Apple has released a trailer, and announced a November premiere date for ‘The Shrink Next Door‘, an eight-episode limited series starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, based on the No. 1 new podcast of 2019.
Everything looks fine… until you see the bigger picture. ‘The Shrink Next Door’ is a dark comedy inspired by true events that detail the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf, played by Paul Rudd, and his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz, played by Will Ferrell.
Over the course of their relationship, the all-too-charming Ike slowly takes over Marty’s life, even moving into Marty’s Hamptons home and taking over his family business. The series explores how a seemingly normal doctor-patient dynamic morphs into an unprecedentedly exploitative relationship filled with manipulation, power grabs and dysfunction at its finest.
Rudd has, of course, spent the past few years growing and shrinking on the big screen as ‘Ant-Man’, along with starring in the brilliant Netflix series ‘Living With Yourself’. Ferrell, who popped up all over the US chat shows last year as Ron Burgundy, can next be seen in the movie ‘Eurovision’, and has a pile of other films in post-production right now. This new project brings the duo together for the first time on screen since ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’.
The limited series is directed by Michael Showalter (‘The Big Sick’, ‘The Lovebirds’) and Jesse Peretz (‘GLOW’, ‘Girls’), based on the script by Emmy, Golden Globe, BAFTA, WGA Award winner Georgia Pritchett (‘Succession’, ‘Veep’). The series also stars Kathryn Hahn (‘WandaVision’, ‘Central Park’) as Phyllis, Marty’s sister, and Casey Wilson (‘Black Monday’, ‘Happy Endings’) as Bonnie, Ike’s wife.
‘The Shrink Next Door’ is produced by Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television, Gloria Sanchez Productions, Semi-Formal Productions, Wondery and Bloomberg Media. Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum and Brittney Segal will executive produce for Gloria Sanchez Productions. Rudd and Pritchett will also serve as executive producers. Showalter and Jordana Mollick will executive produce on behalf of Semi-Formal Productions. Marshall Lewy for Wondery and Jared Sandberg, Katie Boyce and Francesca Levy for Bloomberg Media will serve as executive producers, with the podcast’s host Joe Nocera as co-executive producer.
‘The Shrink Next Door‘ premieres Friday, 12th November 2021 on Apple TV+ worldwide.
