Anna Daniels
The Shrink Next Door is the latest buzz-worthy podcast to find itself turned into a TV series, and now that TV adaptation has a home. Apple TV+ just won a bidding war to land the show, which will reunite Anchorman cast members Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. The true story follows a psychiatrist who slowly takes over the life of his unsuspecting patient.
As a result of a “highly competitive situation,” Apple has won the rights and given a straight-to-series order for The Shrink Next Door TV series. The show will be directed by Michael Showalter, director of The Big Sick, and the upcoming Netflix movie The Lovebirds. Here’s The Shrink Next Door synopsis:
The Shrink Next Door is a dark comedy inspired by true events that detail the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf, played by Paul Rudd, and his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz, played by Will Ferrell. Over the course of their relationship, the all-too-charming Ike slowly takes over Marty’s life, even moving into Marty’s Hamptons home and taking over his family business. The series explores how a seemingly normal doctor-patient dynamic morphs into an unprecedentedly exploitative relationship filled with manipulation, power grabs, and dysfunction at its finest.
The Shrink Next Door podcast was launched by Wonderly in 2019, and became a pretty big hit – it ended up being the number one podcast for three weeks straight on Apple’s podcast charts. I tried to listen to it myself, but I have to admit that the voice of host Joe Nocera bothered me a little, so I gave up on the show. Now I’ll have the TV show to fill in the gaps.
Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum, and Brittney Segal will executive produce the TV adaptation for Gloria Sanchez Productions. Rudd and Pritchett will also serve as executive producers. Showalter and Jordana Mollick will executive produce on behalf of Semi-Formal Productions. Marshall Lewy for Wondery and Jared Sandberg, Katie Boyce, and Francesca Levy for Bloomberg Media will serve as executive producers, with the podcast’s host Joe Nocera as co-executive producer.
The Shrink Next Door is just the latest in true crime podcast-to-TV adaptations. Dirty John was turned into a series in 2019, Dr. Death – another Wonderly title – is currently being developed into a show by Universal, and before it became a hit Netflix docu-series, the Tiger King story was a podcast, and that too is being turned into a TV show, with Kate McKinnon set to star.
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