1 hour ago
2
Have you ever longed to thank the woman who brought Shrinking‘s national treasure, Derek (Ted McGinley), into this world? Well now you can! It’s Candice Bergen, er — Constance Bishop. Or Connie, if you’re on good terms with her, which Derek’s wife Liz (Christa Miller) hasn’t been for years…
Shrinking Season 3, Episode 7, “I Will Be Grape,” will make you laugh, spark tears of joy, get Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” stuck in your head, and leave you ugly crying over a heartbreaking cliffhanger. But it will also introduce you to Derek’s mom, and for that, we’re grateful — or should we say grapeful? (Sorry!)
The Murphy Brown and Boston Legal star who’s amassed nearly 70 film and television credits throughout her career joins Shrinking Season 3 guest stars, including Michael J. Fox, Sherry Cola, Isabella Gomez, Jeff Daniels, and more. And like Kelly Bishop before her, she was perfectly cast.
“I knew Candice from when I was doing Drew Carey. They were shooting Murphy Brown. So I know Candice and her daughter, and they were bringing in a mother-in-law, and Bill and I were like, ‘Candice Bergen!’ And she also looks like Ted McGinley [even if] she’s too young to really be his mother,” Miller told DECIDER over Zoom.
“I consider Candice to be TV legend. I mean, she is legendary. She is. She has been for years a massive force in television, and she is so iconic,” McGinley added. “So when Christa said, ‘Hey, we’ve got Candice to be your mom,’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, that is so exciting!’ And it could happen, right? I think I could play her son.”
Bergen is 79 years old, while McGinley is 67, but the real-life age gap is of no concern once you watch Bergen brilliantly embody Constance, a doting mother, and a sassy, stealthily terrifying mother-in-law who has Liz losing her shit when she comes to take care of Derek post-surgery. “She’s being perfectly kind. That’s why she’s an evil genius,” Liz tells Gaby (Jessica Williams) on the phone. “She says the right words with right tone and then she hold eye contact for an extra few seconds so I can feel the judgement that no one else can.”
Photo: Apple TVAs Constance quietly torments Liz with passive aggressive mind games, she showers Derek, her grandsons, and even Gaby with love. Bergen shines with subtle facial expressions, changes in tone, and hilarious comedic timing. And the cast and crew loved watching her performance as much as viewers will.
“If people are fans of Shrinking, you know that they’ve teased that Liz doesn’t even let her 100 feet within the house. She loathes her. There’s a scene that I’m in with her, and no one believes Liz, she’s giving her the stink eye and being horrible to her. No one will believe Liz. Even Gaby won’t. And then finally, Gaby comes over and she believes me,” Miller said, shouting out one of her favorite Liz and Constance feuds.
“I consider Candice to be TV legend. I mean, she is legendary. She is. She has been for years a massive force in television, and she is so iconic.”
Ted McGinley, Shrinking“To sit on the couch and watch them joust? I would have done it for free 50 times over and over. It was really fun. I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be good,’ knowing the backgrounds of those stories. It was a gas,” McGinley explained. “I just sat there and enjoyed it. I’ll never forget that day. I went home and said, ‘Oh my god, what a great day that was.’… Not many people get a foot rub from Candice Bergen. And Derek asks, ‘You think it’s weird?!'”
Bergen is a comedy legend, but when the time comes — as it always does on this beautiful show — she taps into raw emotions for more heartfelt scenes. Bergen and Harrison Ford share the screen and bond over their wisdom in a poignant but playful “Fuck Parkinson’s” moment. And later in the episode, when everyone rallies around Derek, Liz and Connie hash out their differences and finally make amends (while wearing iconic sun hats). Then, in true Shrinking fashion, just when you’re feeling all warm and fuzzy, the laughter hits again.
Photo: Apple TV“I had the most fun with with Candice. The writers would come on set to see us working together because it was so hysterical. The mean to mean? It was great,” Miller reflected. “It was one of the high points of the season for me.”
While we’ve seen the last of Bergen in Shrinking Season 3, since the series landed an early Season 4 renewal from Apple TV, our fingers are crossed in hopes that Connie can return again at some point down the line, meet the rest of the Shrinking fam, and finally get a rock.
New episodes of Shrinking premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV.
English (US)