The first season of Shrinking ends with a literal cliff-hanger. One of Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) patients takes his unconventional therapeutic advice to the extreme and pushes her abusive husband over the edge of a Los Angeles mountain, right as the credits roll. Segel and his co-creators Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein had the idea for what Lawrence calls the “pulling-out-the-rug moment” before they even sat down to write the pilot, so when they gathered with their cast for a THR Presents panel, powered by Vision Media, the explosively wacky ending was on everyone’s minds.
“I was so shocked and I was glad it wasn’t me,” joked Ted McGinley, who plays Derek on the Apple TV+ show, while Luke Tennie (Sean) quipped, “It made my wife very nervous.”
Lawrence is responsible for bringing several fan-favorite comedies to television screens — from Scrubs to Ted Lasso — and the panel participants spoke vehemently about their desire to work on one of his shows, and specifically one with the combination of humor and heart of Shrinking. “This show really feels like the synthesis of everything I’ve tried to get good at after 20 years of doing this job,” said Segel. “There are pratfalls off a bicycle and also scenes that rip your heart out. And the truth is, I’ve been kind of hopping from project to project hoping someone knew Bill.”
The Shrinking cast brings together actors with straight comedic backgrounds, like Jessica Williams (who plays fellow therapist Gaby) and those like Tennie — who describes treading into the unknown with the show’s slapstick humor. “When you meet actors, you can tell when someone’s funny or not,” says Goldstein. “We saw a lot of people for this show who were very good dramatic actors, but in talking to them for two minutes we were like yeah, you’re not funny. When we met Luke we were like, holy shit, look at this guy.”
Williams says she was excited for the chance to work so closely with Segel, someone she’s long admired, but that her favorite comedic scene wound up being one opposite Harrison Ford. “There’s nothing better than a grumpy old white guy and a really bubbly millennial Black lady,” she explained. “It’s really fun to bother Harrison, but I don’t think I’m confident enough to do it in real life so I liked having permission to be annoying to him. All white guys that age deserve it.”
Watch the video above to learn more about the making of the show, and what each character’s favorite line was (hint: “Eat a dick, Pam” makes the cut). This edition of THR Presents is sponsored by Apple TV+.
Source: Hollywood
