The Rehearsal - Nathan Fielder's new HBO series

[sevendaughters]

so many deep laughs in episode 3. this show is incredible. i can't wait to add it to my class on documentary. like a surgeon removing 'reality' from a situation and then injecting it back in. i'm less convinced by the sadnow piano Nathan existential stuff as relating to his actual life, but it works for the show.

[Ferris]

That was brilliant. Let the record show I never doubted for even a second!

Spoiler alert

My heart dropped a bit with the intro being Angela again ("oh no not another episode of this"), but using the child sim as the "main" thread and branching off and doing smaller Rehearsals is a great concept and solves some of my issues with that setup in the first place.

The mini-Rehearsal felt much closer to Nathan For You style madness, especially the hours and hours of digging in the woods with the fake grandpa. Determining whether someone is a gold-digger by literally helping an old man dig for gold is superb.

I share some of the anxiousness around the kids, but they're pretty plastic at that age so they'll either not remember or be totally fine. It's an impressively realistic portrayal of parenting tbh, periods of fun and silliness but mostly it's quietly mundane. The editing feels like it has more content to play with as well,so it never (unfairly?) focuses on one member of the cast. Angela can be a bit "eccentric" (Halloween, making Nathan do all the planting/irrigation, watching TV while a real nanny looks after her fake kid) without feeling like that's the only joke which was part of my issue with ep 2.

It also feels like the madness is accelerating - vegetables shooting out the ground and mirrors showing Nathan age. He's creating his own world and the last shot (which I really laughed at, very John Wilson) hinted that he's kind of trying to trick himself and go deeper into his own simulation.

[close]

Absolutely hooked and can't wait to see where this goes for the last 2 episodes.

[McChesney Duntz]

Some, apparently, have a great big problem with Fielder's means and methodology as a whole:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-cruel-and-arrogant-gaze-of-nathan-fielders-the-rehearsal

[PlanktonSideburns]

Some, apparently, have a great big problem with Fielder's means and methodology as a whole:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-cruel-and-arrogant-gaze-of-nathan-fielders-the-rehearsal

Seems to be taking lots of this at face value, that article - not that the conclusion is a totally preposterous idea - but seems a bit much after years of fucked up reality tv to come after Nathan Feilder

[Ferris]

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-cruel-and-arrogant-gaze-of-nathan-fielders-the-rehearsal

That is an awful lot of words to say "I don't understand what Fielder is doing".

[Noodle Lizard]

Yes, that article is hilariously reductive. I gave up trying to get on board with it when he implied The Rehearsal wasn't as good as "the scathing political satire" of Borat 2.

I'm far more sensitive to ethics in TV shows like this than I used to be, and I think the second episode and occasional bits of NFY did come close to falling on the wrong side of that line, but in The Rehearsal especially we're really not sure how "in on it" everyone is - especially considering Nathan's previous work is available for all to see. This article reads like someone who never wanted to engage with it in the first place.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Yes, that article is hilariously reductive. I gave up trying to get on board with it when he implied The Rehearsal wasn't as good as "the scathing political satire" of Borat 2.

I'm far more sensitive to ethics in TV shows like this than I used to be, and I think the second episode and occasional bits of NFY did come close to falling on the wrong side of that line, but in The Rehearsal especially we're really not sure how "in on it" everyone is - especially considering Nathan's previous work is available for all to see. This article reads like someone who never wanted to engage with it in the first place.

Yea there's the same lack of curiosity in the reporter in done ways - very patronising to assume these people aren't happy with how it went down - the ethics of it are curious for sure, but what do we know about it at this point?

[up_the_hampipe]

What they did to Patrick in episode 3 was really uncomfortable, even if the nature of the set-up was funny.

[QDRPHNC]

I'm almost at the end of the third episode. The first episode was amazing, in part because the scale of the rehearsal contrasted so well with the low stakes.

I've watched the second episode twice. First time through I really didn't like it, it almost seemed like a different show. Second viewing I liked it better, but it still didn't click the way the first ep did. It was more interesting than enjoyable. 

Now the third ep is over, and I'm struggling to relate to it to be honest. Can't put it any better than that right now, will have to let it percolate.

