A tide could be turning in the great TV Streaming Wars of the 2020s. We don’t even have to talk about how competitors like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max are doing to take note that Apple TV+ is ramping up production in terms of both quantity of shows and quality of talent attached. The streamer has a robust number of projects we’re excited for in 2023—more than any other network or streaming service, and usually with major cinematic talent attached—and their impressive year kicks off with Shrinking.
Shrinking is a half-hour dramedy series about a moderately self-destructive therapist (who is also quite good at his job!) therapist (Jason Segel) who, a year after a life-altering tragedy, begins to make some serious life changes. If that sounds vague, well, that’s on purpose! The show is character-focused and it works best, particularly when watching the pilot, to see how things unfold without any further expectation of what happened or where things are going. Segel’s co-stars include the likes of Jessica Williams (The Daily Show, The Incredible Jessica James), Christa Miller (Scrubs, Cougar Town), and a little-known actor named Harrison Ford.
Segel co-created the show with Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein; if those names sound familiar, it’s because they’re also the co-creators (along with Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt) of Apple TV+’s other hit dramedy, Ted Lasso. Basically, Shrinking takes the same creative team, trading one Jason for another.
Shrinking is far from a Lasso clone though. While Ted Lasso certainly digs deeper than its inspirational sports show skin suggests, Shrinking doesn’t have any of those genre expectations to subvert. Instead, it just focuses on a troubled man going through it, trying to repair his relationship with his daughter (Genera+ion‘s Lukita Maxwell) and getting advice when he can from the people closest to him in his life (which include fellow therapists played by Williams and Ford, a neighbor played by Miller, and his lawyer best friend played by Michael Urie).
The show is funny, but features character work that will keep you around for more than just a 30 minutes worth of laughs per week. Segel’s character, specifically, comes with the exact blend of hilarious mania with an underlying, you-can-barely-notice-it-but-it’s-there sadness that he’s been perfecting since Forgetting Sarah Marshall (and Freaks and Geeks too, if we want to really throw things back).
Ford, too, is clearly having a ball; he gets to, largely, just adapt his cantankerous and dry public persona onto a character who is, again, deeper than he first lets on.
If you’re into well-made and compelling characters that will make you laugh and feel things, now’s the time to get into Shrinking before everyone else is too. Here’s when every episode will hit Apple TV+
When is the next episode of Shrinking coming out?
Each episode of Shrinking will hit Apple TV+ on Thursday nights at 12:00 midnight, EST. The next episode will debut on February 10.
How many episodes of Shrinking are left?
The first season of Shrinking will be 10 episodes long, and the first three of those episodes are now streaming. That means there are seven episodes, and seven weeks, remaining in the first season of Shrinking.
Here’s the complete release schedule for Shrinking
Episodes release on Fridays
Episode 1: Now streaming as January 27
Episode 2: Now streaming as January 27
Episode 3: Now streaming as of February 3
Episode 4: Streaming on February 10
Episode 5: Streaming on February 17
Episode 6: Streaming on February 24
Episode 7: Streaming on March 3
Episode 8: Streaming on March 10
Episode 9: Streaming on March 17
Episode 10: Streaming on March 24
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
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