Shrinking is Bill Lawrence’s new television creature with Jason Segel as the protagonist. Every week it is making us laugh and excite and we are curious to see what will happen in the series finale expected for March 24 on the streaming platform Apple TV+. After mourning the Scrubs e in Ted LassoBill Lawrence has decided to explore this theme in this series co-written with Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel. The protagonist, in fact, is a psychotherapist named Jimmy, who tries to recover from the abyss in which he fell after the death of his wife. It’s too early to tell if it will ultimately prove to be one of Apple TV+’s best TV series, but surely in these weeks it has made us fall in love with its nice and messed up protagonists.
Is there any similarity between Shrinking and the well-known comedy Scrubs? Let’s see what Bill Lawrence thinks.
The television author, who gave the world two jewels such as Scrubs e Ted Lasso, gave a long interview to IGN a few weeks ago to publicize the new series. How natural, talked about the creation process behind it Shrinkingthe brainchild of him and Brett Goldstein. She admitted that there is a reason, if she loves so much in the series to combine comedy with drama. Bill Lawrence said that in the past he had appreciated series capable of being able to make people laugh but also to excite (such as MASH o The Wonder Years) and once he became a television writer he wanted to make similar products. However, this choice also reflects the way in which he faces the difficulties of lifeas he confessed:
“Lately in my life most of the comedy comes from trying to laugh in the face of problems: pandemics, aging parents, trauma and more.”
And then there was the desire to tell, as he also did in Scrubsthe difficulties and sufferings of those who are busy taking care of people. If in comedy with Zach Braff we have known the difficulties of a group of young doctors who face the hard life in the hospital, in Shrinking the main character is a psychologist unable to deal with his pain. Here’s what he said about it Bill Lawrence:
“Just like with Scrubs we really liked the idea of showing that too those who take care of us can sometimes be quite messed up themselves. In fact, when drafting we thought of taking a fascinating man in crisis; to make him drink, to make him take drugs, to make him a neglectful parent and then teach him to look after himself without alienating other people.”
In Shrinking the protagonist overcomes the barriers imposed by the therapist-patient relationship and begins to intervene directly to improve the lives of his patients. Since he can’t change his own situation, Jimmy at least tries to change the situation of others by suggesting what they need to do to be happy. Lawrence said it emerged from several conversations he had with many psychologists, that they all dream in their hearts of doing the same thing. Jimmy’s mentor, however, at one point reminds him that everyone, in the end, must earn the tools to decide for themselves what is best to do. Harrison Ford in Shrinking plays a surly psychologist who hides a heart of gold behind his tough facade: does he remind you of anyone? It just seems like that Bill Lawrence love writing great mentor characters like Dr. Cox’s Scrubs or Dr. Paul Rhoades of Shrinking. In this interview you explained the reason behind this choice:
“I love bringing mentors into play: I’ve done it in Scrubs, through Dr. Cox, and of course in Ted Lasso; I think it’s one of the biggest narrative holes not only in today’s world, but also specifically in my business. When I started my mentor was the author Gary David Goldberg who taught me how to do television but also how to become a better person”.
