Sources

  1. https://theasc.com/articles/heated-rivalry-cinematography
  2. https://www.showlabs.tv/en/title/338755-heated-rivalry
  3. https://televisionstats.com/s/heated-rivalry
  4. https://glaad.org/glaad-releases-20th-annual-where-we-are-on-tv-report/
  5. https://www.metacritic.com/tv/heated-rivalry/
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Queer TV

by Dante

This project looks at how LGBTQ representation in television has changed, especially as more recent shows move away from stereotypes and start telling more fully developed, central stories. It focuses in particular on Heated Rivalry, a series that, despite its niche premise, has built a large (and passionate) audience online.

As streaming continues to shape how people watch TV, LGBTQ stories are reaching wider audiences and gaining more visibility, often driven by fan communities and online discussion as much as by the industry itself. By looking at audience data, engagement trends, and real-world perspectives, this project explores how these shows are not just reflecting culture, but actively influencing how LGBTQ identities are seen.

Data journalism is a big part of this project!
The Excel spreadsheet below shows all my data collected on important LGBTQ shows since 2015. Most data focuses on the US and western hemisphere.

In my research, I have struggled finding a website that truly compiles modern LGBTQ TV shows as a research project. Most content online is just basic lists even though TV is a strong reflection of culture. On social media creators often focus on specific shows but there exists less discussion of the broader patterns in queer narrative driven TV. It is important to have a compiled source of information about queer TV shows. Anime and docuseries are excluded.

Trends in Non-Canon LGBTQ Storytelling

These shows are all popular online series that have well-known LGBTQ ships that never became canon, with a few exceptions. Each of these shows could be explained in depth, but the overall trend is that many rely on queerbaiting as a way to draw in audiences. Fanservice is also a recurring element in LGBTQ-related TV discourse, and can be interpreted as either positive or negative depending on the viewer.

Across many popular television shows, audiences have developed strong emotional investments in LGBTQ relationships that were never written as canon. These ships often emerge from character dynamics that suggest tension without explicit confirmation, allowing viewers to interpret meaning that the media itself leaves unresolved. This pattern reflects both a gap in representation and a longstanding industry tendency to imply queerness (often to get more money from queer audiences) without fully committing to it. As a result, queer audiences and increasingly broader fan communities have used these relationships as a way to engage more deeply with the material, producing discussion, fanfiction, and discourse that extends far beyond the original narrative. Sometimes, even influencing the show's production. The popularity of these pairings highlights how audiences are not just consuming media, but actively reshaping it,in response to the limits of what is chosen to be shown on screen.
Deciding if a particular show should be labeled as queerbating, fanservice, or other is entirely my own opinion based on research and knowledge about the shows.

  1. Sherlock (2010, BBC) mlm- Sherlock and John - queerbaiting
  2. Supernatural (2005) mlm- Dean + Cas deathbed confession in final season, widely seen as fanservice - queerbaiting
  3. Teen Wolf (2011) - mlm - Stiles and Derek
  4. The Good Place (2016) - wlw - Eleanor and Tahani
  5. Hannibal (2013) - mlm - Hannibal and Will - queerbaiting
  6. Rizzoli and Isles (2010) - wlw - Jane and Sasha - queerbaiting
  7. Interview with the Vampire (2022) - mlm- Luis and Lestat
  8. Merlin (2008) - mlm - Merlin and Arthur - queerbaiting
  9. Supergirl (2016) - wlw - Kara and Lena - queerbaiting
  10. Good Omens (2019) - mlm - Aziraphale and Crowley - fanservice

    Note: The original text was not explicitly queer, with the author intending a more implied romance. However, due to the outpouring of online shipping, fanfiction, and audience pressure, the second season concluded with a breakup kiss between the two main characters. The show was later cancelled, with a 90-minute conclusion planned. This reflects a pattern of appealing to fans while portraying LGBTQ relationships in a limited or unresolved way, often presenting possibility rather than a fully developed relationship.

  11. House (2004) - mlm - Gregory and James

Canon Trends after Heated Rivalry

Following the release of Heated Rivalry, increased online interest in similar gay male romance and queer-centered series can be seen through digital popularity metrics rather than direct viewership data. Platforms like TelevisionStats track audience engagement through web traffic, social media activity, and overall online interaction, offering insight into what audiences are paying attention to.

During this period, shows such as Our Flag Means Death, The Fosters, Good Omens, Fellow Travelers, Pose, Schitts Creek, and Hollywood appeared within broader online popularity rankings, indicating sustained or rising public interest. Similarly, IMDbs popularity rankings, such as MOVIEmeter, reflect user behavior like page views and searches rather than quality, meaning spikes in these rankings increased audience curiosity.

Taken together, these metrics suggest a measurable increase in online engagement with queer television narratives during this timeframe after the release of Heated Rivalry with at least two different sources, With even myself wanting to watch something similar.

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