Shrinking

Ford seems poorly used and out-of-place in this comic milieu; that he’s stiff and uncomfortable is a joke with diminishing returns. Better are his dramatic scenes. ... Whereas Segel is more at sea. An open-hearted performer whose emotional palette is big, bold and easy to read, Segel cannot make Jimmy’s confessions feel special or earned. ... With that in mind, I enjoyed Jimmy’s relationship with Gaby, as the pair of therapists’ chemistry seems to exist beyond words. And his relationship with his daughter Alice, too, felt pleasingly underexplored.

Like Ted Lasso, Shrinking is sweetly funny, and sentimental almost to a fault. It’s worth watching for a goofily poignant Jason Segel — and a gloriously grouchy Harrison Ford.

Ironically, if Ted Lasso himself had sat down to write a comedy it might well have turned out like this one. It just needs a voice in the writers’ room to shout "bollocks" from time to time when the cheese overwhelms.

When you put Harrison Ford in full curmudgeon mode next to Jason Segel and Jessica Williams, there’s just not denying that you’ve got a competently funny show on your hands. But what is it saying? I mean, other than the platitudes it seems to spout: that all of us (even therapists!) are struggling? That we’re all doing our best?

Its characters may be quick-witted, entertaining, and portrayed by skillful actors, but listening to them drone on about the same personal problems becomes enervating over the course of ten episodes.

It’s tempting to just keep talking about Harrison Ford, because aside from Paul, the news about “Shrinking” isn’t so good. ... The cycle of yelling, crying and apologizing is so constant that even within episodes you lose track of what people are yelling about and what they’re apologizing for. Tonally, however, the show is a quiet, somewhat monochrome drama, and the result is that it never quite feels in sync.

The overall impression left by Shrinking is that it’s slightly less than the sum of its admittedly impressive parts. It’s simultaneously too heavy to work as a hangout sitcom a la Cougar Town, and too lightweight to work as an earnest exploration of grief.