It’s almost refreshing to see shows that are unapologetically trashy. Lots of sex, lots of excess, lots of insane behavior, all of which is embraced and celebrated. Rivals, based on a famous 1988 novel of the same name, has all of that. The challenge is keeping track of everything that’s going on.
Opening Shot: The Concorde speeds through the clouds, as “Addicted To Love” starts playing. The wealthy passengers are enjoying drinks and great meals, counting down to when the plane reaches Mach 1. In the meantime, a couple is having pretty vigorous sex in the tiny lavatory.
The Gist: Coming out of the lavatory is Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), the square-jawed and handsome former Olympian, who was having sex with the journalist who is helping him write his memoir. The pair sit down across the aisle from Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), Rupert’s countryside neighbor in the county of Rutshire — and his biggest rival. Tony brags about the news producer he just recruited.
In the meantime, Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) is taping his BBC talk show, trying to nail the deputy prime minister on his Tory policies, then on his personal affairs. Neither line of questioning will ever make the air, however, due to the Beeb’s policies. In his dressing room, Declan encounters Tony, who wants him to come to his independent network, Corinium. Not only will there be a bigger budget and salary, but he’ll have editorial freedom.
Declan agrees to the offer and moves his entire family from London to a huge mansion in the Rutshire countryside. His wife Maud (Victoria Smurfit) calls it the “prettiest prison I ever saw,” while his daughters Taggie (Bella Maclean) and Caitlin (Catriona Chandler) are excited.
He generates a ton of attention on his first day at Corinium, but is shocked when the American woman that greets him, Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams), isn’t a publicist but his producer. And that her expertise isn’t in news programming, but drama. Declan immediately chafes at the idea of having a couch on his new set, among other things Cameron wants to do.
The O’Haras meet Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson), one of their new neighbors, who also happens to write sexy bodice-ripping novels. As Taggie walks Lizzie back to her house, Valerie tells the 20-year-old, “It’s 1986. You can do anything!” On the way home, Taggie sees a fire at one of the estates; she and her dog run there to find Rupert playing naked tennis with a blonde woman.
At a cocktail party that Tony and his wife Monica (Claire Rushbrook) host to court investors for Corinium. Rupert also shows up, because the status of Tony’s television franchise depends on asking Rupert to be on the board. He humbles himself to ask as Rupert is helping himself to some of Tony’s whisky, and Rupert says no. But when the blond woman walks into the room with one of the potential investors, and he sees Taggie’s reaction, he knows he’s got some dirt on his old rival.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Succession, but with a wilder ’80s sheen to it. Writers Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Laura Wade adapted Rivals from Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel of the same name.
Our Take: There’s a lot going on during the first episode of Rivals. A lot. There’s copious sex, with people having sex with expected and unexpected partners. There’s money being thrown around, not the least of which is what’s being spent at Corinium. There’s the media landscape of 1980s UK television, where the independent networks were starting to become real competition to the government-run BBC, and of course there’s the seething hatred between Tony and Rupert. There’s a ton of ’80s needle drops, some of which make sense and others that don’t.
What we were challenged with, though, is keeping track of it all. Are we supposed to concentrate on Rupert and Tony and their rivalry? Declan coming into the new world of independent TV, with its gobs of money but less-stable employment status? Are we supposed to follow Rupert’s flirtation with Declan’s 20-year-old daughter Taggie? Or are we following Cameron try to make it as a Black, female American producer in an environment that’s very male, British and white?
It feels like Treadwell-Collins and Wade tried to take every element of Cooper’s novel and figure out a way to squeeze all of these story threads into eight hours of runtime. It feels impossible, and it looks impossible in the first episode. Sure, there’s a certain stylistic smoothness to the show that gives viewers a sense that the series is on a sure storytelling footing, but in reality, you come away from the first episode thoroughly confused as to who some of the people you’ve just been introduced to really are.
It sometimes feels like the writers and producers are leaning more into the stylistic cues than actual story, like a montage of the various characters having sex and orgasms at what seems like the same time. Was it really necessary? Not really. Sure, it was a good way to illustrate the dynamics a lot of these couples have behind closed doors, but it also felt like a scene that was too long and just sat there to show what the O-faces on actors like Tennant might look like.
When there are too many scenes that generate shrugs from us, like that montage or a lingering sequence of Declan driving to work while listening to “You Can Call Me Al,” that’s a problem. When you’re trying to service so many characters, storylines, and sexual pairings, scenes like these feel like indulgences that just get in the way of making things clearer to the viewer.
Sex and Skin: Lots of both.
Parting Shot: Rupert greets Tony at Tony’s office, saying that the embarrassing situation that happened at Tony’s party somehow got him a promotion from Margaret Thatcher. Tony sees Rupert leave and goes “Game on.”
Sleeper Star: Nafessa Williams as Cameron Cook, simply because her character has to be super ballsy in order to survive in such a male-oriented world.
Most Pilot-y Line: Case in point: A worker on the set of Declan’s show tells Cameron to “keep your wig on” when she tells him to do something. “That’s funny,” she replies. “You know what isn’t funny? Looking for another fucking job.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite the fact that the huge cast and massive number of storylines made us dizzy, Rivals is deliciously and unapologetically trashy, and we have to give the show credit for that.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.