There’s no mincing words when it comes to Rivals, a new show on Hulu. It is all sex, soap, silliness and sleaze, wrapped up in an addictive package with a killer soundtrack and shoulder pads.
A soapy drama in the spirit of ‘80s primetime hits like Dallas and Dynasty, Rivals is about two rich men, one from new money, one from old, who take their rivalry to new heights by battling for control of the region’s television programming. But of course, their rivalry doesn’t stay professional, spilling over into their tony, upper crust neighborhood of the Cotswolds region of southwest England. The Cotswolds is commonly thought of as the English version of the Hamptons, but with way more castles and fox hunts. And parties. Lots and lots of parties.
And sex, did I mention all the sex? I don’t know what’s in the water in the Cotswolds, but whatever it is, it makes everybody incredibly horny. Rivals is as classic a country sex romp as they come, on top of all the backroom backstabbing that goes on between the business rivals. Yeah, it’s pretty over the top, but it’s SO ‘80s. It’s set in 1986, and everything just exudes mid-‘80s, pre-AIDS ‘80s excesses, from the clothes, the music, the hair, and, yes, the sex.