''Shrinking'' is an American

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, and

Brett Goldstein Brett Goldstein (born July 17th, 1980) is an English actor, comedian, writer, producer, and podcaster. Known for his role as Roy Kent in the Apple TV+ sports comedy series ''Ted Lasso'', he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppo ...

. The series stars Segel as a grieving therapist who decides to become drastically more involved in his patients' lives.

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...

, Jessica Williams,

Christa Miller Christa Miller-Lawrence (née Miller; born May 28, 1964) is an American actress known for her roles in television comedies. Her foremost roles include Kate O'Brien in the ABC sitcom ''The Drew Carey Show'', Jordan Sullivan in the NBC/ ABC com ...

Michael Urie Michael Lorenzo Urie (born August 8, 1980) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Marc St. James on the ABC comedy drama television series ''Ugly Betty'' and Brian on the Apple TV+ series '' Shrinking'', a role for which he won ...

, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, and

Ted McGinley Theodore Martin McGinley (born May 30, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television sitcom '' Married... with Children'', Charley Shanowski on the ABC sitcom '' Hope & Faith'', and as Derek on the ...

also star. The series premiered on January 27, 2023, on

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

. It has received positive reviews, with praise for its performances, writing, humor, and examination of grief. It was renewed for a second season in March 2023. The second season premiered on October 16, 2024; the series was renewed for a third season. The first season received two nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Segel and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Williams. Ford received nominations at the Critics' Choice Awards and the

TCA Awards The TCA Awards are awards presented by the Television Critics Association in recognition of excellence in television. There are eleven categories, which are presented every summer towards the end of the organization's summer press tour. Due to ...

for his performance, along with nominations for the series itself. For its second season, the series was recognized as one of the top ten television programs of the year by the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

Premise

A therapist, Jimmy Laird, dealing with severe grief after his wife's death, begins to breach ethical barriers by telling his patients what he really thinks, resulting in massive changes to his and their lives.

Cast

Main

* Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird, a therapist who works at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center and is grieving the death of his wife * Jessica Williams as Gaby Evans, a fellow therapist working with Jimmy at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center * Luke Tennie as Sean, a patient suffering from anger management issues who has sessions with Jimmy *

as Brian, Jimmy's best friend who is a lawyer * Lukita Maxwell as Alice Laird, Jimmy's teenage daughter with whom he has a strained relationship *

as Liz, Jimmy's next-door neighbor who also helps with looking after Alice *

as Dr. Paul Rhoades, a senior therapist and colleague of Jimmy's at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center who has

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. *

as Derek (season 2; recurring season 1), Liz's husband

Recurring

* Heidi Gardner as Grace, one of Jimmy's patients * Lilan Bowden as Tia, Jimmy's wife and Alice's mother who died in a car accident * Devin Kawaoka as Charlie, Brian's fiancé * Rachel Stubington as Summer, Alice's best friend at school * Kenajuan Bentley as Tim, Sean's estranged father * Lily Rabe as Meg, Paul's daughter * Wendie Malick as Dr. Julie Baram, a neurologist treating Paul's Parkinson's disease with whom he eventually begins a romance * Kimberly Condict as Wally, one of Jimmy's patients who has

obsessive–compulsive disorder Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts (an ''obsession'') and feels the need to perform certain routines (''Compulsive behavior, compulsions'') repeatedly to relieve the dis ...

* Tilky Jones as Donny, Grace's abusive husband * Mike C. Nelson as Dan, one of Jimmy's patients * Gavin Lewis as Connor (season 2; guest season 1), a son of neighbors Liz and Derek and friend of Alice *

Neil Flynn Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian. After performing with numerous comedy troupes in the Chicago area during the 1980s, he made his film debut in ''Major League (film), Major League'' (1989). During the ...

as Raymond (season 2; guest season 1), one of Paul's patients *

as Louis Winston (season 2), the drunk driver responsible for Tia's fatal car accident * Courtney Taylor as Courtney (season 2), Gaby's sister * Amy Rosoff as Dr. Sykes (season 2), Paul's new doctor * Vernee Watson as Phyllis (season 2), Gaby's mother * Josh Hopkins as Mac (season 2), Liz's ex-boyfriend who reenters her life * Damon Wayans Jr. as Derrick #2 (season 2), Derek's friend who hits it off with Gaby

Guest

* Asif Ali as Alan (season 1), one of Jimmy's patients *

Miriam Flynn Miriam Flynn is an American Voice acting, voice and character actor, character actress. She is best known as Cousin Catherine in the ''National Lampoon's Vacation (film series), National Lampoon's Vacation'' films and Grandma Longneck in ''The ...

