If you're like me, you are completely numbed and addled by the amount of new series that premiere on streams almost daily. There is way, way, way too much content and most of it sucks. So how does Len get enticed to cut through the weeds and find something he actually wants to watch?
Well, if Harrison Ford is featured in the ad, that's enticement enough. That's what led me to "Shrinking," unspooling its first season right now on Apple. For the most part, I have been rewarded. Admittedly, you cannot go by the first episode. Normally, I would have tuned out. But, the creators (from the old NBC sitcom "Scrubs") have developed a show where not everything and everybody is revealed in Episode 1. Or Episode 2. Or Episode 3. Truth be told, you have to hang in there to figure out who's who and why they are doing what they are doing.
Now, the lead actor almost made me tune out early as well. Jason Segal, who was in another show I never got - "How I Met Your Mother," plays the main character of Jimmy Laird and his shameless over-acting is annoying. Eventually, you learn the reason for some of his histrionics, but that still doesn't make him a good actor. Luckily, there's enough around him that make the show worthwhile.
Segal plays psychiatrist still grieving over his wife who was killed in a car crash. He's also trying to cope with a grieving teen age daughter. Meanwhile, he tries to radically alter his in-office counseling, much to the consternation of his "mentor" played wonderfully by the never-bad Harrison Ford. Segal gets too close to some of his patients and that's where the comedy...and the drama...resides.
Yep' "Shrinking" is one of those hybrid shows that mixes laughs with tears. These days, it's hard to find a TV show that is one or the other. Most are horrible. "Shrinking" manages it with a bit more success.
As I said, it takes a while to learn about everybody. And you will soon discover that everybody is broken is some way. And lying about some things to some people and telling the truth to others.
Despite some of the flaws mentioned above, "Shrinking" is worth your time if not for Harrison Ford alone.
And now for the title of today's entry. One of the biggest annoyances of this show is the virtually dropping of the F bomb. Not just by one character. EVERYBODY! Men, women, young, old. It's almost like the word itself is as common as "the." Now I'm not normally a prude about this, but, on "Shrinking," it is excessive. The writers and producers need to realize that it doesn't make the show any funnier or edgier or more hip. It's needless. And less is more.
Dinner last night: Leftover bow tie pasta.
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