Hot New (Gay) Hockey Series on CRAVE

[+ Gar1eth]

12 minutes ago, Becket said:

In other news, I read a review where the writer complained that she didn't much like the show because "all the butts were too perfect."

She was probably just jealous. 

[+ Gar1eth]

I'm trying to decide whether to read the series or not. I enjoyed the short, "My Dinner With Hayden."  But I'm just wondering whether reading the books will spoil the future miniseries for me. 
 

I'd appreciate hearing people's opinions. 

[samhexum]

1 hour ago, Gar1eth said:

I'm trying to decide whether to read the series or not. I enjoyed the short, "My Dinner With Hayden."  But I'm just wondering whether reading the books will spoil the future miniseries for me.

Same here.  Don't want to spoil the magic.

 

[samhexum]

SNL Video: Finn Wolfhard's Harry Potter Gets Romantic With Ron In Heated Rivalry Parody - TVLine

WWW.TVLINE.COM

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Harry Potter meets Heated Rivalry as Finn Wolfhard's Harry gets romantic with Ron in an SNL parody — watch it here.

This week on "Saturday Night Live," host Finn Wolfhard played boy wizard Harry Potter in a parody that mashed up the upcoming "Harry Potter" HBO series and the buzzy gay hockey romance "Heated Rivalry." Harry and Ben Marshall's Ron Weasley innocently bumped into each other in the halls of Hogwarts, and there was a spark between them immediately. "You dropped your wand," Ron told Harry, and their hands touched suggestively as Ron told him, "It's lovely, by the way." ("I'd love to see yours sometime," Harry replied.)

"Heated Wizardry" also saw Harry and Ron stretch out before a sexually charged game of Quidditch, with Harry showing Ron he had no pants on as he zoomed by on his broom. Hermione tried to keep Harry on task, but he preferred spending his time fumbling with Ron underneath the invisibility cloak. "What's the spell to make something bigger?" he asked. 

Harry continued flirting with Ron via messages sent by an owl: "See you at the match against Slytherin. Then you can Slytherin... to my bum." Even Hagrid —played by Jason Momoa! — knew what was going on: "You're a homo, Harry." 

[+ poolboy48220]

That SNL skit made me laugh very hard. 

[Rod Hagen]

9 hours ago, Becket said:

In other news, I read a review where the writer complained that she didn't much like the show because "all the butts were too perfect."

Maybe that was that shit review in The Guardian.  I'm not even going to repost it here.  There's a reddit trashing it, it's not a well-structured or situated review.  My understanding is that when Queer as Folk Creator Russell T. Davies positively reviewed the show* on Instagram, it was in response that snooty guardian review.  

* "Yes, gay, okay, hooray, but never mind the sex, this is a love story, a great big classic love story. And it's a really classy production, great acting, direction, lighting, music, design (the real scandal is the property porn, oh those apartments!)."

The legendary screenwriter and producer went on, "And so many gorgeous details. Too many pillows on the bed. The camera's gay gaze (that's so rarely done right). Men watching TV with their hands down their pants. And the killer line being delivered in Russian, by Svetlana, about Jane. Wonderful. And it's such bold storytelling - the wild swing of Ep.3, the rabble-rousing joy of Ep.5, the sheer patience of Ep.6. "Sometimes there's a fabulous lack of drama; traditional confrontations have all the steam taken out of them, replaced by proper, adult conversation," Davies wrote, in conclusion. "A gorgeous show, and in an age when @glaad reports LGBTQ+ representation falling under a hostile regime, Canada surges ahead into a bold new world. Magnificent!"Jacob Tierney responded, " "My king [bowing emoji] thank you so much for this." 

Two great smut and love and fun producers falling in love on Instagram.   :-). Fuck that poorly written Guardian review.

[+ Gar1eth]

7 hours ago, samhexum said:

SNL Video: Finn Wolfhard's Harry Potter Gets Romantic With Ron In Heated Rivalry Parody - TVLine

WWW.TVLINE.COM

---

Harry Potter meets Heated Rivalry as Finn Wolfhard's Harry gets romantic with Ron in an SNL parody — watch it here.

This week on "Saturday Night Live," host Finn Wolfhard played boy wizard Harry Potter in a parody that mashed up the upcoming "Harry Potter" HBO series and the buzzy gay hockey romance "Heated Rivalry." Harry and Ben Marshall's Ron Weasley innocently bumped into each other in the halls of Hogwarts, and there was a spark between them immediately. "You dropped your wand," Ron told Harry, and their hands touched suggestively as Ron told him, "It's lovely, by the way." ("I'd love to see yours sometime," Harry replied.)

