For some gay viewers, Jack McPhee was the character who made television feel a little less lonely.

He belonged in the world of crushes, friendship and complicated feelings that made Dawson’s Creek appointment viewing. And when he kissed another boy, the show let that longing become something audiences could actually see.

More than 25 years later, Kerr Smith still hears what that meant.

In a new interview with The Guardian, Smith looks back at playing Jack, the hostility surrounding the storyline and the viewers who continue to thank him.

“People come up to me and say, ‘Hey, Jack, the storyline changed my life.’”

A coffee invitation that changed Jack’s story

Smith joined the series in 1998, initially playing a potential romantic complication for Joey Potter. When creator Kevin Williamson invited him for coffee early in his run, Smith wondered whether his new job was already ending.

Instead, Williamson wanted to take Jack in a different direction. Smith recalls asking for time to consider the proposal before becoming part of the show’s gay coming-of-age story.

That journey led to the 2000 season-three finale, when Jack kissed Ethan, played by Adam Kaufman. It became a landmark moment for gay romance on US primetime television.

Smith remembers being nervous and filming ten takes. A director’s advice helped: approach it as two people who were attracted to each other, rather than making their genders the obstacle.

The kiss had a battle behind it

Earlier reporting adds another revealing detail. In a 2020 Us Weekly interview, episode co-writer Gina Fattore recalled the network asking for the scene to be filmed from across the street and worrying about its passion.

Showrunner Greg Berlanti wanted the opposite: an unmistakably romantic moment. He also later described wanting to correct the disappointment of earlier television that pulled away before two men’s lips met.

Those choices matter. Jack’s feelings deserved the same attention as the straight characters’ romances.

What viewers carried with them

Smith’s recollections include protests outside the studio and discovering homophobic graffiti on his car while working on The Forsaken. He says he never learned who was responsible.

Yet the affection from viewers remains the stronger thread in his account. For an audience that remembers searching for even a glimpse of itself on television, that enduring connection is easy to understand.

His memoir, I Don’t Want to Wait: My Life on Dawson’s Creek, arrives November 10 in the US, bringing together his memories and contributions from the people who made the series.

Capeside supplied plenty of romantic drama. Jack gave some viewers something more personal: a story they could recognise themselves in.

📷 WB/Hulu/Wikimedia

Benny is getting more comfortable with himself. That does not mean he is about to become sensible.

Overcompensating, Benito Skinner’s college comedy, returns to Prime Video on February 17, 2027, according to Vanity Fair’s exclusive first look. The newly released images offer an appropriately affectionate introduction to a season promising more sexual exploration, more complications and more joy.

Meet the man trying very hard to fit in

Skinner, known online as Benny Drama, created the semi-autobiographical series and stars as Benny, a closeted former football player navigating his first year of college.

As he explained in an interview with the Television Academy, the show grew from material about his own experiences hiding his sexuality in high school and college.

The title captures a familiar performance: trying to be the version of yourself you think other people will accept, even when maintaining that character becomes exhausting.

Coming out is not a straight line

In the new Vanity Fair interview, Skinner describes a second season that allows Benny more freedom while recognising how uneven coming out can be. Progress can be followed by retreat; confidence in one situation does not guarantee it in the next.

But Skinner also says Benny has more joy this time, allowing the comedy to loosen up. More intimate encounters do not mean everything goes smoothly. The gap between trying to be sexy and making a fool of yourself remains fertile territory.

The new cast includes Tom Francis, while familiar faces such as Lukas Gage return. Fans can expect a wider world for the supporting characters as well as bigger emotional stakes for Benny.

The friendship underneath the chaos

One of the show’s most meaningful connections is Benny’s friendship with Carmen, played by Wally Baram.

Speaking to NPR in 2025, Skinner explained that a female friend at college was the first person around whom he felt he could stop performing masculinity. That relationship helped shape the series.

He also spoke about revisiting painful memories through comedy and finding some forgiveness for not having come out sooner.

For older gay viewers, that may be the connection that outlasts any particular campus party or crush. You do not need to be a student to remember rehearsing a version of yourself—or the relief of meeting someone who did not require the performance.

