For many showrunners, not only is it imperative for them to provide a show that is entertaining, but they also must ensure that all ethical and legal requirements are met for the show to air. Nathan Fielder does everything correctly in a legal sense, but the situations and events that occur on his shows are often questionable when looking at it from an ethical standpoint. It happens enough times for people to wonder if he might be going too far.
Nathan Fielder is well known for his awkward personality and the way he meshes fiction and reality. Many of the stunts he has pulled in the past have led to tricking people nationwide about what happened, like in “Nathan for You”, when he faked a video of a pig saving a goat from drowning. Many of the guests on his shows are not in on jokes, which is the main complaint with some of his episodes. The best example of this is the season two finale of “The Rehearsal” when he piloted a Boeing 737 with passengers on board.
Despite these deceptions, Nathan usually has safety as the number one priority. Even with the plane stunt, he had a real co-pilot with him to ensure that nothing went wrong. It could be argued that his pranks could have been emotionally damaging for some of the victims, but something like that is hard to evaluate. Most of his shows revolve around helping real people solve real problems in humorous ways. Sure, it might be an inconvenience for those unwilling to play into the joke, but that is far from being unethical. In any case, “The Rehearsal” bends the boundaries of what a show can be allowed to do, and I highly recommend giving it a watch.
