'Shrinking' gets great work from a great cast

Perhaps it's apt that to watch the new Apple TV comedy Shrinking is to reckon inevitably with its extended family.

That family includes Ted Lasso, with which Shrinking shares two of its creators, TV comedy veteran Bill Lawrence (who created Ted with Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly) and Brett Goldstein (who writes for Ted and plays Roy Kent). But there's also the past work of Jason Segel, the star and the other creator. Segel's roles as men who are often sad and awkward go at least as far back as Freaks and Geeks, but he's also an interesting, idiosyncratic screenwriter who's written or co-written projects for himself including The Muppets, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the captivating, oddball AMC drama series Dispatches from Elsewhere.

itself is, at heart, a family story. Jimmy (Segel) is a therapist who's