveAC10]

 

I think it's a basic problem of casting for good looks out of drag rather than casting for a wide net of different styles and personas of drag. Drag isn't modeling so pulling primarily from the beautiful doesn't mean you're going to get the best.

I think this is a major problem this season. They put too many eggs in one basket, and the result is boredom. This is partially because the look based queens are proving to be limp noodles on stage, and partially because they're really not ready for their close-up just yet. Casting a trio of pretty young things with cumulative drag experience that would barely cover a stint in high school (plus a queen like Fame who who has no performing experience at all) was probably a mistake. I hope they've learned that one baby queen is enough - no matter how arresting their looks might be. A queen like Ginger might be perceived as old hat despite being under 30, but she's been in drag since the youngsters on the show were in middle school, and on stage since before they were born - and it shows. I think a major factor behind the more erratic than usual judging this season is due to the producers working to keep the glamour girls in the comp past their sell by dates. My guess is one of the remaining pair will make the top three and the other will be fourth.

[snakenax]

I think it also causes the weird thing this season of a lot of queens being much more interesting people out of drag than in. Just off the top of my head you have Trixie, Max, Pearl, Violet, Fame and Tempest.

[Mattipoo]

Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande as guest judges? Are they trying to appeal to tweens now?

[Dirtybubble]

 

Do we know the t on why Absolute and Orbitz pulled their sponsorship?

I'm not 100% sure but what I've heard thru the rumor mill is that Absolute Vodka didn't like Jinx as the winning drag queen and wanted someone to represent the vodka in commercials *shrug* so IDK, not sure about Orbitz or the Scruff undies for that matter.

 

What is wrong with this season, jeez everything!  It just doesn't feel like the RPDR I've come to know and love.  Everything is off from the contestants chosen, to the editing, to the challenges, music in LSFYL, the judges, the prizes, Untucked, everything is just......dumb.  =(  

[BloggerAloud]

The editing is incredibly wonky this year. The overuse of the "shade button" noise is one really noticeable thing this year because it's being used on like every other statement someone makes. It also doesn't help that Ru seemed like she was sleepwalking through most of her walkthroughs in the little footage of the work room we get. The dismissal of Trixie and then bringing her back felt like a total producer manipulation. Miss Fame's ability to escape the bottom two for so long was another thing that had me side-eyeing the show.

 

The best episode of the season was the Conjoined Twins. It felt like other seasons of the show, especially with all of the work room footage.

[Blakeston]

While I've definitely found this season duller than the others, I have to say I've found the last two episodes (Conjoined Queens and the John Waters episode) to be pretty entertaining.

 

I think a big part of the reason for that is that we've seen more workroom interaction. Most of the previous episodes seemed to only be about group rehearsals followed by group performances.

 

Season 7 being more boring overall probably has a lot to do with the contestants' personalities, too. We've got a lot of quiet queens this year - we aren't seeing much of a dynamic in their group interactions beyond Kennedy and Ginger being shady, and the others just sort of being...there. Katya is funny as hell, but unlike someone like Bianca, she's quite passive.

 

I'd guess that Violet, Kennedy and Kandy were all intended to be "villains" this season. Kennedy's bringing that somewhat with all of her trash talk. Violet is rude, apparently, but too introverted to really stir anything up. And while Kandy certainly seems unpleasant, she was basically just a snooze.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Blakeston

[kieyra]

Katya is funny as hell, but unlike someone like Bianca, she's quite passive.

 

Katya was my go-to based on the MTQ videos. There was a Willam-esque sense of absurdity. But she's turned out to be a little too timid and freaked out by the competition (at least in TH's/workroom; she brings it on the stage). 

 

Ginger's been my second. I'd be okay with either of them. But in a 'meh' way. Not in a 'I literally might die due to the tension between a queen like Adore winning and a queen like Bianca winning' way. 

 

If Pearl takes the crown ... I won't bother threatening not to watch next season, but my enthusiasm and potential to virally spread the word of Ru will be considerably scaled back. 

[SteveAC10]

 

If Pearl takes the crown ... I won't bother threatening not to watch next season, but my enthusiasm and potential to virally spread the word of Ru will be considerably scaled back.

