If You Love 'Shrinking,' You Need To Watch Its Creator's Cult-Favorite Sitcom

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So far, Shrinking Season 2 is even better than Season 1, and it’s partly because it has even more of the vibe of creator Bill Lawrence’s previous sitcom, Cougar Town. Lawrence also created the massive hit Scrubs and the award darling Ted Lasso. Although Cougar Town never achieved the same success, it had a devoted cult following and managed to last six seasons — thanks to TBS saving it after a cancellation. The sitcom about a hot mom who tries dating younger men developing a cult following of comedy nerds was so surprising it became a running gag on Community. Although the jokes on Community were hilarious, Cougar Town deserves to be more than a punchline. It's arguably Lawrence’s best show and definitely the most similar to Shrinking.

Cougar Town follows Courteney Cox as Jules Cobb, a divorced realtor. As the title implies, the show starts with Jules wondering if she should dip her toe into dating younger men. However, very little comedy actually came from this angle. Cougar Town pretty quickly pivoted and started focusing on Jules's will-they-won’t-they with Grayson Ellis (Josh Hopkins), who is only six years younger than Cox. The true focus of the show is the wonderful, quirky relationships between the main characters.

'Cougar Town' Strikes a Unique Balance Between Nice and Mean

On its surface, Cougar Town doesn’t have the tendency of Shrinking or Scrubs to bring things home with poignant moments. In place of characters actually learning to change or trying to be better, the charm comes from how much these characters accept each other as they are. In the pilot, Jules says she's reluctant to try dating younger men primarily because she doesn't want to become the kind of woman that she and her best friend Ellie Torres (Christa Miller) would make fun of. This moment sets up the true heart of the show more than any of the other "cougar" stuff. Jules and her friends are, at the end of the day, very mean people who make fun of almost everyone. But, the show captures the joy of finding an inner circle of people to be mean with. This is what makes it so unique. This approach of allowing the characters to be kind of terrible is starting to pop up more in Shrinking — and that’s a good thing.

In Season 2, what shines about Shrinking is the slightly toxic but still enviable relationships and friendships between characters. Whether it’s Jimmy (Jason Segel) and Brian (Michael Urie) letting their petty squabbling interfere in their work helping Grace (Heidi Gardner), Julie (Wendie Malick) forbidding Paul (Harrison Ford) from seeing a neurologist who’s too hot, or Gaby (Jessica Williams) convincing Jimmy’s friends to ostracize him after their failed relationship, Shrinking excels at having characters act selfish in ways that are still pretty adorable and oddly endearing. Cougar Town was even better at delivering friendships and romances between incredibly selfish people, with sweet moments that are immediately undercut by something offhandedly cruel.

Jason Segel and Harrison Ford on the poster for Shrinking Season 2.

A Nude Jason Segel Convinced Harrison Ford to Join 'Shrinking'

Harrison Ford gives fellow 'Shrinking' co-star Jason Segel the biggest compliment.

Christa Miller Gives Her Best Performance in 'Cougar Town'

Courteney Cox and Christa Miller on Cougar Town.

The always great Christa Miller — Bill Lawrence’s wife — is a scene-stealer on Shrinking and gets even more to do on Cougar Town. A recent episode of Shrinking revealed Liz makes her husband Derek (Ted McGinley) achieve his step count each day to earn treats… but the treats have to be fruit. This delightfully called back to the relationship between Miller’s character Ellie and her husband Andy Torres (Ian Gomez) on Cougar Town. Ellie regularly does things like forbidding Andy to tell stories about their son and insisting “We decided no baby stories… when I decide, we decide.” Miller is masterful at playing someone who is selfish-bordering-on-sadistic but imbuing the character with so much charm that her on-screen marriage feels like relationship goals.

Cougar Town boasts an incredible cast of funny women. As great as Cox is on Friends, she arguably gets to shine even more on Cougar Town. Busy Philipps is incredible as Laurie Keller, Jules’ hip young co-worker. Philipps is adept at taking the simplest lines and delivering them in such a way that the phrases will permanently enter your lexicon. But, even in a stacked cast, Christa Miller gives the funniest performance. She deadpans the most casually cruel dialogue, like when Ellie says that someday she’ll murder Andy so she can be with Jules instead.

'Cougar Town' Is One of the Best Shows About Friendship

Cougar Town isn’t just full of bizarrely endearing romances, it's also the best show since Will & Grace at portraying off-puttingly intense friendships. The best comedy on the show comes from quirky details in the friendships, like when Laurie becomes obsessed with the idea of holding Jules like a baby. On a show full of strange codependent friendships, the most fun is Andy and Jules’ ex-husband, Bobby Cobb (Brian Van Holt). Ian Gomez and Brian Van Holt are incredibly charming in their scenes together, as they play Bobby and Andy as being so close it’s like they can read each other’s minds. In one of the funniest scenes, they play Heads Up and every clue they give each other is mustache-related, including “doesn’t have one but should” for Harrison Ford.

Like Cougar Town, Shrinking is becoming even better the more it embraces being a hangout show rather than rigidly sticking to its premise. In Season 2, Shrinking deftly moves characters around wherever there’s potential for comedy. Sean (Luke Tennie) doesn’t necessarily need to have a session with Jimmy every episode, because it’s more fun watching him work with Liz. If you’re a Shrinking fan who can’t wait for more, Cougar Town is the perfect show to get a fix of Lawrence’s signature brand of weird, close friendships and endearingly toxic relationships or to see a road map of a show that found itself by embracing the low-stakes hangout.