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16 years ago, executive producer Tom Campbell remembers when almost no one would take a chance on a reality drag competition series. Now, RuPaul’s Drag Race has received 63 Emmy nominations, with 29 wins, and has just wrapped their highest rated season in the last four years. “Every award we get, or anytime we get to talk about the show,” says Campbell, “I just think it reinforces that hopefully there’ll be one more year of RuPaul’s Drag Race and telling those important queer stories that rarely, if ever, get told.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race sees iconic drag artist RuPaul search for America’s next drag superstar through a series of fashion, acting and musical challenges. Though the series has just finished its 16th season, the ratings have shown no sign of decreasing after both a move to MTV and a political climate where drag seems to constantly be under attack. Campbell attributes all the success to the queens,...

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 continued on March 8 with the tenth episode in RuPaul’s quest to find “America’s next drag superstar.” Previously in episode nine, the girls faced their third design challenge of the season and once again seamstress Q came out on top with another maxi challenge win. On the bottom was Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige who sent home frontrunning musical theater queen Plasma home in a Lady Gaga lip sync.

This week, Ru wanted the final seven queens to continue the tradition of drag queens being agents of change by inspiring the audience to vote with original verses to her song “Power.” Seated at the judges’ dais for episode 10 titled “Werq the World” was Emmy winning host RuPaul Charles, longtime bestie Michelle Visage, recurring judge Ross Mathews, and Jamal Sims as the choreographer and special guest judge.

The queens still vying for the crown are: Dawn,...

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” took home multiple awards at the 14th Music Supervisors Guild Awards, held March 3 at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre. The event celebrates outstanding achievement in the craft of music supervision, acknowledging work across film, television, documentaries, advertising, trailers and video games.

George Drakoulias of “Barbie” won best music supervision for a film budgeted over $25 million and for best song written for and/or recorded for a film for “What Was I Made For?”, which was shared with Billie Eilish and Finneas.

Meanwhile, Frankie Pine won two awards for her contributions to the Prime Video series “Daisy Jones and the Six.” Alex Hackford received two awards for his work on Marvel’s “Spider-Man 2” video game.

The ceremony also featured a posthumous recognition of musician Robbie Robertson, who was given the Icon Award in celebration of his contributions to the music and film industries. Margo Price, Rocco DeLuca...

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie won big at the 14th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards on Sunday, with the film taking home the awards for best music supervision for a film budgeted over $25 million, and best song written and/or recorded for a film.

George Drakoulias took home both of those awards, the latter being for “What Was I Made For?” performed by Billie Eilish and written by Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. The siblings took the stage to accept the award.

Other winners included Frankie Pine, who took home two awards for her work on Daisy Jones & the Six, and Alex Hackford, who also won two statues for his work on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 video game.

Killers of the Flower Moon composer Robbie Robertson posthumously received the Icon Award, and he was given a tribute performance of his music by Margo Price, Rocco DeLuca and Johnny Sheppard. Allan Mason...

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 15 continued on February 3 with the next step in the competition toward discovering “America’s next drag superstar.” Last week, Amethyst fell to the bottom two for the third time following the “House of Fashion” design challenge, and was finally asked to “sashay away.” This week, the 12 remaining girls skip into the future as older versions of themselves in the girl group challenge.

Seated at the judges’ dais for episode 6 was Emmy winning host RuPaul Charles, longtime bestie Michelle Visage and recurring judge Ross Mathews. They were joined by comedian Megan Stalter as this week’s guest judge.

The 12 queens still in the competition are: Anetra, Aura Mayari, Jax, Loosey Laduca, Luxx Noir London, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Robin Fierce, Salina EsTitties, Sasha Colby, and Spice.

Check out our full recap of episode 6 titled “Old Friends Gold” below:

Following last week’s elimination,...

For this season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” RuPaul Charles brought back eight crowned queens to compete again for the chance to be named “Queen of All Queens,” earn a second crown, and take home a cash prize of 200,000. Over the last four weeks we’ve reacclimatized ourselves to the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talents of Shea Couleé, Jaida Essence Hall, Yvie Oddly, Trinity the Tuck, Monét X Change, Jinkx Monsoon, Raja, and The Vivienne and were introduced to new twists: the Platinum Plunger and Legendary Legend Stars.

The plunger serves as a “block” to one of the queens in the next week’s challenge, handed down from the winner of that week’s lip sync winner. The winner is determined by a Lip Sync for the Win between the top two performers in the maxi challenge, each of whom receive a Legendary Legend Star needed to advance to the finale.

Tubi has announced the casting and director for “Crushed,” a coming-of-age comedy set to premiere this April on Fox Entertainment’s ad-supported streaming service.

“Crushed” follows Kate (Bebe Wood), a romantic high schooler who has a huge crush on classmate Jason (Nicholas Alexander Chavez). But, as she unsuccessfully tries to get together with Jason during their senior class trip, things spiral out of control.

In addition to Wood and Chavez, “Crushed” also stars Brenna D’Amico (“Descendants: Wicked World”), Valerie Azlynn (“Sullivan & Son”), Kylee Russell (“Zombies: Addison’s Monster Mystery”), Lisa Yamada (“All of Us Are Dead”), Meg Wright (“Jeepers Creepers III”) and Bailey Stender (“Pop Music High”).

