Sexy TV is back

0:00Support for the show comes from Harvey AI. And if you're like, who? Well, you hear a lot about how AI is reshaping professional services. That's why lots of law firms and in-house teams out there are rethinking how complex work gets done. Harvey AI is an AI platform they say is built specifically for legal practice. It can help teams analyze documents, draft precision, and collaborate securely across matters. According to their data, more than half of the AmLaw 100 use Harvey. You can go to Harvey.ai to learn more. As AI reshapes professional services, law firms and in-house teams are rethinking how complex work gets done.

0:33Harvey AI is an AI platform built specifically for legal practice, helping teams analyze documents, draft with precision, and collaborate securely across matters. Today, more than half of the Amlaw 100 use Harvey. Learn more at Harvey.ai.

0:52I have a huge problem, which is that I can't stop thinking and talking about heated rivalries. Anyone who's ever had a really intense crush knows that it also feels really painful. I promise you're not going crazy. You're just being emotionally and existentially impacted by a brilliant story.

1:13Jonquilyn Hill:There's really only one thing I can think about right now. Will you come to my cottage this summer? Don't go to Russia. We'll have so much fun. It's so private. No one will know. I wonder you know we can't do that. The show Heated Rivalry has taken over my group chats, my scrolling, my brain. Maybe it's taken over yours, too. There's not a moment that I'm awake that I'm not thinking about the gay hockey show. My Heated Rivalry thought of the day is, Ah! Release me! For those who have not watched, here's the quick and dirty. Heated Rivalry is a Canadian series on HBO Max created by Jacob Tierney based on the best-selling books by Rachel Reid.

2:00Jonquilyn Hill:And it follows queer, closeted professional ice hockey players as they try to keep their romance under wraps. There's also a lot of sex. like so much sex. Is it your first time with a man? You? No. And even though the nudity has everyone talking, it's also really sweet and sad and vulnerable and brave. It's given me so much hope. It's reawakened my sense of yearning. It's reminded me that I can take charge and change the direction of my life. And that's kind of been the intention that I spent for 2026. And I have this show to thank. I'm John Glenn Hill. This is Explain It to Me from Vox. And today, we're going to find out why the gay hockey show has captured everyone's attention.

2:50Jonquilyn Hill:Keep in mind, the show is what people nowadays refer to as spicy. So you may want to put your headphones on for this one. To start things off, I called up another superfan. My name is Emma Glassman-Hughes. I'm a writer and reporter, and I'm an editor at PopSugar. Emma doesn't think heated rivalry is an anomaly. She says the show is successful because it taps into a universal experience. Yearning. Or deep in a yearning moment. I think that people are yearning every which way. I think in a more classic sense, like we've seen the success of heated rivalry. Ilya Rosanoff. Shane Hollander. I wanted to introduce myself.

3:32This summer he turned pretty. I'm pissed about last summer. We hooked up. And then you hooked up with my brother. And then everyone expected me to act like I was fine. Those have blown up and really are good examples of how everyone is just excited right now about the burn of like a true crush.

3:49Jonquilyn Hill:Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I have loved watching Heated Rivalry. I may have even done some rewatching. I feel like it's awakened feelings in me that I have not felt since the theatrical release of You Got Served back when I was like a B2K stan before we were using the term stan in that way. Are you seeing this yearning anywhere else, like even beyond TV and movies? Yeah, I think of yearning in a pretty broad sense around the Mom Donnie campaign in New York. Hope is alive! My feeds were full of energy and enthusiasm and like true like yearning and aching for a better future for some new options.

4:37I've also seen this like New Year's resolution trend on TikTok where people are aiming to receive a thousand rejections in 2026. My name's Liv and I'm on the road to 1000 rejections. Okay, so I made a post yesterday that my resolution for 2026 is to get 1 ,000 rejections. This year, I am attempting to get rejected as many times as I can. And that means, like, putting yourself out there at least 1 ,000 times and proving to yourself that you're willing to try and be vulnerable and face the prospect of failure. And to me, that's big yearner energy. And obviously, like along the way in between the thousand rejections, you're bound to get some yeses, whether that's romantic partners or jobs or like community organizing or whatever it is that you're chasing.

