Why is it so successful? I've heard people of all genders, races and sexualities discuss it IRL.

I watched the 1st two episodes and they were good, but of all the gay shows to "make it", why this one?

Why didn't Pose, Hollywood or Fellow Travelers go super mainstream the way this one has? I'm puzzled.

Hollywood doesnt deserve to be in the conversation.

Because stories about gay poeple dont need to be equal to HIV.

Because of episodes 3, 5 and 6.

beautiful butt from ilya, shane is , and so is scott and kip. they're all so beautiful it's hard to keep eyes away from them. great casting.

Girl, is it? Idk. I've had one coworker mention it and a few horny gays post it on their IG stories but nothing indicates it has truly permeated the mainstream.

I honestly don't know, especially considering what I've seen from the show but it's good for representation, I suppose.

Fetishization from a certain female demographic (see author of series)

The story is nothing new cause there's gazilions of asian BLs from Japan to Thailand which pretty have almost the same dynamics, plots, cliches etc so it happened its a white gay show with white actors / white passing in it plays a huge factor for its success.

Edited January 13Jan 13 by Odette Violet

because the world is HORNY

It's just a sweet, relatively low stakes, well-written, smutty and not too gay (read: "niche" gay) story for the mainstream audience.

Edited January 13Jan 13 by Thin White Duke

Why is McDonald's so successful, why is Taylor Swift so successful

Mass psychosis

It is unapologetic about the kind of show that it's trying to be.

The people want a good romance, especially one that doesn't end in tragedy.

Good show that struck with audiences. Unfortunately, that audience is now showing themselves to be as mentally unstable as the k-pop fanbase.

It is a great show with great chemistry between the actors. It's also not portraying gay men as tragic figures and their devotion and love for each other builds instead of burning out or ending with one of them getting married to a woman or dying tragically.

I find it puzzling that I see so much hate from online gays for this show despite the fact that at least 3 and possibly all four of the main characters are being gay or bisexual, good looking, talented and basically unknown actors who worked hard to get the recognition they are getting right now.

because it's porn with a story line

it's hawt

Hockey is a very interesting sport

Because finally we got a "happy" story.

Like people above have said, I'm soooo tired of 90% gay stories to be about AIDS or murder or hetero marriage.

The chemistry between the leads is amazing, the cinematography is excellent and they did well with the budget that they got.

And they actually adapted the story close to the books. That's why it got so popular in the first place. Book readers kept raving about it how it's faithful to the original story and people got curious and so on. We're tired of botched adaptations with directors and writers that think they can do better than the author.

The cinematography, editing, and score are really really good, it's very well-made, and the guys are extremely hot, and I think what's really done it is that it lured people in with the sex in the first couple episodes, and then it hit everyone with the emotional napalm of episodes 3-5. The success of the series is really great right now because it shows that explicitly gay stuff can have a mainstream audience. I think it's elevating the gay dollar so to speak, gay artists should be happy about this and I think it will result in more opportunities

Because the story (while different) would be amazing even if they were straight or lesbians. It conveys intimacy and vulnerability in a way most people can relate to, even if they are not queer. Them being hot and gay is truly a bonus.

Great casting, some strong acting (especially Connor Storie) and a cute, believable story. It never feels like it goes too far (or far at all, really) so it never jumps the shark.

Plus, hockey and hockey romance has been trending upwards with a very certain demographic of women for like 7 years.

Romance has historically always been the biggest genre. Film, plays, books, poetry, etc. It's something almost anyone can find relatable on some level. The past several years have been filled with people mourning the loss of rom coms. People didn't suddenly lose interest in love stories, those stories just got diluted into genre messes. This is straight up just a love story. Most of the scenes are just two people interacting. There's essentially no B-plots, no distractions, etc. A lot of love stories now are just action movies with a romantic interest as some weak effort to appeal to women. In general, it was a great time for this show to come along.

Then it released late November/December to strategically take advantage of the lighter TV release schedule that comes with winter breaks. That allowed it to attract more eyes early on and for it to go mega viral. The nudity and how sensational the premise sounds (there's a lot of novelty there) certainly helped initially, as those images and reactions were shared a ton. I have to imagine TikTok helped a lot more though, and the nudity didn't get shared on there. So many edits went viral that were just the cutesy moments, or just the yearning to any song imaginable.

Importantly, the show is just really well done lol. It's a genre that doesn't get respected and everyone involved put so much effort and care into making something amazing. The two lead performances are so unexpected for a show like this. I've seen comparisons to other romance adaptions that apparently removed all the yearning and serious plot points and became mindless fluffy slop and get why this one stands out. I think being so short helps too. The quick turnaround from steamy and sad yearning to full on rom com by episode 6 is so satisfying.

23 minutes ago, Iyanla, Fix Me said:

Because the story (while different) would be amazing even if they were straight or lesbians. It conveys intimacy and vulnerability in a way most people can relate to, even if they are not queer. Them being hot and gay is truly a bonus.

It made me and my partner more vulnerable with each other. I express my love for my partner more now. Both couples in the show are great role models for how they speak to and treat each other. We need more gay couples portrayed in this way.

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