Shrinking, the hit comedy starring Jason Segel and Harrison Ford as therapists with problems of their own, returns to Apple TV+ on October 16. Friday’s’s announcement came with a tiny teaser video for season 2.
This is another entry in Apple’s collection of shows with a radical premise: People in sitcoms don’t have to be horrible to each other.
Update: Apple TV+ posted on social media about Shrinking season 2 on August 5, then pulled the post and video shortly afterward. The teaser trailer came back on Friday.
A different kind of sitcom
Cutting remarks and insults are a staple of sitcoms. As warm as Friends could be, Chandler was the king of the putdown. And everyone on Seinfeld was flat-out terrible. But Apple TV+ took sitcoms in a different direction with Ted Lasso, the streamer’s first breakout hit. Characters in the show were either kind to each other or learned to be. And it helped make the series an enormous success.
Apple repeated the idea with other shows, like The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. But no series on the streaming service has been more successful at this alternative idea for sitcoms than Shrinking.
In it, Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Sex Tape) plays a grieving therapist who ignores his training and ethics by telling his clients exactly what he thinks. Screen legend Harrison Ford plays his mentor. And there’s a large cast of characters who have made mistakes but are trying to be better people. They help make Shrinking a feel-good comedy with a dose of drama.
Audiences found it appealing. The series quickly became one of the most popular series on streaming, and stayed near the tops of the ratings charts its whole run.
Critics like Shrinking, too. Season one received a 91% approval rating from the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Jason Segel scored an Emmy nomination for his work on the show, as did Jessica Williams.
Shrinking season 2 premieres October 16
Season one of the comedy wrapped up in spring 2023, so new episodes are somewhat overdue. Still, the months-long writers and actors strike last summer surely caused production problems. But Apple promised Friday that Shrinking season two will debut Wednesday, October 16.
It even put out a video to call attention to the date. In it, the cast of the series is happily sharing a bench … until Harrison Ford’s character Paul comes along and demands it all. The tagline is “Personal space is overrated.”
Season one is ready to be binge-watched now. Watching Shrinking and many other series or films comes with a subscription to Apple TV+. The service costs $9.99 per month, with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle.
And Apple’s streaming video service also includes much more, of course. There’s a growing library of drama, thrillers, comedies, sci-fi, musicals, children’s shows, nature documentaries, etc.
Want more tips on what to watch on Apple TV+? Read our guide to the 15 best shows on Apple TV+.