"Heated Wizardry" also saw Harry and Ron stretch out before a sexually charged game of Quidditch, with Harry showing Ron he had no pants on as he zoomed by on his broom. Hermione tried to keep Harry on task, but he preferred spending his time fumbling with Ron underneath the invisibility cloak. "What's the spell to make something bigger?" he asked. 

Harry continued flirting with Ron via messages sent by an owl: "See you at the match against Slytherin. Then you can Slytherin... to my bum." Even Hagrid —played by Jason Momoa! — knew what was going on: "You're a homo, Harry." 

You only saw it for a second.  But from the quick glance shown, it looked like Ben Marshall had a very nice physique. 

[+ purplekow]

1 hour ago, Gar1eth said:

You only saw it for a second.  But from the quick glance shown, it looked like Ben Marshall had a very nice physique. 

He\\I thought he was playing Nigel Longbottom, but I went to watch it again.     Though I must say, it could have been either as he looks more like Longbottom than Weasley in body type and there was a joke by Mamoa about his Long bottom.  

 

Edited yesterday at 07:35 PM by purplekow

[Rod Hagen]

3 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

You only saw it for a second.  But from the quick glance shown, it looked like Ben Marshall had a very nice physique. 

My favorite thing from the sketch:  "JK Rowling says, ' I had nothing to do with this.'"  

Edited 22 hours ago by Rod Hagen

[samhexum]

My best friend watched episode one yesterday and said it was fine but is there going to be any actual depth of emotion between them?  I assured her there was.  She just finished it and said it was very good and she liked it a lot.

The hockey podcast brothers previously mentioned in this thread have gone viral for their enthusiasm for the show to the point where Hudson mentioned them when he was on the Tonight Show. They pointed out something very obscure.  When Ilya first enters Shane's hospital room, the first time we see Shane's monitor it reads around 100 and when Ilya walks over to him and takes his hand and Shane's eyes close and he says better, the number starts coming down. Right when the nurse comes in, the number, which had dropped to 80, becomes 81, which is Ilya's number. That can't be a co-inky-dink.

Edited 15 hours ago by samhexum
for reasons Ilya could explain in Russian but you wouldn't understand

[+ Lucky]

I am late to the game as I just watched the series this week. Yes, I liked it very much. This evening I have read the entire 13 pages of posts here about the show, and am glad that most people liked it.

@Manhattan says he did not like it, which is his prerogative and I am glad he didn't leave the board in protest of any criticism directed his way.

Sadly, another poster did leave the board after his opinion was criticized. I wish he hadn't.

[Rod Hagen]

18 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

I'm trying to decide whether to read the series or not. I enjoyed the short, "My Dinner With Hayden."  But I'm just wondering whether reading the books will spoil the future miniseries for me. 
 

I'd appreciate hearing people's opinions. 

I get the sense that like The Exorcist, like Jaws, like The Godfather most famously, this is a case where what's on the screen surpasses the text.  I'd say just watch, don't read.

[samhexum]

30 minutes ago, Rod Hagen said:

I get the sense that like The Exorcist, like Jaws, like The Godfather most famously, this is a case where what's on the screen surpasses the text.  I'd say just watch, don't read.

You mean The Exorcist wasn't as hilarious in the book, Jaws wasn't as boring, and The Godfather wasn't as long and overrated?

The Exorcist remains one of the best comedies I've ever seen. I believe I have posted this story before, but it was re-released a few years after it first came out and a bunch of us from my neighborhood went to see it. In general in my neighborhood, the boys were one to three years older than the girls so I'm guessing when we went it was mid to late teens for the boys and early to mid teens for the girls. We saw it at the midway theater on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills and they were showing it with an intermission. At intermission, the girls were all begging to leave because they had been so terrified and the guys said are you kidding? This is hilarious. We have to see how it ends, so we stayed... and even though this was during the day and the girls could've left and walked to the corner and hopped a bus to go home, they stayed, too. It's such a happy memory whenever it comes up!

Edited 15 hours ago by samhexum
because the devil made him do it

[+ jeezopete]

20 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

I'm trying to decide whether to read the series or not. I enjoyed the short, "My Dinner With Hayden."  But I'm just wondering whether reading the books will spoil the future miniseries for me. 
 

I'd appreciate hearing people's opinions. 

The first two books in the series were delivered to my doorstep yesterday. I won't read any of the later books because I want to experience the second season spoiler free like I did the first. I opened Heated Rivalry to a random page just to preview the layout & writing style. The page contained a graphic description of Shane straddling Ilya, grabbing Ilya's cock and then stroking both cocks together. It went on to say the feeling was very stimulating despite both cocks being dry. I then flipped to two other pages (I needed to take a breath), and both pages contained scenes exactly as depicted in the series.

