Jason Segel's dramedy returns to Apple TV+

“Shrinking” is the dysfunctional love child of “Ted Lasso” and “Scrubs.”

The series reunites creators Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs” and “Ted Lasso”) and Brett Goldstein (“Ted Lasso”) from those series, but adds a dash of Jason Segel weirdness. The 12-episode second season, premiering Wednesday on AppleTV+, is a smart, shuffling, characterful and good-natured workplace dramedy that delves into the personal lives of its three screwed-up therapist protagonists.

The trio – Jimmy (Segel, also co-creator), Gaby (Jessica Williams) and Paul (Harrison Ford) – form the focus of the series. The therapeutic practice partners have many troublesome patients, but the challenge for these conflicted shrinks is to practice what they preach in the way they interact with each other and behave in their own messy personal lives.

There are many border problems. Grieving husband and father Jimmy, depressed after a drunk driver kills his wife, has little to no boundaries when it comes to boundaries. The big-eyed, energetic sail received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the first season. As a therapist, he pioneered an interactive practice that his patients nicknamed “Jimmying.” He is a problem solver who ventures beyond the office to help his patients, upending the therapist-client relationship in the process.

Jimmy's method has yielded decidedly mixed results. After Jimmy's loud and explicit encouragement in the first season to get out of her abusive marriage, his patient Grace (Heidi Gardner of “SNL”) returns in the second season unhealed and imprisoned after pushing her abusive husband off a cliff.

As for the ebullient Gaby (a role for which Williams received an Emmy nomination), the youngest member of the troupe wants to succeed in her profession and prove herself on her own terms. She strives to get her personal life under control, but before she can grow, she must deal with her long-term relationship with Jimmy. She is someone who can set boundaries – but she finds it difficult to stick to them.

Rounding out the trio is Harrison Ford as Paul. As a mature psychiatrist, Ford can speak volumes with just a movement of his lips. Paul not only has limits, he has parapets. For the grouchy straight man, the practice of “jimmying” goes against everything he holds dear in his field.

Ford anchors the series better than ever before. Although he has spent most of his career on the big screen in action and drama films, his knack for combining dry humor and sex appeal provides a solid foundation for the chaos around him.

A lot of what resonates in the show are the smaller, character-based moments, like Paul, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, and his neurologist and former lover, Dr. Julie Baram (Wendie Malick), who worked dancing together in his living room the morning before. Their groove reflects their joyful intimacy, but when Paul is interrupted by Gaby, he scurries away. But Julie is strong enough to hold him accountable and challenges him to step out of his comfort zone in two steps.

There are also quirky set pieces, many of which focus on off-office family gatherings gone wrong, or Jimmy's efforts to resolve the intergenerational trauma of others while dealing with his own failings as a father, friend, and psychologist.

The supporting cast is a sitcom reunion. Goldstein (Roy Kent in “Ted Lasso”) takes on an important role that sets the emotional dominoes in turmoil. Christa Miller (“Scrubs”), Ted McGinley (“Married with Children”) and Michael Urie (“Ugly Betty”) complete the “Shrinking” universe. Dynamic younger actors Luke Tennie as Jimmy's PTSD-stricken patient Sean and Lukita Maxwell as his distraught daughter Alice carry much of the narrative arc. Even “Scrubs” star Zach Braff does his part by directing several episodes.

Like “Scrubs” or “Ted Lasso,” the jokes and ridiculous situations pile up until the show begins. This is where the emotional resonance of “Shrinking” comes to the fore. As the characters struggle to cope and resolve their interpersonal dilemmas, they are exaggerated but relatable. The audience connects, loves and judges the many players as they weave their web of imperfect relationships. And behind the laughter and the tears lies a sense of warmth and the endless striving to be human in the face of trauma and narcissism. This is the central dilemma of the series: creating an emotional life that expands rather than shrinks.

SHRINKAGE

Cast: Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams

On Apple TV+

Thelma Adams is a cultural critic and author of the bestselling historical novel “The Last Woman Standing,” about Josephine Marcus, Wyatt Earp's Jewish wife.