I so agree with this! I also found the premise of season 2 being at work to be very hard to swallow given the political/economic climate and how hard it is to get a job. The way we’re forced to smile through abuse and absurdity at work and try to protect ourselves through the unavoidable power imbalance just felt too on the surface for me and it hurt me to watch him attempt to swallow whatever misgivings he was having because this was a job to him, as he understood it.
Whoa this show wasn’t on my radar and this is so dark :( When Gladden says “was that even real?” Brutal. Hidden camera shows always made me sad when I watched as a kid and the Truman Show was one of my favorite movies. It’s fascinating to take a cautionary tale and rebrand it as a straight ahead feel-good, no-moral-qualms story of humanity.
similar vein, but Nathan Fielder's content, while incredibly executed, has always given me pause about people not fully consenting to being the butt of a joke. Not all of his content reflects this style, but certain skits for sure.
My husband also brought up his discomfort with Love on the Spectrum (he is a special education educator who's worked in ny public schools for 10 years) - that sometimes the editing takes on a comedic edge that is lost on the show's participant, but meant to make us at home laugh. We also saw that participants are not paid because it's not classified as reality tv but as a documentary...
I totally feel you on this!! I think the best counter point would be that Nathan is trying to make a social commentary on the distortions created by entertainment vehicles and the people exploited by them while jury duty/company retreat is just kind of sugarcoating it all. Still Nathan does exploit people to make that point so there is discomfort there…
YES!! I came to the comments to say exactly this about Nathan Fielder- thinking of Nathan for You and The Rehearsal. Like he is violating these people but the editing of the show just totally bypasses that, in a way that I'm left questioning if I'm crazy for feeling that way given his widespread success..
exactly... and what did he with the airline/pilot show was crazy! a feat! but there were moments that made me uncomfy for sure. glad to know im not alone / crazy in these thoughts lol
After I watched some the latest season of the Rehearsal, I concluded that I have mixed feelings because it is unclear what the line is between real nathan, and on-the-show nathan, and what real nathan's intent is. I'm sure those who follow him more closely might have a better grasp on his actual character.
The tone of the show (which feels similar to jury duty- going for 'heartwarming' or 'quirky', 'good'), strange/ridiculous premise, and nathan fielder's deadpan/awkwardness (which is part acting but also part him) I think leave watchers confused about how to process what they are seeing.
Also, I cracked up at the episode when he met with the Germans, and they were having none of his nonsense lol. It supported for me how American culture in particular deprioritises certain values over others
So happy you wrote about this!! I was amazed by season 1 but also didn’t quite grasp the show’s concept until the reveal at the end lol. But the Truman show is one of my favorite movies! So I was impressed and entertained. I was definitely intrigued how they could pull it off again for season 2 when the first season was such a “viral sensation”. But going into it fully understanding the stakes this time I kept saying to my husband it felt weirdly unethical to watch? Even though this person signed up for a documentary…it felt really bad to watch him at his own expense? Especially when the actors have to convince him that their connection is real and “you’re my brother for life” (but how could you be when you knew his character and not him?). It also didn’t help that the whole time I kept picturing this happening to my brother who is also red-flag-blind and sweet lol. And how sad he would be to be duped like this!
When it came time for the reveal I had an intense stomach ache. Had I been the hero I think I would have thrown up and sobbed. Then the money as immediate consolation…ugh. But I did enjoy the show and the characters they built this season. I’ll be surprised if more discussion like this doesn’t come up second time around. And interested to hear more post-mortem processing from our “hero”.
When I found out about Santa not being real as a kid (my fam did bigggg Santa mischief stuff), I felt very betrayed and stupid and it took me years to get over it. But my siblings say they felt grateful and like exhilarated for the experience pretty soon as finding out, and are recreating it for their kids. Anyway maybe it depends on the personality??
I feel similar conflicting feelings about heartwarming reels like the guy that pays immigrant workers to go to amusement parks... I love them in the moment, they make me feel good, then I wonder about paying someone to essentially be content for/grow your profile? But if they're having a good time and getting paid and having a much better day than they would normally, is it a net good...? and if his profile growing means he can pay more people to have this experience, is it ok? I don't know, but it makes me uncomfy!
