"This should really be a wakeup call for studio executives who believe that love stories can’t succeed on their own," @gavia.bsky.social writes. "If Jacob Tierney can strike gold by adapting a tried-and-tested romantic formula, then other showrunners can surely do the same."

A lot of really good analysis here as to why TV historically hasn't made shows like #HeatedRivaly. For Reasons (most of them dumb! frustrating!), TV continues to leave money on the table (aside from Hallmark etc). Not ideal! I hope the success of HR changes this however +

Femslash fans! We* need you! (*In case you're unfamiliar, The Rec Center is a weekly newsletter of fandom articles, fanart, and fic recs run by @elizabethminkel.bsky.social and @gavia.bsky.social. It has nothing to do with Fansplaining other than being made by our editor + frequent contributor. 😅)

"People really, really want to watch characters fall in love and get a happy ending, and it shouldn’t be so hard to make that happen." In our latest, @gavia.bsky.social writes about Heated Rivalry as a romance adaptation—and why many TV execs remain frustratingly averse to the genre:

That's why fandom journalism from a fannish perspective is so important! Hopefully readers will support the Fansplaining relaunch in a couple of months! 🙏

There have been *a lot* of bad HR pieces over the past few weeks, so hopefully this will be an antidote to some of them! @gavia.bsky.social digs into the industry forces keeping the romance genre off the small screen here in the U.S., feat. bonus commentary from @readingtheend.bsky.social! 💕

Here it is: My thoughts on Heated Rivalry's fantastic adaptation of romance genre storytelling - and why this is such a bizarrely rare phenomenon on TV.

"The real question here isn’t why Heated Rivalry is a hit—it’s why this kind of romance series is so rare in the first place." The great @gavia.bsky.social returns to Fansplaining with an incisive piece on Heated Rivalry, romance publishing, and the TV industry. Read or listen to an audio version:

i've been thinking about this very topic for weeks, aaand indeed have a piece coming soon at @fansplaining.bsky.social to this effect. will Heated Rivalry finally persuade the tv industry to acknowledge the popularity of pure genre romance!!!

We imagine there are a lot of folks in our orbit who will be interested in Mothership! (Congrats on the launch! 🎉)

Thanks SO much to everyone who's excited about our next chapter, and especially folks who supported us on Patreon/Ko-Fi yesterday!! Every $ helps us commission more work for our launch & beyond. 🙏🏼 (If *you'd* like to support us, click through! You can also leave your email to get relaunch updates.)

I am *so* excited and eager to be assisting the brilliant @elizabethminkel.bsky.social with the Fansplaining relaunch! Send us your pitches! Your manifestos! Your passionate long-smoldering angle on a fandom or fandom cultural practice or a specific fan or all the fans! Send all the things!

SO EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THIS TODAY!! I really do believe the mainstream media's interest in fan culture was temporary; today's outlets seem to care so little about culture writing, period. I can't wait to publish all the talented folks out there (especially adding criticism to our remit!). 💕

🎉 THE BIG NEWS IS HERE 🎉 This spring, Fansplaining will relaunch as a full weekly publication, featuring reporting, analysis, criticism, personal essays, and much more, all under our longtime strapline: “By, for, and about fandom.” Check out our full announcement (in written and audio form):

We've got a very exciting announcement coming tomorrow.... (Patrons who listened to our recent special episode know what's happening. 😉)

Okay it's officially time for the MANY terrible recent takes on fandom to stop. There are literally decades of academic work and reams of fandom journalism by ppl like me and @gavia.bsky.social and @fansplaining.bsky.social that are intended to save you from embarrassing yourselves to this degree!

It was a DELIGHT to record a Fansplaining episode again!!!

You guessed right! In one final treat before the end of the year, real live priest @fatherflourish.bsky.social returns to Fansplaining to discuss the latest Knives Out installment, WAKE UP DEAD MAN. 🙌🏼 Patrons at $3 and up get access to audio + a full transcript: www.fansplaining.com/episodes/spe...

Thee @tamarherman.com on K-pop is always worth reading. notesonkpop.com/2025-ends-wi... (My only suggestion is instead of reading that sorta basic NYT piece she links, read this much better one I wrote for @fansplaining.bsky.social 🔥 ) www.fansplaining.com/articles/kpo...

Your hint is: What current movie would draw this PRIEST back onto Fansplaining's airwaves???

We’ve got one more holiday treat for patrons before the year ends, featuring a special guest star… 🥰 Keep an eye on your inboxes tomorrow!

I'm so glad I got to work with this batch of talented writers, and very proud of all the pieces I edited in 2025. At a moment when mainstream coverage of fandom is more dire than...possibly when I started covering this beat in the early 2010s?? I'm grateful I can try to counter that in a small way.

✨✨✨ Fansplaining's 2025 year in review! ✨✨✨ Over on Tumblr, a few thoughts about the (bleak) state of cultural—and especially fandom-related—coverage in the mainstream media, followed by a full rundown of the fantastic writing we've been able to publish this year: www.tumblr.com/fansplaining...

In our latest piece, @kaytiburt.bsky.social digs into the motivations behind fandom tourism—and how both entitlement and respect often come from the same emotional place. Read or listen to an audio version: www.fansplaining.com/articles/can...