5:27Jonquilyn Hill:I think that's so interesting to think of yearning beyond just the romantic. Yeah. You know, if we look around, like, it's really hard to exist in the world right now. And we're being inundated with distressing news event after news event. And I think yearning could be seen as sort of a distraction from that. But I actually think it's sort of a grounding force almost. Like yearning is really located in the body and it's this like deeply bodily like human experience to despair over like not having what you want and to feel the pain of being like so close yet so far. We're all familiar with the concept of exquisite pain.

6:15And I think yearning can provide this sort of like masochistic joy too. And like we all need more joy in our lives right now.

6:25Jonquilyn Hill:Yeah, it's interesting that you say that. Like, you know, life is not easy right now. And crushes are fun, but they can be excruciating. But it's also like, oh gosh, this is kind of great. I don't know. It's hard to describe like how it's both painful and enjoyable. Yeah. I think like when I think of yearning too, It's like the phrase that comes up is all consuming. And I think, you know, like going back to like romance factor, like I'm in a long term relationship right now. So it's like kind of been a long time since I've had like a true crush. But I actually really miss that. I miss that feeling.

7:04I would love to have that feeling again. I think it's like I've talked about this with my friends, too. Like there's sort of a nostalgic quality to like some person sort of taking over your entire world, you know, for however long. And it's kind of like a simpler time when you're 13 and like that's all that you can think about and nothing really matters beyond that.

7:33Jonquilyn Hill:So if I open up my phone right now, I will probably see several text messages about heated rivalry. It's everywhere. Saw my boys at the Golden Globes You think everyone in the audience has seen heated rivalry? That's a maybe But their trainers have and their moms have Their daughters have Hi moms Hi daughters So many edits, the edits again It makes me feel like a kid again It's definitely a huge topic of conversation On the PopSugar team But I'm queer and all of my like queer female friends are very taken with this show and like very drawn to these more vulnerable depictions of masculinity that we don't really get to see very much of.

8:27Jonquilyn Hill:I want to talk about who yearns you know heated rivalry is special because it's about queer men it's like yearning typically something that's seen as something only women do like who yearns I argue in my essay that women are frequently the objects of yearning but we see fewer depictions of female yearning out there. I think we see a lot of depictions of women kind of passively wishing or hoping for something, but to me that's not true yearning. I've been thinking about this a lot since PopSugar posted about the essay on our Instagram. Someone actually commented something that has stuck with me.

9:16They were saying that, you know, we're always seeing depictions of women who want and never receive. And that really made me think, like, I think there is a difference between the sort of passive wishing and the real, like, gut-level yearning. The latter is what I want to see more of from women and queer people this year. Not just, like, wistful stuff, but, like, the tornadoes and the storms and the, like, shattered glass of it all.

9:47Jonquilyn Hill:I love that, the shattered glass of it all.

9:56Jonquilyn Hill:Hated Rivalry is all about the shattered glass. Up next, how TV got here.

10:13Support for Today Explained comes from Quo. When you've committed to leveling up your business, It can be surprising how much the basics matter, says Quo. That's why a cleaner, more modern setup can make all the difference. Quo, spelled Q-U-O, says they're the modern alternative to run your business communications. Quo says they can work wherever you are, right from an app on your computer, while letting you keep the same number. They let you add new numbers, new teammates in minutes, sync your CRM, rely on seamless routing, and call flows as your business grows. Quo says you can see why they're the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3 ,000 reviews.

10:48That's why more than 90 ,000 businesses, I'm told, from solo operators to growing teams rely on Quo to stay connected, professional, and consistently reachable. You can make this the season where no opportunity and no customer slips away. You can try Quo for free, plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash explain. That's Q-U-O.com slash explain. Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers.

