Fans ofApple TV+ seriesShrinkingknow how the comedy-drama can hit home at several times. Since the show has roots on psychology and therapy, it’s easy to understand why a lot of it is extremely relatable — but there’s no one better to talk about it than its co-creatorBrett Goldstein(Ted Lasso). During an interview with Collider, the writer broke down how they end up choosing the themes of the show.
Goldstein was accompaniedat New York Comic Conby series' cast membersJason Segel(How I Met Your Mother),Lukita Maxwell, (Genera+ion)Michael Urie(Ugly Betty),Christa Miller(Cougar Town),Jessica Williams(Love Life),Ted McGinley(The Baxters) andLuke Tennie(Deadly Class), and they had a conversation with our Editor-in-ChiefSteve Weintraubin the Collider Studio about how at times the series itself feels like going to therapy. Goldstein commented that in order for the episodes to come off as they do, there’s a lot of work that goes behind every script — especially when dealing with its central theme of drunk driving:
“A lot of it was research. The starting point is reading and listening to lots of personal accounts of this kind of thing happening and people affected by it on both sides. I don’t want to sound sort of pretentious, but I’m gonna say it’s an act of empathy, right? It’s that you look at a broad spectrum of this and then you apply it to the world that we have created in ‘Shrinking’and try and put yourself in the space of all of these people. I hope that what is an interesting and challenging story is that the idea of forgiveness is easy. It’s an easy concept, but we put it into this world, and you go, ‘We will totally understand if Jimmy [Segel] says I do not forgive this person for once.’ I think it’s such a complicated and big idea. I don’t think we, as an audience, will go, ‘Oh, Jimmy, come on!’ I think we’ll go, ‘Fair enough.’ It’s difficult, and I think that that’s an interesting thing to explore. Hopefully we have done it with care and love and genuine empathy for the whole reality of it.”
ShrinkingHas Humor Going For It
Urie also added that a lot of the themes thatShrinkinghandles become palatable because they aredone with humor: “It’s like a spoonful of sugar because we are dealing with really heavy stuff.” The actor stated that even though the characters are going through big problems, they “have such great senses of humor and tackle them with humor” and this has helped the show resonate with audiences.
Shrinkinghasjust been renewed for Season 3, and Goldstein revealed to Collider that “half of it” is written and they start filmingsooner rather than later. The cast also hinted that there’s a five-season plan for the show, but they all held off on speculating about the future for now.
Apple TV+ is currently rolling out episodes from Season 2 ofShrinkingweekly.
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