strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive

Adventures with an unreliable narrator.

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Mar 30 04: it's brini!

Discovered a crazy thing this evening: Brini Maxwell is alive and well and living on the Style Network. Those of you who know the weirder corners of New York City cable may remember her as drag’s answer to Martha Stewart. Her show ran from 1998-2003 on public access and, later, on the ‘leased access’ channel that most New Yorkers associate with Robyn Byrd. She was sublime: genteel suburban charm with just the merest frisson of camp. She’s even got a Wikipedia entry…

Brini’s got a whole new thing going. It’s set primarily in a glam-ass studio setting rather than the “somebody’s apartment” feel of the earlier series. Her domestic-disaster friend Mary Ellen (think Brenda Vaccarro meets late-stage Judy Garland) also seems to have vanished. But she’s back to give household tips from a planet of Tupperware, engraved thank-you cards, and daisy-printed dresses. Longtime fans will be delighted to hear that the fabulous theme music is pretty much intact.

The thing that Paul and I found most notable is how, well, straight the Style Network is playing it. Nowhere in the ads promoting it—or even the SN official website—is the whole ‘drag’ issue raised. Either you realize it or you don’t, and Bree is good. Which means that they’re actually airing two different shows at the same time. As Brini would say: how economical! Why didn’t you think of that?

Fortunately, I think both versions work pretty well. It’s not perfect: the episode I saw this evening seemed a little low on zing to me. The pace has slowed down just a little, and it couldn’t sustain the energy so well. But still, it was Brini in all her magical late-sixties white-glove fabulousness. Her visit to the recycling center was a hoot…and honestly, her ‘use a dead umbrella as a collapsible lingerie drying-rack’ trick was genius. I’ll try to report back after I’ve seen a couple more episodes.

Commentary

I just discovered Brini last Wednesday�

I did a little search & found your post about her�

check my post about her show

posted by Abraxias, Apr 10 04 12:16 AM

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