I'll start off by saying that I really enjoyed Nathan For You, and Nathan Fielder's typical style of absurd comedy. I think in that context, Nathan's awkward, goofy character comes off as more lovable and misguided. But in The Rehearsal, it takes that same one-sided character and puts it at the center of the show.
After watching the first episode, I had really high hopes that this would be another rather insane, hilarious comedy from the mind of Nathan Fielder. Unfortunately, by the second and third episodes, the concept deviated pretty far from the original outline, and the actual story arc dwindled to almost nothing. Episodes would pass by with little actual character development or story, and the pacing felt very slow.
It seems like this show was trying to do a sort of Bojack Horseman-esque mix of existentialism, societal critique, and comedy, but ultimately was unsuccessful. I don't think anything in the last three episodes made me laugh, and I don't really see much depth to Nathan Fielder or the story. I heard people raving about The Rehearsal changing their lives, and how they couldn't stop thinking about it. After I finished the season, I couldn't stop thinking "is there something I'm missing....?"
I will say that I kept watching and didn't just give up partway through, and I overall found the show interesting. But I don't see any real profundity in how it all played out. I read multiple articles "explaining" the show, and didn't really see why the message seemed to stick with so many people. I think there were opportunities in this show to explore real emotions and existential thoughts, but it just didn't go there. I think it would have been really interesting to see Nathan's cold, calculated, awkward persona break down in a more human and relatable way, but it just never did. My sense is that Nathan Fielder probably isn't an emotional person, and genuinely does lack the ability to feel things deeply, which is why this came off as mostly fake-deep to me.
It became a character-study of Nathan, who lacks depth, and so the whole show seemed to falter with the inability to actually cross the emotional, raw threshold that it seemed to want to. I wish that the show had either kept it light and comedic, as the first episode did, or really delved deeper. It seemed to waver between both ends, and ultimately felt very hollow to me.
I suppose some could say that this is all the point of the show- that reality TV inherently is cold and unfeeling, and so we never truly get to know the characters as well as we think we do. But like... duh? I didn't need to watch this show to realize that, and I think it would've left much more of an impact if it did go into the uncharted, emotional territory that reality TV doesn't get right.
Overall, I found the show interesting, and I like Nathan Fielder, but I don't think it's deserving of a 10/10, because it was neither funny, nor profound. I will tune in for the second season, because I do think this show has so much potential, but it just didn't land for me this season.
After watching the first episode, I had really high hopes that this would be another rather insane, hilarious comedy from the mind of Nathan Fielder. Unfortunately, by the second and third episodes, the concept deviated pretty far from the original outline, and the actual story arc dwindled to almost nothing. Episodes would pass by with little actual character development or story, and the pacing felt very slow.
It seems like this show was trying to do a sort of Bojack Horseman-esque mix of existentialism, societal critique, and comedy, but ultimately was unsuccessful. I don't think anything in the last three episodes made me laugh, and I don't really see much depth to Nathan Fielder or the story. I heard people raving about The Rehearsal changing their lives, and how they couldn't stop thinking about it. After I finished the season, I couldn't stop thinking "is there something I'm missing....?"
I will say that I kept watching and didn't just give up partway through, and I overall found the show interesting. But I don't see any real profundity in how it all played out. I read multiple articles "explaining" the show, and didn't really see why the message seemed to stick with so many people. I think there were opportunities in this show to explore real emotions and existential thoughts, but it just didn't go there. I think it would have been really interesting to see Nathan's cold, calculated, awkward persona break down in a more human and relatable way, but it just never did. My sense is that Nathan Fielder probably isn't an emotional person, and genuinely does lack the ability to feel things deeply, which is why this came off as mostly fake-deep to me.
It became a character-study of Nathan, who lacks depth, and so the whole show seemed to falter with the inability to actually cross the emotional, raw threshold that it seemed to want to. I wish that the show had either kept it light and comedic, as the first episode did, or really delved deeper. It seemed to waver between both ends, and ultimately felt very hollow to me.
I suppose some could say that this is all the point of the show- that reality TV inherently is cold and unfeeling, and so we never truly get to know the characters as well as we think we do. But like... duh? I didn't need to watch this show to realize that, and I think it would've left much more of an impact if it did go into the uncharted, emotional territory that reality TV doesn't get right.
Overall, I found the show interesting, and I like Nathan Fielder, but I don't think it's deserving of a 10/10, because it was neither funny, nor profound. I will tune in for the second season, because I do think this show has so much potential, but it just didn't land for me this season.