10 TV Shows Where The First Episode Was The Best
1. The Rehearsal
Nathan Fielder's long-awaited follow-up to his legendary reality-comedy series Nathan for You was certainly a compellingly cringe-worthy sit from start to finish, but it never again touched the heights of that first episode.
The premise of The Rehearsal is that Fielder, playing a not-so-fictionalised version of himself, attempts to help regular folk prepare for difficult life circumstances by having them rehearse the scenario with sets and actors with a hilarious degree of authenticity.
The first episode sees Nathan helping Kor, a man who wants to tell his bar trivia team that he lied about having a master's degree.
And so, Nathan constructs a replica of the bar where his team meets, fills it with actors, and has Kor workshop various versions of him confessing the truth to his teammates.
It's fascinating, brutally embarrassing at times, and yet strangely moving in how it examines the human condition.
But rather than help a new person each episode, the rest of the season pivots to focus on Nathan's work with one person - a woman named Angela who is considering motherhood.
At this point The Rehearsal becomes less committed to its inspired premise and leaps off to be something far more deranged but ultimately less satisfying.
HBO have renewed the show for a second season, though, so here's hoping that Fielder finds a way to outdo that stellar first episode.