Shrinking - Apple TV+ (***Spoilers***) Harrison Ford & Jason Segel

Agent Coulson

From the makers of Ted Lasso

Shrinking follows a grieving therapist (played by Segel) who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives … including his own.

Starts January 27th 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLiH06blNME&ab_channel=AppleTV

The Black Oil

Full trailer is up. A lot going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjHfjQDWl1A

The Black Oil

Somewhat enjoyable first two episodes. However, I'm not sure about how it oscillates between the comedy and more serious moments.

Sudden Valley

Quite a good show, Not sure Segel is good enough to lead a show on his own, Ford is really just a supporting character.- I struggle to think of a show about shrinks that is not good- I remember Huff, In Treatment, The Shrink Next Door and recent The Patient all being very good.

whatever76

am enjoying it - good easy 30 minute watch ! Enjoying ford and his punch lines

JP Liz V1

Renewed

Rfrip

I’m glad! Really enjoying this!

pixelburp

I caught the first four episodes of this, and having dipped a toe with a degree of indifference, it has quickly become A New Favourite Show.

I'm not sure the mix of comedy and drama always gels effortlessly; sometimes it suffers from that problem with American comedy & its characters suddenly acting like no human-being ever. But when it does get the mix right, so far it has really nailed both the laughs and little personal, dramatic moments. Can sometimes have its characters behaving unlike real human beings.

Plus Harrison Ford's dry, no-shíts-given delivery has been a constant source of laughter. He has never really done much comedy throughout his career, and thankfully the scripts simply lean into his naturally sarcastic, grumpy charm than aim for something beyond his wheelhouse.

steve_r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120425462#Comment_120425462

Yeah, he was the revelation for me - it helped that the character had quite a grounded arc (which I won't go into detail on if you are only four eps in).

On reflection, perhaps that would have been a better "core plot" to the show. Jason Segel is a good comedy actor but is limited on the dramatic side, and I cared a lot more about Ford's character.

Indeed the first episode and the general premise nearly put me off the whole thing but I'm glad I stuck it out.

I think it's an easy show to warm to because it feels so familiar - Ford is a legend, Segel has been in loads of stuff, and people will remember Christa Miller from Scrubs and Jessica Williams from The Daily Show. I thought Miller and Williams were fantastic in this, both on a comedic level and on a character level.

I was massively into Scrubs back in the day and I see a lot of similarities to this - a strong ensemble cast that is given their chance to shine, and a steady development of the characters over time. Ted Lasso is the show it gets the most comparison to, because of the AppleTv and Bill Laurence/Brett Goldstein connection - but I think this is a smoother show with characters who are more evenly developed (in contrast to the likes of Dani 'Football is Life' Rojas)

The Black Oil

Ah, that confrontation between Paul and his daughter in 1.07 was rough.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120726863#Comment_120726863

I finished it all up in the end so yeah, Ford's character had a really heartbreaking but satisfying arc across the season as he grew into it; made sense, he couldn't stay the endless grump without revealing some aspects of humanity.

I really enjoyed it and had a surprisingly effective mix of genuine laugh out loud moments, coupled with quite grounded and brutal dramatic turns. Melodramatic sure, but white unflinching in their own way too.

The Black Oil

Returns on October 16.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNAppxBJ50k