Nathan for You: Finding Frances
August 20, 2022 7:03 AM - Season 4, Episode 8 - Subscribe

The series finale of Nathan for You is unlike any other episode in that entire series. We revisit Bill, the Bill Gate's impersonator from a previous episode, and the 2 hour episode becomes an investigation of regret, lost love, loneliness, moving on. It also seems to be the seed for Fielder's current series, The Rehearsal.
posted by Stanczyk (5 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Mud 2!
posted by brainwane at 7:07 AM on August 20, 2022


This is definitely the seed for the Rehearsal. The basic formula of this episode is, "what if Nathan does monotone, neutral interviews with extras, reality TV hopefuls, and actors, discovers some important emotional drive in their real lives, and then uses his show's budget to create some sort of massive disproportionate endeavor that relates to this emotional drive, even advanced it, but is ultimately unsuccessful, due either to emotional complications Nathan doesn't seem to anticipate or just the absurdity of Nathan's set up?"

Fun fact: Eric Nortarnicola, a collaborator on Nathan for You and the Researsal, also played a crucial role in the On Cinema Trial of Tim Heidecker.
posted by Hume at 12:18 PM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


I should admit that it's not actually two hours long. It's an hour and 20 minutes which I misread as 120 minutes. But watching it felt like forever so I can see why I thought it was two hours long.

I was amused by the previous seasons and the other episodes in this season, but wow with the bait and switch. This episode was fascinating and deeply felt.
posted by Stanczyk at 1:32 PM on August 20, 2022


BTW I also love the age progression specialist who notes that if we were all in outer space, WHERE WE WILL ALL LIVE SOMEDAY, we would visibly age much less because of the lack of gravity. His utter assurance on this point was so charming!
posted by brainwane at 3:13 AM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]


Fun fact: Eric Nortarnicola, a collaborator on Nathan for You and the Researsal, also played a crucial role in the On Cinema Trial of Tim Heidecker.

He also directed the bulk of On Cinema, co-wrote most of it, and was an active collaborator in a fair amount of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, too! He's been an invisible partner in a lot of Abso Lutely productions for a while now. I hope his name becomes better-known, because he's consistently fantastic.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 3:49 PM on August 21, 2022


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