Published: 22 June 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
‘Shrink Next Door’ series will star Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd in story of psychiatrist who takes control of the life of one of his patients
A 2019 REPORTED podcast, The Shrink Next Door, about a Jewish psychiatrist on the Upper West Side of Manhattan who takes control of the life of one of his Jewish patients, is being made into a limited TV series.
And it’s starring two comedy stars who last collaborated on “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.”
The 8-episode adaptation will star Paul Rudd as Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf, the psychiatrist, and Will Ferrell as Marty Markowitz, the patient whose life he takes over. It will stream on Apple+ beginning in November.
The podcast, reported by Bloomberg columnist Joe Nocera, is dark and tragic. It narrates how, over the course of nearly three decades of therapy, Herschkopf came to dominate Markowitz’s life and finances, commandeer his house, treat him like hired help and cut him off from his family and friends.
According to the podcast and a subsequent trial at the New York State Department of Health, other patients of Herschkopf also accused him of manipulating them financially and getting them to sever relationships with their families — including a woman who, on Herschkopf’s advice, stopped speaking to her mother and didn’t attend her funeral or shiva.
After an investigation of those allegations, the Department of Health ordered Herschkopf to surrender his license in April.
FULL STORY ‘Shrink Next Door,’ a dark Jewish-themed podcast, becomes a TV show (JTA)
Photo: Will Ferrell as the manipulated Jewish patient Marty Markowitz