The Tubi original is directed by Niki Koss and written by Heidi Lux, in her screenwriting debut. “Crushed,” which hails from Cartel Pictures for Tubi, is produced by Stan Spry and Eric Scott Woods.

Also in today’s TV News Roundup:

Premiere...

This week on the 6th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” the seven remaining all stars formed groups to write and perform lyrics to a new uplifting drag anthem. The challenge tested their ability to work in teams, as well as their stamina on stage as songwriters, singers, and dancers. As standard for this season, the challenge results in one top performing queen and a set of bottom queens for the week. The top queen lip syncs against a secret assassin for the chance to choose which of the bottom gals should be eliminated. If the assassin wins, a group vote determines a consensus choice to leave instead.

In episode 1, Yara Sofia went head-to-head against Coco Montrese, but lost, and the safe queens’ choice for elimination, Serena, was sent home. In episode 2, Queen of the North and Canada’s Drag Race judge Brooke Lynn Hytes tied with challenge winner...

Few things are certain in life, but RuPaul Charles (“RuPaul’s Drag Race“) winning the Emmy for Best Reality Host seems to be one of them. The influential superstar has dominated this category five years in a row (2016-20), and is now the odds-on front-runner to snatch trophy #6 at the 2021 Emmys. Last year’s fifth victory, presented by a disembodied arm because of Covid-19, was notable in that RuPaul broke the category record of four wins previously set by “Survivor” emcee Jeff Probst (2008-11).

The recent 13th season of “Drag Race” broke ground by being one of the first TV shows to film during the coronavirus pandemic, under the strictest of safety protocols. RuPaul and the judges were separated by plastic barriers throughout the season, while the contestants lived in their own social bubble, separate from the crew. One by one, Ru eliminated the queens each week until he named the...

It’s not just the queens who find themselves working under the wire on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” For the songwriting duo of Brett “Leland” McLaughlin and Freddy Scott, crafting the finalist song “Lucky” was a race in itself — especially having to work under Covid protocols.

“One of the most magical parts about working on the show is that the elements of the competition are also alive in the production of the show,” Freddy explained to TheWrap’s deputy editor Lawrence Yee. “The way that we work is we are pretty much constructing a playground and an environment with queens to thrive in.”

It’s easier said than done, as Leland and Freddy are told nothing about the queens ahead of time to ensure the fairness of the competition. The contestant’s styles can vary wildly; Season 13’s Top 4 included trained vocalist Rosé, and (eventual winner) Symone, who frequently referenced Black hip-hop culture.

“There is a central hub of queer genius over at World of Wonder,” describes Leland of the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” production company. He and fellow composer Freddy Scott take inspiration from the ideas of producers RuPaul and Tom Campbell to write the catchy tunes featured in the hit VH1 reality competition series. For Season 13, this most notably includes the retro bop “Lucky,” sung by the top four contestants. Watch the exclusive video interview above.

Leland explains that RuPaul and Campbell “had a vision for the title of the song, what the song should say, and the influences genre-wise.” With their directive in hand, the pair of composers got to work on expanding the concept. “We tried to give it a timeless and fresh feel,” says Leland, “breathing life into the melodies and fleshing out the lyrics.”

See Zaldy interview: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ costume designer

“They really do have their...

Outliers in the music supervision field this Emmy season include “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which used songs by Ariana Grande, Janet Jackson and Britney Spears performed as the queens battle it out in epic lip sync battles, and “Ratatouille: The Musical,” the TikTok sensation.

Season 13 of “Drag Race” helped several songs surge on streaming, including “Rumors” by Lindsay Lohan, and also saw original numbers written for the contestants chart. “U.K, Hun?” was a No. 1 in the U.K after being featured in the Brit version of the show.

Writer-composer Freddy Scott says of the process: “We always start with what is the catchiest, most broadly infectious earwormy way to deliver lyrics and melody and then work backwards on how that fits into the context of each episode.”

“Ratatouille: The Musical” marks the first time that a TikTok sensation is eligible for an Emmy. Based on the Pixar film, the musical...

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” kicked off the 5th installment of its “All Stars” spin off on June 5 with a jam-packed “All Star Variety Extravaganza.” In that premiere, the real world and social media feud between all stars Derrick Barry and India Ferrah took center stage. But as tension between the two continued to rise, the season-long drama we expected was cut short when India was named the challenge winner and Derrick was voted by the remaining queens as the first eliminated queen.

This season, RuPaul Charles has changed the All Stars rules once again. Instead of two of queens performing lip syncs for their legacies, the week’s challenge winner will go up against a non-competing queen deemed a “lip sync assassin.” If the season 5 all-star wins, she gets a $10,000 tip and gets to decide who to boot. If she loses, the tip gets added to the jar for the following...

As the 12th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” draws to a close, the final five reflected on their “report cards” as they eyed their own chances of advancing to the final. Although she was in the bottom two last week, Jaida Essence Hall has the best recent scores with two of her three wins coming just two weeks before. She’s tied with Gigi Goode, also with three total wins from the middle of the season, and followed by Sherry Pie who hit a plateau of safety after two wins in the beginning of the season. Last week Crystal Methyd earned her first win, leaving Jackie Cox at the back of the pack with five top scores but no overall wins.

So which four queens made the grand finale and, despite being disqualified since the beginning of the season airing, was Sherry Pie one of them? Below, check out our...