The original post: /r/television by /u/JCoelho on 2025-06-20 23:34:03.

There are a few shows broadly considered to have revolutionized TV, changing forever how the next shows were made. First we have I Love Lucy in 1951, which changed the format of sitcoms and TV shows in general. Then, in 1999, we had The Sopranos, which consolidated the format of “TV shows” as a viable medium for complex, high-budget work that had previously been common only in movies. Breaking Bad extended this a bit later, but as more of a continous evolution than a revolution per se.

Then, we get to The Rehearsal Season 2, which aired in 2025, three years after the first season. And this, this is another revolution happening before our eyes. In the 26 years since The Sopranos first aired, television has never seen such a level of art.

I’m not saying it is more fun or has a better script than, say, Breaking Bad. No. It is not, and it does not. However, The Rehearsal is definitely the most complex and authentic thing produced for TV so far this century. It evokes emotions that no other show could ever produce. You are left absolutely astonished and skeptical of what you are seeing, even though you know it is real. At the same time, the show carefully forces you to question what is real and what is not.

The way it ties together completely absurd storylines, yet addresses them with a high level of completeness and presents points of view that have never been so well explored before, is insane. It stretches the concept of breaking the fourth wall, instead making you a part of the experiment as well.

This is extremely relevant for today’s times, when everyone’s lives have become so made-for-TV with Instagram and such. We no longer know what is authentic, if the pretty dish you saw on your friends’ stories actually tastes good, or if they just ordered it because it looks good on camera. The Rehearsal forces this into TV in a way that no reality show has been able to do before. And here I praise HBO as well, because it is not just a matter of the show’s insane ideas, but the fact that a big studio went with it and paid for it all. That’s a crucial part of the experience and the sense of incredulity.

Although the first season was not as incredible (still good, tho), I now see it as a part of Season 2 (a rehearsal, if you will). It is almost as if the goal of Season 1 was to shock you and make you completely suspend disbelief regarding the limits of this show, only to go into Season 2 and find that the limits are even further than you could possibly imagine. It is almost a joke about the limits of your imagination for absurdism. It is a statement on how your synapses are mechanically unable to predict what goes on inside Nathan Fielder’s mind. It is a deep dive into someone else’s head.

Although the definition of art has been debated since art began, there are three dimensions usually agreed upon:

  1. A form of communication
  2. That materializes someone’s subjectivity and authenticity
  3. Capable of producing emotions in its audience

The Rehearsal Season 2 excels in all three of these, more than any show has since 1999. And for that, I claim that The Rehearsal is the most revolutionary show of this century.