I'm much less worried about that possibility now than I was a few weeks ago. Even her hard core stans are losing enthusiasm. The straw that broke the camel's back seems to have been this week's lackluster LSFYL - when they realized she was a one trick pony when it comes to lip-syncing. That has spurred the realization that the only difference between her Big Ang, Michelle and Angel Divine was the costumes ond there has enough vintage lace on the runway to induce yawns. The standom has moved on to Katya in droves.

Edited April 30, 2015 by SteveAC10

[kieyra]

I'm much less worried about that possibility now than I was a few weeks ago. Even her hard core stans are losing enthusiasm. The straw that broke the camel's back seems to have been this weeks lackluster LSFYL - when they realized she was a one trick pony when it comes to lip-syncing. That has spurred the realization that the only difference between her Big Ang, Michelle and Angel Divine was the costumes ond there has enough vintage lace on the runway to induce yawns. The standom has moved on to Katya in droves.

 

I'd stopped worrying about it back when Pearl went on social media to whine about editing a few weeks ago. I felt fairly confident an eventual winner (or even top three) wouldn't be biting the hand on social media. But she's continued to get a very forgiving edit, and I grew concerned that she's being seen as some kind of awesome outlaw for her Ru backtalk, refusal to conform to the challenges ("ugly dress"), and general shitty attitude. 

[Blakeston]

Regarding the money spent on guest judges - I'm assuming the bigger names don't get paid their usual appearance fees. If they can't afford non-shitty prizes for the winners of the challenges, there's no way in hell they can pay someone like Arianna Grande what she usually gets paid.

[snowblossom2]

 

 

I'm not 100% sure but what I've heard thru the rumor mill is that Absolute Vodka didn't like Jinx as the winning drag queen and wanted someone to represent the vodka in commercials *shrug* so IDK, not sure about Orbitz or the Scruff undies for that matter.

 

What is wrong with this season, jeez everything!  It just doesn't feel like the RPDR I've come to know and love.  Everything is off from the contestants chosen, to the editing, to the challenges, music in LSFYL, the judges, the prizes, Untucked, everything is just......dumb.  =(  

 

So weird, because I would have thought Sharon Needles would have been a more controversial spokesperson. Or are you saying Jinx didn't fulfill her contract?

[kieyra]

Regarding the money spent on guest judges - I'm assuming the bigger names don't get paid their usual appearance fees. If they can't afford non-shitty prizes for the winners of the challenges, there's no way in hell they can pay someone like Arianna Grande what she usually gets paid.

 

Honestly, this talk of paying the guest judges caught me off-guard, and then I realized how little I knew about show business. I figured some of the d-listers they get would be happy to be on television. Obviously I have no idea how it works. 

[SteveAC10]

 

So weird, because I would have thought Sharon Needles would have been a more controversial spokesperson. Or are you saying Jinx didn't fulfill her contract?

I'm not convinced it was entirely Absolut. Their disappearance largely coincided with the rise of Battle of the Seasons, which has grown to be a relative juggernaut in the drag world. Also, since WOW gets a cut of the queens initial earnings bump, they might have felt the Absolut tour was limiting their options. There is no doubt losing the Absolute tie-in has been better for the queens and their agents. Any queen in the top half of the draw is largely living in hotels around the world for about 6 months after the season ends. With Absolut - the girls were tied to them for the pride season for a handful of gigs. I am also firmly convinced that had Absolut had their way the recent winners would have been Chad, Roxxxy, and Courtney (with Violet to follow). They were looking for glam. Sharon pushed the limits, Jinkx exceeded them.

Edited April 30, 2015 by SteveAC10

[buttercupia]

Plus that Jeffery Moran dude from Absolut was like a wet dishrag every time he popped up on a season.  I'm glad they dropped drag race, they weren't worthy of it.

(Yes, I'm still  mad at him for my Yessica Wild.)

[Dirtybubble]

 

You know I didn't even think about the tours being sponsored by Absolute.  The only thing I noticed was the queens weren't doing the commercials anymore for the vodka.  I'm sure the BOTS tours are more lucrative but it always worries me when sponsors (especially large ones like Absolute) stop sponsoring a show--and it seems one after the other after the other....

 

While I've definitely found this season duller than the others, I have to say I've found the last two episodes (Conjoined Queens and the John Waters episode) to be pretty entertaining.

I will give it to this season the challenges & runway ideas have been creative--John Waters, Conjoined Twins, Death becomes them runways, all great ideas and should have worked but IDK.  While it was more entertaining than previous episodes it just wasn't the caliber of previous seasons.  And I don't mind the extra acting challenges but please don't give them to queens who can't act! 

