The new comedy Shrinking has become a standout success for Apple TV+, according to two audience-tracking companies. The last new shows on the streaming service to attract so much attention were Black Bird and Severance. Not that the three series have much in common, besides being able to pull in large numbers of viewers.
Shrinking, which stars Jason Segel and Harrison Ford, is about a therapist who throws out the rulebook and tells his clients what he really thinks they should do.
Shrinking continues to draw a big audience
Some TV shows get a lot of attention at first, but can’t live up to the hype. So an initial surge of interest from viewers is no guarantee of long-term success. But Shrinking’s audience for its second week was actually larger than for the show’s first.
Movie and TV search engine JustWatch ranked it at No. 3 on its list of most-viewed streaming series during the week of Jan. 30 through Feb. 5. Rival ratings company Reelgood put the Apple TV+ show at No. 5 on its list of Top 10 Movies & TV available from every streaming service during the week of Feb. 2 through Feb. 8. (The show’s previous rankings were fifth and sixth, respectively.)
The Apple TV+ show was only beaten out by The Last of Us, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and a handful of other offerings. Shrinking is currently more popular than every other series available through streaming.
An Apple TV+ comedy
Shrinking was created by two of the writers of Apple TV+ mega-hit Ted Lasso. And the fact that screen legend Harrison Ford is in the cast surely helps draw attention to the show.
But the primary star is Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Sex Tape), who plays a grieving therapist who ignores his training and ethics by telling his clients exactly what he thinks. The result is huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives … including his own.
The Apple TV+ comedy earned positive comments from critics, with review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes giving it an 80% approval score. Audiences like it, too, as their score is 82%.
Shrinking is available now on Apple’s streaming service. Watching comes with a $6.99-per-month subscription.
The comedy couldn’t be more different from the two other Apple TV+ hits. Black Bird is a prison drama, while Severance is a weirdly funny sci-fi/workplace thriller. Both shows picked up nominations for prestigious awards. Only time will tell if Apple’s new show can match them in anything besides popularity.
