The Four Seasons

The result is a warmhearted but uneven TV rom-com that feels like the throwback it is.

It’s unfortunate that The Four Seasons can’t keep things a little more real more consistently. There are some plot contrivances that don’t work. .... But there are enough moments that will resonate with the Gen-Xers in the target demo to keep them clicking through to the next episode. If you’re in your 30s or 20s or younger, The Four Seasons probably won’t be your jam.

Mostly, though, Fey and company seem content to coast on vibes and the chemistry among the cast. The results are pleasant, but rarely more than that.

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.

That’s how most of the show is: legible but vague, relatable to many people but maybe not as many as it thinks. It’s a show about spouses and best friends, the closest bonds and deepest relationships, but the show itself doesn’t have any of that intimacy or intensity.

The series has four hours to say something, anything, about marriage or aging or midlife crises, but by the end the show's point of view is not at all clear. Is having a life partner meaningful? Worthless? Somewhere in the middle? "Seasons" is, unfortunately, as clueless as its characters.

The end result invites constant comparisons, which becomes the only way to sort through this strange project made by people who clearly revere the original, but are unable to either channel Alda’s sensibilities or create meaningful ones of their own.

It’s odd to sit through so much of “The Four Seasons” with little more than a sedated smile.

“The Four Seasons” is ultimately able to deliver some astute insights into adult relationships, but also struggles to settle into this awkward new rhythm. The Fey brain trust is visibly working to expand its repertoire — an effort that, inevitably, comes with some growing pains.

The Four Seasons isn’t a horrible show, but considering the talent it has in front of and behind the camera, it’s a letdown that never finds a unique voice or clear purpose.

“The Four Seasons” ultimately feels like something everyone had time to do, in between projects of actual substance.

Each episode opens with generically seasonal imagery of flowers in bloom or trees dripping with frost over the corresponding Vivaldi concerto, and they rarely get much more memorable from there.