Heated Rivalry (Crave/HBO-Max)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Would watch but gay sex is cringe for me to watch. Is there a lot of it?

It’s pretty raunchy, lol. There are short clips circulating on Twitter.

I decided to read the books first. I am not a prude, but oh my this is graphic M/M sex. I'm not hating it...

While the sex in the show isn’t gentle per se, I love how gentle and tender they are with each other. Often kissing, Ilya always touching his face and lifting his chin up for eye contact, checking on him if this or that is ok, if he is scared, if he still wants it. Asking for consent and then doing raunchy stuff is hot! I wish more hetero men would watch the show because it is a case study in what women find attractive and arousing too.

It was written by a woman for a largely female audience. Female viewership of HBOMax went from 48 or percent to almost 70 with the success of the show. A lot of M/M romance isn’t written for or by men, but for and by women.

Genuinely curious and this is probably gonna get deleted but do straight women genuinely get off on this? I'm watching right now. It's entertaining but it's not hot.

Why wouldn’t they? A lot of what these men do to each other can be done in a hetero relationship too. Not everything, but most of it. The actors are hot and sell the sexual tension well in the show, plus the intimacy scenes are filmed very well, so I can see how this is a turn on for straight people too.

+1, although the sex scenes were not what drew me and I suspect most women to the show. I like watching the personal growth of the two players, Ilya in particular. A beautiful love story, beautifully told. The gender and sex scenes are secondary.

I mean, I don't know that I'd call it a beautiful love story, it's not Pride & Prejudice lol. But I mostly agree. I enjoy the romance aspect of it but the sex scenes really aren't doing much for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would watch but gay sex is cringe for me to watch. Is there a lot of it?

It’s pretty raunchy, lol. There are short clips circulating on Twitter.

I decided to read the books first. I am not a prude, but oh my this is graphic M/M sex. I'm not hating it...

While the sex in the show isn’t gentle per se, I love how gentle and tender they are with each other. Often kissing, Ilya always touching his face and lifting his chin up for eye contact, checking on him if this or that is ok, if he is scared, if he still wants it. Asking for consent and then doing raunchy stuff is hot! I wish more hetero men would watch the show because it is a case study in what women find attractive and arousing too.

It was written by a woman for a largely female audience. Female viewership of HBOMax went from 48 or percent to almost 70 with the success of the show. A lot of M/M romance isn’t written for or by men, but for and by women.

Genuinely curious and this is probably gonna get deleted but do straight women genuinely get off on this? I'm watching right now. It's entertaining but it's not hot.

I enjoy watching a beautiful, cocky, elite man drop all his walls and give and receive pleasure. Something about a person who plays hard to get turning into mush in the bedroom is very sexy and captivating to me. How and who is doing the pleasuring is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would watch but gay sex is cringe for me to watch. Is there a lot of it?

It’s pretty raunchy, lol. There are short clips circulating on Twitter.

I decided to read the books first. I am not a prude, but oh my this is graphic M/M sex. I'm not hating it...

While the sex in the show isn’t gentle per se, I love how gentle and tender they are with each other. Often kissing, Ilya always touching his face and lifting his chin up for eye contact, checking on him if this or that is ok, if he is scared, if he still wants it. Asking for consent and then doing raunchy stuff is hot! I wish more hetero men would watch the show because it is a case study in what women find attractive and arousing too.

It was written by a woman for a largely female audience. Female viewership of HBOMax went from 48 or percent to almost 70 with the success of the show. A lot of M/M romance isn’t written for or by men, but for and by women.

Genuinely curious and this is probably gonna get deleted but do straight women genuinely get off on this? I'm watching right now. It's entertaining but it's not hot.

Why wouldn’t they? A lot of what these men do to each other can be done in a hetero relationship too. Not everything, but most of it. The actors are hot and sell the sexual tension well in the show, plus the intimacy scenes are filmed very well, so I can see how this is a turn on for straight people too.