I generally find those glasses with cameras, and not knowing when you're being filmed extremely disturbing. Reminds me of that Dave Eggers book The Circle
I watched season one even though I was suspicious of how deceitful it was from the jump. It was a cute show, and I enjoyed it, but felt pretty uncomfortable the whole time. I thought for sure that would be the only one because a prevailing ethical outcry would win out.... was shocked to see there was a second. After hemming and hawing over whether I should watch the second season, I got about 10m in before I turned it off. I just can't stomach it and you perfectly articulated why. It feels too much like I'm turning a blind eye to giant, structural red flags and I don't plan to be complicit this time. Two things can be true at once: you can be grateful for the spoils, but also hurt by deception/experience. I can't handle feeling like I'm watching someone be thrown to the wolves... Especially for a job! My anti-capitalism rage is too strong 😥
I was going to write my own comment but it was pretty much exactly this!! I just can’t bear to watch a second season. I still feel guilty about the first one.
this reminds me a little of watching the season finale of traitors US! it was my first time watching and (spoiler?) seeing the reactions as rob revealed to all his new friends who trusted him unfalteringly how he’d lied to them so convincingly actually left me so upset… and that was the version of the show with celebrities who didn’t need the money, couldn’t imagine watching another season at all frankly
As someone who was on Impractical Jokers and was hastily pushed towards signing off on being included on the show (I did sign, but regretted it) with my /literal dentist's office admin/ saying that they thought I would be a good candidate because I'm friends with comedians and they thought I'd be a "good sport," I have a huge aversion to any of these types of shows. Gullibility is another word for kindness and trust and belief in the positivity and honesty of humans.
This is all so true but honestly what I was mostly preoccupied with while watching was the deification and exaltation of small family business and the feel good moment when it doesn’t get sold to venture capital when it’s put on by …. Amazon
I just finished watching the new FLDS documentary, Trust Me: The False Prophet, and now I can't help but link this with that. A woman went undercover in the community in order to help women get out. But what became very clear is that misleading someone - even for "good" reasons - is a kind of betrayal. If even a person who claims to love you is willing to lie to you, chronically and flagrantly, then who can you trust?
i’m so glad you wrote this. i will prob watch the new show, but i felt the same way about jury duty. obviously entertained but so deeply conflicted and honestly sick thinking how he must have felt
I so agree with this! I also found the premise of season 2 being at work to be very hard to swallow given the political/economic climate and how hard it is to get a job. The way we’re forced to smile through abuse and absurdity at work and try to protect ourselves through the unavoidable power imbalance just felt too on the surface for me and it hurt me to watch him attempt to swallow whatever misgivings he was having because this was a job to him, as he understood it.
Yes so true!! Like he’s trying to get paid!
Whoa this show wasn’t on my radar and this is so dark :( When Gladden says “was that even real?” Brutal. Hidden camera shows always made me sad when I watched as a kid and the Truman Show was one of my favorite movies. It’s fascinating to take a cautionary tale and rebrand it as a straight ahead feel-good, no-moral-qualms story of humanity.
similar vein, but Nathan Fielder's content, while incredibly executed, has always given me pause about people not fully consenting to being the butt of a joke. Not all of his content reflects this style, but certain skits for sure.
My husband also brought up his discomfort with Love on the Spectrum (he is a special education educator who's worked in ny public schools for 10 years) - that sometimes the editing takes on a comedic edge that is lost on the show's participant, but meant to make us at home laugh. We also saw that participants are not paid because it's not classified as reality tv but as a documentary...
I totally feel you on this!! I think the best counter point would be that Nathan is trying to make a social commentary on the distortions created by entertainment vehicles and the people exploited by them while jury duty/company retreat is just kind of sugarcoating it all. Still Nathan does exploit people to make that point so there is discomfort there…
YES!! I came to the comments to say exactly this about Nathan Fielder- thinking of Nathan for You and The Rehearsal. Like he is violating these people but the editing of the show just totally bypasses that, in a way that I'm left questioning if I'm crazy for feeling that way given his widespread success..
exactly... and what did he with the airline/pilot show was crazy! a feat! but there were moments that made me uncomfy for sure. glad to know im not alone / crazy in these thoughts lol
After I watched some the latest season of the Rehearsal, I concluded that I have mixed feelings because it is unclear what the line is between real nathan, and on-the-show nathan, and what real nathan's intent is. I'm sure those who follow him more closely might have a better grasp on his actual character.
The tone of the show (which feels similar to jury duty- going for 'heartwarming' or 'quirky', 'good'), strange/ridiculous premise, and nathan fielder's deadpan/awkwardness (which is part acting but also part him) I think leave watchers confused about how to process what they are seeing.
Also, I cracked up at the episode when he met with the Germans, and they were having none of his nonsense lol. It supported for me how American culture in particular deprioritises certain values over others
When the first season of the Rehearsal includes the child actor who grows attached...
I assumed that child and mother were fully scripted actors... Is that not the case?
