How one man perfected ‘sad, middle-aged guy’ TV

Aside from being smart and funny, what do Rooster, Shrinking, Scrubs and Ted Lasso have in common? The answer is American comedy maestro Bill Lawrence. He’s been involved in the development of charmers like these for decades, his writing credits dating back to the ’90s with Friends, Boy Meets World and The Nanny. So it’s no surprise that so many of the series that he’s created are so good.

With a handful of his productions currently underway, the 57-year-old is on a roll. But even though he’s been a notable talent since he co-created Spin City in 1996, he seems to remain, as he was dubbed in a 2013 Los Angeles Times profile, “television’s anonymous mogul”.

Through his company, Doozer – a playful spin on his birth name, William Van Duzer Lawrence IV – his current slate includes a second season of Rooster (HBO Max), a fourth outing for Shrinking (Apple TV), the return of Bad Monkey (Apple TV) and the long-anticipated fourth season of Ted Lasso (Apple TV). To that list of ongoing series, you could also add the Scrubs revival (Disney+) – another season is yet to be confirmed – and, shooting for Netflix later this year, I Suck at Girls, based on Justin Halpern’s autobiography, with Lawrence as an executive producer.

Showcasing the elements that have come to distinguish his work, Lawrence’s latest triumph is the campus comedy Rooster, created with Matt Tarses. After Ted Lasso and Shrinking, it rounds out what he has dubbed “my sad, middle-aged guy trilogy” and stars Steve Carell as Greg Russo, a best-selling novelist loosely inspired by Carl Hiaasen, author of the novel on which Bad Monkey is based.

Greg has written a series of books built around “Rooster”: a muscly action hero, a hunk irresistible to women and clearly unlike his mild-mannered author who’s struggling to rebound post-divorce. He cheerfully describes his novels as “beach reads” and not the type of texts that might typically appear in tertiary courses. Greg’s never been to university, but he visits Ludlow College because his daughter (Charly Clive) is a teacher there and needs some support. Circumstances conspire to keep him around, and he ends up teaching a class. It’s a set-up that allows Lawrence and his writers to introduce the kind of lively community that’s one of the reliable pleasures of his productions, whether it’s in a New York’s mayor’s office, an English soccer club, a Sacramento hospital or a Pasadena psychology practice.

As in this year’s Scrubs revival, featuring the return of Dr John “JD” Dorian (Zach Braff) to the hospital where he interned, Rooster sees a man rebounding from divorce, taking on a new job and discovering how times have changed. Greg is continually, hilariously, being hauled before a disciplinary committee: who knew, for example, that his description of a sceptical student as “my white whale” could be construed as body-shaming? Along similar lines, in Scrubs, JD’s mentor (John C. McGinley) now feels so out-of-tune with permissible teaching practices that he passes the chief-of-medicine baton to his former student.

The impact of changing times and what now constitutes acceptable behaviour is fertile territory for Lawrence, enabling the deployment of a familiar array of his estimable skills: snappy one-liners, zinging cultural references and slapstick gags.

The dialogue is fast and funny and one of Lawrence’s self-imposed rules illustrates why his ensembles fire so effectively: if it doesn’t matter who a joke can be assigned to in a scene, it’s not going to work. That simple, inspired guideline protects the authenticity and consistency of the characters while maintaining the crackling energy of the ensembles. It ensures that each character has a distinct voice – a bit like musicians in an orchestra, each playing a different role and all contributing to the whole.

The emphasis on a combined effort is appropriate as the idea of community is the cornerstone of Lawrence’s work: the foundational belief that it takes a village, that living a good life requires a team. The sentiment is encapsulated in Scrubs’ theme song: “I can’t do this all on my own, I’m no Superman.”

Grounded in workplaces, Lawrence’s series feature supportive groups of diverse, often idiosyncratic characters. Everyone is seen to have their challenges and flaws, and the writing is empathetic towards all of them. These are forgiving fictional worlds: characters can behave badly, have regrets, admit to their mistakes, apologise and improve. Second chances are possible.

Fittingly, Lawrence’s trusted collaborators keep popping up in his shows. They include Braff, who’s become a series director and Brett Goldstein, a writer-turned-executive producer of Ted Lasso and co-creator of Shrinking who memorably appears in both shows. McGinley appears in both Scrubs and Shrinking; Christa Miller, Lawrence’s wife of 26 years, stars in Scrubs, Cougar Town and Shrinking; and the stars of Spin City are everywhere too. Michael J. Fox turns up in the latest season of Shrinking and both Connie Britton and Alan Ruck return in Rooster.

While these series are crafted with a light, confident touch, they aren’t lightweight. They’re funny and relish silliness, but they don’t shy away from serious topics: depression, marriage breakdowns, debilitating disease, death, grief.

In that vein, Harrison Ford’s performance in Shrinking is masterful. The grumpy mentor of the series’ protagonist (Jason Segel), he’s increasingly struggling with symptoms of Parkinson’s, his frustration and dismay acutely conveyed.

In Scrubs, patients sometimes die: early in the new season, an avoidable death is caused by an arrogant intern’s callousness. The revival, which comes after a 16-year break, has recurrent references to the chronic problems plaguing the US health system: doctors who aren’t allowed sufficient time to treat patients; patients unable to afford medication, or treatment from emergency departments. Not the standard stuff of comedy.

Through Lawrence’s extensive TV career, there haven’t only been hits, with Ground Floor, Life Sentence and Whiskey Cavalier among the misses. And, as he recently reflected in The New York Times, ”I made some stinkers, and I will without doubt do something else that doesn’t work ... And then I will go back to where you’ve got to kick and scream to get to make stuff again.”

However, given his track record and current hot streak, he probably won’t have to fight quite as hard in the future.

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