The U.K. dominates this year’s International Emmy nominations, but Canada’s Heated Rivalry is noticeably missing from the list.
Awards season has officially found another way to make television fans argue with their screens. The International Emmys have announced this year’s nominees, with the United Kingdom leading the pack — and one very popular Canadian hockey romance conspicuously sitting this one out. Yes, Heated Rivalry did not make the cut.
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The Bell Media/Crave series was submitted for consideration, a Bell Media representative confirmed, but the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences ultimately left it off the nomination list. Considering how much attention the series generated earlier this year in both Canada and the U.S., where it aired on HBO Max, its absence is bound to get people talking.
And if you spent any amount of time watching Heated Rivalry, you probably already know that the show has never exactly been short on drama.
The United Kingdom picked up 14 nominations this year, including A Thousand Blows in Drama Series and Man vs. Baby in Comedy. Brazil follows with nine nominations, while Spain lands five.
Meanwhile, Canadian fans are left with a very specific awards-season question: so, what happened to the hockey boys?
So Why Wasn’t Heated Rivalry Eligible for a Regular Emmy?
This is where the awards bureaucracy enters the chat. Heated Rivalry was a Canadian commission from Bell Media/Crave. Because it had no U.S. production partners, it was not eligible for consideration by the Television Academy for the Primetime Emmys.
That made the International Emmys a potential awards-season destination instead. The series was submitted for consideration, but when the nominees were announced Wednesday, its name wasn’t on the list.
That doesn’t erase the show’s impact. Heated Rivalry became a major international and U.S. phenomenon earlier this year, turning fictional hockey players into a surprisingly effective source of television obsession.
But apparently, being watched, discussed and emotionally dissected by a very enthusiastic audience doesn’t automatically come with an awards nomination. Rude.
The International Emmys Have Plenty Going On
While Heated Rivalry is missing from the Drama Series lineup, the International Emmys have plenty of television ready to fill the void.
This year’s nominees include 64 programs across 16 categories and 22 countries, covering everything from scripted drama and comedy to documentaries, children’s programming, news, sports and telenovelas.
Here’s the full list:
- Drama Series
- A Thousand Blows — United Kingdom
- Carême — France
- Menem — Argentina
- Real Kashmir Football Club — India
- Comedy
- División Palermo — Season 2 [Community Squad] — Argentina
- Man vs. Baby — United Kingdom
- Old Dog, New Tricks — Spain
- Vir Das: Fool Volume — India
- TV Movie/Mini-Series
- Anatomía de un Instante [The Anatomy of a Moment] — Spain
- Hyper Knife — South Korea
- Máscaras de Oxigênio Não Cairão Automaticamente [Oxygen Masks Will Not Drop Down Automatically] — Brazil
- Prisoner 951 — United Kingdom
- Arts Programming
- Copy + Paste + Steal — Singapore
- Der talentierte Mr. F — Germany
- Live Aid at 40: When Rock ‘N’ Roll Took on the World — United Kingdom
- Passinho Foda — O Corre por Trás da Dança [Uncredited — The Story of Passinho] — Brazil
- Best Performance by an Actor
- Javier Cámara, Yakarta [Jakarta] — Spain
- Ricardo Darín, The Eternaut — Argentina
- Ian Roberts, A Kind of Madness — South Africa
- Bobby Schofield, Unforgivable — United Kingdom
- Best Performance by an Actress
- Mona Mina Leon, Holy Sh!t — Belgium
- Bárbara Mori, Lucca’s World — Mexico
- Park Ji-hyun, You and Everything Else — South Korea
- Sheridan Smith, I Fought the Law — United Kingdom
- Current Affairs
- Al Jazeera Investigates: Hasina: 36 Days in July — Qatar
- Arte Reportage: My Father’s Hair — France
- Exposure: Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War — United Kingdom
- Profissão Repórter: Feminice — Brazil
- Documentary
- Louis Theroux: The Settlers — United Kingdom
- Marcial Maciel: El Lobo de Dios [Marcial Maciel: The Wolf of God] — Mexico
- One “Orphan” Every Hour — Singapore
- Opioïdes, Business & Addiction [Addiction Criminals] — France
- Kids: Animation
- Irmão do Jorel — Season 5 [Jorel’s Brother] — Brazil
- Lenas Hof [Lena’s Farm] — Germany
- My Melody & Kuromi — Japan
- The Scarecrows’ Wedding — United Kingdom
- Kids: Factual & Entertainment
- Horrible Science — United Kingdom
- Mitateru-Phose: Let’s Change Perspectives! — Japan
- Nysgjerrige Noah [Adventurous Noah] — Norway
- Terceirão [Senior_SZN] — Brazil
- Kids: Live-Action
- 31 Minutos: Calurosa Navidad — Chile
- De Achterblijvers [Those Left Behind] — Netherlands
- Dexter Procter the Ten Year Old Doctor — United Kingdom
- Love at First Spike — Philippines
- News
- Fantástico: Isolated in the Amazon — Brazil
- Lembra-te de Mim [Remember Me] — Portugal
- Missing in Gaza — Qatar
- The World: 24 Hours in the Kill Zone — United Kingdom
- Non-Scripted Entertainment
- Ed Stafford’s Rite of Passage — China
- Educating Yorkshire — Season 2 — United Kingdom
- La Peor Vuelta al Mundo [The Worst Trip Around the World] — Mexico
- Loups-Garous — Season 2 [Werewolves] — France
- Short-Form Series
- De Klas van 2000 [The Class of 2000] — Belgium
- Jornada da Vida: Rio Mekong — Brazil
- PeopleWatching — Season 3 — Canada
- Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 — Japan
- Sports Documentary
- Baila, Vini — Brazil
- Temps Mort [Time-Out] — Spain
- The Philipstown Wirecar Grand Prix — South Africa
- Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds — United Kingdom
- Telenovela
- Garota do Momento — Brazil
- Leyla — Türkiye
- Uzak Sehir [Far Away] — Türkiye
- Valle Salvaje — Season 2 [Wild Valley] — Spain
The World Is Showing Up
The nominees represent 22 countries, including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
Canada isn’t completely absent from the party. PeopleWatching — Season 3 picked up a nomination in Short-Form Series, so at least one Canadian production gets to bring the country’s flag into the room.
International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president and CEO Bruce L. Paisner said in a statement:
“The International Emmy Awards are as competitive as ever, with an outstanding range of entries from around the world vying for a coveted nomination. We look forward to bringing the global television community together to celebrate these exceptional programs and performances.”
The winners will be announced at the 54th International Emmy Awards Gala in New York on Monday, Nov. 23.
As for Heated Rivalry, the nomination may have slipped away, but the show clearly doesn’t need a trophy to keep people talking. It already managed to turn hockey, longing and two fictional athletes into appointment television.
Honestly, that’s a pretty impressive achievement on its own.
Source: Variety