If the gorgeous sun-dappled scenery and the mostly familiar faces weren’t already signals that we’re in for a heaping helping of comfort-food TV, the Vivaldi music clinches it. Even if you never saw the original 1981 The Four Seasons, written and directed by and starring Alan Alda, with a cast including fellow legends Carol Burnett and Rita Moreno, Oscar winner Sandy Dennis and Len Cariou (post-Sweeney Todd, pre-Blue Bloods), you’ve seen variations on this formula before. Netflix’s press materials proudly trumpet the fact that this is a “cozy new comedy.”
Nothing wrong with that. We could all use a break from today’s woe and chaos. The updating by Tina Fey (co-creator with fellow 30 Rock writing alums Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield) adds a more bittersweet tang by the end of a year spent in the company of three couples with whom overfamiliarity breeds if not contempt than occasional aggravation and discomfort. The hook, as it was in the original, is that each spring, summer, fall, and winter, these best friends spend holiday time together, a ritual disrupted when one of the twosomes suddenly splits up.
Fey leads the accomplished cast, paired with former Saturday Night Live colleague Will Forte as Kate and Jack, as generic a long-married couple as their names imply. Theirs is a passive-aggressive love match, and most of their conflict comes from her making the hard decisions while he plays the nice guy, stammering and whining endearingly unless you have to live with it between vacations. In the biggest switch from the source material, Colman Domingo and new-to-us Marco Calvani (echoing the couple played originally by Jack Weston and Moreno) are Danny and Claude, a married but open-to-anything gay couple whose agita arises from Danny’s serious health condition and adorable Claude’s penchant for operatic hysteria (he’s Italian) as his clingy caretaker. Rounding out the sextet are Steve Carell as restless Nick and Kerri Kenney-Silver (Reno 911!) as his wet-blanket wife Anne, who like everyone else is blindsided when Nick declares his intention to divorce.
The first two episodes, set in spring, play out like farce as the sad news resonates through the group, with everyone wondering how and whether to tell the clueless Anne, played by Kenney-Silver with extreme pathos. The next two episodes jump forward to summer, introducing the appealing Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Erika Henningsen (currently playing Sandra Dee to Jonathan Groff‘s Bobby Darin in the musical Just in Time) as Nick’s new flame, the relentlessly upbeat Ginny, who might have fit in more quickly with her elders if she hadn’t booked the group into a ridiculous Puerto Rican eco resort with uncomfortable yurts. Cue the carping and more societal awkwardness as sounds of aggressive canoodling emanate from the new lovebirds’ tent. (Yes, that old gag.)
The disruption of the group dynamic leads the long-term couples to examine their own level of happiness, or lack thereof, which is fertile ground for gentle romantic comedy, although The Four Seasons often overplays its hand. If you think it’s been too long since you’ve seen an outraged spouse throw their partners’ wardrobe out a window, just wait. And the show wades awfully deep into contrived sitcom waters during the fall visit to a college campus (where Kate, Jack, and Danny met) when Nick’s disgruntled daughter (Tony nominee Julia Lester, from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) acts out her anger on stage.
Still, while you might sometimes roll your eyes at their antics, you might also occasionally dab your eyes as they withstand the fissures and fractures of enduring friendships and relationships while the seasons fly by, reminding them and us that any time spent together with our nearest and dearest is precious and fleeting.
The Four Seasons, Series Premiere (eight episodes), Thursday, May 1, Netflix