11:15Support for Today Explained comes from Vanguard. We've stepped into a new year, says Vanguard. And Vanguard says it's a perfect time for all the advisors listening to think about how to set your clients up for success. One way to do that is to level up your fixed income strategy. But bonds can be tricky. The market is huge. Rates shift and risks hide in plain sight. That's why having a partner with scale and expertise matters. And Vanguard says they bring both. According to Vanguard, Vanguard bonds are institutional quality. Institutional quality is not a tagline. It's commitment to your clients.

11:42It means top grade products across the board with a lineup, including over 80 bond funds that Vanguard says are actively managed by a 200 person global squad of sector specialists, analysts and traders. Vanguard says Vanguard takes a steady approach to investing rather than going all in on risky bets. They focus on reliability and consistency. It's not always flashy, but it sets the standard for what dependable investing should look like. So if you're looking to give your clients consistent results year in and year out, you can go see the record for yourself at Vanguard.com slash audio. That's Vanguard.com slash audio.

12:11All investing is subject to risk. Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor.

12:24Jonquilyn Hill:Explain it to me is back. I'm JQ. And if we're talking about heated rivalry, aka the buzziest show out right now, we gotta talk about the sex. Enter Michelle Ganim. I'm the author of the appointment viewing column in The Cut, and I write for a few different publications. Okay, so in our first segment, we talked about yearning, but I wanna shift gears about what comes next, and that's the consummation of that yearning. Okay, and not to age myself, but I grew up during a time where it's like, Like, oh, my parents are in bed. Let's sneak and watch HBO or like Showtime or even, you know, Cinemax. Next, when a beautiful model turns up missing, her twin brother sets out to find her.

13:06There's trouble abroad and nothing underneath. Next on Cinemax.

13:10Jonquilyn Hill:This was the late 90s, early 2000s. And you'd have a good chance of seeing someone naked. I mean, growing up, I think I'd Google like queer as folk sex scene or kissing scene. You wanted to see me? I decided you should take me back. Oh? Even though I have made a few mistakes, I think you'd be making an even bigger one not to give me a second chance. But those scenes were always very tame. Like, you didn't see that much at the time. Now, like, on streaming platforms like Netflix, you can find family programming as well as full frontal nudity on a show like Sex Life. I'm tied between sleepy and horny all day long.

13:50Why am I just hearing about this now? And I mean, historically, that comes from FCC censorship for what was on broadcast and that being intertwined with advertising. And so for many, many decades, pre-streaming, there just wasn't a lot of nudity. And Broadcast TV Today still has some of those guardrails. I remember seeing an interview. I think it was related to Pretty Little Liars. about their sex scenes. You know, that was a show that it was very clear the characters are having sex, but you cannot be thrusting during a sex scene. I mean, maybe this isn't such a good idea. I think we spend entirely too much time thinking.

14:38Don't you think? Yeah. If you watch those sex scenes, the characters are kind of just, like, not moving. or just like, you know, the focus is on their kissing. So I think broadcast is still tied to some of those censorship rules. But when you look at streaming and everything sort of HBO, premium cable, the shows that were on late at night, those are the shows with the sex and the nudity.

15:08Jonquilyn Hill:Yeah. How have we seen sex and intimacy on TV change over the last several decades? You know, these early shows, it was really like the shock value of going on HBO and seeing nude bodies. Like, I think that was sort of the watershed moment, I guess, for nudity on TV. And, you know, a show like Sex and the City represented sex in so many different ways. I think this pre-premium cable to post-premium cable is really the big shift. But I think more recently, especially in light of like niche programming and all these different streamers popping up, it's become sort of ubiquitous. And I think a backlash has sort of come with that in terms of some generations perhaps not wanting or desiring, you know, sex on their shows.

16:05So it's interesting to see how it's shifted.

16:10Jonquilyn Hill:Yeah, I've seen research that a lot of young people say they aren't interested in seeing sex in movies and TV. And yet there's all this explicit sex on TV. So what do you think audiences want right now? I think it's been really interesting to see what shows audiences have really grabbed onto recently. I mean, I remember when Fellow Travelers premiered on Showtime. Who do you belong to? You.

