Bill Lawrence has been making great TV for decades. From some of the best sitcoms like Spin City and Scrubs, to streaming giants like Ted Lasso and Shrinking, he’s produced some major, and I mean major, hits. However, the way that happens isn’t totally because of one show’s singular success; it’s assisted by a domino effect of sorts, at least in these programs’ cases. Lawrence himself pointed that out while explaining how Jason Sudeikis’ soccer comedy opened the door for Jason Segel’s therapy comedy.
Shrinking’s third season just ended on the 2026 TV schedule, and it’s returning for a fourth season too. It’s proven itself over the years, and it’s solidified itself as an award-worthy series (can we give Harrison Ford an Emmy already?). So, I didn’t realize the role Ted Lasso played in getting this show off the ground.
However, Lawrence, who is a co-creator on both series, told Esquire how the Emmy-winning comedy about a football-turned-football coach made it so a comedy about a widowed therapist could happen:
The way Hollywood works is, when you get some luck and something like Ted Lasso comes along, the very same people that wouldn’t let you make stuff eight months ago are like, ‘Hey, is there anything else you want to make?’ And then you have to go, ‘Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.’
Now, on the surface, it would seem like Shrinking and Ted Lasso don’t have much in common. However, Lawrence co-created both shows, and Brett Goldstein, who played Roy Kent on Lasso, co-created Shrinking. So, the ties between the series are actually very strong.
They are also both available to those with an Apple TV subscription, and Shrinking premiered on the service between Seasons 2 and 3 of Ted Lasso.
So, in a lot of ways, we need to say thank you to Ted Lasso for helping us get Shrinking. The soccer series turned out to be a massive breakout hit for Apple, as it took over the zeitgeist and took home many Emmys (including two wins and three nominations for Goldstein). Therefore, it tracks that the streamer would want more content from the folks who made it.
They really leaned into that too, because as Ted Lasso was wrapping up its three-season arc, Lawrence wasn’t just working on Shrinking; he was creating Bad Monkey, too (which has a second season on the way).
With all that said, both Lawrence and Apple TV can look back on an era of television that was wildly successful and made people very happy. It’s not over, either. As I mentioned, Shrinking will return for Season 4, with a plan to run a few more seasons after that. Bad Monkey is also coming back, and the long-awaited fourth season of Ted Lasso should premiere this summer.
While this is surprising in a sense, it's not exactly unusual. When a streamer or network finds people they like to work with, they'll keep the collaboration going. For example, after Mike Schur worked as a co-executive producer on The Office with Greg Daniels, they went on to co-create Parks and Recreation. Then, Schur co-created Brooklyn Nine-Nine and created The Good Place. All those comedies aired on NBC (though Brooklyn Nine-Nine didn't start there), showing the trust the network had in him and his collaborators.
Going back to Lawrence, his success actually reaches beyond Apple TV. Along with Ted Lasso, Shrinking and Bad Monkey, he has worked on the revival of Scrubs and the HBO Max comedy led by Steve Carell, Rooster, which also stars Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster. And I feel like it's worth noting that Shrinking, Scrubs and Rooster were all airing at the same time, too. Talk about a busy guy.
Now, while each series stands strongly on its own, there’s absolutely no denying the run Bill Lawrence's work has been on since the soccer comedy became a hit. So, in some ways, we do owe a debt of gratitude to Ted Lasso for helping us get shows like Shrinking.
