EVERYBODY HURTS (SHRINKING, SEASON ONE)

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Typical!

You wait years for Harrison Ford to do a television show and he appears in two.

The seventh highest grossing actor in cinema has been a huge presence on the big screen for most of our lives.

Many people treasure his iconic performances as Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, Jack Ryan and Richard Kimble.

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He's also been willing to stretch himself in more complex roles with an Oscar nominated turn as Detective John Book in Peter Weir's superb Amish thriller 'Witness,' as the inventor Allie Fox in Weir's ''The Mosquito Coast,' as a brain injured shooting victim in Mike Nichols' 'Regarding Henry,'  as the attorney Rusty Sabitch in 'Presumed Innocent' and as the scientist Dr Norman Spencer in 'What Lies Beneath'.

Over the years Ford has also shown a flair for comedy, occasionally making forays into the genre in movies like Robert Aldrich's 'The Frisco Kid,' Mike Nichols' 'Working Girl,' Sydney Pollack's 'Sabrina,' Ivan Reitman's 'Six Days, Seven Nights,' Ron Shelton's 'Hollywood Homicide' Roger Michell's 'Morning Glory' and Adam McKay's 'Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues'.

And now he gets to test his comic chops on the small screen in Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein's Apple TV+ sitcom 'Shrinking' while also cooking up a dramatic storm with Helen Mirren in the Paramount+ 'Yellowstone' spin-off series '1923'. 

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'Shrinking' is a ten episode sitcom fashioned around the messy personal lives of psychiatrists who share a practice.

At its heart is Jason Segel's grieving shrink Jimmy Laird who has just lost his wife and whose teenage daughter, Lukita Maxwell's Alice finds hin constantly irritating.

Jimmy isn't coping with mourning very well.

In the opening moments of the show, we see him surrounded by pills, blaring Billy Joel in the early hours of the morning in his backyard while two escorts swim in his pool.

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His neighbour Christa Miller's Liz calls round to ask him to stop the racket and to remind him that Alice is upstairs.

Liz, we discover, has stepped into the void left by Jimmy's late wife, Lilian Bowden's Tia and has become a kind of substitute maternal figure for Alice.

After sheepishly apologising to Liz, Jimmy goes to his practice the following morning where he listens to a succession of patients and trots out the usual advice until something snaps and he starts to shake things up.

He tells Heidi Gardner's Grace, who is in an emotionally abusive relationship with Tilky Jones' Donny, that she must leave him and spend time with her sister in Canada or he will stop treating her.

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Jimmy's colleague, Jessica Walker's Gaby also asks him as a favour to take on a patient assigned to her, Luke Tennie's Army veteran Sean who has anger issues.

Sean's problems have resulted in him brushing up against the law.

Jimmy's solution is to take Sean to a Mixed Martial Arts gym as an outlet for his anger and when the ex-soldier falls out with his parents, Jimmy offers him a place to stay in his home.

Jimmy's sudden move to unconventional therapy appalls Harrison Ford's senior psychiatrist in the practice Dr Paul Rhoades who is not behind the door in telling his colleague that he needs to confront his grief.

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Paul, who holds regular therapy sessions with Alice in the park where they both bitch about Jimmy, has his own issues to contend with.

Recently diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, he is loathe to share the news with his daughter, Lily Rabe's Meg because he doesn't want her to fuss and fret over him or curb his desire for independent living.

Gaby nags him too about ensuring he is consuming enough water and when he has issues driving, she takes it upon herself to take him each day to work.

She's also wrestling with the death of Tia, her compulsion to help Jimmy and Alice deal with their loss and the end of her marriage to Adam Foster Ballard's artist Nico.

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With Liz becoming too interfering in Alice's life, Gaby initially clashes with her but they wind up becoming close friends.

Liz knows she can be a bit overbearing but wants to get things right.

Meanwhile another friend of Jimmy's, Michael Urie's lawyer Brian is due to get married to his fiance, Devin Kawaoka's Charlie with Jimmy officiating.

But he has serious reservations about Jimmy taking on the role given the emotional mess he is in.

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With Alice developing a crush on Sean, how will Jimmy handle a daughter who thinks he's a complete idiot?

Will his unconventional therapy sessions reap benefits for his patients?

And will he ever win the respect of Paul?

It would be very tempting to write off 'Shrinking' as just another sitcom about an emotionally fragile, fortysomething middle class white guy.

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However 'Shrinking' knows its principal job is to make you laugh and it does that very well.

Lawrence, Segel, Goldstein and their fellow writers Brian Gallivan, Rachna Fruchbom, Bill Posley, Annie Mebane, Wally Baram, Sofi Selig and Neil Goldman deliver witty scripts packed with strong one liners and good gags.

Although anyone expecting another 'Ted Lasso' given Goldstein's involvement is in for a surprise.

This has much more bite.

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The jokes are much more cutting. 

Breezily directed, though, by James Ponsoldt, Ry Russo-Young, Randall Keenan-Winston and Zach Braff, it needs an ensemble cast that's really on song.

And they certainly are with Segel an appealingly flawed central character and Miller, Maxwell, Tennie and Urie consistently pitching their performances just right.

Ted McGinley as Liz's husband Derek, Wendie Malick as the neurologist treating Paul, Rabe and Gardner also amuse.

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But as good as Segel and the rest of the cast are, the two outstanding performances come from Williams and Ford.

Williams, who audiences may know as the cool teacher Mrs Fine in Olivia Wilde's movie 'Booksmart' is just a delight.

As Gabby, she delivers a performance of sheer vivacity, intelligence and wit and her comic timing is impeccable.

She gels quite brilliantly with Segel and especially Ford.

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As for Ford, he is wonderfully grouchy and droll and he never fails to amuse when onscreen.

In fact he's so good, you wonder why he hasn't done more comedy in his career.

Like Segel and Williams, it would be hugely surprising if he isn't seriously contending for a Primetime Emmy.

Lawrence, Segel and Goldstein know how to ensure 'Shrinking' gets its mix of sharp wit, physical gags and drama just right.

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In fact, they establish their formula so quickly and effortlessly that it feels like a no brainer that there should be a Season Two.

Not surprisingly, Apple TV+ have duly obliged by commissioning a second.

If it remains this good, it will be a very smart investment in a show that is shaping up to be even better than 'Ted Lasso'.

Now all they need is for people to shout about it.

(Episodes of 'Shrinking' were released weekly on Apple TV+ from January 27-March 24, 2023)