Lingo, RuPaul’s word-twisting game show, returns for season two on CBS Friday, May 24. Two episodes air that night, and stream on Paramount Plus, too. 

The show sees teams of two face off in puzzle rounds to guess letters that eventually reveal words. New for season two, the winner in each episode goes on to compete in the next one. 

RuPaul Andre Charles is executive producer for RuCo, Inc. along with Layla Smith and Jilly Pearce for Objective Media Group. Ed de Burgh and Paul Wright exec produce for Triple Brew Media. 

Lingo had been a syndicated show in the late ‘80s, and came back on GSN years later. The show premiered in the U.K. a few years ago, and debuted on CBS in early 2023. 

Lingo is an All3Media / IDTV and Talpa TV format, distributed by All3Media International.

RuPaul hosts RuPaul’s Drag Race on MTV. 

RuPaul’s Drag Race has been greenlit for a 13th season on VH1. Hosted by RuPaul, the show "will welcome a new batch of drag queens ready to prove why they’re 'America's Next Drag Superstar,'" said VH1.

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars will be back for season six, and after-show Untucked will follow the new seasons of both series. 

“Drag queens have been on the frontlines of many challenging times in our history,” said RuPaul, who is an executive producer.  “RuPaul’s Drag Race 13, All Stars 6 and new seasons of Untucked will offer more opportunities for our queens to rise to the occasion and spread the love.”

Jaida Essence Hall won season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Shea Couleé won season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. 

RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars and Untucked are produced by VH1 and World of Wonder. 

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Vegas Revue, about six legendary drag queens in a Las Vegas residency, begins Aug. 21 on VH1. 

Deep State has begun on Epix. The drama centers on Max (Mark Strong), an ex-spy whose past comes back to haunt him when he’s summoned from his new life in the Pyrenees by the head of a covert operation, who convinces Max to return to the field to avenge the death of his son.

Michael Wright, Epix president, said Deep State is “elevated” and “entertaining,” with the smart, high-quality vibe of a premium cable series.

Deep state is defined as “a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.” It’s a phrase that’s picked up in popularity since President Donald Trump moved into the White House.

Trump factors into Deep State, at least per the Boston Herald. “If Donald Trump produced 24, it would look like Deep State,” it said. “Epix’s new conspiracy thriller might be the first drama with the president squarely in mind — and as it turns out, a significant character, albeit off-screen.”

The show “speaks to the notion of people who work behind the scenes who may not have the same agenda as our elected officials,” Wright said.

Just as Deep State takes off, RuPaul’s Drag Race is heading toward its fizzy finale. The reunion special happens June 21, and the season ten closer is June 28. Host RuPaul Charles promised a season where the “shenanigans are off the mother-tucking charts,” and has pretty much delivered.

The show shifted from Logo to VH1 last season. Drag Race is on pace for its highest ratings yet, said Pamela Post, senior VP of original programming, MTV, VH1 and Logo. “I’m constantly surprised by the audience and how it responds year in and year out,” she said. “It’s been a bit of a phenomenon.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race used to emulate pop culture, Post said, but now pop culture emulates Drag Race, evident in the show’s catchphrases — say, sashay away, or shade — popping up in conversation and on t-shirts. “It all becomes part of current-day language,” Post said.

RuPaul’s Drag Race was nominated for eight Emmyslast year, including outstanding realitycompetition series. RuPaul won for hosting.

Which contestant stands out in season 10? Post said they all do, including Eureka, who left season nine due to injury; Aquaria, who started watching the show as a kid; Kameron, “a force to be reckoned with”; and Asia, who “all around delivers the goods.”

How many more seasons for Drag Race? “Hard to say,” said Post. “Ru is going strong. We haven’t seen the show slow down, we’ve only seen it grow.”

Last week’s tipoff of March Madness brought on a mad rush of new apps and services from pay TV providers, ad-tech vendors and programmers that are tailored for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

On the streaming front, NCAA March Madness Live, an app for the tourney developed in partnership by the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports, is available across what they say is a record 12 platforms.

Those lending support this year include the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Roku players and Roku TVs, Amazon Fire tablets, iOS and Android mobile devices, Windows handsets, Web browsers, and even the Apple Watch. Additionally, viewers can access all games broadcast on CBS “with no registration required” on desktops as well as smartphones and tablets. Live streams will also be offered on digital platforms from TBS, TNT, truTV and CBS, as well as via participating TV provider websites and apps.

The NCAA March Madness Live app for the Apple TV offers a split-screen feature that lets users stream two live games at the same time.

Dish Network is literally doubling that with last week’s debut of “Sports Bar Mode,” a feature for its new 4K-capable Hopper 3 DVR that divides the TV screen into quadrants, with each displaying a different live TV program. That feature, also called “multiview” and offered on any Hopper 3 that’s connected to a 4K or HD set, decodes four streams, stitches them together and displays them simultaneously. The feature takes advantage of the tuner-rich Hopper 3, which sports 16 of them.

