HBO's 'We're Here' series premiere with its 3 success stories has fans calling show the 'Queer Eye of drag'
'We're Here' premiered its maiden season on HBO. The premise of the show follows 'RuPaul's Drag Race' veterans Shangela Laquifah Wadley, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O'Hara as they scour through small towns in America to look for their "drag daughters" to help them overcome the emotional baggage that has been weighing them down.
The first episode focusses on Hunter, a young and gay makeup artist who struggled to attain a deeper connection with his father. Even though his father loved him, he wouldn't come to any of the queer events and that always bothered him.
Then there was older guy, Darryl, a self-confessed straight ally of the LGBTQ+ community. He wanted to perform in drag in order to feel truly supportive of the drag community.
Erica was the third participant in the episode. Her conservative Christian background led to her saying things like "you will go to hell" and "you are not gay" to her daughter, Hailey, that came out of bisexual. Her reaction led to Hailey leaving the nest to go live with her father and Erica's ex-husband, Fernando.
All three residents are natives of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania — a town not truly open and receptive of the gay community as was established in the episode.
The show also had a lot of reality streaks, one was at the beginning of the episode where all three drag queens set up their tents in a communal space, "where we can feel safe to be ourselves."
Fans who tuned in to HBO to watch the first episode seem to love what the first episode offered. "'We're Here' on @HBO is truly the QUEER eye we've been waiting for. @thatonequeen, @itsSHANGELA, @eurekaohara-- ya'll did that!"
"We’re Here is so good. Good job HBO, VH1 would've made a mockery out of this. Well, in reality, they wouldn’t do something like this because RuPaul doesn't want to see women in drag. It's so much more than drag, they’re helping people."
"@thatonequeen @eurekaohara @itsSHANGELA Just wanted to say that we thoroughly enjoyed the show Y'all had me crying in the first five minutes having all the feels for the folks But them were tears of joy by the end Love y'all and love the show TY @HBO for giving us 'We're Here'."
One fan shared, "No shade because they have totally different functions, but We’re Here on @HBO is what I wanted the new Queer Eye to be. Fantastic." Another dded, "We're Here on HBO is just ugh wow. Queer Eye but for Drag and I'm LIVING My emotions CANNOT take it."
'We're Here' Season 1 will return to HBO next Thursday night.