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Shrinking

 

As his therapy comedy returns for season two, co-creator Bill Lawrence reflects on walking the tightrope between chuckles and tears

After a long period of grieving his wife in ways that affected family, friends and patients alike, therapist Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) finally seemed on the mend. The first season ended in a dance party that demonstrated a rebuilt connection between Jimmy and teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), a budding romance between him and fellow therapist Gaby (Jessica Williams), and a general departure from the chaotic coping mechanisms that marked the start of the series. It was almost as if Jimmy’s decision to give blunt, uncensored life advice to his patients had passed without incident. Almost. “There were so many people going, ‘Yo, if therapists really did this, there’d be consequences,’ ” laughs co-creator Bill Lawrence. “And we’re like, ‘Really? You don’t think we know that?’ ”

Shrinking on Apple TV+. Pictured: Sitcom vets Christa Miller (Cougar Town) and Ted McGinley (Married . . . With Children) play Jimmy’s annoyed-but-still-supportive neighbours, Liz and Derek — who become surrogate caregivers to his daughter Alice during Jimmy’s unravelling.
Apple TV+

That in mind, the second season of Shrinking begins with Jimmy having to deal with his patient Grace’s (Heidi Gardner) decision to “boop” her abusive husband off a cliff at the end of last season. But if you think that saving Grace from life in prison is Jimmy’s biggest hurdle this year, think again. “The second season is about forgiveness, and when I say it’s about forgiveness, it’s not just generic,” hints Lawrence. “There are unresolved issues between characters, but to really cement that, the theme is that the only way to move forward in your life is if you forgive other people and forgive yourself for what’s happened in the past. We make it pretty clear with the arrival of a new character, that this is going to be the umbrella that the year happens under.”

Shrinking on Apple TV+. Pictured: Harrison Ford as Paul, a curmudgeonly therapist suffering from Parkinson’s disease who — quite reluctantly — serves as Jimmy’s defacto mentor.
Apple TV+

That mystery character, played by Shrinking co-creator and Ted Lasso breakout star Brett Goldstein, is one that will profoundly shake up both father and daughter. For Goldstein, it is a departure from the Lasso role that made him famous, and one that Lawrence initially wasn’t sure was right for the actor. “I didn’t see it at first, but the writers’ room and Jason Segel really championed it,” he explains. “I got stuck in thinking, ‘He is Roy Kent. He’s gruff and mean,’ but in real life he’s so kind and sensitive. He makes the show work, because that needed to be a character that, even in light of what the story is, you root for and want him to be OK. It’s the only way this whole season would’ve worked.”

Simultaneously, shaking things up on the romance front, Jimmy and Gaby are forced to make sense of what is happening within their relationship, as they realize that their extracurricular activities are not as casual as either may have thought. “Before Jimmy’s wife, Tia [Lilan Bowden] died, all three of them were friends, and I think they just fell into this without really thinking or choosing to be together, but just sleeping with each other, which is a bit messy,” says Williams. “They have to figure out how they actually feel about each other.”

Shrinking on Apple TV+. Pictured: The Daily Show alum Jessica Williams as Jimmy’s fellow therapist/new love interest Gaby, who this season scrambles to unpack the complex emotions that arise from trying to have a casual sexual relationship with your late best friend’s husband.
Apple TV+

The show that tackles grief, illness and trauma as its main themes continues to deliver laughs, often against the odds. The humour is something comedy veteran Lawrence is most proud of — in addition to selling the show in the first place. “Where I started, which was pitching multi-camera sitcoms, the head writers would count and make sure you had four or five jokes on a page, and now I can’t believe we’ve gotten to a time, creatively, where I was able to go to Apple and say, ‘I want to do a comedy.’ They’re like, ‘What’s it about?’ I’m like, ‘Well, it’s going to be really funny. This guy’s wife died and he’s an awful father and he’s doing drugs and hanging out with sex workers and neglecting his daughter. Oh, also Harrison Ford, a huge movie icon, has Parkinson’s.’ And they let you do it! It’s crazy.”

Shrinking on Apple TV+. Pictured: Lukita Maxwell as Jimmy’s teen daughter Alice, who spent season one coming to terms with a dearly departed mother and a tailspinning father.
Apple TV+

In the writers’ room, the challenge continues to be balancing some of life’s hardest knocks with humour that really lands. “The thing that I’m really proud of would be that the dramatic stories all hopefully feel authentic. A lot of them are rooted in truth,” says Lawrence. “But we’re all comedy writers and what we really police ourselves on is never wanting to be a comedy where fans go, ‘This isn’t a comedy.’ We’re proud of trying to walk that tightrope.”

When delivering the funny, it never hurts to have a troupe of hilarious people you know and trust, which in this case includes Lawrence’s wife Christa Miller as Jimmy’s neighbour Liz, his old Scrubs star Zach Braff, who returns to direct two episodes, and perhaps another surprise or two. “I would tell anybody in the world that if you, no matter what you do, have friends and family and people that you love, that are super-talented and that you like spending time with, and you find yourself in a position to hire them and support them, I think you’re a sociopath if you don’t do it,” says Lawrence. “I’m not doing anybody favours. It’s a safety net for me of talented people that I know have my back and I can count on. I’m the luckiest guy on the planet.”

Season two of Shrinking begins streaming Wednesday, October 16 on Apple TV+

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