Bill Lawrence Is Poised to Have His Soderbergh Year

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Bill Lawrence was once overlooked by the Emmys, but before the huge success of Ted Lasso during the pandemic, he’d spent almost thirty years working in television without receiving major awards. In the last five years, however, his heartwarming comedies – shows where HBO’s Amy Gravitt says he tries to create a sense of family – have become very popular and won several Emmys on streaming services. This year, with a new show on HBO and a revival of Scrubs, Lawrence has three chances to win the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Even if just two of his shows are nominated, he’ll have achieved something very few television icons have ever done.

I’m completely captivated by Lawrence’s new series, Rooster! It really has his trademark style – those relatable midlife moments, witty conversations, and a lot of thoughtful self-examination (seriously, that sauna is a character!). The show stars Steve Carell as a novelist who ends up teaching at the same college as his daughter (Charly Clive), and it’s brilliant. Lawrence managed to create a funny, modern college story without getting bogged down in arguments about generations. Plus, he’s the first director who’s really used Steve Carell to perfectly capture that feeling of being a little lost and out of touch as you get older, without making him unlikeable. Rooster is ultimately about people trying to navigate life and breaking down those usual boundaries between family, coworkers, and friends to help each other out, and it’s clearly resonating with viewers. The first season was a hit, averaging 6.5 million viewers – putting it right up there with HBO’s most popular new comedies.

Several shows created by Bill Lawrence are gaining traction this season, and Shrinking is a prime example. The third season premiere actually appeared on the Nielsen charts, showing the show is still attracting new viewers. Similar to Rooster, Shrinking centers on a man facing a turning point in his life. Jason Segel plays Jimmy, a therapist and recent widower who starts breaking professional rules by giving his patients very direct advice. While that’s a good basic description, the show has really come into its own by developing a fantastic cast of supporting characters. These include Jimmy’s mentor (Harrison Ford), coworker (Jessica Williams), best friend (Michael Urie), neighbor/rival (Christa Miller), a patient (Luke Tennie), and his daughter (Lukita Maxwell). This is typical of Bill Lawrence’s work – he excels at showing how a group of people, brought together by chance, navigate life’s challenges and move forward.

After receiving seven Emmy nominations last year, including acting recognition for Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, and Luke Urie, Shrinking is expected to have an even stronger showing this year. All four actors are again in the running for awards, and Michael J. Fox is a likely contender for a guest actor nomination for his role alongside Harrison Ford. With several strong comedies like The Studio, The Rehearsal, Somebody Somewhere, and What We Do in the Shadows no longer competing, Shrinking has a good opportunity to earn its first nominations for Directing and Writing for a Comedy Series.

Bill Lawrence hadn’t been a regular Emmy nominee until the huge popularity of Ted Lasso. The show arrived in the summer of 2020, offering a welcome dose of positivity when people were struggling with COVID-19 lockdowns and a tense election. The Emmys followed quickly: 20 nominations and 7 wins in 2021, including two consecutive wins for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022 – Lawrence’s first and only Emmy wins so far. Many TV viewers felt it was a well-deserved recognition for someone with a long career in sitcoms. Lawrence previously worked as a writer on Friends and then co-created Spin City with Gary David Goldberg, bringing Goldberg and Michael J. Fox together again after their work on Family Ties. Spin City earned Fox four Emmy nominations and a win in 2000, but the show didn’t receive much further attention from the TV Academy.

Following his departure from Spin City after four seasons, Bill Lawrence created Scrubs at NBC. While often overlooked when discussing the evolution of TV comedy in the 2000s, Scrubs was a pioneering single-camera comedy. It was ambitious, blending surreal humor with surprisingly emotional moments – a style that influenced later shows like 30 Rock. Despite its quality, Scrubs was largely ignored by the Emmys, which favored shows like Sex and the City and Everybody Loves Raymond. Zach Braff briefly gained movie stardom with Garden State, and Lawrence and Braff both received Emmy nominations in 2005 and 2006. The show recently returned with a reboot featuring Braff, Donald Faison, and Sarah Chalke. As my colleague Roxana Hadadi noted, the show’s unique mix of humor and heart remains its strongest asset, but it’s still unlikely to win an Emmy.

