Bill Lawrence On Mixing Comedy With Emotion In ‘Ted Lasso’ And ‘Shrinking’

TV lovers want to get lost in the escape of a gripping series, but we also want more than mere entertainment. We want to feel something.

One series that has become a cultural phenomenon is the award-winning Ted Lasso. Jason Sudeikis’ lovable Ted has become our favorite soccer and life coach for many reasons, one of which is his determination to make us believe. He gives us hope that despite our failings, setbacks, and heartache, we can persevere.

In a recent interview, writer, producer, and series co-creator Bill Lawrence talked about Ted, and his other recent Apple TV+ hit, Shrinking, and why he feels audiences have gravitated to these shows that blend comedy with some of the darkest parts of the human experience.

“Ted Lasso and Shrinking each exist in a world where comedy, pathos, and real emotions co-mingle. That’s the stuff I love,” said Lawrence.

He points out that creating and developing a television series is collaborative. “Any individual who takes credit for a hit is an insufferable narcissist. It’s rare to have a hit. A thousand things can go wrong. You have to have good writing, a great cast, and good directing, and the audience must respond. All of these things have to gel at once.”

Lawrence has had a hand in creating and co-creating several shows that have made us laugh and cry, often simultaneously. Past TV hits include Scrubs, Cougar Town, and Spin City.

When it comes to connecting to an audience, Lawrence knows that laughter works, even amid the despair of grief, a topic we can all relate to at one point or another in our lives. The subject is tackled in Ted Lasso and Shrinking.

“Everybody is a degree separated from grief, and it’s important for us in doing these shows to have our audience feel the impact and how to overcome it by leaning into the people in your life,” he explained.

Fans cannot wait for Sudeikis’ endearing Ted and his friends to return to Apple TV+ for the 12-episode third season premiering on March 15. In the meantime, they have gotten to know an entirely new and equally lovable cast of characters in Shrinking, a series Lawrence co-created with Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel.

Lawrence reflected on his conversations with Goldstein while filming Ted Lasso in London. The two initially discussed what would become the premise of Shrinking. “We wanted to do a show about people dealing with grief. We wanted to put together a show that would comedically de-stigmatize this profession. We were also interested in what happens when the caretakers, the therapists, are also going through grief.”

Segel’s Jimmy is a therapist who has all but given up on the rules after losing his wife in a tragic accident. As in Ted Lasso, the ensemble cast in Shrinking is phenomenal. It’s a mix of Hollywood heavyweights like Segel and Harrison Ford and newer faces, including Jessica Williams, Lukita Maxwell and Luke Tennie. Christa Miller (Lawrence’s real-life wife), Ted McGinley, and Michael Urie round out the cast.

Lawrence tells me he likes to write about things he’s personally going through. Segel’s character Jimmy was inspired by his neighbor who lost his wife and one of his children in a car accident. He and his other child were in a different car when it happened. “Overnight, he became a different person.”

In Shrinking, Jimmy is losing himself to drugs and alcohol, which is what Lawrence and his wife witnessed with their neighbor. “We’d have to go over there to break up the party, and it’d be 4:00 am on a Tuesday. We watched him struggle and felt for him.”

Lawrence discussed how he and his team of writers navigate the light and dark parts of humanity and blend them together. “It’s a fine line we are trying to walk. It’s a bit of a tightrope because if you make the drama too heavy-handed, it’s hard to have the show be funny. You also cannot make it too silly with the comedy, as it’s hard to have an emotional impact. It’s great when it works…when it comes together in those moments, and when it comes across as authentic,” he explained.

He credits the classic TV series MASH as his introduction to this type of show. It’s one of his all-time favorites, along with The Wonder Years, Cheers, and Veep. “Each had giant emotional undercurrents. I love mixing comedy with stories that have emotional depth and heart. With Scrubs, at the time, everyone wanted shows where the doctors were very serious. We thought they could still be funny. One of the best coping mechanisms is laughing at tough situations.”

He may have a string of successes now, but Lawrence opened up about the early days of his career. “I have had plenty of stinkers in my past. Luckily most were too awful to go on TV. Plenty of my shows didn’t work, but this is a game of never giving up. One thing I learned is that if you chase what you think is popular, it feels inauthentic. With Ted Lasso, we started with something hopeful and optimistic because we needed that, and we’re lucky the show worked.”

Streaming has not only changed how we consume content but it’s also impacted the creatives making the shows we binge. The competition is more intense than ever before. Lawrence welcomes the changes. “What I love about the streaming television era is that I can say, ‘I wanna do a show about a guy who lost his wife, he’s a therapist, and his partner at work has Parkinson’s disease, he’s been a terrible father to his daughter, and he’s using alcohol and narcotics to cope, and he’s not connecting to anybody, oh and it’s a comedy.’”