Heated Rivalry

[Davide]

18 minutes ago, Krista said:

The first two episodes are a little bit of a chore, to be honest. The show finds better pacing and overall more enjoyable after Episode three, which I found middle, not bad, not good. 

It points to improvement heading into the next season, the show getting better as it went. Who knows though, it may regress and become unwatchable.  I suck at television. 

That's good to know, I will stick with it. It gives me hope for more good gay tv series, which I always like to see.

Edited February 26 by Davide

[wildone]

I saw advertisement today that Connor Story will be hosting SNL this week. 

I know Krista, you HATE that show  

[Krista]

22 hours ago, wildone said:

I saw advertisement today that Connor Story will be hosting SNL this week. 

I know Krista, you HATE that show  

[wildone]

Okay, so this is going to be interesting  I hope. 

We have Connor Story who will be on Saturday Night LIve as the host.

Then it was announced today that Quinn Hughes, the NHL star that scored in OT to beat Sweden and propel the US onto the gold medal game of the Olympics is to appear as well. 

So, we have a fictitious gay hockey player, and a real life NHL hockey player who is the talk of the States. 

Oh, let's make it more fun, his younger brother Jack, who was the one to score in OT at the Olympics to beat Team Canada  and win the gold medal, might be there too!!

So let's amend that, 1 fictitious gay hockey player and 2 real NHL stars all on the one show  

Do you think there will be a hockey skit?  

How far will the NHL let their players go into a 'gay skit'? I wonder   

What kiind of ratings will SNL get with the worldwide craze over Heated Rivalry? 

    

[Mattyboy]

On 1/31/2026 at 5:03 PM, Mattyboy said:

It's wild to think that these boys were completely anonymous in October and now they're carrying the Olympic torch and meeting cuddling with the Canadian prime minister.  

This incident was recently described in The Globe and Mail as Hudson Williams trying to "climb him like a koala in a eucalyptus tree"  which I thought was a nice turn of phrase.  

[Mattyboy]

I see Heated Rivalry won a Peabody Award.

It's not eligible for Emmys as it wasn't a US production, but last night at the Canadian Screen Awards (previously known as Genies)  it won for Best Drama Series, Direction, Writing, Lead Performer (Hudson Williams), Supporting Performer (Sophie Nélisse), Photography, Picture Editing, Sound, Production Design/Art Design, Costume Design, Visual Effects, Casting, Original Music, Original Song for “It’s You,” and Best Guest Performance (Nadine Bhabha). Also the Cogeco Audience Choice Award and Sophie Nélisse was also presented with the Radius Award (for emerging talent and international success).

The 16 trophy wins is a record.

Last week Rachel Reid was down to only one book on the bestseller list (Heated Rivalry at #8). Elle Kennedy, who  got her start with M/M hockey books, is on the list at #'s 3, 5, 6, and 10,  but all four seem to be M/F hockey romances. The Kennedy books are linked to a TV adaptation called Off Campus,  I hear.

Hockey lit has been a thing for a long time,  but this thing that the fiction bestseller list is mostly hockey lit is absolutely a new thing.  And I did not have on my 2026 bingo card that M/F hockey romance would ride the coattails of M/M hockey romance to dynastic control of the Globe and Mail bestseller lists.   

[Mattyboy]

On 1/2/2026 at 12:13 AM, wildone said:

I did find the Director's response to all the media's questions about the two leads and also the Scott Hunter character if they are gay, interesting.

[snip]

I am of the belief that 1, probably 2, maybe 3 are gay . A quick google search shows one is openly bi since about 2020. But the rest is only in my head  Bad, Steve  

Hudson Williams had a date for the CSA who he identified as a partner (Katelyn Larson).  He wearing a pair of rather feminine or drag-coded diamond earrings (and had one less button done up on his shirt each time he went on stage).  So seems to be hetero but Hudson also seems to quite clearly know who his fans are and why he's now getting the invitations and awards of an A-lister. 

[wildone]

I always chuckle when a show is big in Canada. I'm sure if you look, the previous records were all held by Shitz Creek  When something good comes out, no one else gets anything  

Yes, I watched the Off Campus at the pleading of a few people, and although they liked the show, I gave up after 2 epis. Usually I can tolerate like a 23 y/o playing an 18 y/o, but the idea of the mc playing a university senior and looking in his early 30's, nah, not doing it for me. 

I believe Hudson Williams has come out of the closet as 100% straight. His gf has rules on what he can do and what he can't do off of camera for the show according to him😮 

Connor Storie, I believe has already come out, quite a while ago. He seems to have a steady long term bf. Interesting enough, he played a supporting actor in the movie Ridley, a Texas HS football star that realizes his sexualitiy in his senior year. Not a bad movie if you are looking for something to watch.  

François Arnaud, played Scott Hunter, came out as bi in 2020.

I got a message from Amazon Saturday that the new Rachel Reid book was for sale, so clicked and bought it. Went to read it and found out I pre-bought it for June 1, 2027  

You mentioning how hockey romance is taking over books and tv, etc. My little sister still can't believe there is a m/m hockey genre and she is buying books like crazy. She has convinced her husband to watch all the episodes of Heated Rivalry. Her 3 teenage sons between 14 - 19, not so much  She is always calling me up and asking if I have read this or that series. Time to change my number I think .

 

I do hear that Rachel Reid was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a few years ago and she is struggling a bit with writing so that is why the delay in the next book to come out. I am hoping she gets better, but know the chances might not be good.