If either of these books goes farther in time than season 1, I'll have to stop reading and hide it somewhere (probably next to my exercise bike, I'll never see it there) and wait until the next season airs.

[+ Gar1eth]

11 hours ago, purplekow said:

He\\I thought he was playing Nigel Longbottom, but I went to watch it again.

He's def playing Ron. I think Harry calls him Ron at one point. Even if Harry didn't, Ben is playing Quidditch which Neville was horrible at. 'Hagrid' is just using the name as a joke. 

[samhexum]

On 1/17/2026 at 12:05 PM, riowanderer said:

QUICK QUESTION / EPISODE 5 > Did anyone else catch the error IMO during the Tampa pool scene when IIya approaches Shane lounging in his chair and calls him > "Hallander"...not Hollander 

I watch with closed captioning and he says Hey Hollander but it comes out as almost one word, so I think that's what you heard, rather than a mispronunciation that late in the production.

[+ purplekow]

55 minutes ago, Gar1eth said:

He's def playing Ron. I think Harry calls him Ron at one point. Even if Harry didn't, Ben is playing Quidditch which Neville was horrible at. 'Hagrid' is just using the name as a joke. 

Ah you must have read it before I corrected it.  There is a Long Bottom joke and that is what threw me off.  That and his body is more in keeping with Neville Longbottom rather than the stout Ron Weasley.  But it is very clear that it is indeed Ron.  

[+ Gar1eth]

1 hour ago, Gar1eth said:

He's def playing Ron. I think Harry calls him Ron at one point. Even if Harry didn't, Ben is playing Quidditch which Neville was horrible at. 'Hagrid' is just using the name as a joke. 

 

48 minutes ago, purplekow said:

Ah you must have read it before I corrected it.  There is a Long Bottom joke and that is what threw me off.  That and his body is more in keeping with Neville Longbottom rather than the stout Ron Weasley.  But it is very clear that it is indeed Ron.  

Sorry, I guess I did. But, and I apologize for having to point this out, Neville Longbottom is the portly one. In fact I believe there was a big deal at the time when  the actor Matthew Lewis lost weight from puberty (I just re-looked this up and confirmed it). In the later films he actually had to wear a fat suit.

Ron was always the skinny one. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Gar1eth

[dutchal]

On 1/16/2026 at 4:54 PM, riowanderer said:

I love this feel-good narrative, but it isn't entirely true!:) The "Game-Changer" book series, much like similar global smash-hit "Heartstopper", already had a large rabid fan base. Multiple other larger streamers expressed interest in bankrolling this series because they knew it had definite commercial appeal. However, their higher budgets came with far too many creative demands and compromises for producer Jacob Tierney who wisely traded off on Crave Canada's lower budget for major creative control. True, the newbie stars and cast worked in their own little bubble over the short 37 day production shoot and were hardly thinking this would become the global smash-hit it deservedly has. But it would be a stretch to say that Crave Canada + Jacob Tierney never thought this wouldn't find at least some degree of success based on the built-in audience for the popular book series, much like the previous "Pure Queer Joy" genre massive success of low-budget / newbie actor "Heartstopper"!:)

"Red, White, and Royal Blue" is another example.

[dutchal]

On 1/17/2026 at 2:03 AM, SirBillybob said:

The book characters are all real, non-fiction people and they didn’t just jump off the pages of novels. So you cannot just fill in information gaps according to your personal whims or confabulation.😏 All of the questions are ultimately important and one hopes all answers are forthcoming. 

What are you talking about?  The characters in the Game Changer books series are all fictional.

[dutchal]

On 1/18/2026 at 1:25 AM, Becket said:

In other news, I read a review where the writer complained that she didn't much like the show because "all the butts were too perfect."

And where three of the four butts shown belong to professional athletes, this is surprising why?

[Rod Hagen]

11 hours ago, samhexum said:

You mean The Exorcist wasn't as hilarious in the book, Jaws wasn't as boring, and The Godfather wasn't as long and overrated?

Only that they were better made movies than books. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Rod Hagen

[samhexum]

6 minutes ago, Rod Hagen said:

Only that they were better made movies than books. 

must've been really bad books

[dutchal]

21 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

You only saw it for a second.  But from the quick glance shown, it looked like Ben Marshall had a very nice physique. 

[riowanderer]

9 hours ago, samhexum said:

I watch with closed captioning and he says Hey Hollander but it comes out as almost one word, so I think that's what you heard, rather than a mispronunciation that late in the production.

I hear ya > closed captioning may say "Hey Hollander", but listening to what IIya actually says, it's one continuous word..."Haylander" > no biggie at all...I'm sure someone picked that up during post-production, but hardly anything worth correcting or quickly re-dubbing