The show Cougar Town initially struggled to find its footing. It started with a premise about a woman in her 40s navigating dating after divorce, specifically trying to date younger men, and the title didn’t help. Critics were quick to dismiss it, facing resistance from viewers who either weren’t interested in a show about older women and sex, or didn’t want to see a show that joked about it. However, the creators, led by Bill Lawrence, quickly adapted. By the end of its first season, Cougar Town transformed into a show about a close-knit group of friends, family, and neighbors who spent most of their time together in a Florida cul-de-sac. Cougar Town perfectly embodies Lawrence’s style – relaxed, with a constantly expanding group of characters and playful, yet affectionate, banter. If you look beyond the initial concept of a show like Shrinking, you’ll find that Cougar Town is its core inspiration.

According to Gravitt, HBO’s head of comedy series, the creator is exceptional at assembling casts that have a natural chemistry. He explains that the best ensembles grow and react to each other in interesting ways, and it takes a special talent to develop each comedian’s individual style. Gravitt was searching for a show to follow Somebody Somewhere, and this creator’s ability to create genuine emotion and warmth felt like the perfect fit. He adds that HBO was looking for a show that truly felt like a family.

As a huge TV fan, I’m really seeing a potential Emmy sweep for this show. The combination of HBO’s quality and voters loving its heartwarming vibe could finally get the showrunner another Best Comedy Series win – and Steve Carell might just snag Lead Actor too. He’s been nominated ten times before, but this is arguably the most genuinely likable character he’s played in ages. With Seth Rogen not in the running this year, the door is wide open for Carell. Looking at the Comedy Series nominations – and figuring shows like Hacks, The Comeback, Only Murders in the Building, Abbott Elementary, The Bear, and Shrinking will grab most of the slots – this show actually stacks up pretty well against whatever’s left. It’s got…

Compared to other shows, this one has more appealing characters than Nobody Wants This, is easier to get into than Widow’s Bay or Wednesday, features less harsh humor than Big Mistakes, feels more like a high-quality cable series than The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, is actually funny unlike Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and importantly, hasn’t been canceled like Palm Royale.

Let’s talk about the supporting players, because things get interesting here. Bill Lawrence veterans Phil Dunster – playing Carell’s somewhat wayward son-in-law – and John C. McGinley, as the college president with a penchant for saunas, are both strong, but I suspect they’ll end up splitting the vote for a supporting actor nod. Over in supporting actress, Danielle Deadwyler offers a lovely counterpoint to Carell, both romantically and as a friend, but Annie Mumolo really steals scenes. She’s hilarious as the seemingly ditzy secretary, and there’s a surprising depth to her character that makes her a standout.

As a fan, it’s amazing to think about what Bill Lawrence could achieve this year. If both Rooster and Shrinking get nominated for Emmys, it would put him in a league of his own – something none of the other big comedy creators have ever done. Think about people like Michael Schur, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Tina Fey – they’ve all won a lot of Emmys with multiple shows, but none of them have ever had two shows they created nominated for Comedy Series in the same year. He’d be joining a really exclusive club with legends like James L. Brooks, James Burrows, and Greg Daniels, who all managed that feat. It’s honestly the TV equivalent of a director like Steven Soderbergh or Francis Ford Coppola getting two films nominated for Best Picture in the same year – a truly rare accomplishment.

As a big TV fan, it just feels right that Bill Lawrence – the guy behind shows like Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi, and The Office – is getting major Emmy recognition. I mean, Shrinking or Rooster might not be in the same league as those classics, but all of Lawrence’s characters seem to understand that life is full of weird little moments, and you just have to roll with them. It’s his signature style, and it really works!

Coppola’s The Conversation and The Godfather Part II were both nominated for Best Picture Oscars in 1974. Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich and Traffic were nominated together for 2000 (and he was nominated twice in Best Director as well).

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2026-05-16 16:56