If the beautiful sun-dappled surroundings and the principally acquainted faces weren’t already alerts that we’re in for a heaping serving to of comfort-food TV, the Vivaldi music clinches it. Even when you by no means noticed the unique 1981 The 4 Seasons, written and directed by and starring Alan Alda, with a forged together with 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 method earlier than. Netflix’s press supplies proudly trumpet the truth that it is a “cozy new comedy.”
Nothing mistaken with that. We might all use a break from at the moment’s woe and chaos. The updating by Tina Fey (co-creator with fellow 30 Rock writing alums Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield) provides a extra bittersweet tang by the top of a 12 months spent within the firm of three {couples} with whom overfamiliarity breeds if not contempt than occasional aggravation and discomfort. The hook, because it was within the authentic, is that every spring, summer season, fall, and winter, these greatest associates spend vacation time collectively, a ritual disrupted when one of many twosomes instantly splits up.
Fey leads the completed forged, paired with former Saturday Night time Stay colleague Will Forte as Kate and Jack, as generic a long-married couple as their names suggest. Theirs is a passive-aggressive love match, and most of their battle comes from her making the exhausting selections whereas he performs the great man, stammering and whining endearingly until you must stay with it between holidays. Within the largest swap from the supply materials, Colman Domingo and new-to-us Marco Calvani (echoing the couple performed initially by Jack Weston and Moreno) are Danny and Claude, a married however open-to-anything homosexual couple whose agita arises from Danny’s critical well being situation and lovely Claude’s penchant for operatic hysteria (he’s Italian) as his clingy caretaker. Rounding out the sextet are Steve Carell as stressed Nick and Kerri Kenney-Silver (Reno 911!) as his wet-blanket spouse Anne, who like everybody else is blindsided when Nick declares his intention to divorce.
The primary two episodes, set in spring, play out like farce because the unhappy information resonates by way of the group, with everybody questioning how and whether or not to inform the clueless Anne, performed by Kenney-Silver with excessive pathos. The following two episodes bounce ahead to summer season, introducing the interesting Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Erika Henningsen (presently taking part in Sandra Dee to Jonathan Groff‘s Bobby Darin within the musical Simply in Time) as Nick’s new flame, the relentlessly upbeat Ginny, who might need match in additional rapidly along with her elders if she hadn’t booked the group right into a ridiculous Puerto Rican eco resort with uncomfortable yurts. Cue the carping and extra societal awkwardness as sounds of aggressive canoodling emanate from the brand new lovebirds’ tent. (Sure, that outdated gag.)
The disruption of the group dynamic leads the long-term {couples} to look at their very own degree of happiness, or lack thereof, which is fertile floor for mild romantic comedy, though The 4 Seasons typically overplays its hand. For those who suppose it’s been too lengthy because you’ve seen an outraged partner throw their companions’ wardrobe out a window, simply wait. And the present wades awfully deep into contrived sitcom waters through the fall go to to a school campus (the place Kate, Jack, and Danny met) when Nick’s disgruntled daughter (Tony nominee Julia Lester, from Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Collection) acts out her anger on stage.
Nonetheless, when you would possibly generally roll your eyes at their antics, you may also sometimes dab your eyes as they stand up to the fissures and fractures of putting up with friendships and relationships whereas the seasons fly by, reminding them and us that any time spent along with our nearest and dearest is valuable and fleeting.
The 4 Seasons, Collection Premiere (eight episodes), Thursday, Might 1, Netflix
