I Watched Heated Rivalry. What the Puck?

Yes, I watched Heated Rivalry, the gay hockey miniseries, which premiered on HBO in late November and has since become a pop-culture sensation. This reaction can only be about one thing.

The first two episodes were steamy. Some might even call them soft porn.

The show, based on a book series, follows two studly, closeted hockey rivals who secretly fall into lust off the ice. As their relationship evolves from puck buddies to something more serious, the Canadian player, Shane Hollander, invites his Russian rival/lover, Ilya Rozanov, to a secluded cottage. When Rozanov phones Hollander to say, in his thick Russian accent, “I’m coming to the cottage,” a meme is born. So are two stars.

Before they were cast in Heated Rivalry, the main actors, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, were complete unknowns, waiting tables in West Hollywood. Now they are everywhere.

On January 7th, Williams demonstrated a suggestive hockey stretch on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. This past Sunday, he wore a $75,000 Bulgari Serpenti necklace to the Golden Globes. Yesterday, Storrie was interviewed on The Today Show after appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers a week ago. Both Williams and Storrie have signed with Creative Artists Agency and partied with Julia Roberts at its post-Golden Globes bash.

Both actors have been coy about their sexual orientations, which is, of course, their right but also fuels hopeful speculation.

The show's audience expanded beyond niche viewers to include straight women, some curious straight men, and some hockey fans, even though the hockey here is hokey. The salaciousness evolves into a conventional love-and-coming-out story (that remains kind of raunchy). By the final episode, which aired on December 26, the show had become a bona fide pop-culture obsession.

And here I am, still talking about it on January 15th. That’s impressive for a minor miniseries with a lean budget and no known stars.

I’ve seen all kinds of theories about why Heated Rivalry vaulted into the Zeitgeist, from its hockey setting to the “showcasing of queer joy” (Forbes) to the “stellar performances” by the two leads (Forbes again). The New Yorker called it "deliciously enjoyable." It’s been written about in outlets ranging from The New York Times to The Atlantic to The Wall Street Journal.

That's a lot of hoopla over a gay hockey series (funny words to type). I wish I had a novel theory to explain the mania, because the show, the acting, and the directing are all mediocre. I've got nothing, except, “It’s the sex, stupid.”

When the show returns for the second of three planned seasons, I expect Heated Rivalry to include even more s-e-x. That’s the best explanation for its success.

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