This gay softball sitcom from the ‘Heated Rivalry’ streamer could succeed where knockoffs have failed

When Heated Rivalry premiered last fall, it became an unprecedented international smash success. The hit series—often referred to as simply “the gay hockey show”—exceeded all expectations. Produced by Canadian streaming service Crave, Heated Rivalry was made on an extremely low budget by prestige-TV standards, running its producers less than $3.6 million per episode. It almost stayed north of the border, with HBO Max acquiring the U.S. distribution rights to the series just nine days before i...