#How Paul Rudd & Will Ferrell Prepared for Apple’s ‘The Shrink Next Door’

Three decades of therapy should lead to emotional breakthroughs — not the drama that unfolds in the dark eight-episode limited series The Shrink Next Door, based on the popular true-story podcast of the same name.

Will Ferrell stars as anxiety-plagued textile boss Martin “Marty” Markowitz, whose sister, Phyllis (Kathryn Hahn), first encourages him to see psychiatrist Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf (Paul Rudd) in the ’80s.

Over the years, manipulative Ike infiltrates Marty’s company and bank account, and fractures his relationship with suspicious Phyllis. Still, the line between victim and villain isn’t black and white.

“Marty and Ike need each other in this weird way,” says exec producer and director Michael Showalter (The Big Sick), who, along with Rudd and Ferrell, spent time with the real Markowitz in New York’s Hamptons, where much of the story unfolds.

“The show is funny, but it’s also about people who are struggling and have a lot of pain — including Ike — and deal with it in different ways.”

The Shrink Next Door, Series Premiere, Friday, November 12, Apple TV+

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s 2021 Fall Preview issue. For more inside scoop on the new fall TV season, pick up the issue, on newsstands Thursday, August 26.