During a recent podcast episode, comedians Mark Normand and Adam Ray took aim at the romance drama ‘Heated Rivalry.’ The two suggested that despite its glowing critical reception, the series completely misses the mark for actual hockey fans.
The show, which centers on a romantic relationship between two professional hockey players, has been widely praised by critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, Heated Rivalry boasts a 92% audience score and an impressive 98% critics’ rating.
But according to Normand and Ray, those numbers don’t tell the full story, especially for viewers who understand the sport.
“Especially if you’re a hockey fan, it’s horrible,” Normand stated bluntly. “You’re like, this is zero hockey. It’s just them on the ice looking at each other.”
Ray echoed that frustration, questioning how the series earned such high praise in the first place. He suggested that critics may be rewarding the show more for its themes than its execution.
“Critics love to just be like, you know what? It’s self-referential. It’s inclusive. It’s aware of what it is. Is it aware or is it just a bad show that caught on, right? It’s not good.”
Beyond the storytelling, Ray also took issue with the show’s technical and production quality. “It’s poorly lit, and the writing’s bad,” he said.
For sports fans, however, the most glaring problems come down to accuracy. Ray pointed out a specific detail that immediately breaks immersion for anyone familiar with hockey. “The first and second pick: statistically it’s not even possible.”
According to the hosts, Heated Rivalry places romance far ahead of portraying the sport in a believable way. Hockey as a sport is just a backdrop rather than a central element.
Leaning into the joke, Normand and Ray even pitched their own exaggerated counter-concept. “We got to make a hetero hockey called Penalty Box,” Normand said.
Ray followed up with an intentionally over-the-top premise: “It’s just dudes running a train on chicks together. Like we’re not gay. We just have a lot of chicks together. Yeah. I don’t know why these women are on the ice, but f**k it.”
