In the 80s, there were a lot of films that dealt with relationships and family trauma. More often than not, they were comedic in nature, but sometimes, they were quite dramatic. Films like Ordinary People and Terms of Endearment come to mind when I think of stories like these. One of those films was The Four Seasons from director and star Alan Alda.  Known for the hit sitcoms MASH. This film has been adapted and updated to the modern day, but it deals with a lot of the same themes from the 1981 film.

Nick (Steve Carell) and Anne (Kerri Kenney)  are one of three married couples who like to go on seasonal vacations,  as the title of the series suggests, with their friends Jack (Will Forte) and Kate (Tina Fey) and Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani). They enjoy each other’s company and all seem to be doing fine. Until one of them, Nick, breaks a bombshell on the others. He has decided he’s going to seek a divorce from his wife, Anne, of twenty-five years. This ends up introducing a new dynamic into this tight-knit group of longtime friends. A new girlfriend, Ginny (Erika Henningsen).

The title of the show talks about the four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each of these four seasons brings a new vacation as well as difficulties between this group of friends. The seasons change, but with each one, marital problems come along with them. After the divorce, the group starts to see that their futures are exactly going the way they thought they should go. Arguments and squabbling between the friends over various issues make it difficult for them all to get along. Adding in the girlfriend doesn’t help matters, it only makes them more difficult. 

This type of romantic comedy series has a good dynamic. The main cast all seem to get along very well. The writers and directors don’t change much in the group dynamic. The stories are split into two episode arcs, and each of those has an interesting subplot in them. Using the seasons as a template to tell the stories, the writers give each of the characters many opportunities to shine. In a way, it’s like a play with a four act structure instead of three.  The structure makes everything work in the end.

Tina Fey is a good comedic actor who usually works with Amy Poehler,  but she’s worked with Steve Carell on a couple of occasions now. She also worked with Will Forte on Saturday Night Live. They seem to have very good chemistry in this show together. The husband and wife aspect she has with Forte is well fleshed out on screen. She has multiple layers to her because of her age. Marital status and play within the group dynamic. She just comes across as the smartest one in the room all the time. It’s not a good place to be in, though. Some of the friends don’t like how she’s been acting. It ends up getting her to make a change in her life with the help of her husband. This is typical behavior for couples who have been married for a while.

Colman Domingo has been nominated for a couple  of Oscars in the last two years for Rustin, as Bayard Rustin, and Sing Sing, as John Devine G Whitfield. He’s become an actor in high demand. I remember him a while back in  the AMC spinoff of The Walking Dead, Fear  the Walking Dead. and Selma. He just knows how to become whoever he’s playing on screen. Whether it’s an animated Norman Osborne in The Friendly Neighborhood Spider- Man or any other of the supporting characters he’s played over the years. He finally gets a role in this series where he can be himself. This is the role he’s been waiting for in his career, and he makes the most of it. His character is married to another man, and they feel like a real couple who were lovers. Numerous kisses and romantic things made me believe he was perfectly cast as this man. I was glad to see him finally get a role he could sink his teeth into.

Steve Carell has done it all in his career, from serious roles in Foxcather to more comedic roles in shows like The Office and films like The Forty Year Old Virgin.. He has quite the range for an actor. Like a lot of comedic actors these days, he has started to wear thin on audiences. A lot of people, including myself, tend to get sick of the same schtick over and over again. Carell mixes it up enough for me not to get sick of him, though. His role in this show is different from most I’ve seen him play. A midlife crisis, if you will, isn’t exactly what I would have envisioned him  in. He plays it straight and comes across the right way in the series. I’m glad to see him in more adult themed roles like this.

With a show set in different seasons, you have  to make each of the two episode segments distinctly  unique to that part of the year. This series does that very well. The fall has trees changing colors likefoliage should, the winter has snow-covered mountains and skiing going on,  and the summer is set on a beautiful resort adjacent to a beach for swimming and other water activities. This was a well thought out show in that regard. I was glad to see it look the part it was trying to play.

The Four Seasons is based on a 1981 film, but it has updated themes and deals with things that are still relevant today regarding relationships and marriages. The writers and directors of the series understand the type of story this is. The actor, mostly known for their comedic performances, give restrained performances in this show. There are some comedic moments,  but mainly, this is a romantic drama series. The difficulties of marriages and relationships aren’t easy to depict on screen, but this series gets it right. The 8 episode count works perfectly into the four seasons, which it uses as a framing device. This is intelligently written. directed and competently acted to show a lot of people will surely relate to.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen