Schmigadoon is one of my newest favs.

As a fan of musicals, I had always wanted to watch the Apple TV + series, but I never had gotten around to it. However, recently, I found some time and I figured that I could give this a try.

After the very first episode, I was in.

I did not binge the whole series, spreading out the two season, 6-episode seasons over about a week, which worked extremely well.

I have always been a fan of Keegan-Michael Key, who stars as Dr. Josh Skinner. To be fair, Keegan-Michael Key is not the best singer of the cast, but the show keeps his songs to a minimum and, truthfully, his song in season 1 was one of the most emotional moments of the first season.

Dr. Josh Skinner’s girlfriend in season 1 and wife in season 2 is Dr. Melissa Gimble, played by Cecily Strong, who has a strong comedic presence and great timing. She makes a effective team with Key. Even when I was not sure about what the show intended, I was always rooting for this couple to be together.

Season 1 was based on musicals such as Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the 1947 musical Brigadoon.

Season 2 takes several musical inspirations/parodies including obviously Chicago, Sweeny Todd, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Annie.

There is some remarkably clever writing in the series and the music is both enjoyable and extremely funny. You can hear the homage to the classic music from the different musicals that Schmigadoon parodies in the score for the show.

The ensemble cast included some heavy hitters like Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Ariana DeBose, Tituss Burgess, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Kristin Chenoweth, Jaime Camil and Michelle Rios.

That cast played different characters in the two seasons, highlighting different styles of musicals and some great work. Alan Cumming was especially brilliant in season 2 as the Sweeney Todd-inspired butcher, Dooley Flint. His unbalanced performance was spectacular.

Season two’s inclusion of the Narrator character, played by Tituss Burgess was a stroke of genius. It kept the meta aspects of the series in place.

I hope there will be more Schmigadoon on Apple TV in the future. This was a lot of fun and entertaining as could be.

“It’s a doggity-dog world”

Harrison Ford’s name attracted me to start watching Apple TV +’s series, Shrinking. I knew practically nothing about it going in except that Ford was on it and that he had said some great things about the scripts that he had read.

It was a few episodes into the season before I started watching, but once I started, it became my Thursday night go to show. I loved how funny, heartwarming and emotional the show was.

Shrinking starred Jason Segal as Jimmy Laird, who was in the process of grieving the loss of his wife. Jimmy was a therapist in the practice run by Ford’s character, Dr. Paul Rhoades. Jimmy was a mess through most of the season, trying to deal with his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), his patients like Sean (Luke Tennie), his neighbors Liz and Derek (Christa Miller and Ted McGinley), his best friend Brian (Michael Urie) and his co-worker and wife’s best friend Gaby (Jessica Williams).

I thought these characters were outstanding. It was brilliantly written and was always funny, outrageous and thoughtful.

Not only was the series about dealing with grief, it also focused on Harrison Ford’s character and his Parkinson’s diagnosis. This side storyline was one of the bests on the show because Harrison Ford was epic in the role. Dr. Paul Rhoades was grumpy, mean, and completely uncomfortable… meaning Harrison Ford was perfectly cast. If Harrison Ford does not receive an Emmy nomination for this series, it will be a crime.

I have seem some criticism of the show by people claiming that the therapy shown on the show is not accurate and that these characters would never be effective psychiatrists. None of that bothered me. The therapy helped us dive into characters and give us an insight into Jason Segal’s character. I have never had therapy nor have I studied anything about it, but it did not give me any problems. He was certainly unconventional about therapy and he does get called out about some of the things he does, especially with Sean.

Along with Ford, Jessica Williams played a therapist at Paul’s practice and she was absolutely awesome. She was funny and brought an attitude that helped carry several moments throughout the season. She had lost her best friend when Jimmy’s wife died and she had her own arc of grief to go through.

The show was ten episodes and the season finale aired tonight. I feel that Apple TV + has now a second excellent comedy (dramady) to go along with Ted Lasso. If you have not watched Shrinking, give it a try. It is a lot of fun.