Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal Helped Push Pilot Mental Health Bills Through Senate

Nathan Fielder has spent years turning increasingly elaborate stunts into television to great effect. It seems one of them may have helped move legislation through the US Senate. On Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed two bipartisan bills aimed at improving mental health care and medication guidance for pilots, air traffic controllers, and other aviation workers – the same issues Fielder spent much of Season 2 of The Rehearsal investigating. The John A. Hauser Mental Health in Aviation Act would push the FAA to modernize its mental health certification process and reduce barriers that can discourage aviation workers from seeking care, while the Aviation Medication Transparency Act would require clearer public guidance on medications that can affect medical certification. The bills still need to pass the House before becoming law. Fielder previously suggested that The Rehearsal may have helped draw attention to the issue. During a Writers Guild Foundation event, he recalled former National Transportation Safety Board member John Goglia telling him that younger congressional staffers had watched the show and saying, “I think the show pushed them to [do it].” Fielder was more caut...