Writer, director, creator and star, Gregg Brown has set himself with a daunting task. As the tagline says, ‘One patient. So Many Doctors.’, Shrinks is about a slightly anxious and awkward Roman Lorber (Brown) and his visit to a new shrink every episode. It would be nice to know why he sees a new one each time, but it’s not imperative…yet. It might become imperative if Brown’s central production issue becomes too daunting, which I fear it might. The suspense killing you yet?
Casting.
You see, the very concept rests entirely on Brown’s ability to cast a funny man to his straight man. While beautifully, even compellingly played by Brown, Lorber is only one half of the equation. The other half and arguably the more important role in each episode is played by a new actor each episode. So, in essence, though Brown, for me at least, is eminently watchable, the show completely rests on the shoulders of the shrink cast opposite him.
Episode two, “Dr. Eikenberry,” is where we see the chink in the Shrinks
’ armor. It’s partly in the writing, or maybe it’s all in the writing, but the episode is just not funny. And Dr. Eikenberry as played by Richard Fiske doesn’t help. It’s not that Fiske is a bad actor, he’s actually solid and believable, it’s just that he’s kind of straight and almost menacing and between that and neurotic Lorber, there’s no humor happening. I found myself wishing that Dr. Jameson would come back, and therein lies the rub: she’s not coming back, at least as far as I can tell from the premise.Production value of the show is good, like most of the Strike.TV shows, with very little to comment on since the show is basically two people sitting across from each other. Hence, again, leaving it all up to the casting and the writing. To be honest, I haven’t mentioned much about the writing, but it’s very breezy and funny. Episode two could have used a little work, but one and three make up for it in spades.
And finally and maybe most importantly I gotta say, Gregg Brown is one talented man. The performances he gets out of his actors, the writing, his own acting. He’s carrying the Woody Allen mantle a bit in a few different ways, not the least of which is the New York flavor as it permeates the voices of his characters through accent and comportment. There’s clearly a vision here and a good one, I just hope there are enough good actors out there to keep Lorber in a different appointment each week.
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