 

It will be interesting to see how they handle the next season. Game Changers was more or less covered in 1 episode with the Scott Hunter story, and was the first book in the series. Heated Rivalry was the second, but there is 3 books to the next almost full book of Iliya and Shane. Some of those characters will probably need to be exposed to make the Long Game work.    

 

 

 

 

[Mattyboy]

9 minutes ago, wildone said:

I got a message from Amazon Saturday that the new Rachel Reid book was for sale, so clicked and bought it. Went to read it and found out I pre-bought it for June 1, 2027  

You mentioning how hockey romance is taking over books and tv, etc. My little sister still can't believe there is a m/m hockey genre and she is buying books like crazy. She has convinced her husband to watch all the episodes of Heated Rivalry. Her 3 teenage sons between 14 - 19, not so much  She is always calling me up and asking if I have read this or that series. Time to change my number I think .

There's a rather recognizable style of cover art for the hockey romance books; but I have no idea what's well-done and what's just trying to jump on the bandwagon.  Do you ( or @W_L ) know anything about authors other than Reid and Sarina Bowen/Elle Kennedy?

Just tried to look this up and there's 409  books rated on Goodreads .  I've heard of Tal Bauer too,  on there. 

[W_L]

On 6/1/2026 at 7:07 PM, Mattyboy said:

There's a rather recognizable style of cover art for the hockey romance books; but I have no idea what's well-done and what's just trying to jump on the bandwagon.  Do you ( or @W_L ) know anything about authors other than Reid and Sarina Bowen/Elle Kennedy?

Just tried to look this up and there's 409  books rated on Goodreads .  I've heard of Tal Bauer too,  on there. 

I read Tal Bauer mostly for his gay political thriller series, The Executive Office (Highly recommended for fans of classic Tom Clancy, or fans of Mission Impossible/Jason Bourne). Haven't explored his gay sports romances yet, but will do with my next audible credit.

Beyond Reid, Bowen, and Kennedy, I can also recommend Eden Finley's CU Hockey series. It's a nice read if you like the genre.

(Dang it, I need to write more book reviews; I've slacked off after reading so many gay romances.)

Edited June 3 by W_L
Correcting typos

[Krista]

Must've been a down year if 'Heated Rivalry' was the top choice. I mean it had it's high points in both acting and such, but that's really all it had going for it. The pacing I still never really warmed to. There was a lot of ass, which was likely appreciated, who knows... the Canadian that's a fanboy of the show will probably explain that better.

Off Campus certainly won't win any awards though. That show sucked. I don't understand the hype surrounding it, truly. It wasn't groundbreaking, although romances typically are not. All the actors were wooden in their roles and the writing for them wasn't good. It made their interactions forced fed and unintentionally awkward. Everything that was supposed to be heavy hitting or impactful failed for me. If Van from Reba is the best actor in the show, you know it is going to be a struggle. Although I hear he's decent in Shameless... The themes were okay, but they both would've hit harder if the actors were better and the character writing allowed for more of an emotional investment.

The Hockey was better in Off Campus.  But since I care nothing for Hockey it didn't help my opinion of it.

The books are likely better in both cases, probably... at least for 'Off Campus,' it better be, the show is trash. 

[Mattyboy]

I think Heated Rivalry got a  bit lucky that voting was right during its "peak buzz" period. 

Yeah it was a kinda average year otherwise. There's quite a good cop show called St Pierre that I enjoy (not particularly gay).  A few cringe comedies I think pulled votes from each other.

 

[Ron]

8 hours ago, Krista said:

There was a lot of ass, which was likely appreciated, who knows... the Canadian that's a fanboy of the show will probably explain that better.

I lived in Toronto for three years. Does that count? 

Anyhoo, since you can't show dick you may as well show some ass which is fine for some reason. 

Edited June 3 by Ron

[Davide]

18 minutes ago, Ron said:

I lived in Toronto for three years. Does that count? 

Anyhoo, since you can't show dick you may as well show some ass which is fine for some reason. 

I don't know if they can't show dick or can't find good actors willing to show dick.

[Krista]

13 hours ago, Ron said:

I lived in Toronto for three years. Does that count? 

Anyhoo, since you can't show dick you may as well show some ass which is fine for some reason. 

There are penises in 'Off Campus..'  It is not worth the poor writing and acting to see the three or so seconds though. Promise. 

Toronto never counts, it's Toronto.  

[Krista]

13 hours ago, Davide said:

I don't know if they can't show dick or can't find good actors willing to show dick.

Call me a prude, but I am tired of seeing penis, boobs, the over use of sex, and swearing in my entertainment.  

And we all know, if they're not in use they look like half-plucked chicken butts anyway. 

[Davide]

4 hours ago, Krista said:

Call me a prude, but I am tired of seeing penis, boobs, the over use of sex, and swearing in my entertainment.  

And we all know, if they're not in use they look like half-plucked chicken butts anyway. 

I was only making an observation, not asking to see more penises on TV.  I also prefer asses, anyway, and HR shows them plenty of times. 

[Krista]

18 hours ago, Davide said:

I was only making an observation, not asking to see more penises on TV.  I also prefer asses, anyway, and HR shows them plenty of times. 

The ass selection in HR is nice, I will admit. It was something I noticed.  The hyper-masculine one that can speak bad Russian also helped the show, probably.

But seeing him out of character is like a wet blanket for me... he acts very hyper-active, like a child that I know I would have to give a melatonin and put in a corner in order to not lose my damn mind.