Culture Crash: The New Show, “Shrinking”

Showrunner Bill Lawrence is best known for his shows Scrubs and, more recently, Ted Lasso. Both huge successes that I like very much, but his latest show, Shrinking, is probably my favorite of his. Co-created with Jason Segel of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and How I Met Your Mother fame and Brett Goldstein of Ted Lasso fame, Shrinking tells the story of a therapist, played by Segel, who is grieving the loss of his wife and begins taking more unorthodox approaches to his therapy.

Like all great shows, though, the real magic is in the ensemble. Harrison Ford plays Segel’s mentor, himself a cranky but loveable therapist facing his own struggle, as he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Jessica Williams, known for her work on 2 Dope Queens and The Incredible Jessica James, completes the office’s group of therapists. The show also features Christa Miller, Luke Tennie, and Lukita Maxwell, providing audiences with a wonderful community that constantly supports each other, but who are all going through their own hardships.

Like Ted Lasso, the show is very much about the importance of community and the secret hardships our friends and neighbors may be going through behind closed doors, but the particular brand of Jason Segel and Harrison Ford humor really struck me. Shrinking is definitely “feel-good entertainment” but it also has an edge to it that I find refreshingly honest and relatable.

All 10 episodes of Shrinking’s first season are now streaming on Apple TV+, and a second season is on its way.