Season two promises plenty of comic embarrassment. There is also room for the gentler possibility that becoming yourself can bring pleasure, friendship and a little more compassion for your younger self.

📷 @vanityfair @amazonprime

A hockey captain, a smoothie-shop barista and a Christmas movie. If that sounds like a promising addition to your festive viewing, Heated Rivalry has some intriguing news.

Deadline reports that seasons two and three are filming back-to-back, with a holiday film focused on Scott Hunter and Kip Grady also planned.

The report points to a December 2027 theatrical release for the film. Crave, however, says it has no new projects to confirm. Those additional plans remain reported developments, rather than an official announcement.

The other hockey romance deserves its moment

François Arnaud plays Scott, the established hockey player whose carefully guarded life changes when he meets Kip, played by Robbie G.K.

Their attraction gives the first season a different rhythm from Shane and Ilya’s rivalry. Scott and Kip connect quickly, but wanting one another is only part of the challenge. They have to work out what kind of relationship they can actually share.

In a joint interview with Swooon, G.K. described Kip as someone grounded in his friendships and family support. Arnaud discussed the cost of Scott asking his boyfriend to keep their relationship hidden.

That tension is familiar beyond the world of professional sport: loving someone and being able to build an open life together are not always the same thing.

Scott and Kip came first on the page

There is a pleasing detail for viewers discovering the novels through the show. Scott and Kip lead Game Changer, the first book in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series.

Reid’s official book page introduces their relationship through Scott’s pregame routines and repeated visits to Kip’s smoothie counter. A sporting superstition becomes an excuse to return to a man he wants to know better.

Shane and Ilya’s story follows in the second novel, Heated Rivalry. Giving Scott and Kip a separate screen project would put the spotlight back on the couple who started the book series.

What is officially coming next?

Season two is scheduled for spring 2027. Bell Media has also confirmed Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, joining Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in leading roles.

There are already more characters and relationships on the way. The reported Scott-and-Kip film would offer something especially appealing: time for another couple’s love story to fill the frame.

For now, it belongs on the wish list. But a festive return to these two? We can certainly see the attraction.

📷 Crave

Shane and Ilya have found another place to turn up the heat: the cinema.

Nearly a year after its streaming debut, Heated Rivalry has opened its theatrical run with an estimated $1.4 million from 945 theatres. Box Office Mojo’s November 6–8 chart lists those figures for the opening weekend.

It’s a striking invitation to revisit a television romance on a different scale, with a roomful of fellow fans along for the ride.

Same romance, bigger screen

Created by Jacob Tierney and based on Rachel Reid’s books, the Canadian series stars Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov.

As Bell Media’s official synopsis describes, their rivalry on the ice develops alongside a secret relationship that unfolds over years. Ambition and professional competition complicate a connection that becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.

The cinema event presents the existing six-episode first season. It gives viewers a chance to revisit the story rather than introducing a new feature film or episodes from the upcoming second season.

Regal’s announcement sets the U.S. engagement for November 6–30, with episodes grouped into three pairs and tickets priced at $9.99 per paired screening. Regal is distributing the event to other participating chains as well as its own locations.

The attraction of watching together

Of course, a cinema offers a larger view of Williams and Storrie. Nobody is pretending that’s a hardship.

But there’s a more interesting connection behind this release: the relationship fans have built with the characters, and the opportunity to experience that attachment together.

In an interview with Inc., Regal executive Brooks LeBoeuf described the intensity of that emotional connection. He also said full-season marathon screenings had proved more popular than the company anticipated.

For a gay romance already available to stream, that shared experience gives the cinema run its particular charm. A rewatch can become an outing with friends, a date, or a chance to enjoy a favourite story among people who feel the same way.

More dates with Shane and Ilya

Distributor Sphere Abacus confirms cinema engagements in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, with Australia and New Zealand following from December 5. The distributor also confirms that season two is due in 2027.

For now, the first season is giving fans another reason to gather. Shane and Ilya’s relationship may begin in secret, but the audience’s affection for their story is very public indeed.

📷 Crave