When watching the first episode of this series, I thought I was watching a reality program about a small village of simpletons whose inhabitants were fighting a Tourette's syndrome epidemic. Imagine my surprise when I learned from a friend that Shrinking is intended to be a comedy series.
But where is the humor? The plots lack the cleverness of, say, an average Gilligan's Island episode. Certainly the acting doesn't add to the merriment. The star, Jason Segel, has an acting range that goes from showing his happy bewildered face, to his sad bewildered face to his bewildered bewildered face. This is in sharp contrast to Harrison Ford's performance which could be classified as a "mono-face" performance. His lips move, but that's about it. We might have expected more from the man who single handedly invented an entire new field of comedy: small aircraft piloting comedy. The rest of the cast needs no acting ability as their only purpose is to deliver glib, mostly out of context, one liners intended to give the show a smooth "quirky" veneer. Unfortunately the lines delivered are neither clever nor funny leaving the show with a peeling imitation wood held down by duct tape veneer.
All in all, Shrinking is a cultural embarrassment aimed at the teenage to the less mature twenty something demographic.
But where is the humor? The plots lack the cleverness of, say, an average Gilligan's Island episode. Certainly the acting doesn't add to the merriment. The star, Jason Segel, has an acting range that goes from showing his happy bewildered face, to his sad bewildered face to his bewildered bewildered face. This is in sharp contrast to Harrison Ford's performance which could be classified as a "mono-face" performance. His lips move, but that's about it. We might have expected more from the man who single handedly invented an entire new field of comedy: small aircraft piloting comedy. The rest of the cast needs no acting ability as their only purpose is to deliver glib, mostly out of context, one liners intended to give the show a smooth "quirky" veneer. Unfortunately the lines delivered are neither clever nor funny leaving the show with a peeling imitation wood held down by duct tape veneer.
All in all, Shrinking is a cultural embarrassment aimed at the teenage to the less mature twenty something demographic.