Comcast is also focusing on the big screen with the debut of a basketball “Extras” for its X1 Sports app that syncs up stats with live programming and relies on tech from OneTwoSee, the Philadelphia-based startup that Comcast acquired earlier this month.

The interactive app provides in-game, team-by-team stats such as steals, rebounds and foul counts, as well as a view of the updated tournament bracket. Post-game, the app feeds a recap of the matchup, including by-quarter scores and the “Xfinity Player of the Game.”

For the tourney’s Final Four round, the app will also let users pull up full-team rosters and detailed individual player stats, including shooting percentages by court location.

The tourney also created an opening for media data specialist 4C to take the wraps off Sports Sync, a platform that enables brands and other partners to deliver ads on social networks including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in concert with a specific live sports moment, such as a slam dunk or a game-changing three-point shot.

Several brands have signed on for Sports Sync for March Madness, 4C said, but the company wasn’t at liberty yet to name them. 4C also has built a version of its platform that triggers digital ads around political TV spots, as well as shifts in the weather.

Not all ad inventory is created equal, according to Aaron Goldman, 4C’s chief marketing officer. 4C’s approach is about delivering an ad message “when attentions are heightened,” he said.

— Jeff Baumgartner

‘Dirty Charades’ Behind the Scenes of ‘Skin Wars'

 Body-painting competition Skin Wars is GSN’s top original series, and behind the scenes it often takes hours for the painters to create their masterpieces on their nearly naked human canvases.

Host Rebecca Romijn and sejudge RuPaul Charles lamented during the network’s March 8 upfront presentation that episodes could take as long as 14 hours to tape as they literally and painstakingly watched paint dry.

They played games to pass the time, such as “Dirty Charades.” It’s like the traditional pantomime guessing game, but as Charles succinctly described, “It was just dirty.”

Michael Levitt said it was often di_ cult to begin shooting after several rounds of charades, because the host couldn’t stop laughing at the risqué gamesmanship.

Romijn quipped that the game’s content and gestures probably wouldn’t be suitable for air. “I don’t think you’re going to see our game on GSN anytime soon.”

— R. Thomas Umstead

Coming off its best ratings year ever, GSN will look to continue its momentum with the greenlighting of several new series including a spinoff of its most popular franchise Skin Wars, the network announced Tuesday during its upfront presentation in New York.

The network later this year will debut Skin Wars: Fresh Paint, hosted by entertainer RuPaul Charles in which new artists will compete in body painting challenges to win a $10,000 prize, said network officials. The series is a spinoff of the Rebecca Romijn-hosted Skin Wars, which launches its third season later this year.

Other new shows slated for GSN’s lineup include Winsanity, hosted by comedian/actor Donald Faison and features contestants who attempt to rank 10 facts in numerical order, from highest to lowest, to win prizes for both the contestant and the studio audience, and Window Warriors, a competition series which looks at the creativity of storefront window dressing, said network officials.

GSN has also ordered pilots for new shows Breaking App, which follows app inventors to see who can create the next great mobile application, and The Investigation, a one-hour crime-solving game set in a realistic police location with multiple departments.

GSN executive vice president of programming and development Amy Introcaso-Davis told Multichannel News that the new shows, along with returning shows like Idiotest and the newly-renewed Hellevator, have brought in younger viewers and helped evolve the network’s brand into a “fun” place for viewers and families to watch.

GSN said it has picked up a 10-episode third season of Skin Wars, the bodypainting competition series.

The network said the show, hosted by Rebecca Romijn (who will return), remains GSN's top-rated series, attracting more than 12 million viewers to the current season. The recent season finale had more than 1.1 million viewers, per GSN, citing Nielsen. GSN also said the show has more than doubled (+125%) the year-to-date time period average with total viewers and delivered its most-watched episode ever for the franchise in key demos women 18-49, women 25-54 and persons 25-54 on a Live+3 basis. The success of the series has been key in putting GSN on pace for both its best year and summer ever, as it is currently up 24% in prime time (8-11 p.m.) over a year ago and up 30% over last summer in total viewers, the network said. 

Along with Romijn, returning judges for season three include RuPaul Charles and body painting experts Craig Tracy and Robin Slonina. In season three, 12 artists will compete for $100,000 and additional prizes to be announced.

“Skin Wars has been an integral part of introducing GSN to millions of new, younger viewers and has truly become a game changer for us,” Amy Introcaso-Davis, executive vice president of programming at GSN, said in a release. “The success of the show has also provided us a great platform to showcase new series, as evidenced by the strong debut of Steampunk'd last week, which was one of our top-rated new series launches.”

Skin Wars is executive produced by Michael Levitt of Michael Levitt Productions, Jill Goularte, Colleen Sands and Rebecca Romijn. Craig Tracy and Robin Slonina serve as producers.