On a first glance, it was easy to mistake the quasi-documentarian satire of Nathan Fielder’s efforts on the Comedy Central series Nathan For You to be another takedown of reality television’s pomposity. That cynicism was quickly proved invalid, as Fielder used the format of a half-hour travel show to analyze American capitalism, relationships, class dimensions, art, and crime with the authentic voice of real people; even if Fielder had remained “in-character,” the reactions he had earned were genuine. Nathan For You was still a comedy with evident punchlines, but the freedom of an HBO budget has allowed Fielder to craft a far more experimental, baffling study of human nature with The Rehearsal.
If Nathan For You gave Fielder the chance to test the susceptibility of his audience through increasingly ridiculous scenarios, his HBO series The Rehearsal has attempted to predict the undefinable. Fielder’s resources, which are significant, are used to prepare his subject for critical life moments through calculated performances; through the creation of multiple test scenarios that employ various stand-ins, Fielder’s intention is to apply logic to human nature. The ludicrousness of this hypothesis is what gives The Rehearsal its sense of humor, but it doesn’t contain the obvious takeaways that ended each episode of Nathan For You. Instead, The Rehearsal has opened itself up to more analysis, as it’s become increasingly clear that Fielder has performed the same lark on himself.
How much of The Rehearsal is “real” is a question that’s up for debate, as each episode contains enough genuine, inexplicable reactions and complexities to indicate that nothing about the show is black-and-white. However, the strongest lesson that Fielder seemingly took away from four seasons of Nathan For You is that his audience was generally willing to accept the reality they were presented with; simple engagement with a far-fetched scheme, even one that doesn’t have a clear goal, has allowed people to reach insights that could be applied to any aspect of their life. While it has torn down the notion that reality television is anything but clever framing, The Rehearsal is a reminder that it may be impossible to fully understand what goes on in someone else’s mind. Fielder’s ambition to walk in someone else’s shoes has led to both personal revelations and greater truisms about human behavior.
The first season of The Rehearsal succeeded in its inversion of a domestic guidance situation; what began as an attempt to prepare a single woman for the responsibilities of parenthood became a test study for Fielder himself, who revealed legitimate feelings as he experiences different stages of a young child’s adolescence. While the more blatant moments of manipulation may have been unnerving had they been performed by a less radical creator, Fielder’s willingness to openly engage with his own problems suggested a purity of intentions. If this was all part of a performance, then Fielder is too brilliant of a creator to apply traditional morality to; if the entire experiment was genuine, then any mistakes on Fielder’s part would be secondary to the insights provided by his takeaways.
If the first season of The Rehearsal proved Fielder’s micro-endeavors could be as thought-provoking as the elaborate machinations he crafted on Nathan For You, then the second season further blurred his intentionality through its study of a prevalent real-world issue. Following increased media speculation upon the frequency of airline crashes, Fielder (supposedly) approached former National Transportation Safety Board member Joe Goglia about a roleplay simulation that would test the psychology of pilots. Among his startling takeaways were that co-pilots rarely communicate with each other, leading to less decisive decision-making in a crisis. While this is partially a result of the types of personalities that gravitate towards the profession, Fielder subsequently revealed that many pilots have intentionally avoided therapy due to the consequences they may face by the FAA.
Fielder may have been allowed to sidestep some ethical lines, given that his mission is one that involved saving lives, but The Rehearsal has followed his unique line-of-thought to conclusions that are hilarious and horrifying. In the episode “Pilot’s Code,” Fielder provided evidence that suggested Captain Sully Sullenberger had gained confidence from the Evanescence song “Bring Me To Life” during the crash landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, which saved 155 lives; however, the subsequent episode “Kissme” involved the manipulation of a rookie pilot and a young actress in a simulated date scenario, in which Fielder’s intention was to determine their comfortability with intimacy. While the entertainment industry has debated the effectiveness and purpose of intimacy coordinators, Fielder’s question is whether affection can be faked, even if it's done under the guise of “acting.”
Fielder’s awkward, prickly personality often catches his subject off-guard, but The Rehearsal has allowed him to be surprisingly transparent about the artifice involved in his career. The episode “Star Potential” gave him the opportunity to reveal the behind-the-scenes process behind reality singing competitions, namely Canadian Idol, in which he found it challenging to dismiss performers without dismaying them from pursuing their craft; Fielder also offered some frank observations about his experience acting on the Showtime series The Curse, in which he struggled to develop chemistry with his co-star, Emma Stone (the two-time Academy Award winner he comically referred to as “the actress playing my wife”).
The Rehearsal is an urgent piece of storytelling, but it's also linked to conversations only Fielder’s capable of having. While the first season examined the challenges he faced with subtle anti-Semitism when paired with a Christian fundamentalist parenting partner, the second season allowed Fielder to express his concerns about his relationship with Paramount Plus, a streaming service that removed a Nathan For You episode after it was deemed “sensitive” in wake of the Gaza War. This level of self-analysis could’ve been irritating, but Fielder’s tactics, however deceptive, never feel aggressive. Fielder has the same curiosity as his audience; it's only his method of experimentation that has proven so baffling.