Legendary is a Reality Show based on the Ballroom subculture. It is currently airing on HBO Max and features Ballroom Iconnote Dashaun Wesley as The Host. The judging panel is comprised of fellow Icon Leiomy Maldonado, stylist Law Roach, actress (and co-producer of Legendary) Jameela Jamil, and actress Keke Palmer. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion served as a regular judge in the first two seasons, but was replaced by Keke in Season 3.
Ballroom (which has also been memorably represented in Pose (2018-2021), Paris Is Burning (1990), and Madonna's hit song "Vogue" (1990)) is a largely Black/Latine and queer subculture which first emerged in mid-20th century New York. It is best known for giving rise to a style of dance called "voguing" in which the performer quickly emulates Modeling Poses (hence the dance being named after Vogue) in a way that requires acrobatics, flexibility, and skill in vogue's Signature Moves such as the "dip"note . However, not all Ballroom participants are necessarily voguers, rather, the events in which they participate (called Balls, naturally) are comprised of a series of mini-competitions called "categories" (which can be anything from voguing, to modeling fashion, to simply being the fittest or most good-looking person) in which participants "walk" before a crowd, receive scores from a panel of judges, and receive prizes should they obtain the highest overall score. Ballroom participants overwhelmingly belong to Houses, a Family of Choice made up of a variety of different Ballroom skillsets and led by a House parent who uses their expertise to guide and support their House children.
Legendary, which takes its name from a formal title given to highly accomplished individuals in the Ballroom scene, translates Ballroom culture to a reality competition format by treating 8-10 five-person Houses as individual contestants and treating Balls as episodes. In a given episode, each remaining House walks a series of categories and, as of Season 2, receives scores on a 10-point scale, with the overall highest-scoring House being named the winner of that episode. The two overall lowest-scoring Houses must then participate in a "redemption battle" in which each House designates one of its voguers to participate in a Dance-Off, with the loser's House being eliminated. Its first season aired in 2020 and it has since been renewed for two more seasons.
You troped...what needed...to be troped!
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Keke harshly reads Law for his decision to give the House of Makaveli yet another pass, the normally-combative Law is more impressed than anything, cheerily remarking "you ate that".
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The House of Gorgeous Gucci, the House of Yohji Yamamoto, and the House of Miyake-Mugler.
- Badass Boast: Guest judge Dominique Jackson's rant after Delicious Gucci deems her "not that stunning" in "Circus Bezerkus".Dominique: No, I am that stunning. As an Icon in this community, if you are going to say something, you don't have the power to do that. I am (vogues) "bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam", I AM...BALLROOM!
- Battle Chant: Most Houses have their own "House chants" that are reminiscent of a cheer routine, typically featuring some Badass Boast-ing and their House name spelled out or otherwise incorporated stylistically.
- Brutal Honesty: Law (and to a lesser extent, Leiomy and Keke) tend to articulate their judgments in a much more harsh and unfiltered manner, in contrast to Jameela and Megan's more Nice Guy judging style.
- Cast Full of Gay: As Ballroom is a queer subculture, nearly all contestants are queer-identifying in some way (as are all the judges, as Jameela, Megan, and Keke are unlabeled queer people; Law is a gay man; and Leiomy is a trans woman).
- Caustic Critic: Law Roach. It's extremely rare for him to give anything remotely resembling a positive critique, and he delights in Accentuating the Negative and being ridiculously bitchy just for kicks, which can be frustrating at times but does provide plenty of entertainment value.Law (after a questionable performance from Makaveli): Amazing Grace...how sweet the sound...I just sang at your funeral.
- Dance-Off: Houses resigned to the bottom two must task their best voguer with participating in one of these, with the winner's House getting to remain in the competition.
- Disapproving Look: If a performance seems to be going badly, expect a quick cut to Leiomy or Law looking scornfully at the stage to drive the point home.
- The Diva: It's a show about Ballroom, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who isn't a diva. Season 1 guest judge and Icon Dominique Jackson (who actually got out of her seat to harshly scold a contestant for talking back to her) is probably the strongest and most memorable example, though.
- Drag Queen: A select few of the show's contestants, such as Season 1's Calypso Jeté Balmain, consider themselves drag queens and perform on the show in drag.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Before the 10-point scoring system based on actual Ballroom scoring was introduced in Season 2, the way that each episode's placements were determined was much more ambiguous and confusing.
- Family of Choice: Essentially what a House is; a group of queer people, the majority of whom are non-white and working-class, who have come together as True Companions after facing rejection from the world at large.
- Fanservice: Categories related to serving face or body tend to lend themselves to this, as Ballroom is absolutely chock-full of athletic and gorgeous people and said categories explicitly require them to flaunt their looks as much as possible.
- Gayngst: Contestants provide personal backstories before their House's performances that tend to have a deeply tragic and painful bent, particularly as they relate to their queer identities, with Trans Tribulations being especially common due to Ballroom featuring many trans performers.
- Harsh Talent Show Judge: Law Roach is far and away the harshest judge on the panel. He's prone to giving much lower scores than the rest of the judges, and on the rare occasion he says a House impressed him, it's treated as a huge event. More common is him making a show of giving harsh critiques for the hell of it, such as when he sang a few bars of "Amazing Grace" at a poorly-performing House before clarifying "I just sang at your funeral. It's over for y'all".
- Non-Gameplay Elimination: Season 2's Jah Luxe experienced this (though the House of Luxe itself remained in the competition) due to an injury that prevented him from competing.
- Once a Season: The first episode (or, since Season 2, the first pair of episodes) of each season sees the Houses perform a "Grand March" which features core elements of Ballroom/vogue performance and demonstrates what makes their House unique.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The off-screen internal strife in Season 1's House of Gorgeous Gucci resulted in one of their members being Put on a Bus midway through the season.
- Serious Business: Leiomy (and, when she guest judges, Dominique)'s Icon status, while it might not hold much weight outside of the Ballroom community, is extremely serious within the Ballroom community and makes it an awfully big deal when people disrespect or disappoint them.
- Team Mom: The House parents are more-or-less a formalized version of this trope; they lead their Houses, provide them with guidance and support, and stand as the most esteemed and respected member of their House.
- Title Theme Tune: The show's theme, while it is a stand-alone song with other lyrics, consists largely of repetitions of the word "Legendary".
- Took a Level in Jerkass: While Jameela's judging style was much Lighter and Softer than that of her fellow judges in the first two seasons, by Season 3 she's toughened up a bit and has a similar capacity for harshness to her peers.