as Pam (season 1), Jimmy and Liz's heavily disliked neighbor * Brian Howe as Kip (season 1), Brian's father * Kelly Bishop as Susan (season 2), Paul's ex-wife and Meg's mother * Meredith Hagner as Sarah (season 2), Louis' former fiancée * Tanner Zagarino as Dylan (season 2), Alice's classmate with whom she goes on a casual date *

Claudia Sulewski Claudia Sulewski (born February 19, 1996) is an American YouTuber, host and actress. In 2007, she started making videos on her YouTube channel in her hometown of Chicago, before moving to Los Angeles in 2014, where she jumped into hosting. A ye ...

as Ava (season 2), a pregnant mother who interviews Brian and Charlie for adopting her child *

Cobie Smulders Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS series ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in th ...

as Sofi (season 2), a woman who Jimmy and Derek look to purchase a car from * Nora Kirkpatrick as Kellie (season 2), a nanny hired by Brian and Charlie *

Jeff Daniels Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor. He is known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accolades, including two Primetime ...

as Jimmy's father (season 3) *

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American actor and activist. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ...

(season 3) * Candice Bergen (season 3)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2023)

Season 2 (2024)

Production

It was announced in October 2021 that

had ordered a ten-episode season for the series, which would star Jason Segel, who co-created alongside

and Bill Lawrence. In April 2022,

, Jessica Williams,

, Luke Tennie, and Lukita Maxwell joined the cast, with

James Ponsoldt James Ponsoldt is an American film director, actor and screenwriter. He directed the drama films '' Off the Black'' (2006) and '' Smashed'' (2012), the romantic comedy-drama ''The Spectacular Now'' (2013), and the dramas '' The End of the Tour'' ( ...

joining the production as a director and executive producer. Production began in April 2022. The first season has a total of ten episodes. The series theme song "Frightening Fishes" was written by Ben Gibbard and Tom Howe. During a 2023 interview with Harrison Ford for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', author James Hibberd reminded Ford that he had said in 2002 that he was content to work only once per year and asked him why he had accepted the offer to play Dr. Paul Rhoades. Ford replied that he wanted to try new things after a period of not doing as much work as he wished due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and his commitments to the titular role of the long-delayed ''

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ''Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'' is a 2023 American action-adventure film directed by James Mangold and written by Mangold, David Koepp, Jez Butterworth, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. It is the fifth and final installment in Indiana_ ...

''. As with his role in ''

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

'', Ford accepted the ''Shrinking'' role despite there not being a script at the time, trusting that Segel, Goldstein, Lawrence and

Brian Gallivan Brian Gallivan is an American actor, writer and comedian. He gained significant attention for his Second City Network web series ''Sassy Gay Friend'', based on a character he created in 2004 Second City mainstage revue ''Red Scare''. The series s ...

would deliver him a good script. In March 2023, Apple TV+ renewed the series for a second season. In June 2024,

Ashley Nicole Black Ashley Nicole Black (born June 15, 1985) is an American comedian, actress, writer and producer. She was a writer and correspondent for '' Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' (2016–2019), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstandi ...

joined the second season as a writer and a cast member in an undisclosed capacity. The season filmed from January to June 2024.

, who had a recurring role in the first season, was promoted to series regular for the second season. The show was pitched to Apple as a three-season-show, but the creators are open to continue if a fitting story emerges. On October 17, 2024, Apple TV+ renewed the series for a third season, which started filming in mid-February 2025.

Release

''Shrinking'' was released on January 27, 2023, with the first two episodes premiering together and the rest releasing on a weekly basis on

. The second season premiered on October 16, 2024.

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

For the first season, the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 91% approval rating with an average rating of 7.65/10, based on 94 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Shrinking'' has darker ideas on its mind than its earnest approach can often translate, but Jason Segel and

's sparkling turns make these characters worth close analysis."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Kristen Baldwin of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the series a B+ and described the series as "a funny, brainy grief-com about the power—and dangers—of radical honesty." ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

''s

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...

gave a rating of 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "You never know what goes on behind the scenes, but one gets the feeling Ford is having a great time on this show. We're sure having a great time watching it." Writing for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', John Anderson stated, "The overall sense is a little like laughing at a funeral; the human impulses are familiar, a little perverse and somehow comforting."

Season 2

The second season has received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 97% approval rating with an average rating of 8.35/10, based on 50 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Settling into a hangout comedy that's content to luxuriate in these lovable characters' company, ''Shrinking''s appeal only continues to grow in this big-hearted second season." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 75 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Apple TV+ 2020s American comedy-drama television series 2020s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2023 American television series debuts Fictional characters with Parkinson's disease Apple TV+ original programming American English-language television shows Television series about grief Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows set in Pasadena, California