I do wonder if Nathan's ruminations at the end were added because this particular rehearsal just didn't really add up to much. No such commentary was needed to contextualize the first episode, at least nowhere near the amount of it.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Yea third episode was weird

Still on board tho

[QDRPHNC]

To put it charitably, our main protagonist in eps 2 and 3 didn't seem particularly self-aware or curious about her own role in the whole process. She just seemed kind of dim and entitled, which is a shame given the amount of effort that must have gone into putting it all together.

Although I suppose this is going to be the consistent storyline through the whole season, since I think the kids are only up to 6 at this point, so fingers crossed.

[up_the_hampipe]

I can't stand to be around Angela much longer. Her religious conspiracy theories aren't amusing in their bizarreness, they're all too common, particularly in America. She's just a selfish, conceited, and overall quite bland subject.  But I have faith in Fielder for it to pay off.

[RDRR]

What they did to Patrick in episode 3 was really uncomfortable, even if the nature of the set-up was funny.

Though it seemed like they were trying to sell it as though Nathan/The Rehearsal had given Patrick the emotional outlet he needed to process his feelings about his dad passing and move on, I got the impression him abandoning the rehearsal and the show was probably related to realising it was a pisstake? Not sure if that's stating the obvious. The contrived 'gold-digging' (embarrassingly this was lost on me until reading Ferris' post) ruse was funny but felt like a step too far in terms of suspension of disbelief.

Thought the guy playing the actor's dad was brilliant though, seemed like they didn't mess about there.

[The Crumb]

What they did to Patrick in episode 3 was really uncomfortable, even if the nature of the set-up was funny.

Kind of wonder if Patrick was at all 'real'. Can't remember if they actually showed anything or anyone from his life outside his rehearsal. I'm enjoying the general bizarre layers of fakery vibe.                 

Found the episode compellingly weird, but not really funny. The gross out stuff with the grandad really didn't land for me.

[Ferris]

I can't stand to be around Angela much longer. Her religious conspiracy theories aren't amusing in their bizarreness, they're all too common, particularly in America. She's just a selfish, conceited, and overall quite bland subject.  But I have faith in Fielder for it to pay off.

Spoiler alert

Spoiler cos I'm mentioning specific gags/moments.

I'm definitely happier that she is less of a focus, because I also found her tedious and not massively pleasant.

(For the record, I'm sure she's a fine person, edits can be deceiving, insert rest of arse-covering statement here.)

I think having a second strand to play off gives a lot more lateral opportunity for interesting things to happen and funny natural moments to occur. Somebody declared they were loyal to pizza. An extra mimed eating chicken to no one. The production team were burying watermelons in the garden plot for Nathan and Angela to pick up - a key factor in Fielder's stuff that I think is brilliant is those kind of entirely ludicrous moments being mentioned in passing and getting about .5 seconds of screen time as they did here.

There's a lot of material in there, and (to me) it has more space to breathe with the additional outlet. The interplay (going to "work" on a rehearsal from the "family" rehearsal) has got legs, and I think it'll develop.

One of the joys of NFY was the ~5 madcap production ideas per segment, and maybe another ~5 naturally funny and unexpected interpersonal moments. When there are 3 segments per episode, you feel spoiled - when there's one segment for 50 minutes (episode one) it doesn't feel as sparkling, and when the main madcap production gimmick is not a surprise, it can lag over 30 minutes (episode two) even with the other interpersonal moments.

Ep 3 felt like we had two solid themes running in tandem, with the same amount of creativity and gags in both so it felt more content-heavy like a NFY episode. Add in the existential Fielder stuff, and it really clicked (for me, anyway).

Similar to @QDRPHNC though, I've not been massivlry sold on this on first watch and the second go though is where I fell for it. Not sure why that is.

God what a rambling load of bollocks that is. Sorry.

[close]

[Chollis]

agree with QDRP and hampipe regarding Angela, i find her really tedious and unpleasant, to the point where i don't enjoy watching those segments. there's nothing interesting or funny there. i've obviously not been paying much attention - will she be central to the rest of the series?

struggled with ep2 and 3 now after loving ep1. i think i just need to change gear when i'm watching this, especially after ep1 left me expecting a continuation of NFY-style hijinks. too deep and meaningful for me maybe when i just want it to be funnnyyyyyyyyyy

[markpaterson]

The Rehearsal is the best TV I've seen in years! Hats off to HBO for just throwing money at the guy.