"The best of fandom isn't transactional. It’s moments of unlikely connection between strangers or friends who might not have crossed paths, let alone traveled them together, if not for loving the same thing." @kaytiburt.bsky.social on fan tourism—and how to make it collaborative, not extractive:

Such a pleasure to publish @kaytiburt.bsky.social again—an incredibly thoughtful writer!! Commission her!! I was also excited to dive a bit deeper on fan tourism conceptually, because I feel like a lot of media coverage about the subject is about the "what," and rarely goes too far into the "why."

I continue to be grateful—as a writer, reader, lifelong fan—that Fansplaining exists as a space to properly wonder about how fandom shapes modern life. In this piece, I am wondering about how fandom can make us better and worse tourists, with the editorial guidance of @elizabethminkel.bsky.social.

Our final piece of 2025 is live! 💞 @kaytiburt.bsky.social writes about fan tourism: the good, the bad, and...the basis for deeper cross-cultural connection? On Purple Festa, an event that brings fans of Korean pop culture closer to traditional Korean culture. Read or listen to an audio version:

We're putting the finishing touches on the final Fansplaining article of the year, by the inimitable @kaytiburt.bsky.social! Out tomorrow—here's a sneak peak. 😘

"Some people go to therapy, and some people write with their friends about semi-fictional pirates having sex. Some people do both!" In our latest, @mossheadlives.bsky.social writes about text-based roleplaying in fandom. Read or listen to an audio version:

ALSO MARY SUE 2 IS OUT ON ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN’S 16th BIRTHDAY?! Happy birthday AO3, you and Cassie are the same age.

I'm so excited that this piece is out!! I've always found fandom roleplaying to be weirdly under-discussed (in media, academia) considering how much crossover there is w/ fic spaces. And @mossheadlives.bsky.social took an initial sort of explainer draft to such a beautiful essay in the end—read it!

IT’S LIVE!!!!!!! this piece means the world to me, it’s about connection and exploration, but it’s also about how old man yaoi can be a transformative thing. thank u to everyone who made this piece real!

Our November piece is live! ✨ @mossheadlives.bsky.social writes about text-based roleplaying in fandom—and about using these existing characters to explore their gender identity. Read the piece or listen to an audio version (and check out the gorgeous art by @thebeanbaguette.bsky.social):

hehehe ☺️

being illustrated for rocks. so excited for this piece to meet the world!!! <3

We're putting the finishing touches on our November piece: @mossheadlives.bsky.social on fandom text-based roleplaying and gender exploration! ✨ (Plus: Here's a sneak peak of the gorgeous art we commissioned for the piece by @thebeanbaguette.bsky.social.) Out this coming Wednesday!

In our latest piece, @megfitz89.bsky.social discusses her new indie comic, MARY SUE, and the evolving conversation around the Mary Sues more broadly. Read the essay or listen to an audio version—and check out a sneak peak of the first issue of the comic: www.fansplaining.com/articles/rec...

(absolutely obsessed with issue 1 of this and i'm not even a real comics person, highly recommended)

“I found writing Mary Sues a way to give me the courage I needed to tell a story, to explore themes I was working through, in the safe space of a fictional world I loved.” @megfitz89.bsky.social writes about her new comic, MARY SUE, “a love letter to fandom”: www.fansplaining.com/articles/rec...

When I initially talked to @megfitz89.bsky.social at SDCC about promoting Mary Sue when it came out, I thought, "You are going to write something for me." 😈 I'm so pleased to be able to run this essay & excerpts from the (fantastic!!) first issue. A work about fic fandom from a fic fandom person!!

Trigger warning -- I talk about some of the death threats I've gotten in the past, and how those death threats led to writing Mary Sue. (starting with the death threat I tell at parties bc it makes me laugh) ALSO, if you haven't read it yet, the end of the piece links to an extended preview!

Our October piece is live! 💞 @megfitz89.bsky.social writes about MARY SUE, her indie comic about a fanfic writer for a CWesque vampire show whose Mary Sue character comes to life. This piece is part essay about Mary Sues, part excerpt from the first issue. Read or listen to a full audio version:

when someone gives you the chance to actually make good on your IN THIS ESSAY I WILL threat, you take them up on it.

We're putting the finishing touches on our October piece, an essay from @megfitz89.bsky.social (who's written for DC Comics, Supernatural, and many other fan-favorite properties) about her new indie comic, Mary Sue, which is—you guessed it—about a fic writer! It'll be out on Wednesday! ✨

This is today! ✨

Congratulations!! 😍😍😍 (Meghan was a Fansplaining SDCC 2025 panelist—and she’s the author of our October piece! She’ll be diving into her experience writing Mary Sue in an essay with excerpted images, though don’t wait til that’s out to get yourself a copy!)

Yes! I recorded the article too which was a lot of fun (in between my cat trying to sabotage the project)

Your weekend read! 💓 @bookshop.bsky.social digs into the complicated intersections between the skyrocketing Kpop Demon Hunters fandom vs the (real) K-pop industry & fans. As always, if you prefer listening, we've got a full audio version along with the text! www.fansplaining.com/articles/kpo...