Catch Nathan for You Thursdays at 10/9c on Comedy Central or anytime on the Comedy Central app.
The beauty of Nathan For You is that Nathan Fielder is helping real people. In each episode, he works to find solutions to help struggling restaurants, shops and other small businesses survive in a competitive marketplace. But we’d like to know how Nathan would stack up in the fictional universes of other TV shows. So, while you wait for a new episode of Nathan For You, which airs Thursdays at 10/9c on Comedy Central, or have a few minutes before dialing up any of the episodes of this show on the Comedy Central App, check out our 10 fake businesses that might benefit from the kind of keen business insight that Nathan has to offer.
1. Cheers from Cheers
Sam Malone’s beloved Boston bar never really seemed to be struggling all that much, thanks to a gang of trusty regulars, his cachet as a former pitcher for the Red Sox, and being right downstairs from a restaurant. Corner bars and local joints like Cheers are nearly extinct in the Boston of today, though, as property values have soared and hoity-toity restaurants catering to a high-end clientele have taken their place. Cheers today would probably be struggling, and Nathan would be the perfect person to swoop in and save the day. We head to bars to sooth our souls and minds, after all, and Nathan’s understanding of human nature gives him the empathy necessary for any successful bartender.
2. Dunder Mifflin Paper Company from The Office
The scrappy paper supplier from Scranton, Pennsylvania always seemed to be stumbling towards closing up shop throughout The Office’s nine season run. They were too busy focusing on fun and games, constantly distracted by Michael Scott’s whims and desperation to be loved. Beyond their dalliance with Sabre, there was really no one helping them think of new ways to sell reams of paper to the Tri-State area, and Nathan is the kind of business-oriented pro who could get them back in shape.
3. Springfield Nuclear Power Plant from The Simpsons
Try as Mr. Burns might, nuclear power is never not going to make people a little suspicious, if not outright scared about what kind of trouble those steaming reactors could do to the residents of Springfield (who are already a strange, bug-eyed, yellow-skinned bunch as it is). It doesn’t help that Burns himself is basically history’s greatest monster, or that the plant employs shiftless good-for-nothings like Homer Simpson and the occasional duck. If anybody could help Burns wage an effective public relations campaign to sway opinion in favor of nuclear power, it’s Nathan.
4. Bob’s Burgers from Bob’s Burgers
It’s a wonder that Bob’s Burgers is able to keep its doors open. The scant few regulars that haunt the greasy spoon are hardly enough to keep the lights on, not to mention the constant harassment from the health inspectors and the three little moppets that would just as soon harvest your organs for cash than serve you your food. In other words: it’s the perfect candidate for Nathan’s keen marketing expertise.
5. WKRP from WKRP in Cincinnati
Herb Tarlek had to carry quite the burden on his polyester suit jacket clad shoulders as the only person on stage trying to sell ad time for this rock radio station. The poor guy never did seem to be able to land that big account either. It doesn’t help that few locals even knew the low-rated station had changed formats, or that its owner, Mrs. Carlson, was intentionally hoping the station would fail as a tax write-off. Disastrous publicity stunts also sullied the station’s image—why would anybody drop turkeys from a helicopter? Nathan would be able to turn this station full of lovable kooks around in no time.
6. Central Perk from Friends
The favorite hangout for the gaggle of New Yorkers that we like to call Friends is a fine coffeehouse, but also one of those places where jerks buy one cup of coffee and maybe a pastry, and then sit for hours on end working on their unfinished detective novel or chewing the fat with their buddies. If you wanna hang out and gripe about your loveless marriage to a sad sack like Ross, you should have to pay up. Nathan is probably full of ideas of how to compel those stragglers to spend more money.
7. Pied Piper from Silicon Valley
The tech industry ain’t hurting for money, but as we’ve seen through two seasons of Silicon Valley, it’s not without its trials—particularly for a company with an apparently brilliant compression algorithm but no business sense. (And a pretty terrible name.) Richard Hendricks, Pied Piper’s genius but hilariously awkward CEO, means well, but between his own inexperience and the hubris of his partner Erlich Bachman Pied Piper regular shoots itself in the foot. Nathan would be the perfect middleman between the two, instilling confidence in Richard and countering the arrogance of Bachman.
8. Empire Entertainment from Empire
You might be asking yourself how a multimillion dollar company like Empire could use the help of someone like Nathan. Well, this is a company whose founder is struggling with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and who thinks the best way to pick a successor is to sow discord between his sons and see who comes out on top. Oh, and his ex-wife Cookie has other plans. Basically this is one of the most dysfunctional corporate structures in business history, and Nathan could restore the discipline needed to get Empire sailing smoothly again.
9. Mel’s Diner from Alice
People always looked down on the owner and head cook of Mel’s Diner for his bad attitude and gruff demeanor with his employees and customers. It doesn’t help that his diner’s a little run down, and his servers treat him with no respect. Despite his tough guy routine, Mel has lost all control over his diner, and Nathan could help him regain it.
10. ACME Corporation from Looney Tunes
Has any company failed as consistently and lethally as the all-purpose manufacturing concern known as ACME Corporation? Somehow they stay in business despite doing literally nothing right. They have to be propped up like a house of cards at this point, perhaps through some shady negotiations involving off-shore accounts, or even to launder money or as a front for more nefarious dealings. Trying to fix ACME’s horrible reputation while cleaning up the corruption that must be eating away at the company’s core would be Nathan’s biggest
Catch Nathan for You Thursdays at 10/9c on Comedy Central or anytime on the Comedy Central app.