I'm ashamed to say that Nathan For You somehow escaped my radar, so I'm hurriedly catching up. Just finished the NFY episode where

Spoiler alert

he had 90 seconds to escape handcuffs or a robot would tear off his pants and expose his genitals to a crowd of children and a police officer, who would then arrest him as a sex offender. Such an incredible send up of those David Blane high stake TV specials, but Jesus Christ, surely he was wearing two pairs of underpants?! LOL.

[close]

This probably goes without saying, but Nathan had this to say about Chris Morris during a Reddit AMA...

"I'm a big fan of Chris Morris. When I first began doing comedy a friend of mine introduced me to Brass Eye and I was blown away. It was so dense and visual. The pedophilia episode with the guy dressed as a school... oh man. So hilarious. He's definitely been an influence on the stuff I do. Among many others."

[PlanktonSideburns]

The Rehearsal is the best TV I've seen in years! Hats off to HBO for just throwing money at the guy.

I'm ashamed to say that Nathan For You somehow escaped my radar, so I'm hurriedly catching up. Just finished the NFY episode where

Spoiler alert

he had 90 seconds to escape handcuffs or a robot would tear off his pants and expose his genitals to a crowd of children and a police officer, who would then arrest him as a sex offender. Such an incredible send up of those David Blane high stake TV specials, but Jesus Christ, surely he was wearing two pairs of underpants?! LOL.

[close]

This probably goes without saying, but Nathan had this to say about Chris Morris during a Reddit AMA...

"I'm a big fan of Chris Morris. When I first began doing comedy a friend of mine introduced me to Brass Eye and I was blown away. It was so dense and visual. The pedophilia episode with the guy dressed as a school... oh man. So hilarious. He's definitely been an influence on the stuff I do. Among many others."

What episodes are the

Spoiler alert

robo pants and tightrope walking guy [spoiler/] from? I watched what I thought was all of Nathan For You on Amazon but somehow missed both episodes

[close]

[Timothy]

I'm still not really convinced that the people in the show aren't actors. I truly hope Patrick was though. The

Spoiler alert

stunt with the old man if real was too much imo and the ending were he never Patrick him again, if true, after that dialogue with his fake brother was heartbreaking

[close]

Probably overthinking this, and it's probably a really stupid thought but kinda wondering if all the episodes until the finale

Spoiler alert

aren't only rehearsals for the people involved but also some kind of rehearsal for the people watching, with everyone, even the ''real people'' involved being actors or so and a big mindfuck of a finale.

[close]

I'm liking it a bit less by the week but still on board because I'm really curious where Fielder is going with this. It's intriguing, that's for sure.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Yea if the scene of

Spoiler alert

helping an actor pretending to be an old guy doing a poo [spoiler\] ends up being what it is on the surface, that might make me feel a bit grotty, that's a bit too much like Borat for me. It's definatley not clear exactly what's going on at the moment tho.

Angela I quite like weirdly, she's just vibing, just trying to get by in Nathan's mad construction, a mad person in a mad thing in a mad america

[close]

[sevendaughters]

I like having Angela in there as a constant stream of weirdness that Nathan has to improv his way around, only to find that she'll say something even battier to throw him off even harder (ie. the origins of Halloween conversation). Besides, you can't go down the documentary is exploitation/selective editing is cruel path too far. Patrick (assuming real) is a real life casual anti-semite. It is more powerful to show it the way Fielder did. And the

Spoiler alert

juxtaposition of the two things around his neck - grandparents ashes and a symbol of the Punisher - is really interesting

[close]

you can think it is a piss-take of a poor mope, but to me it is like capturing a phrase or a photograph that seems to sum a certain reality of American life. Capturing actual human behaviour isn't cruel, and I don't think these shows create long-lasting impressions of any of the people in it. Maybe except for

Spoiler alert

pee-drinking guy

[close]

[sevendaughters]

What episodes are the

Spoiler alert

robo pants and tightrope walking guy [spoiler/] from? I watched what I thought was all of Nathan For You on Amazon but somehow missed both episodes

[close]

Spoiler alert

Claw of Shame (S1E7) and The Hero (S3E8). Two of the best ones, too. Claw of Shame might be my favourite outside of the finale.

