Apple TV+ lands limited comedy series ‘The Shrink Next Door’ starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd

Apple remains aggressive in picking up new content for its video streaming service Apple TV+, and now it has landed a new limited comedy series for good measure.

Apple on Thursday officially announced that it has picked up the new original, limited comedy series The Shrink Next Door, which is based on a podcast and will star Will Ferrell (Anchorman) and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) in the leading roles. According to the announcement, Apple has already ordered a straight-to-series order, which means all eight episodes will be developed without Apple waiting to see a pilot.

The upcoming series is based on an award-winning podcast that made waves in 2019, released by Wondery and Bloomberg Media. That podcast is built around real life stories of the “psychiatrist to the stars” Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf, who will be played by Rudd in the upcoming series. Meanwhile, Ferrell will be playing Herschkopf’s longtime patient, Martin “Marty” Merkowitz.

The series will be directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) and based on a script written by WGA Award winner Georgia Pritchett (Succession, Veep).

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.

Ferrell and Rudd have not appeared on screen together since Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, so it will be interesting to see how well the pair play off one another all these years later.

No word on when the new limited comedy series will air on Apple TV+, but it will probably be aways from now. Especially considering that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced Apple TV+ to shut down production of its ongoing series until further notice.