Edited May 1, 2015 by Dirtybubble

[kieyra]

I just tried to watch this week's Untucked. I ended up giving up and starting a S6 rewatch instead.

Edit: ARGH. Broken record here, but I've been watching this show since season 2. I was so enchanted with season 6 I drove six hours to see the top four perform. Going back and rewatching it is making me so damn nostalgic, but also making it even harder to understand how season 7 happened. I wonder if some of the delay in season 7 was because they were trying to fix it in editing somehow?

(I'm sorry if I'm coming across as OTT on the season 7 hate, I really am. I think I just fell so in love with almost all of the season 6 queens that I apparently had a long and painful fall ahead of me.)

Edited May 3, 2015 by kieyra

[vrocotamy]

I just tried to watch this week's Untucked. I ended up giving up and starting a S6 rewatch instead.

Edit: ARGH. Broken record here, but I've been watching this show since season 2. I was so enchanted with season 6 I drove six hours to see the top four perform. Going back and rewatching it is making me so damn nostalgic, but also making it even harder to understand how season 7 happened. I wonder if some of the delay in season 7 was because they were trying to fix it in editing somehow?

(I'm sorry if I'm coming across as OTT on the season 7 hate, I really am. I think I just fell so in love with almost all of the season 6 queens that I apparently had a long and painful fall ahead of me.)

 

I've been thinking about why S7 is bad from day one and am gestating an extensive post on it, but I'll answer this one question quickly. The ostensible reason RuPaul's Drag Race aired so late this year wasn't because they were trying to fix it in editing, but because Michelle was on Celebrity Big Brother: UK and was contractually barred from appearing in another reality TV show while it aired. 

[Zuleikha]

I feel like the problem is that there have been too many team camp challenges and not enough individual or design challenges. The balance feels really off this year. The show has been moving increasingly towards performance and away from runway, and I think there was a sweet spot for a bit around the Raja/Sharon Needles/Jinx seasons where the show had the right balance. But I thought even last year was too much performance and too little look. This year, it's worse because it's practically all scripted camp acting. 

 

In the past, there was modeling, parody, design-a-look, sexy, spokesmodel, interview, design-a-product, singing, and I'm sure other things I'm forgetting. I also think the challenges that used scripts were funnier (or maybe the performers were better, but the Shakesqueer scripts were just bad!).

[snowblossom2]

I think one of the main reasons it feels off, is we're not getting as many moments in the work room to see their personalities emerge and clash with others

[BloggerAloud]

I wish there were more challenges that could be related to what these queens actually have to do: make your own merchandise, come up with an idea for a World of Wonder YouTube series, etc.

[kieyra]

I wish there were more challenges that could be related to what these queens actually have to do: make your own merchandise, come up with an idea for a World of Wonder YouTube series, etc.

 

This is a good point. I have so much group-performance-challenge fatigue, although that's partially due to the talent levels involved. 

[vrocotamy]

I might add more to this later, but here's a beginning as to why I think the show was off this season:

 

1. Poor casting. There aren't any larger-than-life personalities on the cast, or truly quotable queens. Ginger and Katya have their moments, but it's all in the confessionals. Honestly, Jasmine Masters came the closest, and she could be execrable. Last season, every queen who made it past the first few episodes (Courtney excepted) had a huge personality. They made good TV characters. 

2. Poor challenges (for the most part.) There have been a few challenges I liked - Conjoined Queens, Spoof! There It Is, Divine Inspiration, and Prancing Queens - but the season was dominated by poorly written scripted dramatic group challenges without solo portions. The worst might have been the Merle Ginsberg Ru-Enactment challenge. Being poorly scripted, they didn't give the queens opportunities to be entertaining. In not having solo portions, they didn't give us a chance to see who was actually talented (or simply making it work.) I personally think Seasons 2-4 had a number of challenges that seemed irrelevant or just didn't produce interesting results - Dragazines in S4, the stripping challenge in S2, etc. - but Seasons 5 and 6 had the right mix. The group dramatic challenges (like the rap challenge in S6, which was great) frequently had solo portions where individual contestants could shine and were less frequently scripted. I also think they need to revive the marketing/pubic speaking challenges, as a poster up-thread mentioned, since it's a great chance to introduce skills that are relevant to the queens' post-show careers.