+1, although the sex scenes were not what drew me and I suspect most women to the show. I like watching the personal growth of the two players, Ilya in particular. A beautiful love story, beautifully told. The gender and sex scenes are secondary.

I mean, I don't know that I'd call it a beautiful love story, it's not Pride & Prejudice lol. But I mostly agree. I enjoy the romance aspect of it but the sex scenes really aren't doing much for me.

But a lot of modern day situationship stories are exactly that, Pride & Prejudice. I see a lot of parallels between the show and Jane Austen’s characters, e.g. the big egos and lack of good communication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This show is incredible. Episode five doesn’t have sex and it’s the best episode of tv this year.

+1. Episode 5 was brilliant. I had to rewatch it night.

[Anonymous]

I’ve now watched this three times through. And I’m going to the dance party. And I’m 56. And I don’t care.

The world is a dumpster fire and this will help me survive until Harry’s album comes out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would watch but gay sex is cringe for me to watch. Is there a lot of it?

It’s pretty raunchy, lol. There are short clips circulating on Twitter.

I decided to read the books first. I am not a prude, but oh my this is graphic M/M sex. I'm not hating it...

While the sex in the show isn’t gentle per se, I love how gentle and tender they are with each other. Often kissing, Ilya always touching his face and lifting his chin up for eye contact, checking on him if this or that is ok, if he is scared, if he still wants it. Asking for consent and then doing raunchy stuff is hot! I wish more hetero men would watch the show because it is a case study in what women find attractive and arousing too.

It was written by a woman for a largely female audience. Female viewership of HBOMax went from 48 or percent to almost 70 with the success of the show. A lot of M/M romance isn’t written for or by men, but for and by women.

Genuinely curious and this is probably gonna get deleted but do straight women genuinely get off on this? I'm watching right now. It's entertaining but it's not hot.

Why wouldn’t they? A lot of what these men do to each other can be done in a hetero relationship too. Not everything, but most of it. The actors are hot and sell the sexual tension well in the show, plus the intimacy scenes are filmed very well, so I can see how this is a turn on for straight people too.

Is this actually a turn on for gay men? It's so obviously written for women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve now watched this three times through. And I’m going to the dance party. And I’m 56. And I don’t care.

The world is a dumpster fire and this will help me survive until Harry’s album comes out.

Most of the people at the dance party will be in their 50s, just like you. That's why they're playing 90s music.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 9+ on IMDB and only 5-star ratings on Amazon, plus hot young athletes? Yah, I am watching this tonight. Thanks for bringing this show up, DCUM.

FWIW, I think the show has such high ratings because it's having a viral moment. It was a fine show with some phenomenal acting and a nice story line but it's not The Wire.

Not a fan of The Wire & Breaking Bad. I don’t enjoys depressing shows. Love Heated Rivalry. It’s a beautiful story, beautifully shot and executed. I like that it’s indie and low budget. The sex scenes are surprisingly very hot.
Signed, a 50 year old straight mom with a PhD.

I hate it when people think like you (no offense to you personally) and smart people at that. It means you understand nothing about great drama if you find it merely “depressing”.
Even more sad is the fact that you don’t understand how this show is mediocre in terms of dramatic effect. It’s a high quality music video with erotic elements and that’s it.
-DP

Is there any romance that meets your high standards?

fwiw, Game of Thrones is more explicit and I've never seen someone call those scenes "erotic moments." Hm.

I mean, Brokeback mountain is light years ahead dramatically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 9+ on IMDB and only 5-star ratings on Amazon, plus hot young athletes? Yah, I am watching this tonight. Thanks for bringing this show up, DCUM.

FWIW, I think the show has such high ratings because it's having a viral moment. It was a fine show with some phenomenal acting and a nice story line but it's not The Wire.

I agree.
However people are dumb en masse therefore the ratings

I think this is a symptom of the quality of new television and film content not being as good as it used to be. People see an above average show and get excited.