So happy you wrote about this!! I was amazed by season 1 but also didn’t quite grasp the show’s concept until the reveal at the end lol. But the Truman show is one of my favorite movies! So I was impressed and entertained. I was definitely intrigued how they could pull it off again for season 2 when the first season was such a “viral sensation”. But going into it fully understanding the stakes this time I kept saying to my husband it felt weirdly unethical to watch? Even though this person signed up for a documentary…it felt really bad to watch him at his own expense? Especially when the actors have to convince him that their connection is real and “you’re my brother for life” (but how could you be when you knew his character and not him?). It also didn’t help that the whole time I kept picturing this happening to my brother who is also red-flag-blind and sweet lol. And how sad he would be to be duped like this!
When it came time for the reveal I had an intense stomach ache. Had I been the hero I think I would have thrown up and sobbed. Then the money as immediate consolation…ugh. But I did enjoy the show and the characters they built this season. I’ll be surprised if more discussion like this doesn’t come up second time around. And interested to hear more post-mortem processing from our “hero”.
“You’re my brother for life”!!! Kept thinking about that comment too!!
That felt so phony
When I found out about Santa not being real as a kid (my fam did bigggg Santa mischief stuff), I felt very betrayed and stupid and it took me years to get over it. But my siblings say they felt grateful and like exhilarated for the experience pretty soon as finding out, and are recreating it for their kids. Anyway maybe it depends on the personality??
Interesting!!
I feel similar conflicting feelings about heartwarming reels like the guy that pays immigrant workers to go to amusement parks... I love them in the moment, they make me feel good, then I wonder about paying someone to essentially be content for/grow your profile? But if they're having a good time and getting paid and having a much better day than they would normally, is it a net good...? and if his profile growing means he can pay more people to have this experience, is it ok? I don't know, but it makes me uncomfy!
I generally find those glasses with cameras, and not knowing when you're being filmed extremely disturbing. Reminds me of that Dave Eggers book The Circle
I watched season one even though I was suspicious of how deceitful it was from the jump. It was a cute show, and I enjoyed it, but felt pretty uncomfortable the whole time. I thought for sure that would be the only one because a prevailing ethical outcry would win out.... was shocked to see there was a second. After hemming and hawing over whether I should watch the second season, I got about 10m in before I turned it off. I just can't stomach it and you perfectly articulated why. It feels too much like I'm turning a blind eye to giant, structural red flags and I don't plan to be complicit this time. Two things can be true at once: you can be grateful for the spoils, but also hurt by deception/experience. I can't handle feeling like I'm watching someone be thrown to the wolves... Especially for a job! My anti-capitalism rage is too strong 😥
I was going to write my own comment but it was pretty much exactly this!! I just can’t bear to watch a second season. I still feel guilty about the first one.
"Nothing is so precious that it can’t be traded up." :(
"Thankfully, James Marsden was only a phone call away, and his invite to Kendall Jenner’s 818 tequila party was already in the mail."
haunting line to end with :(
this reminds me a little of watching the season finale of traitors US! it was my first time watching and (spoiler?) seeing the reactions as rob revealed to all his new friends who trusted him unfalteringly how he’d lied to them so convincingly actually left me so upset… and that was the version of the show with celebrities who didn’t need the money, couldn’t imagine watching another season at all frankly
As someone who was on Impractical Jokers and was hastily pushed towards signing off on being included on the show (I did sign, but regretted it) with my /literal dentist's office admin/ saying that they thought I would be a good candidate because I'm friends with comedians and they thought I'd be a "good sport," I have a huge aversion to any of these types of shows. Gullibility is another word for kindness and trust and belief in the positivity and honesty of humans.
This is all so true but honestly what I was mostly preoccupied with while watching was the deification and exaltation of small family business and the feel good moment when it doesn’t get sold to venture capital when it’s put on by …. Amazon
The irony is crazy
curious if you watched any of the new HBO show Neighbors? Also lots of surveillance themes...
I just finished watching the new FLDS documentary, Trust Me: The False Prophet, and now I can't help but link this with that. A woman went undercover in the community in order to help women get out. But what became very clear is that misleading someone - even for "good" reasons - is a kind of betrayal. If even a person who claims to love you is willing to lie to you, chronically and flagrantly, then who can you trust?
This was so good Haley
i’m so glad you wrote this. i will prob watch the new show, but i felt the same way about jury duty. obviously entertained but so deeply conflicted and honestly sick thinking how he must have felt
Agree! Someone should have given him a job at the end!
This is unrelated but did anyone else recognize the cast? Maybe it’s cus I lived in LA for a while and went to UCB a bunch but a few looked familiar