APPLE TV+ · COMEDY-DRAMA

Shrinking

Season 3 — Now Streaming

🍅 90% Tomatometer

🍿 82% Audience Score

APPLE TV+

Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, and Jessica Williams have quietly assembled the most purely joyful ensemble on television — and Season 3 of Shrinking doubles down on every single thing that made you fall for this show, while somehow finding emotional depths the earlier seasons only gestured toward.

What Makes It Work

Co-created by Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel with Ted Lasso veteran Bill Lawrence, Shrinking operates on a deceptively simple principle: what happens when a grief-wrecked therapist starts ignoring the rules and just telling his patients the truth? The premise could easily tip into wish-fulfillment sitcom territory, but the writing is too honest and the performances too grounded for that. Harrison Ford, playing a Parkinson's-diagnosed therapist with a lifetime of emotional armor, gives one of the most quietly moving performances of his career. The show earns every laugh by earning its tears first.

Wikimedia Commons — Southern California backyard

Where This Season Takes It

Season 3 follows Jimmy Laird two years further into his unconventional recovery — still bending ethical rules, still surrounded by the sprawling found family that assembled in his backyard and never quite left. The season stretches the ensemble's relationships in satisfying new directions while introducing complications that feel organic rather than manufactured for drama. Ford's Paul Rhodes faces the next chapter of his Parkinson's progression with the show's characteristic blend of humor and heartbreak, and the writing around that storyline is as good as anything on television this year.

Brian & Korie's Take

Brian calls Shrinking the show he recommends most to people who say they don't watch TV anymore — it's proof that half-hour comedy-drama can carry genuine emotional weight without becoming self-important about it. Korie points to Jessica Williams as the season's MVP, noting her comedic timing and her ability to anchor scenes emotionally are two different gifts she deploys simultaneously, often in the same sentence. Both hosts agree that the near-perfect critical score reflects something real: this show is operating at a level of craft and warmth that's genuinely rare.

SCREEN TIME VERDICT

ESSENTIAL VIEWING — The warmest, funniest, most emotionally honest show on TV. Don't wait.

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Oblath's Cafe S07E03 — Alien Franchise, Legacy, Practical Effects

https://cinemadialogue.com

This episode delves into the enduring legacy of beloved film franchises like *

Here is the full transcript:

[PROFESSOR] Hey everybody, I'm the Professor... joined by Josh and Korie. Let's talk some film.

[JOSH] Professor, it’s good to be back at Oblath’s. I was just thinking about that article on Cinema Dialogue this past week about legacy franchises and... well, it got me wondering about the *Alien* series. With *Alien: Romulus* coming out recently, it feels like we keep returning to that particular well. What are your thoughts on revisiting something so... sacred?

[PROFESSOR] Sacred is a good word, Josh. A VERY good word. You know, back when the original *Alien* premiered in seventy-nine, there was nothing else quite like it. Nothing. The sheer terror, the claustrophobia, the creature design by Giger... it was a complete paradigm shift for science fiction horror. I remember the buzz, even just from the dailies we were processing at the lab. Little snippets, just frames, but you could tell something special was happening.

[JOSH] Wow, you processed *Alien* dailies? That’s... incredible. What was it like seeing those early glimpses of the Xenomorph?

[PROFESSOR] Well, not *Alien* specifically, my lad. We were over near Paramount, mostly processing for television shows and other studio pictures. But the *energy* in the industry was palpable. Everyone knew what Ridley Scott was cooking up. And the talk in the labs and the bars, even Oblath’s here, was all about what a game-changer it would be for practical effects. You saw bits and pieces from similar productions, the raw film, the bits of latex and mechanics that would later become a terrifying monster. It was a time when you really saw the magic being built, frame by frame, on celluloid. It wasn’t just pixels. It was *real*.

[JOSH] That’s what I love about the original. You feel that tangible dread. But now, with *Romulus*, it's different. It's a new crew, a new director, Fede Álvarez, and while I respect his horror chops, it’s tough to live up to that initial lightning in a bottle. Do you think these kinds of continuations or soft reboots are truly necessary?

[PROFESSOR] Necessary? Perhaps not. But profitable? Oh, absolutely. Hollywood loves a recognizable brand, a built-in audience. The challenge, of course, is honoring the original without simply rehashing it. Many have tried, few have truly succeeded. For every *Blade Runner two thousand forty-nine*—a masterpiece in its own right—you have a dozen attempts that fall flat. It’s a tightrope walk. You have to capture the *spirit* of the original, not just the surface-level iconography.

[KORIE] Yeah, but sometimes the "spirit" gets lost in translation. I mean, I remember seeing an *Alien* movie where the Xenomorphs were actually just incredibly polite space librarians who kept shushing everyone. It was a really quiet film.

[PROFESSOR] Korie, dear, are you sure that wasn't... a dream you had after a particularly strong cup of coffee here?

[KORIE] No, Professor, it was definitely a film! Or, it *was* a film in a timeline where libraries were the dominant galactic power. It made total sense at the time. The xenomorphs had little reading glasses.

[JOSH] (Laughs) I’d pay to see that! But Korie actually brings up a good point about the variations. What do you think makes a successful continuation, Professor? Is it about expanding the lore, or just giving us more of what we loved?

[PROFESSOR] It's a delicate balance, Josh. Take *Aliens*, James Cameron's follow-up. It completely shifted the genre from horror to action, yet it WORKED because it built on Ripley’s character, expanded the world, and delivered a different kind of intensity while remaining true to the core threat. It didn't try to BE *Alien*; it was its own beast. That's key. You need a fresh perspective, a director with a unique vision, not just someone trying to replicate a formula.

[JOSH] So, a new voice, not just a carbon copy. That makes sense. I often feel like modern horror relies so heavily on jump scares and CGI gore that it loses the psychological dread that the original *Alien* mastered. Do you think practical effects, the kind you saw being made in the labs, are making a comeback, or is CGI just too convenient now?

[PROFESSOR] Oh, I certainly HOPE they're making a comeback, Josh. There's an artistry to practical effects that CGI, for all its wonders, often struggles to replicate. When you see something real, something tangible on screen, whether it’s a prosthetic monster, a miniature, or a complex animatronic, there’s an immediate, visceral connection for the audience. Your brain KNOWS it’s there, it exists in the same physical space as the actors.

[PROFESSOR] Think about John Carpenter's *The Thing* from nineteen eighty-two. Those creature effects? STILL hold up. They're disturbing, grotesque, utterly believable because they were meticulously crafted by Rob Bottin ...