Its a show made for women, where the script is almost verbatim and taken from some chick rom com lit written by a woman. The writing is weak. You can read excerpts of her books on amazon. The actors do a good job with the material although in some places they stick way too close to the words in the book and it sounds really out of place. It isn't deep or nuanced. It is new young actors with good bodies who are willing to go all in to make a paycheck. The acting is decent but not incredible - I thought one of the guys was a much better actor than the other. There isn't much out there so this went viral - but not really because it is particularly amazing. Its a Hallmark movie with gay guys.

They filmed all the sex / nude / bedroom scenes on day 1 and 2 of filming. Then filmed the rest and then did the cottage on the last filming days. Filmed the whole thing in a month.

+1000

The actors did a great job for the most part with what they were given, but it was very weak writing.

I wish Tierney had adapted the book more. He pretty much had them just speak the dialogue verbatim. Takes a way from the overall acting at times when the writing is so weak in places.

The books have a MASSIVE fanbase and part of the reason this show took off was that they were feral for the adaption. People were posting about hoping to hear "stupid Canadian wolf bird" for months. These readers know the book so well that a faithful adaption was brilliant.

He only got 2 of the 6 books into the first season! There's so much room for more in season 2. The actors were signed for 3 season, so we'll see if a third gets the green light. Crave would be crazy not to go for it.

It doesn’t seem that most people who watched the show read the books.

Only one of the remaining books is about these two main characters. The other three are about other gay hockey players. I read the author is now writing a third book about these two characters to have more content for the tv series.

After reading a section of the book, I am kind of shocked it had a big following. It is a very simplistic and weak writing. You can read a chapter in about 3 minutes.

I dont hold out much hope for success for a sequel. The factors that came together to make the first series go viral are not going to be there in the next round.

Yes it’s very weak writing but people prone to cheesy romance don’t have the taste to recognize it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rachel announced a third Shane/Ilya book yesterday, Unrivaled.

Strike the iron while it’s hot
Get while the getting’s good
Baffles me when poor writers like her suddenly hit the jackpot
Probably a bit better than 50 shades of grey but still

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rachel announced a third Shane/Ilya book yesterday, Unrivaled.

Strike the iron while it’s hot
Get while the getting’s good
Baffles me when poor writers like her suddenly hit the jackpot
Probably a bit better than 50 shades of grey but still

I just finished reading Game Changer and HR. It pretty bad writing. HR was the better of the two, but miles ahead of 50 Shades.

I’ve read a lot better in the genre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loathe too much sex on screen, which is why I switched to Japanese and Korean shows some time ago (I am half east-Asian, but don't speak the language, so I watch with closed captioning). Even though some Japanese and Korean movies are known to be hyperviolent and have nudity, there is a large swathe of their production that is a lot more sensitive and restrained, and those are the ones I like to watch.

I just don't understand why people in the west equate romance with sex. That's not what it is at all. There's romance, and then there's porno. It's OK to like porno! Just don't sell it to me as romance.

Japan and Korea are suffering from severe population declines. From your post, I'm guessing it's because no one there equates romance with sex.

[Anonymous]

Just finished today. Love, love, loved it. I'll definitely watch again.

Signed,
Middle aged straight mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rachel announced a third Shane/Ilya book yesterday, Unrivaled.

Strike the iron while it’s hot
Get while the getting’s good
Baffles me when poor writers like her suddenly hit the jackpot
Probably a bit better than 50 shades of grey but still

I just finished reading Game Changer and HR. It pretty bad writing. HR was the better of the two, but miles ahead of 50 Shades.

I’ve read a lot better in the genre.

The idea of two rival male athletes who fall for each other is great, but the books are terribly written. The show is beautifully shot and executed though. Kudos to the director, actors and crew for making the story such a success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished today. Love, love, loved it. I'll definitely watch again.

Signed,
Middle aged straight mom

I am 33, straight and obsessed. So is my gay brother. On my third re-watch this weekend!
We are all in the cottage, sister.