Apple TV+ has an absolutely insane batting average when it comes to the amount of hits it has compared to the total number of series it produces. A lot of that is in the sci-fi genre with Foundation, Silo, For All Mankind and Severance, but in the comedy genre? It rules the roost with Shrinking, which I think you might be able to consider the best show on the service.
The series stars Jason Segel as a therapist grieving the loss of his wife, commiserating with others at his practice like Jessica Williams and the stellar, hilarious Harrison Ford, who does comedy way, way better than you might imagine.
Now, Shrinking has finally returned for season 2, and critics are loving it. With several dozen reviews in, Shrinking season 2 has a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, higher than the 91% of season 1. There are only two negative reviews out of the whole bunch.
Shrinking is a fascinating series in that its creators include Segel himself, Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein (yes, Roy Kent) and Bill Lawrence, who is not an actor but was the showrunner for both Ted Lasso and Bad Monkey and was the mind behind Scrubs. That’s one hell of a combination.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a show like this where every character feels perfectly cast and is engaging every time they’re onscreen. I do think that Harrison Ford is far and away the highlight as this is simply not really something you’d expect from him, but he’s absolutely hilarious as the grouchy doctor and Segel’s mentor/foil on the series.
Shrinking is currently the #2 show on Apple TV+ behind only the return of the high-budget, high-profile Silo. Its viewership does not really matter as Apple has already renewed it for a third season and that is planned to be its last. Apple has a good habit of letting series actually run long enough to finish their entire story arcs, which is certainly nicer than say, what Netflix usually does.
We are about halfway through the season right now with five more episodes to go, and the series will end on Christmas Day. You can start to catch up now, or perhaps wait until the new year to binge the entire thing at once.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
