It is meant to disorient the viewer, and it works. ... Most important, it feels true. It is true enough that as the rehearsals play out, as more and more twists and M.C. Escher–esque turns are introduced into the rehearsal process, your body registers them as true and responds accordingly. You cannot help but want to cringe because it’s so byzantine and so simultaneously emotionally naked. Like it or not, that sensation of bodily distress is the feeling of Fielder’s rehearsals succeeding.

The result is a defiantly unpredictable mix of cringe and pathos that delivers a distinct blend of genuine emotion and laugh-out-loud humor. In a streaming world that thrives on conformity, The Rehearsal is the audacious outlier that delivers a wholly unique viewing experience.

The Rehearsal gives Fielder the scope and breadth to fully explore his craziest ideas, and it truly seems as though Fielder has immensely grown as a storyteller and created one of the hands-down funniest shows of 2022. With Nathan For You, Nathan Fielder proved he was a brilliant comedic mind, but with The Rehearsal, Fielder proves he just might be a genius.

There were times I wanted The Rehearsal to be more conventionally structured or even more conventionally funny; it gets weirdly poignant at times — or poignantly weird, I’m not sure which — as it walks a fine line between inspired and demented. (One participant’s comparison of Fielder to Willy Wonka isn’t all that far off.) But I can honestly say I’ve seen nothing like it on television before.

Perhaps the best analysis of the experience is given by one of the actors working for Nathan in the show itself: “It’s weird, but fascinating.”

“Sometimes, I’m not sure why I make the choices I do,” Fielder says. Viewers may not know either, but “The Rehearsal” is unique in making us wonder. Whether you laugh, or stare in amazement, “The Rehearsal” will definitely keep you watching.

In voice-over, Nathan expresses an odd bewilderment about his power to “create feelings for other people’s rehearsals” but not for himself. It’s a bewilderment that reflects the intellectual and emotional blankness at the center of “The Rehearsal.” ... His cleverness masks the hollowness of his schemes. No digression, no incidentals, no loose ends can intrude on Fielder’s taut, compact, self-contained sketches. He looks the Look at the people he films, but doesn’t seem to see them.

This is it folks, peak cringe. It's glorious First episode was good, concept is amazing.

The first couple of episodes in this series start with so much promise before it slips into a rather dull and self-obsessive character study by it's end. A wasted opportunity to make something truly fantastic.

Incredibly entertaining narcisstic nonsense. I appreciate how Fielder is forcing his bros/fans to self-examine themselves. I hope he continues to take them further down the rabbit hole in season 2. It's jolly good fun to watch them squirm over on reddit.

Art is totally pointless. But it is is beautiful. Nathan just forgot the second part. This show is very NYish, neurotic, navel gazing, self-deprecating, Jewish, very Faustian just as in Woody Allen, Seinfeld **** with such abysmally low stakes, and without the humour ...plus a disgusting waste of money, it rings of bad taste (for a French viewer like myself): It's like watching a whole NASA team of nerds trying to open an oyster with a high-precision laser so that no one gets hurt.

Starts well enough in the first few episodes but by the end the pointless waste of the whole enterprise is evident. As satire it's blandly repetitive and too often humorless. As introspection it's ultimately vacuous and never moving. At its core, it's a work of almost pure bad faith.