3. Poor editing. We virtually never see work-room interactions between the queens, which is how you get to know the characters. There's no real villain or bitch, so we have to suffer through unfair attempts to make Ginger or Kennedy (who is rumored to actually be sort of unpleasant, but not completely awful) into villains. 

4. Poor (or forced) judging. There have been many efforts to keep pretty girls like Fame and Pearl in the competition longer than their expiration date that cause the judging to seem nonsensical. 

 

I'll add more later...

Edited May 8, 2015 by vrocotamy

[kieyra]

 

4. Poor (or forced) judging. There have been many efforts to keep pretty girls like Fame and Pearl in the competition longer than their expiration date that cause the judging to seem nonsensical.

 

I know we've been discussing the podcast elsewhere, but it seems worth mentioning here that Ru specifically mentions how attractive Pearl is and how popular that would make him with fans, when explaining why he didn't throw Pearl out on his ass during the 'staredown' scene. 

Edited May 8, 2015 by kieyra

[hoosier80]

Are there so many group challenges because, after the fact, the producers realized how untalented some of the girls were?  Like with the young, pretty girls - very little performance background - maybe the thought was that a group challenge wouldn't call that out so much and/or be more supportive than just having them flounder on their own??

[SteveAC10]

 

1. Poor casting.

Some of these queens are showing plenty of personality elsewhere. I think the problem is the queens are all too busy avoiding any behavior that will give the producers ammo to turn them into a "villain". That said, I think the biggest issue is the heaping helping of baby queens with limited performing experience, and they have all been kept past their sell by dates (and I am sure at least one will likely be in the final three). Even Max and Trixie, who are purportedly actors, seem to lack the charisma to grab attention on stage. Meanwhile MKD, who could pull this stuff off without breaking a sweat, was edited into non-existence until the first time she hit a pothole. She was the undisputed star of the Glamazonian Airways skits (which I though was brilliant for a group challenge), and then largely invisible until she messed up a line at the Despy's. Imagine her and Ginger doing the egg skit.

 

I think the biggest backfire in casting all of these "look" queens, is that they whetted the appetite of those fans who hunger for glamour, but then  after an all fashion appetizer in episode one put those girls through camp queen bootcamp to see who would survive. It was obviously backfiring by episode three - but rather than cut their losses, they doubled down and started eliminating more entertaining queens to give the glamour girls a few more chances to cope (and keep their fans watching).

 

Ironically, this has enraged the fans of the pretty young things, because even though a couple of them are still in it, they think the producers should have been obligated to make the show a platform for them to strut their stuff (which means stomp down the runway in a killer look and not have to bother with anything as mundane as landing a joke or killer lip sync). Early in the season they were declaring with great confidence that the final four would be Max, Pearl, Fame and Violet and they're still bitter that won't happen  - and the bitterness is now all directed at Ginger because she had the nerve to throw a little shade at their darlings, and rob Pearl and Violet of wins that were rightfully theirs (yeah, right!). Thank the stars that Katya has enraptured a sizable segment of their fans - or the social media would probably melt down every Monday night.

Edited May 8, 2015 by SteveAC10

[Arwen Evenstar]

Ginger Minj as Edie the Egg Lady was hands down the funniest thing I've ever seen done on Drag Race.

Vivacious and Ornacia (Mother has arrived)! One note yet memorable.

My biggest disappointment was Latrice Royale not getting the crown...she was mature, dignified, and a class act all around. She could read a queen like a book. I really wanted Ginger to win last season as well. Glamour Toad! Fabulous...simply fabulous.

[RCharter]

Ginger Minj as Edie the Egg Lady was hands down the funniest thing I've ever seen done on Drag Race.

Vivacious and Ornacia (Mother has arrived)! One note yet memorable.

My biggest disappointment was Latrice Royale not getting the crown...she was mature, dignified, and a class act all around. She could read a queen like a book. I really wanted Ginger to win last season as well. Glamour Toad! Fabulous...simply fabulous.

Latrice Royale!!!!!!  She will always be the queen of my heart!

[Cosmic Muffin]

Latrice Royale!!!!!!  She will always be the queen of my heart!

And that laugh! Love her.

[RCharter]

And that laugh! Love her.

