Nathan Fielder's "The Rehearsal"

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About

Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal is a 2022 comedy TV show on HBO created by Nathan For You director and producer Nathan Fielder that's about going to extraordinary lengths to "eliminate uncertainty" in people's decision-making. The series includes skits such as Fielder building a life-sized replica of a trivia bar to help a man experience every possible outcome in the exact setting where he needed to confess a lie. The show inspired many memes and discussions on social media after its release, with many deeming it "gonzo comedy."

History

On June 25th, 2021, multiple TV news outlets like Deadline^[1] and Variety^[2] reported that HBO had greenlit an upcoming Nathan Fielder show called The Rehearsal. The official description of the show released by HBO was, "In a world where nothing seems to ever work out as you had hoped, Nathan Fielder gives people the opportunity to rehearse for their own lives." ^[2] The most viral tweet about the announcement was posted by Deadline's Twitter,^[3] earning roughly 1,300 likes in one year.

On June 15th, 2022, Fielder posted a tweet^[4] reading, "very soon," accompanied by an official trailer for his upcoming show. In one month, the video received roughly 1.4 million views and 34,600 likes (shown below). News outlets like Indie Wire^[5] reported that the show's release date was July 15th, 2022.

On July 5th, 2022, Vulture^[6] writer Lila Shapiro published an interview and article with Nathan Fielder about his show. On the same day, Fielder made the cover of New York Magazine^[7] (shown below, left).

Reception

On July 11th, 2022, specific news outlets and critics received access to The Rehearsal in order to give it reviews. Some of these included Metacritic,^[8] The Toronto Star^[9] and Indie Wire.^[10] At first, Metacritic gave it a score of 89 and Indie Wire writer Ben Travers gave it an "A-."

On July 15th, 2022, Fielder tweeted, "My new show The Rehearsal begins tonight on HBO. Enjoy," earning roughly 37,900 likes in 12 days. Over 800 quote retweets ^[13] were posted after the show's release, most of them positive affirmations.

After July 15th, The Rehearsal accumulated more positive reviews. For instance, over the course of two weeks, The Rehearsal received a 94% audience and critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. ^[11] Top critic Randy Myers stated in his review, "It’s a frank, unorthodox look at ourselves, our obsession with reality TV stars and our relentless, often selfish desire to be that lone puppet master pulling all the strings and determining the fates of others."

Online Presence

Memes and reactions surfaced online after the show's release on July 15th, 2022. For instance, on July 15th, Twitter^[14] user milobogardus joked about a promo photo that showed Fielder with a laptop strapped to his chest, earning over 780 likes in 12 days (shown below, left). On July 16th, 2022, Twitter^[15] user listenupnerds joked about going on a first date at the fake "Alligator Lounge" featured the first episode of the show. The tweet received over 590 likes in 11 days (shown below, right).

Tweets and memes about the show's first episode received more engagement going into the remainder of July 2022. For instance, Twitter^[16] user CygnusArising tweeted a scene from the first episode where Nathan and the participant Core Skeet are walking around in Brooklyn as Fielder is teaching Skeet the answers to trivia questions without his knowledge. The video received roughly 84,100 views and 2,400 likes in 11 days (shown below).