The Four Seasons Review – A Starry Cast Can’t Save This Forgettable Netflix Dramedy
The Four Seasons Review –Despite Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and a stacked ensemble, this remake of The Four Seasons struggles to deliver anything memorable.
Back in 1981, Alan Alda’s The Four Seasons captured the complexities of long-standing friendships and faltering marriages with a blend of charm, comedy, and insight. Netflix’s new series adaptation, created by Tina Fey alongside Tracey Wigfield and Lang Fisher, attempts to do the same — but falls short, offering eight episodes that feel more like time spent than time well spent.
The show follows three couples who take four seasonal vacations a year — a premise that sounds like fertile ground for laughs, drama, and emotional revelations. Yet for all its ambition and star power, The Four Seasons lacks the character depth and storytelling spark needed to make its premise feel plausible or compelling.
Steve Carell plays Nick, a husband who blindsides his wife Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver) and their tight-knit friend group by announcing he’s leaving her — just as they all gather to celebrate their 25th anniversary at a lake house. What follows are three more group trips — a summer lodge retreat, a college parents’ weekend, and a New Year’s ski getaway — where the other couples begin confronting the fractures in their own relationships.
On paper, this cast should shine. Alongside Carell and Kenney-Silver are Tina Fey and Will Forte as Kate and Jack, a prickly, mismatched pair, and Colman Domingo with Marco Calvani as Danny and Claude, whose relationship is equally fraught. The talent is undeniable, but the chemistry is oddly flat, and the writing never quite rises to the level needed to make these dynamics feel authentic or engaging.
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Unlike Fey’s previous hits (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), The Four Seasons doesn’t lean heavily into comedy. That’s not a problem in itself — a more grounded tone could work — but the show often ends up in an emotional no-man’s-land. The jokes are sparse, the poignancy rarely lands, and many episodes feel like filler.
There are flashes of promise. Nick’s description of his marriage as feeling like “coworkers at a nuclear facility” is one of a few lines that manage to sting and amuse. And the evolving relationship between Anne and Nick’s new girlfriend Ginny (Erika Henningsen) has real emotional texture. Kenney-Silver brings genuine vulnerability to Anne, walking a fine line between heartbreak and quiet resilience. Henningsen, too, gives depth to what begins as a caricature — the younger, gym-loving girlfriend — and makes her surprisingly sympathetic.
But these moments are overshadowed by characters who feel underdeveloped or boxed into tired tropes. Kate and Danny, bonded by their cynicism, come off as one-note; their spouses, Jack and Claude, veer into exhausting neuroticism. Nick’s midlife crisis is played straight — all the clichés are there, from the flashy car to the much-younger partner — with little subversion or fresh insight.
The show’s structure doesn’t help. Each episode opens with predictable seasonal imagery set to Vivaldi, but what unfolds rarely reflects the depth or drama such transitions imply. Instead of progressing meaningfully, the characters often just rehash old arguments, with little growth or emotional payoff.
By the finale, The Four Seasons tries to tie things up with a romantic bow, even having one character suddenly embrace the idea of “soulmates” they had previously mocked. It feels unearned — not because cynicism is always right, but because the show hasn’t done the work to make us believe in this transformation.
Ultimately, The Four Seasons wants to be a nuanced look at long-term relationships and the bonds that keep friends coming back, even when it’s hard. But its portrayal of those connections feels too shallow to resonate. For viewers expecting the wit of Tina Fey or the emotional resonance of similar ensemble dramas, the series may end up being just another title that drifts by in the Netflix queue.
Verdict: With its A-list cast and promising concept, The Four Seasons should’ve been a sharp, bittersweet look at modern relationships. Instead, it’s a lukewarm dramedy that never quite finds its footing — or gives us much reason to care.
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