[close]

[PlanktonSideburns]

Yea I think I agree with you there - I can see how you can sort of justify doing things to the racist lad, - whether getting revenge on an asshole is the sort of thing I want to see Nathan doing remains to be seen

The drone shot of the fake garden as Anjela was talking about mad conspiracy stuff felt like an edit making an angry point, correlating two mad fake worlds, but this (currently, and I'm sure this will change) could be read as a bit Borat-didactic - look at this mad lady, with her mad garden that I made for her, look at this ugly American doing the ugly American things I have made him do - after re-watching NFY and John Wilson recently, I never felt I was being handheld over to a big old pointy point with those shows, they were fucking mad constructions I could draw my own conclusions from. I know we're reading hard into the early stages of this, but it feels a bit constrained ideas wise so far

Still fucking love it and love talking about it mind

[PlanktonSideburns]

Spoiler alert

Claw of Shame (S1E7) and The Hero (S3E8). Two of the best ones, too. Claw of Shame might be my favourite outside of the finale.

[close]

Need to get on that!

[sevendaughters]

The drone shot of the fake garden as Anjela was talking about mad conspiracy stuff felt like an edit making an angry point, correlating two mad fake worlds, but this (currently, and I'm sure this will change) could be read as a bit Borat-didactic - look at this mad lady, with her mad garden that I made for her, look at this ugly American doing the ugly American things I have made him do -

this is a good point - it is more determinedly political, and there are a couple of moments where it is pointing out the contradictions and selfishness and outright tackiness of those people - and I think when you look at US TV from the 70s-00s where mostly coastal people are mocking people from the middle and the south, you can understand where some of the cultural splits might come from. N4Y avoided that by skewering LA types, who freely offer themselves up on a daily basis. Just walk down the strip in Hollywood and see.

I've bolded that bit because I think Nathan is always turning the gun on himself a bit. Not in the 'piano music montage I am sad and divorced using my TV show to cover gaps in my own reality' way, but I do think there is an authentic capturing of his own detached need to manipulate and control, and some psychological suggestion of where that comes from.

Also - I still believe in the meta-critique of the shows Fielder has done. We're in our third decade of reality television as a concentrated format and plank of television output, selective editing for meannness, cruelty, aspiration, success, etc. abounds in those formats and has developed into a further strand of 'constructed reality'. Here is a show that doesn't just parody it, it lays it all out, from casting to prompting to rehearsing to manipulating etc. Likely the educated viewer of the show knows all of this, but the reminder of the effort it takes to cohere a false reality is worthwhile and is funny in itself.

[Ferris]

Spoiler alert

I didn't find the old man sections manipulative at all, he seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with him and digging for treasure. He could have made his excuses and left "just noticed the time, have to go now because I have [commitment]". Case in point - he opted out of the ending and ate funnel cake instead.

People who sign up for reality TV have to accept a degree of manufactured reality. I'd guess every person knew that, but thought they could come out ahead (by getting 15 minutes of fame, a nice vacation in a country house, even a genuine belief in the value of the rehearsal being offered).

[close]

[neov1974]

I'm still really enjoying it but wonder if it's slightly suffering from being shoehorned into a series format

It's quite clearly one piece with a thread that runs throughout. Again to cite Finding Frances, I sense once this is complete and *if* it were made onto one feature length work, then it would all hang together better, without the need to tidy things up into half hour segments

[Small Man Big Horse]

After a shaky first episode I'm adoring this now. I haven't read any of the opinions in the spoiler threads as I've my own theory as to how it might pan out (which will probably be wrong), but if Nathan can pull this off and make it genuinely funny and emotional in the way that I hope he does I think it might turn out to be one of the best tv series ever made.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

From all reports, Nathan had a shaky relationship with Comedy Central, and was allowed to develop and continue his show mostly thanks to Kent Alterman, who was a firm believer. With HBO, he seems to have found a network willing to commit to a longer term experiment.

[Noodle Lizard]

From all reports, Nathan had a shaky relationship with Comedy Central, and was allowed to develop and continue his show mostly thanks to Kent Alterman, who was a firm believer. With HBO, he seems to have found a network willing to commit to a longer term experiment.

Since launching HBO Max especially, they've been pretty good about capturing some of the alternative/offbeat comedy market, having some of the best current offerings under their belt (Fielder/John Wilson alone is a whammy, and there's some unsubstantiated talk about them picking up Joe Pera too). HBO are definitely smarter than their competition, with a mostly solid track record in both traditional cable and web stuff. They seem to willing to throw good money at good ideas, even if they're not especially commercially viable (something like Curb, for instance, shouldn't be a blockbuster on paper). Conversely, services like Netflix throw good money at bad ideas and dilute their own stream in the process.