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There's plenty of singing and dancing in Spirited, but do you really expect jokes in your musical comedies? Photo: Apple TV+
Spirited, the Apple TV+ musical comedy remake of A Christmas Carol, is a depressingly literal, overly sarcastic and nightmarishly unfunny look at the lives of the people who work from beyond the grave to make Christmas cheer.
In the film, which hits the streaming service today, Will Ferrell plays a spirit who’s lost his mojo when he meets a man who’s more persuasive than he is. The laughs never start and the songs never stop in this gaudy waste of money and talent.
Sometimes parties are no fun at all. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s true comedy The Shrink Next Door heads into its endgame this week. Manipulative psychiatrist Ike has all but moved into his patient Marty’s house in the Hamptons. And the bad doctor has started professionally throwing parties.
However, the longer the party goes on, the less fun it feels. The same is true of this show, which increasingly feels like it should have been a two-hour movie — if it needed to exist at all.
You can't help but feel sorry for Will Ferrell's character, Marty. Ike, on the other hand ... Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s true comedy The Shrink Next Door jumps forward to 1990 this week as Ike and Marty take the next step toward their collective doom: They go in on a housing project together. Ike is ready to become one of the beautiful people, something Marty always shied away from despite his massive inherited wealth, and they’re going to do battle over something Marty loves.
The show, which stars Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell, laid the groundwork for a one-sided battle of wills — and now it pushes everything too far. It will be difficult to get excited for another minute of this show after the episode’s conclusion.
Paul Rudd is The Shrink Next Door and Will Ferrell is his patient Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s newest (true crime) comedy The Shrink Next Door is here to deliver laughter with a side of psychoanalysis. Georgia Pritchett, a writer for Veep and Succession, created this show about the trials and tribulations of a panic attack-stricken New Yorker and the psychiatrist (based on a real guy) who tries to help him out of his troubles.
With Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell leading the cast, the eight-episode series tracks the two Jewish men’s relationship as they weave in and out, sometimes overzealously, of each other’s lives. It’s a period piece set in the 1980s — and the show itself is a little bit of a head case.
The first trailer for The Shrink Next Door introduces the characters that fuel this upcoming dark comedy based on true events. The limited series, which stars Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Kathryn Hahn, debuts November 12 on Apple TV+.
The two-minute clip released Tuesday introduces us to the wealthy Martin “Marty” Markowitz (Ferrell) and his longtime therapist Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf (Rudd), who uses his charm and friendliness for exploitation and manipulation.
Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds star in the holiday musical comedy "Spirited" from Apple TV+. Photo: Apple TV+
The streets of Boston have recently been all dressed up in Christmas cheer, but not because consumerism has gone wild even earlier than usual. It’s because the Apple TV+ holiday musical comedy Spirited is in production there. Stars Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell harmonized rather nicely their entry in the TikTok “Grace Kelly challenge” while on set.
Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd will play the leads in “The Shrink Next Door,” premiering autumn 2021 on Apple TV+. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ gave a first look at a hotly anticipated comedy starring the brilliant Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. A trailer for The Shrink Next Door premiered on Thursday, and the streaming service revealed that the limited series will debut November 12.
Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell appeared in the Anchorman movies, and now these brilliant comedians are headed for Apple TV+. Photo: DreamWorks Pictures
Apple TV+ picked up a comedy starring a couple of household names on Thursday. Apple gave a straight-to-series order to The Shrink Next Door, a new, eight-episode limited series starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd.
A Yamaha CD-555 with the CD carousel stopped. Photo: Leo-setä/Flickr
I stood in the doorway, still teary-eyed from goodbyes with my parents. There, before me, sat the first lesson of my freshman year in college.
Peter Otto had a blond mohawk and twirled a shiny butterfly knife. He had already adorned his side of the room with posters of his favorite bands: The Meatmen, Dead Kennedys and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
“I guess I’m your roommate,” I said and he pointed to the lower bunk. I was chubby, an Eagle Scout and a mama’s boy. But I had one cool card I could play — a boombox that played compact discs, a relatively new music format.
But with only two CDs — a synth-pop album by Kenny Loggins and the debut record from Bruce Hornsby & the Range — there would be no cool, not then anyway. Otto wound up being the best roommate I ever had during two college tours. Some of his music made it into my CD collection, which accelerated in the fall of 1985, but I doubt he ever took to Loggins.
Nearly 30 years later, I keep reading stories that eulogize the CD, report plummeting album sales and lay out how the music industry is now taking its product directly to customers through social media, streaming services or direct downloads from a group’s website.