Life is not a rehearsal unless it’s Nathan Fielder’s new HBO series, The Rehearsal, which may have just been a rehearsal for The Rehearsal Season Two. Are you following?
After amassing a huge following, copious commentary and even some scathing critique, The Rehearsal has been renewed for a second season by HBO. Amy Gravitt, the executive vice president of HBO programming, shared the exciting news in a press release ahead of the show’s season finale tonight.
“Nathan has sparked such a lively conversation with The Rehearsal,” Gravitt said.
That’s putting it lightly. Since the start of The Rehearsal, the conversation has been nothing short of lively, heated and at times, dramatic.
\u201cPretty wild how THE REHEARSAL is better at interrogating Nathan Fielder's comedy than literally all of the think-pieces interrogating Nathan Fielder's comedy\u201d— Vinnie Mancuso (@Vinnie Mancuso) 1660414299
The TV show-turned-social-experiment follows Fielder, with the assistance of a construction crew, actors and HBO’s seemingly infinite budget, as he helps people “rehearse” major moments in their lives.
After helping a man come clean to his friend about a long-held lie, the show took a turn when Fielder took a more active role in rehearsing a parenting experience with a participant, Angela. Despite this disruption, Fielder continued to conduct additional rehearsals along the way, but it was his relationship with Angela that became central to the series and the conversation around it.
While the two navigated fake co-parenting of their rapidly aging son, Adam, played by a series of child actors swapped out in coordinance with child labor laws, their relationship grew fraught over their conflicting faiths, and Angela’s love of the Mel Gibson film Apocalypto, causing Angela to end her rehearsal.
“We have no idea where Season 2 will take us, and that is the delight of this boundary-pushing show from a truly singular talent,” Gravitt added, laying it on a little thicker.
So it sounds like none of us know what’s going on, except for Fielder who reigns on high. But having hit a low in The Rehearsal, the finale will open with Fielder raising Adam as a single father. There’s no way of knowing where it will go.
Equally in the dark are the details of Season Two, including its air date, run time and any inkling of what will be rehearsed. Will Nathan carry on his parenting of Adam? Will Angela return? Will we hear more from Angela’s original beau Robbin and his Scion tC?
\u201ceveryone who likes the Rehearsal needs to see this NOW\u201d— jordynn (@jordynn) 1660866495
The possibilities are endless. If only we could find a way to work through each possible outcome and simulate every conceivable scenario by building an exact replica of Nathan Fielder’s brain. Too bad we don’t have HBO’s budget.
Photo courtesy of HBO