Just because it’s December doesn’t mean you are required to watch holiday-themed television. Some of this month’s new releases are distinctly non-traditional, zagging where you expect them to zig. They include the second season of a dystopian video game adaptation, a behind-the-scenes look at history’s most profitable concert tour, and a hot love story between two hockey players.
‘Heated Rivalry’
It’s officially cold season, but if you’re craving content that will steam things up in a hurry, look no further than the aptly titled “Heated Rivalry.” Created by director Jacob Tierney for the Canadian streaming service Crave (but premiering on HBO Max), the series follows two male hockey rivals who are secretly hooking up off the ice.
“The story begins in 2008, before mainstream acceptance of queer relationships, and speeds through the years,” said Cat Zhang at The Cut. “Every so often, a match brings the nemeses to the same city, where they face off in the rink then disappear to a hotel room for kinky illicit sex.” (on HBO Max now)
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‘Man vs. Baby’
British comic Rowan Atkinson, the man best known for playing the illustrious Mr. Bean, stars in this festive follow-up to 2022’s “Man vs. Bee.” The four-part show again tails Trevor Bingley, a character who has “left the stressful world of housesitting for the quieter life of a school caretaker,” said a plot synopsis.
The problem: “On the last day of term, when no one comes to collect the Baby Jesus from the school nativity, Trevor finds himself with another undersized and very unexpected companion.” Tune in for cozy sweaters, London lit up at Christmastime and Atkinson’s desperate attempts to wrangle a baby. (In the trailer, he pops a wine bottle cork in the tot’s mouth in place of a pacifier.) (Dec. 11 on Netflix)
‘Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era’
Taylor Swift’s “Eras” concert tour, which ran for an exhausting one year and nine months, broke all kinds of records and earned the distinction of being the highest-grossing tour of all time. Now the pop star is rewarding her fervid fans with a peek behind the curtain of her life as a showgirl: a six-episode docuseries that delves behind the scenes, showcasing everything from tour planning to rehearsals to Swift’s budding relationship with NFL player (and now fiancé) Travis Kelce. Alongside the series, Swift is releasing a separate film of her final “Eras” tour concert in Vancouver. (Dec. 12 on Disney+)
‘Fallout’
In its witty first season, Amazon’s “Fallout” transported viewers to a nuclear wasteland where survivors lived in underground bunkers. The series, “one of the most faithful — and best — video game adaptations,” said Ash Parrish at The Verge, is “ploughing further into its postapocalyptic mythology” in the second season, said Ben Travis at Empire. The show’s three central characters — “Ella Purnell’s Vault dweller Lucy, Aaron Moten’s mech-suited Maximus and Walton Goggins’ irradiated Ghoul” — are teaming up for a trip into “Sin City 2.0,” or New Vegas as it is now known, where Lucy will search for her father, Hank. (Dec. 17 on Prime)
‘The Copenhagen Test’
This stylish but secretive sci-fi thriller created by Thomas Brandon and blockbuster horror titan James Wan (“The Conjuring,” “Insidious”) promises a “sleek collision of psychological paranoia and high-tech espionage,” said The Playlist. “The Copenhagen Test” follows Alexander Hale (Simu Liu), an intelligence operative “who discovers his brain has been hacked, giving unseen operatives access to everything he sees and hears. Trapped between the intelligence agency he serves and the digital ghosts tracking his every move, Hale must perform his loyalty to both sides until he can expose who’s pulling the strings — before his thoughts stop being his own.” (Dec. 27 on Peacock)
