After a decade and a half of new seasons, Drag Race Season 15 still finds ways to surprise its viewers in new ways, but not all the surprises are welcome to the fans.
For this new installment of the series, Drag Race has switched to a new network, MTV, which has many perks, but also many underlying issues.
Firstly, MTV is far more common in homes around the country compared to the last network Drag Race was featured on: VH1. This brings in many more viewers and potential fans, which is great for the producers and everyone involved with the show. This also likely contributed to the record-breaking premiere episode of season 15, which was one of the highest watched premieres in the shows’ history, and also the highest rated by fans of all time. However, after the iconic premiere episode of the season, which was an extra long, 2 hour special, things quickly went downhill for RuPaul and her race.
To make room for another show, The Real Friends of Weho, the runtime of each episode was cut from one hour, to a mere 40 minutes. This may not seem like a huge difference, but for Drag Race, this was a monumental mistake. RuPaul’s Drag Race thrives off of well-crafted storylines and has always made an effort to highlight the many talented contestants, so when 20 valuable minutes are stripped away, it becomes much harder to do this. This issue is exacerbated even further when considering the pure volume of contestants on this season; there are a whopping 16 queens on season 15, which is an all time high for the show. So, with the shorter runtime, combined with the many more contestants, viewers didn’t get the chance to connect with all of the queens on the show and appreciate the diverse drag they’re all presenting.
In addition, if these episodes were being cut short for a good reason, it would be much more understandable, but that is sadly not the case. The Real Friends of Weho, the show that is pushing Drag Race to its 40 minute runtime, is not considered a worthwhile watch whatsoever. The Real Friends of Weho is a very surface level drama show, which attempts to display real queer friendships and companionships, but it comes across in very poor taste to many viewers. In fact, this has caused viewers to give The Real Friends of Weho some of the worst ratings for a TV show in cable history--averaging a 1/5 stars for every episode.
However, despite its rocky runtime, the season is not full of only bad surprises. One very positive thing noted by the fans about season 15 is how it has covered many recent topics around the world, relating to drag artists. It is extremely important to be aware in these constantly politically-changing times, and Drag Race Season 15 is able to delicately navigate conversations and storylines. One viewer of the season, Andi Landrum, comments on this, saying, “I really appreciate how season 15 is using its platform as a mainstream drag center to comment on the attack on drag currently happening in the United States.”
All in all, Drag Race Season 15 has been quite a whirlwind so far, but ultimately, nothing is more important than the message the show is sending out. And that is one thing this season has gotten right, and it is one thing we hope continues in all future installments of the Emmy-nominated series.