How can  you not, she makes me smile everytime I see her.  Such a great queen, I think a big girl will eventually win, but I will always think that the first plus size queen should have been Latrice Royale!

[PoliVamp]

Latrice Royale is totally the Toccara of RPDR

I think the biggest problem for Season 6 was the forced judging.  Too often the winner AND the loser seemed arbitrarily decided (even moreso in the mini challenges) and - because of an effort to protect Miss Fame and Pearl (like others mentioned) this resulted in Queens who should have lasted longer exiting early (Trixie Mattel and Max)

 

I mean, after the first 3 eliminations (Tempest, Sasha, and Jasmine) we kept getting weird results:

1)  Trixie in the bottom 2 for the Spoof challenge - Katya was obviously the star of that group, and Trixie wrote the damn song.  Should've been Pearl and Miss Fame, but Miss Fame got a bye and they didn't want to lose Pearl, so Trixie goes
2)  The Despy Awards - I'll give credit to Miss Fame for a great line during her acceptance speech.  However, Violet was a non-entity much like Kandy Ho, but Mrs. Kasha Davis gets put in the bottom instead.  And too make matters worse, the eliminate her when she has shown much more promise than Kandy during a close lipsync

3)  Snatch Game - Shoulda been Max and Miss Fame lipsyncing.  I cannot remember a performance worse than Fame the didn't have to lipsync (Tyra had immunity, as did Alyssa - and I'd argue Fame was worse).  Again, because of the need to protect Fame, Jaidynn gets put against Max and we lose one of the strongest competitors at the halfway point.

4)  Conjoined Queens - Again, Fame should've been lipsyncing against Ginger, not Jaidynn (whose idea I thought had some notion of an idea to it, plus Ginger's outfit was terribad).

Once Fame is gone, it gets better, but it prolly should've been Pearl/Ginger lipsyncing during Prancing Queens, and Pearl/Kennedy during Hello Kitty GIrls, so we lost Trixie (again) and Katya.  Who knows where the season would've gone if Fame and Pearl were out by the fourth and fifth episodes?  Not that I dislike either of them (I actually found Fame kind of endearing), but both lasted well past their sell-by dates.  So did Kennedy, come to think of it.

 

Hopefully, this next season won't be so focused on preserving girls who might be good Twitterbait, and will be more coherent in its judging.  Then again, they might have gone to far in the other direction and have far too many personalities.  And if Acid Betty gets eliminated first, we'll know RuPaul just doesn't like keeping the older queens around.

Edited February 26, 2016 by PoliVamp

[Cosmic Muffin]

Pssst, Polivamp, I think you mean season 7, not 6!

 

Yeah, last years's choices of queens was weird and weak, and then the eliminations were insane. When it came to the final three I didn't feel like I'd be happy with any of them, unlike Bianca, Courtney and Adore, I felt like,"Who cares?" Actually I felt like, "Anyone but Pearl. Preferably Katya, Bianca or Jinx."

 

Has she been able to keep up with the meet and greets and appearances? There was pre-final gossip that she and Violet were ducking out of meeting fans early, and she's so lazy seeming that I don't think she'd be able to do the grueling touring of the immediate post show schedule.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Cosmic Muffin

[Zuleikha]

this resulted in Queens who should have lasted longer exiting early (Trixie Mattel and Max)

I don't agree about those queens needing to last longer. Max had some good standout moments, but I thought she was the right choice to leave when she did. Trixie Mattel was solidly mediocre, IMHO. She never had an actually funny or unique campy moment. Her best moment was drawing shaded joints on her body suit for that naked challenge. I know she has a lot of love for her off-the-show work (which I am completely unfamiliar with), but I don't think she ever brought anything to the actual show. 

[hatchetgirl]

Boy, last year was such a bore, what was Pearl's stare down moment? Please don't make me go back and watch the season.

The after show was so weird last season, I couldn't watch. Why did we have to watch them backstage with that weird film technique?

[RCharter]

Latrice Royale is totally the Toccara of RPDR

Latrice Royale!!!!

 

Boy, last year was such a bore, what was Pearl's stare down moment? Please don't make me go back and watch the season.

The after show was so weird last season, I couldn't watch. Why did we have to watch them backstage with that weird film technique?

I don't think any moment has angered me so much in DR history.  There are only two rules I have for RPDR:  

 

1) Latrice Royale!!!! and

2) RuPaul is the HBIC, and it is only right to show her all deference and respect.  I don't go for anything less than that.  

