OBSESSED

The world continues to be an ever-worsening shitshow, and I have various health issues, and so on and so forth, but at least I have Heated Rivalry. The casting, the acting, the cinematography, the music...it's all _chef's kiss_ perfection.

As I wrote about earlier, I have recently become obsessed about Heated Rivalry, the romance series from Canadian streamer Crave that is available in the US on HBO Max. It's also about gay men and set in the world of pro hockey, but it's a romance before anything else. Per this category on the HBO Max app yesterday:

For a while, almost all of my Instagram feed was related (and much of it still is): clips from the show, reaction videos of people watching the show, collections of online posts about the show.

I have been reading articles (some require subscriptions, and of course spoilers abound):

• In Vanity Fair, about watching in Russia being a rebellious act
• Also in Vanity Fair, an interview with the two main character actors
• In Harper's Bazaar, an interview with Hudson Williams
• In Out Magazine, about the relationship of equals
• In Forbes, about the masterclass in soft power
• In the Athletic, can the show change hockey culture?
• In the Washington Post, what it's meant for the author of the books the show is based on
• Also in WaPo, an interview with the costume designer
• In The Guardian, Women are feral for Heated Rivalry (Pull quote: "The fervent popularity of Heated Rivalry suggests that for many, the real romantasy is not sex and romance with dragons and fairies, but sex and romance without misogyny and gendered hierarchy.")
• Finally, in today's Boston Globe:

And not only in the Globe, but taking a large part of the front page.

As well as being the top of the daily email.

The story notes what I have seen as well: the show is everywhere. Saturday Night Live!

It also has an interesting quote from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who said in a massive understatement, "The content for young people in particular may be a little spicy"---Gary! Really? A little, you think?

The show is everywhere, and the two lead actors, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, are everywhere as well: the late shows, the morning shows, presenting at the Golden Globes.

And now, they are going to be Olympic torchbearers!

The music woven into the story is integral, and has started changing the lives of some of the musicians* (Wolf Parade, Harrison, Cailin Russo).
*ha, I typed "magicians" first!

I could write a whole separate post about the podcast Empty Netters, which I had never even heard of before (I'm not in a podcast phase of life these days), but they are brothers who are hockey players (beer-league level, not pro) and also screenwriters, so they hear about hockey media. They did separate podcasts for each of the episodes, they livestreamed themselves watching episode 6 (screenshots below of their reactions to a crucial moment near the end), and have now interviewed some of the supporting actors (Robbie GK, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova).  

They also have an episode for new-to-hockey fans called "Hockey 101: Teaching You The Rules Of The Best Game On Earth" and then a co-podcast with something called The Daily Friday Podcast, for which the episode title is "How Empty Netters Became the #1 Hockey Smut Podcast | Heated Rivalry Recap, S2 Predictions and More" which was fun to watch/listen to ask well.

Back to the livestream of episode 6, if you've watched the show, you can probably guess what just happened:

(Ignore the timestamps: it was supposed to be counting down to the end of the episode, but at least on the HBO Max replay, it isn't lining up.)

I love them, I want them to have more interviews with the cast. I would love them to have the director, Jacob Tierney, on. Anything. Give me more.

OBSESSED.

Trying Something New in the New Year

No, I'm not kicking off any big anything. But I did do one new thing yesterday, which: yay, me? Sort of?

I know some people believe that the way you spend New Year's Eve or the way your life is on New Year's Day sets the tone for the coming year. I don't feel strongly that way, though I will say that if it's true, I'm good with that. I spent NYE reading, was asleep long before midnight in my time zone*, slept in a little, and had a mostly lazy day. 
*Ironically, one night last week I was up until almost midnight, reading.

The new thing I did, amongst all that pleasant sameness, was to sign up for HBO Max in order to watch Heated Rivalry. I am not a consumer of streamed shows, and despite hearing many friends have conversations about have you seen this show, it's on Netflix, or that show, it's on Hulu, etcetera etcetera, I have never signed up for anything that doesn't bring me live hockey games. (I didn't even sign up for Apple TV last spring when they did Murderbot, though that was in part because I know and love the books so much that I was hesitant to watch the series.)

Sidebar: Have you heard about Heated Rivalry? I started to feel like I was reading about it everywhere. Here's what Wikipedia says:

Heated Rivalry is a Canadian sports romance television series created, written, and directed by Jacob Tierney for Crave. Based on Rachel Reid's Game Changers novel series, it follows two rival professional hockey players, Canadian Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose on-ice animosity conceals a passionate, secret romance. It also stars François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Sophie Nélisse, and Dylan Walsh.

The first season premiered on Crave on November 28, 2025, and was picked up for streaming on HBO Max in the United States and Australia; Neon in New Zealand; and Movistar Plus+ in Spain. The series received critical acclaim, with praise for the directing, writing, and the lead actors' performances and chemistry. It also achieved strong audience viewership, becoming Crave's most-watched original series to date and HBO Max's top debut for an acquired, non-animated title since the platform's launch in 2019. The series has been described by media outlets as a global sensation and a break-out critical hit. In December 2025, it was renewed for a second season.

(IMDB page here.)

Basically it’s a gay hockey romance relationship show. There, you’re caught up.

So I signed up, watched season one (it's only six episodes), and whoa, so good! This series is NOT for everyone, and I don't mean that not everyone wants to watch a show about hockey, though truthfully it's not about hockey, it's about the relationship. But it's also a show with candid representation of sex on-screen, which isn't everyone's thing whether it's gay or straight. I mean, it's not full frontal, but you see plenty, and can definitely infer what's going on.* Frankly, it's hot as hell, and the people involved, both on screen and behind the scenes, deserve the kudos they are getting.
*Does this bother me? No. But I’m not watching it with my mother, thank you.

Funny thing, I’m sure plenty of people haven’t heard of it, but I was seeing stories about it (even the WaPo had an interview with the costume designer), and once a clip showed up on my Insta feed and I watched it, more and more showed up, and then memes, and now most of my feed is about it and even FB is showing me merch. This one is from a company that seems sketchy as hell, but I would buy the shirt if it was legit.

I even love the color. Oh well.

Since season two has been green-lighted but not started, it may not come out until 2027, so I will cancel the streaming at the end of the month. But until then, I’ll poke around and see what else to watch. And probably watch season one a few more times.

PS In case you thought I was exaggerating about this phenomenon, check this out.