Why is Heated Rivalry so popular? It’s not just the sex, but the Canadianness

Heated Rivalry has blown up across the globe. Fans are hosting watch parties in bars and begging for clothing collaborations. The stars of the show are even presenting at the Golden Globes this Sunday.

So how did a Canadian TV show about gay hockey players become beloved around the world? Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud discusses Heated Rivalry’s immense popularity with culture critics Jason P. Frank, Cassandra Morann and Lainey Lui.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: In an op-ed in The New York Times, Jim Downs called the show “a cultural earthquake” and explained its popularity this way, he said: “It is not the thrill of naked bodies but the shock of being emotionally known. That is what some of us have been missing.” Jason, does that resonate with you? Is that the thing that you're picking up from the show?

Jason: Yes, and also, like, it's a little bit about the thrill of the naked body. 

There's this very famous quote from Max Mutchnick, who created Will & Grace, where he said that when he started, the number one rule that he had was: “You don't want Americans to ever think about butt-f—king,” is the quote. And that's why those characters on Will & Grace are super desexualized. They rarely show them in relationships, it's just like they're kind of clowns, etc. And that's what needed to be done at the time to have gay people on TV. Totally understandable, that’s what it was at the time.

I think the reason that this show feels so exciting for queer audiences is that it's like: but what if we did talk about the sex? What if we did show the sex? What if the sex was emotionally meaningful? What if that was the way that we showed this relationship was sex-forward? And I don't think anyone's ever seen that before. So as much as I totally understand the value of being known, etc., I also think that there's real value in being like, and also we're going to show sex and it's going to be sex that's based within the characters, and you're going to see that for the first time.

Elamin: So much of the narrative of the show is that this is the show that is a Canadian triumph, it's an authentically Canadian screen adaptation, it stayed very true to how much Canadianness there is in the show itself. The details situate it in, like, this couldn't take place anywhere else. You're talking about [main character] Shane Hollander, he's from Ottawa, his dad works with the Treasury Board of Canada, which is not a job title that I expected to see in a romance at all. I'm curious about the Canadianness of the show, Cassandra, and how integral it is to the success of the show.

Cassandra: I've seen this sentiment in a lot of places that this couldn't have been made in America. I don't think it would have necessarily even been greenlit in America, certainly not in this form.

I felt a certain amount of patriotic pride for a country I'm not from when I see the “paid for by Canadian tax dollars” at the end of this episode. God bless, thank you all for making this show happen. Because it does feel necessary. The specificity of all of these details, the culture of hockey that's really unfamiliar. And I think some of the escapism of this show is being able to fully immerse yourself in something that maybe I'm not super familiar with and getting to dive into this world and a world that is hopefully getting a little bit better. And that's really attractive.

I also think it's really incredible that they gave a filmmaker who clearly had such a fandom for this and a vision for what's coming, the freedom to do it how we want. You guys talked earlier about how HBO was like, “Oh, let's do less sex scenes at the beginning.” And he's like, “No.” And that's an incredible thing to be able to say, “Hey, there's an artistic vision for what this needs to be,” and that takes priority over studio notes that they think are going to make them more money.

Elamin: Lainey, let me ask you the same question, but maybe that's a double-barrel question. Number one, how important is Canadianness to the show itself? But I guess also the reverse of that, which is, how important is the show to Canada right now? Just to have a hit that is as big.  

Lainey: I speak as someone who works in the television production, broadcasting business, and we need this for sure. It's a contracting industry. Many of our peers are looking for work, need the work. This is wonderful for the team behind Heated Rivalry — many of whom I know because it's a small industry…. Hopefully Heated Rivalry can set an example for greenlighting stories that come from here, that are made here, trusting the creatives here. So that's amazing. 

As for the Canadianness of Heated Rivalry and this being essential to its success, one of the best examples of that is Shane's Olympic kit, his zip-up.

Elamin: You're talking about the fleece sweater that he's wearing. 

Lainey: It was supposed to be [for] Team Canada, he wears it to the Olympics in Sochi. It was designed by Hanna Puley, who is the costume designer for the show. She made it, she designed it. It has gone viral, everybody wants it, to the point where they've been lobbying the actual Team Canada Olympic team…. It's better than the actual Team Canada gear that they’re seeing and everybody wants it. 

You can’t make that if Hanna Puley isn't Canadian, if she wasn't raised here, if she doesn't know the culture, if she wasn't looking for something cozy for a Canadian player who's from Ottawa. That is so specific and so essential. Now, did they think that this zip-up would blow up online? No, maybe not, but it's not surprising because it's so essential to the show and the characters. So in terms of the Canadianness of it, 100 per cent, it's critical. 

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jessica Low.