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.
Even though it is a throwback to those classic ‘80s American soaps, it is so very English, and is actually much more reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice than Dallas. The storylines and the sexual politics are all much more Jane Austen than Hugh Hefner. Despite all the lurid activities, there is still a sweetness underneath it all, a romantic heart beating at the core of Rivals that does eventually win out.
Don’t get me wrong, there is some darkness in there, a lot of sexism and homophobia which certainly are products of their time, healthy reminders that the ‘80s weren’t THAT long ago.
Rivals starts slowly, the first episode is definitely the weakest, but if you can get through it, the other seven get better and better and you’ll probably get as addicted as I was midway through the series, and you will be begging for more.
Rivals is shameless in its masculinity, its horniness, its over-the-topness, and its, well, shamelessness. Sometimes, you just need to bask in something that’s this fun, this chaotic, this loaded with endorphins and this utterly silly. Life is just too short not to.