Pops Watched TV: SHRINKiNG

 I decided to check out Apple TV+’s SHRINKiNG (Jason Segel plays a psychiatrist mourning his dead wife and struggling with professional burnout and an angry daughter) for one reason: To watch Harrison Ford do comedy. But two episodes in, I found myself cringing on the couch with each chirpy quip / obviously improvised cutesy non-sequitur / ham-fisted tear jerking moment, making me look up the show and discover it’s “from the people who brought you TED LASSO.” 

I’ve never watched TED LASSO because every single thing I’ve read about it just screamed, “NOT FOR YOU, KALLI! NOT. FOR. YOU.” I texted the people’s friend, Matt Caputo and asked him, “Hey, is SHRINKiNG like TED LASSO?,” to which he replied in the affirmative, confirming my aversion. 

SHRINKiNG is alternately cloyingly sweet and maudlin, populated with the kind of characters that people in Hollywood think are “real” and relatable, but are as clichéd and predictable as anything in a Marvel movie (there’s the mincing gay best friend and the smart-ass young black co-worker and the crusty but lovable old mentor and the angry teenage daughter and the nosy neighbor and probably more I’ve tried to forget!). I lasted four episodes before I once again wished that streaming services offered a “delete from your ’Keep Watching’ queue” option. 

Sorry, Harrison Ford. I hope you got a nice paycheck for this drek.

Originally posted on social media, March 2, 2023