RuPaul's Drag Race S9E2 - Bring It On, Bitches!

by Chris Feil

Brr it’s cold in here!
There must be some Toros Clovers drag queens
In the atmosphere!

Sorry, what with this week’s cheerleader-themed episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I’ve got Bring It On on the brain! Last week’s premiere was Gaga-fied (and queen-lite) but this week was back to basics: a group challenge, runway, backstories, shade, and elimination. Honestly these first two episodes would be way more satisfying as one supersized episode - even this one follows the show's successful formula, but we're going to need a major uptick in energy as the season progresses.

Oh right, and that little cliffhanger of a returning queen...

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Annette Bening Joins the next "American Crime Story"

Chris here. Like many of you, I'm still bemoaning Annette Bening's 20th Century Women Oscar miss - but her next role might lighten the sting depending on where your television alliances lie. The actress is the first cast member to join Ryan Murphy's Katrina: American Crime Story as Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco. With Feud just a few weeks away, Ryan Murphy is giving us all actresses all the time, even on projects yet to film.

If this seems something of a surprising casting coup for Murphy, you have probably forgotten that they had already worked together on Murphy's Running With Scissors adaptation. Funny how loyal his actors are even on his outright misfires. Murphy promises that other recognized figures like Blanco will factor into his Katrina narrative, so start speculating (or shuddering) away at who he could get to play the likes of Sean Penn and George W. Bush.

And let's not be too quick to lament that yet another one of our greats is heading to the small screen. If Ryan Murphy can give Bening as much to work with as he did for Sarah Paulson in The People vs. OJ Simpson, perhaps she'll have an equally unstoppable awards path. Even if Oscar remains elusive, Emmy could be the first step to EGOT.

A First Look at the Season 9 Queens of RuPaul's Drag Race

Chris here and can you believe it's already time to start your engines for a new season of RuPaul's Drag Race? That All Stars extravaganza truly spoiled us after a great season eight! But now meet the new set of queens to obsess over, and from this first glance season nine can already be called the return to fish - especially for the jawdropping Farrah Moan.

Here's the full cast:

• Aja (Brooklyn, NY)
• Alexis Michelle (New York, NY)
• Charlie Hides (London, UK)
• Eureka O'Hara (Johnson City, TN)
• Farrah Moan (Las Vegas, NV)
• Nina Bo'nina Brown (Atlanta, GA)
• Peppermint (New York, NY)
• Sasha Velour (Brooklyn, NY)
• Shea Coulee (Chicago, IL)
• Trinity Taylor (Orlando, FL)
• Valentina (Los Angeles, CA)

While this lineup lacks a certain diversity of styles and influences, each of these girls are instantly charming enough to bet on an entertaining season. The current standouts for me are the Almodóvar-referencing Valentina, polished and confident Alexis Michelle, and the coolly hilarious Shea Coulee. My heart so wants to root for brit Charlie Hides (who you can bank on taking Snatch Game), but a win for a comedy queen after Bob the Drag Queen seems like a lofty order. Almost as lofty as the wait we must endure until the show returns in March.

What queen do you love most based on the first look?

"Girls" Coming to An End

Chris here, with the beginning of the end for one of our HBO favorites. Lost in the shuffle of the latest in Lena Dunham's foot-in-mouth syndrome (something about abortion, I skipped the clickbait), is that the final season of Girls is upon us. You will remember that the previous fifth season was the show's very best, a peak for a show that has only consistently improved. How will the show top those creative (and Emmy-ignored) heights?

When we left off, Hannah and Jessa have yet to make amends over Adam, Shoshana was finally getting her career in order with Ray's coffee shop, and Marnie's tour was looking shaky. Now we have a season trailer to hint at how things might shake out! Girls' final season premieres on February 12, one week ahead of actress extravaganza Big Little Lies - Sundays are all about the ladies on HBO.

Which Girl do you think will get it together in season six?

Have You Caught Up to Amazon's "Fleabag"

Chris here. Of all of the season's new series, one that you certainly haven't been hearing enough about is Amazon's Fleabag. Debuting quietly around the time of the third season of Amazon's flagship Transparent, Fleabag deserves so much more than getting lost in the shuffle. Written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the show is a scabrously funny and sad take on a London woman's coping through grief, sex, and being "a bad feminist". If all that sounds too familiar, you may not be prepared for the freshness and frankness of Waller-Bridge's voice.

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