17:09grabbed onto an audience that I think is looking for joy and escape. And there's just a lot going on on a day-to-day basis, you know, in our neighborhoods, worldwide, on the news. And I think that sex and intimacy can be a place of, like, discovery that is isolated from that. And And I think in terms of building really compelling characters, those scenes can be really pivotal and important. And that's how it is in Heated Rivalry and in some of the best shows that I've watched.

17:48Jonquilyn Hill:Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting because I think of Bridgerton 2 and when it first came out, everyone was like, oh my gosh, these scenes are so steamy. What is going on? I'm fun for you. Yeah, and isn't it funny to kind of look back on those shows in the context of what you've watched most recently and be like, oh, maybe those scenes weren't actually that steamy. Like, they just seemed so at the time. I think that about some shows. Although, you know, I've gone back and rewatched, like, sex scenes from Sex and the City. I thought, like, there's an episode where Samantha loses her orgasm because her friend has lost her mother and she couldn't kind of reconcile her friend's grief.

18:29When I RSVP to a party, I make it my business to come. And so she like has sex in all these different ways to try and get to the bottom of where her orgasm went. And it's like just sex positions I've still not seen on TV.

18:46Jonquilyn Hill:Over here on the Explain It To Me team, we're like kind of obsessed with heated rivalry. And he wrote a piece for the cut called Help, I'm Obsessed With Gay Hockey Smut. So, I feel like you are one of us. What do you make of its success? I mean, I think it's just so easy to get sucked into this world. And I don't know if you got around to reading the books, but the books are very, very smutty. Oh, interesting. Yeah. You're like, I'm going to be reading that. Well, maybe I should hit up my local library. Yeah. Once they get to the cottage on the show, there are like six 15-page sex scenes that happen in that setting alone.

19:32Like, what? That is a huge part of the book. And so when I saw the show, I was like, oh my gosh, like, this is actually quite tame compared to what was in the book. And I opened my piece in the cut writing about, you know, this thing that kept coming up in the book, this hyper fixation around the slit. And I don't know if you can put two together when I say that. But like the slit is mentioned one too many times in this book to the point where I texted my friend and I was like, is this a real thing? Like, am I missing out on some part of the gay experience by not having focused on the slit? But my friend and I sort of concluded it may have been because a woman was writing this material, perhaps.

20:15Jonquilyn Hill:One thing I do wonder, because, you know, I'm a straight lady and I enjoy the series a lot. Like, I love love. I love the story. Like, it's just really nice to see. I think there was also a moment, and maybe this is too spoilery, but I think whenever I see a love story, it involves marginalized people. I'm like, oh, God, when is the hate crime coming? When is the bad thing happening? When is the... and it doesn't, and that's admittedly really nice. But what is it, like, I wonder, like, how it feels that so many straight women are like, and I love this too. Like, is that strange or weird at all?

20:49Jonquilyn Hill:Or is it like, okay. I think it's just a nice break from what we're so used to seeing. And I think that says a lot also about queer media and marginalized stories. It's like, we are, like you said, you brace for that impact of, like, the hate crime or the horrible thing that's about to happen. So I think it was nice to take a break from it. And I think the show wouldn't be successful without its straight women audience. So, like, I thank them. I'm like, thank you. I get more of this. I think if, like, this group of straight women who love heated rivalry, like, start watching more queer media across genres, I think I would be very happy to see that.

21:34Jonquilyn Hill:Coming up, the anatomy of a sex scene.

22:00They also say they can help your everyday spending go further, offering real rewards and a clearer path toward financial progress. That means things like helping you build your credit history. Plus, you can earn up to 3 % APY on savings, which Chime says is eight times higher than a traditional bank. Should you need help, Chime is also rated five stars by USA Today for customer service and has real humans working 24-7. Chime says it's not just smarter banking. It is the most rewarding way to bank. You can join the millions who are already banking fee-free today. You can head to chime.com slash explained.