The Rehearsal (HBO/ HBO Max) TV Show • Page 21

lol yeah... she definitely saw that incoming call and was like, nah.

 

There is some truth to what Brody is saying.

While what we are seeing is shocking and entertaining, what is the landing? With Nathan for You, the brevity and silliness usually meant the store owners just went back to normal, some money in their pocket and overall confused about what had just happened. That is how The Rehearsal seemed to be going at first, with something as trivial as telling a friend you pretended to have a Master's degree 12 years ago is such a laughable thing to spend weeks preparing for. However, these last few subjects, and the overarching one, are really digging into these peoples' lives in a way that are going to have a profound effect on them. I think Fielder has a resolution that will be as emotionally powerful as Finding Frances, but right now it is skating dangerously close to exploitation.

 

The show is absolutely exploitation. That's the point, and I think it's brilliantly made. It's an expose on how easy it is to exploit working actors who are just trying to pay the bills by laying the predatory tactics of production companies bare for everyone to see. And the only way to show the reality of it is to legally exploit people. It's nuts and brilliant and unethical but also, the show agrees and that's whats great about it.

It's good that we care about the ethics and the exploitative aspects. That's how all TV is. This is the only show that points it out though, so perfectly and thoroughly. It's a magician showing you the exact mechanics of the trick that TV producers play. It's also why the final shot of the latest episode works so perfectly as an echoing of the shows thesis.

TV is a magic trick. Now let's see all the shitty exploitative things that go into making it.

 

I don't think I've ever seen anything that has depicted so amazingly, the human cost of a selfish person with too much goddamn money living out their fantasy. Nathan Fielder is only doing for TV now what the 1% does every goddamn day for their amusement. Getting hung up on how the show itself is immoral is some rich Liberal bullshit to distract people from the real point it makes, which is very, very radical.

 

also, it’s funny

 

People take this dumb show so seriously

 

the internet fucking sucks

 

Lol I think the show is smart enough to earn the conversation/analysis, it's just fucking exhausting and more people should learn to shut the fuck up sometimes. Constantly thinking about Bo Burnham saying maybe we don't need to know everyone's thoughts on every single thing that's happening all the time, all at once

And also, maybe we should wait until something is completed (and even longer!) to really dissect what it intended and whether it succeeded

 

I think there is a good response to the exploitation complaints but the backlash to the criticism has been more off putting than the criticism itself. Fandom can be so toxic

 

I don't know why people are so against critical analysis. Is every thread supposed to be a bunch of people finding new synonyms for how much they liked something?

 

That's fair, idk, I just think it's a silly comedy that Nathan does because he thinks it's funny. I just don't think it's as deep as folks are making it out to be and I do think it is slightly exploitative

 

What else am I supposed to do with this liberal arts school degree except analyze HBOMax's "The Rehearsal" from a Marxist perspective? It's certainly not getting me any jobs.

 

This episode was fucking crazy and he continues to push boundaries, I really don’t have the energy to care about anything else, I guess for every show there’s gotta be critics playing devils advocate but I don’t agree, hell even Robbin claims he now appreciates Nathan’s genius after seeing the new episode lmao

 

There’s a severe lack of discussion of how fucking stupid/hilarious the slide de-aging at the end of the episode was.

 

Not for a lack of trying

 

This episode was insane but my favorite part was Nathan genuinely saying “I’m not a snitch!”

 

Well this is the one, the episode that broke me

 

The problem with Brody’s criticism, and the reason everyone is shitting on it, is that it’s about as shallow of a reading of the show that you can get. He was able to pick up on the very not-subtle fact that Nathan is manipulating things, and seems to be possibly manipulating the people themselves. But then he just ends it there, and doesn’t seem to think twice about the idea that maybe, say, Nathan the creator doesn’t want us to be sympathetic towards Nathan the character, or that things that may be deeply embarrassing are at the same time very genuine and emotional, or that as people have pointed out, there is an aspect of the show that is clearly trying to critique reality tv, or turn the concept on its head, or both, who knows

 

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's revealed that the entire show is scripted

 

If getting the discourse on ethics about the show is the real end goal of the show they’re really nailing it

 

I felt like a lot of early reviews subtly hinted at this as being a possible reason they didn't show critics episode 6, or that a substantial part of it is panned

 

One of the biggest lessons so far is that the kind of people who still use Craigslist can be charitably described as eccentric.

 

pretty much always been the case

 

I got my first nannying job on craigslist lmao

the family who was looking for one didn't know where to find one and we somehow found each other. that was a good job.