[Kostgard]

I rewatched season seven on Hulu and while it holds up better than I remember, it's still not great. I don't have any strong feelings about the sequence of elimination, other than Katya clearly should have gone father than she did, and I have no idea why Kandy lasted as long as she did. She was completely unmemorable. 

 

Interestingly, Ru and Michelle discussed season seven a little bit on their podcast because Ross Matthews was their guest, and they noted that during filming, they don't watch the talking head interviews or workroom footage and their only exposure to the contestants is on the stage. When they show first started to air, they couldn't figure out why the fans were going nuts for Katya, so they started watching the show and then they got it. That may explain why Katya got kind of a special call-out during the reunion special - Ru figured out after filming was over that Katya was far better than she thought.

[snakenax]

 

and I have no idea why Kandy lasted as long as she did. She was completely unmemorable.

Kandy more than Pearl or Fame is just WTF in how long she lasted. She was just a dud of a contestant from the very first episode and never really improved. I'm actually finding it hard to find a weaker contestant that lasted that long.

 

I don't think Trixie or Max really were cut short, neither were terrible exciting queens in the show, both had potential to be, but had difficulty putting out a memorable personality or memorable performance or striking the character note they were going for perfectly. Like most of the queens that season their most memorable aspect were parts of their look, and not necessarily in a good way given Trixie's not-ready-for-camera make up. Mixing up the eliminations wouldn't really change the basic lack of big personality queens that season or how badly the challenges were formatted for the contestants they brought and how little the contestants stood out in those challenges. Plus the lack of interesting shade or real personality conflict or even the good natured friendship pretty much all the queens in season 6 had after Laganja went home.

Edited March 2, 2016 by snakenax

[Zuleikha]

. When they show first started to air, they couldn't figure out why the fans were going nuts for Katya, so they started watching the show and then they got it. That may explain why Katya got kind of a special call-out during the reunion special - Ru figured out after filming was over that Katya was far better than she thought.

I don't think Katya was better than Ru thought. I think it's more that Katya--like Adore--was reality TV gold. I loved Katya, too, but I loved Katya because of her talking heads. She was hysterical and charming and everything. But talking heads weren't what the competition was about. I thought Katya was judged fairly for her actual challenge performances.

[kieyra]

I'm just about as meh on S8 as I was on S7. 

I don't understand what happened; I couldn't have BEEN a bigger fangirl during S6. Maybe it's me?

[RCharter]

23 minutes ago, kieyra said:

I'm just about as meh on S8 as I was on S7. 

I don't understand what happened; I couldn't have BEEN a bigger fangirl during S6. Maybe it's me?

I always felt like Season 6 had so much heart and thats what made the difference to me.  There was talent too, but way more heart than talent IMO.

Season 7 had nothing

Season 8 has a ton of talent, but not all the heart.  There have been moments, but its not the same as Season 6.

[JakeyJokes]

Maybe, kieyra?

But S6 is kind of a holy grail, especially compared to S7. You had the Top 3 of ABC and Ben AND Darienne AND Gia Gunn AND Joslyn AND Trinity AND April AND Milk AND Laganja AND Ornacia ?... They may not have all been equally talented, but they were diverse in their looks, personalities, and giving good TV. The challenges were also really creative. I really enjoyed S8, but 6 and 4 will always be "it" for me.

Edited May 16, 2016 by JakeyJokes

[kieyra]

2 hours ago, JakeyJokes said:

Maybe, kieyra?

But S6 is kind of a holy grail, especially compared to S7. You had the Top 3 of ABC and Ben AND Darienne AND Gia Gunn AND Joslyn AND Trinity AND April AND Milk AND Laganja AND Ornacia ?... They may not have all been equally talented, but they were diverse in their looks, personalities, and giving good TV. The challenges were also really creative. I really enjoyed S8, but 6 and 4 will always be "it" for me.

I hear you. I think for me it was a steady climb from seasons 4-6 (although I can see how it could be argued that 4 trumps 5, but I enjoy rewatching both equally). I think I became less interested in S8 when we lost Acid Betty and Thorgy so soon. And in fact, that's when my out of state RPDR buddy and I stopped bothering to text each other on Monday nights. 

Edited May 16, 2016 by kieyra