NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (UPI) — Happy Days, Married with Children and Hope & Faith actor Ted McGinley says he was happy to see his Shrinking character Derek get the affection he deserves after what he thinks is a near-death experience in this week’s episode.
Derek lands in the hospital after eating an entire bag of his adult son’s marijuana gummies, unaware of what they were, then calls everyone he knows to tell them he is a “little bit dying.”
Unsure of what is going on, his loved ones rush to his side.
“He’s always there for other people and he is a guy that has your back and you can trust Derek and I think what is interesting is Derek is finding out that there are people that care about him and there are people who are affected by him,” McGinley, 67, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
“I was honored by the fact that the writers wrote that these characters cared about Derek,” he said. “It was such an honor for Derek and, frankly, for me.”
Set in contemporary California and airing Wednesdays on Apple TV, the Bill Lawrence-created comedy centers on Jason Segel’s widowed single dad/therapist Jimmy and the quirky friends, colleagues and neighbors who make up Jimmy’s found family.
Among them are eager to help empty nesters Derek and his wife Liz (Christa Miller), who live next door to Jimmy.
“As an actor, it’s pretty exciting. You don’t know, week to week, what you’re going to be doing,” McGinley said.
“Initially, I thought, ‘Uh-oh,’ when I had a little heart issue that they were going to knock me off,” he added. “You never know. I’ve learned, ‘Always expect the worst and then be honored and thrilled by the opposite.’ But they had a lot of fun with that, because at one point I said to Bill, ‘Are you [going to kill me off]?’ And he said, ‘I can’t tell you.'”
Obviously, they decided to keep him around and, this season, Candice Bergen is introduced as Derek’s mother.
“Candice Bergen is TV royalty. She is the embodiment of class in every possible way. She’s a rock star,” McGinley said.
“Liz and my mother have some real history, so it’s fun to watch,” he added. “I will never forget the day filming that, sitting on the couch, watching the two of them. And I thought: ‘Oh, my God. This is going to be magic.’ They’re amazing, and they’re great together.”
Derek and Liz, who are the parents of three adult children, have a new distraction this season — helping out Brian (Michael Urie) and Charlie (Devin Kawaoka) with Sutton, the newborn baby they adopted.
“The one thing about Liz is she’s got a lot to say about parenting. But I like to think she’s generally right,” McGinley said.
“Derek would say: ‘You’ve got to be around. You’ve got to be there. You can’t do this from the Bahamas,'” McGinley said about the advice Derek would give the new dads. “Derek and Liz have expertise, having been there, having gone through it. … I think the baby will be greatly loved.”
Derek’s sunny disposition frequently makes him the target of ridicule for Harrison Ford’s prickly therapist character Paul.
“When I first got on the show, I couldn’t get over the fact that that was Harrison Ford. I grew up literally worshiping his movies. That’s Indiana Jones right there,” McGinley said.
“And I couldn’t get past that. And, so, thank God, in the first season, I didn’t have that much to do with him because I would just sit there and watch him. But, as time went by, he and I spent more time off camera chatting and hanging out, and I realized that’s just a guy and he’s so freaking cool and generous to everybody on the set that I was able to kind of get over it.”
In Season 3, Derek and Paul have a lot more scenes together.
“I keep telling the set photographer, ‘Please take a picture of me standing here next to what I consider one of the great film icons ever.’ And when you talk with him, side by side, he’s anything but. He’s just like a 16-year-old kid. He’s so much fun.”
The show’s Season 3 ensemble also includes Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, Jeff Daniels and Colbie Smulders.
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