Emmy spotlight: ‘Shrinking’ is a special show that deserves to make the comedy series cut

Ray Richmond
·6 min read
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THIS STORY CONTAINS A SPOILER OR TWO ABOUT ‘SHRINKING.’

There are only so many slots available for Emmy nominees, and when it comes to the comedy series list, the presumption is that it’s already set in stone. Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” and ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” are locks at the top, of course, as is FX on Hulu’s “The Bear” in third (even though its first season is less comedy than dramatic intensity). Then, in the Gold Derby combined odds handicap, come Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” and HBO’s “Barry” – for its final season. And speaking of farewells, we can’t forget Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (currently running in sixth place) and, in terms of freshman season standouts, Peacock’s “Poker Face” and Netflix’s “Wednesday.” And there are your eight nominees filling the eight allotted Emmy category slots this year.

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But not so fast there, bucko.

If the above nomination list comes to pass as currently predicted, it would leave one show twisting on the outside looking in: “Shrinking,” the first-year Apple TV+ dramatic comedy with a heart of gold that was renewed for a second season after Season 1 proved a hit with critics and streaming viewers alike. Co-created by star Jason Segel, “Ted Lasso” co-creator Bill Lawrence and actor-writer Brett Goldstein, it’s an actors and writers showcase packed with moments of both hilarity and pathos. Once you start binging its 10 episodes, “Shrinking” is nearly impossible to turn off. And I didn’t.

SEE‘Shrinking’ will finally bag Jason Segel his first-ever Emmy nomination

The show spotlights Segel – the former “How I Met Your Mother” regular – as Jimmy Laird, a therapist struggling mightily to regain his equilibrium following the car accident death of his wife months before. He’s grieving and directionless, unable to focus, allowing his practice to flounder and his relationship with daughter Alice (superb work from Lukita Maxwell) to drown in the sea of their mutual despair. There’s also Harrison Ford as senior therapist Paul (who suffers from Parkinson’s disease), Jessica Williams as fellow therapist and general busybody Gaby, and Christa Miller as Jimmy’s next-door neighbor (and Alice’s surrogate mom) Liz.

Much has been written about the performances in “Shrinking,” which are uniformly brilliant. Segel is a goofball, loser revelation, wisecracking yet vulnerable and totally lovable. Ford is wry and world-weary and hilarious, a master of perfect timing and delivery. Williams is so good she nearly steals the whole thing out from under the guys, and while Miller got on my nerve a bit with her edginess, she wound up winning me over, too.

SEEEmmy spotlight: Harrison Ford is no ‘Shrinking’ violet

But I want to concentrate for a moment on the primary reason (to my mind) that this show deserves to be nominated: the father-daughter relationship between Jimmy and Alice. It is, after all, what raises “Shrinking” to a whole other level. As a father who has had an often contentious relationship with his now-adult daughter, I have some personal experience here – and this show gets it right. No, I can’t draw on how things change based on the death of a spouse/mother, but I came speak to that parent-child evolution in the wake of divorce. And it’s incredibly tough.

To the everlasting credit of “Shrinking.” it wastes no time trying to sugarcoat any of this. As the 10-episode first season kicks off, Jimmy is flailing and is so busy channeling his sorrow that he spiritually distances himself from his daughter as well. She’s 17 and a high school senior, so she already has more than her share of angst without the added burden of pining for her mother and for a father who is emotionally unavailable. What rings especially true in their relationship is that it isn’t resolved within the confines of a single episode or even two or three. It takes months in the context of the show and episodes worth of evolution throughout the season. The back-and-forth of testing and limits and two-steps-forward, one-step-back feels wrenching and real, as is their (SPOILER ALERT) tentative and cautious reconciliation in which they both are forced to give a little.

SEE‘Shrinking’ director Zach Braff on reuniting again with Bill Lawrence: ‘He always gives me interesting episodes’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

The chemistry that Segel and Maxwell display together is superb. The way they dance around one another feels bracingly authentic. Maxwell herself is quite the find as an actress. In this role, she’s a collection of raw nerves and anger and heartache and hostility and self-loathing and triumph and joy and forgiveness. In short, she’s all over the map, and that’s precisely what we’d expect of a teen whose mother and father left her at the same time, albeit in radically in different ways.

I experienced some of this myself as the father of a female. My divorce from her mother when she was not quite four years old was understandably traumatic. And while I hardly disappeared from her life, seizing every morsel of time allowed me in my custody agreement, it took a toll throughout her childhood. I still have nightmares about her running after my car crying as I drove away from her mother’s house following a dinner visitation. It took years for us to reconcile her feelings of abandonment, and if I’m being entirely honest, it hasn’t fully dissipated even today when she’s 34 years old and a mother of two young boys herself.

What I’m saying is that “Shrinking” is no ordinary comedy. Its masterful blend of merriment and more dramatic elements strikes the right cord, and it earns its laughs through astute character development. But for my money, it’s the father-daughter interaction that proves most genuine. And for that alone, it deserves to crash the best comedy series party at this year’s Emmys.

PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12

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