Reality Check: 'RuPaul's Drag Race' roundtable

Fans of the 29-time Emmy Award-winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and its many spinoffs can watch a new online roundtable and Q&A featuring executive producer Tom Campbell, lead editor Jamie Martin, director Nick Murray and choreographer Jamal Sims, moderated by GoldDerby.com’s Rob Licuria.

“Our contestants are faced with a lot of racism and homophobism [sic] and transphobism,” Campbell says in the “Making of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’” video posted Wednesday and keyed to the flagship show’s recently concluded 16th season.

“On ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ we remind them and the world that we’ve got the power,” Campbell continues. “They’re not just celebrated, they’re elevated, and given a lot of love. That inspired us and hopefully it will wear off on some of our viewers.”

Going behind the scenes of the now MTV show, Campbell explains that, “We try to deconstruct the show every year and rebuild it. We don’t rest on our laurels. We catch ourselves — we’re, like, ‘Well, we already did that’ or ‘How can we do that differently?’ So there are going to be some twists and turns. There’s going to be some fine tuning of some strategic things,” he says. “We have this magic factory because we have all these like-minded people working together in all the different departments.”

Monsoon season

Jinkx Monsoon, winner of “RuPaul's Drag Race” season 5 and “All Stars” season 7, returns to the role of Matron “Mama” Morton in the landmark Broadway musical revival “Chicago” for 20 performances starting this Thursday through July 12, at the Ambassador Theatre.

This Friday’s show will include a post-performance Q&A between Monsoon (né Jerick Hoffer) and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow.

Monsoon, the first drag queen to play Morton, debuted on Broadway in the role from Jan. 16 to March 26, 2023, and will play her again from this June 27 to July 12. Originated in this 1996 revival by Marcia Lewis, the role has been played by such luminaries as Jennifer Holliday and Bebe Neuwirth, and by such novelties as talk-show host Wendy Williams and reality TV stars Kandi Burruss and NeNe Leakes.

Premieres

Early Thursday on the streaming service Max, Broadway performer, entrepreneur and educator Robert Hartwell is “Breaking New Ground” in challenging himself to renovate a 200-year-old house with a complicated history … Early Friday on the streamer Netflix, the new real estate series “Owning Manhattan” follows top broker Ryan Serhant, formerly of “Million Dollar Listing New York” and “Sell It Like Serhant,” continuing to wheel and deal NYC luxury properties … Premiering that same time on Netflix is season 2 of the undercover-saboteur competition “The Mole,” hosted by NPR “All Things Considered” host Ari Shapiro … Then at 8 p.m. on OWN, the new “Family Empire: Houston” follows a Black, multigenerational Texas family, the Bradens, as they try to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and continue their real estate empire … and speaking of Houston, season 17 of Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” opens at that city’s Johnson Space Center, Sunday at 8 p.m., with host Tyler Florence presiding over nine trucks competing across nine Gulf Coast cities. No Long Islanders this time, but there’s a New York City team, Kalye.

Recaps

Brooklyn’s Danny Garcia won season 21 of Bravo’s “Top Chef.”