TV: RuPaul's Drag Race (Logo, Mon 10)

Yet another Project Runway knockoff, and something of a mixed bag.

RuPaul is our host, and he's on a quest to find "America's next drag superstar." Nine contestants arrive, and they are greeted by RuPaul (in drag) on a video monitor, where he is being filmed in the softest focus we've seen on TV in years. After the welcome message is finished, RuPaul, now out of drag in a natty suit, walks in to present the first challenge. (That's right; RuPaul has cast himself as both Tim and Heidi.)

It's a tough one, too, considering the amount of time and money that top drag artists put into their outfits. They are provided with an assortment of ghastly thrift store rejects and told to assemble a fabulous outfit. "And because we know how important the right accessories can be," RuPaul tells the contestants, "we went to the dollar store and bought a whole bunch of crap."

That sort of irreverence is one of the show's strengths, and RuPaul is entertaining as the host/mentor/judge (he's back in drag, and back out of focus, in his role as judge). And yes, I do mean THE judge. Though there is a judging panel who join him in commenting on the challenge results -- Project Runway's Santino Rice is a regular judge, and legendary costume designer Bob Mackie is the guest judge for the first show -- they get no say in the final judgment. "I have consulted with our judges, my lawyer, and my housekeeper," says RuPaul, "but the final decision is mine alone."

The final runway segment in which we see how successfully the contestants have met the challenge is by far the show's greatest weakness; the production values plummet, with the room being far too brightly lit and the editing far too frantic for us to get a good luck at the outfits. But the contestants are a fine mix of personalities and styles; there's the chic elegance of Bebe Zahara Benet, the highly stylized punk/Goth look of Nina Flowers, and the creepy Bette Davis features of Tammie Brown.

Will you enjoy the show? It's certainly an uneven mess, but in its best moments it manages to simultaneously parody and pay loving homage to the Runway genre, and the personalities of RuPaul and his contestants are enough to keep me watching.