Susan Granger’s review of “The Four Seasons” (Universal Television/Netflix)
Comedienne Tina Fey co-wrote and co-stars in “The Four Seasons,” her first series since NBC’s “30 Rock.” It’s an update of Alan Alda’s 1981movie about six friends – three middle-aged couples – who meet up for quarterly getaways.
There’s edgy Kate (Fey) & amiable Jack (Will Forte), coolly cynical Danny (Colman Domingo) & his clingy Italian partner Claude (Marco Calvani), and unsuspecting Anne (Kerri Kenny-Silver) & discontented Nick (Steve Carell).
Problem is: at a spring gathering at their lake house, it quickly becomes obvious that Nick wants to divorce Anne just as they’re about to celebrate 25 years of marriage. His decision inevitably throws the dynamic and ‘happiness’ status all the other matrimonial relationships into question.
Not only does Nick subsequently dump hapless Anne but he also quickly takes up with an adventurous 32 year-old dental hygienist, Ginny (Erika Henningsen), whom his friends are slow to welcome, particularly when she books their summer vacation at a no-frills Caribbean eco-beach resort where they’re ensconced in yurts.
In the fall, it’s off to an angst-riddled Parents Weekend at Vassar College where most of the group first met – and where Kate & Jack’s daughter and Anne & Nick’s daughter are currently enrolled.
Winter centers on New Year’s Eve, when conflicted Nick feels awkward celebrating with Ginny and her youthful, vegan friends while his longtime chums hang out at a ski chalet where Anne introduces her new guitar-toting beau.
This series continues Tina Fey’s comedic cycle that started with traumatic teenage aggression (“Mean Girls”), growing into the relational constriction of young adulthood (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), followed by workplace dilemmas (“30 Rock), and now the repetitive dissatisfaction of aging empty-nesters who are forced to confront mortality.
FYI: Alan Alda appears in a cameo in episode #2.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Four Seasons” is a sitcom 6. All eight half-hour episodes are now streaming on Netflix, and it’s been renewed for a second season.
