The Four Seasons

Everyone in this cast is notoriously funny, and while this show isn’t exactly doing “prestige comedy” at the level of “Hacks” or even “The Righteous Gemstones,” it’s a gentle joy to watch, even during dicey moments that could hit a little too close to home for some couples.

The new Four Seasons is more than twice the length of Alda’s movie, and it makes good use of its expanded scope, broadening our understanding of each character so no one feels shoved aside. .... But it’s Jack and Kate’s marriage that feels the most lived-in. .... You can feel them [Tina Fey and Will Forte] cradling each other as performers, allowing the tenderness and the spite to flow unchecked.

Just about staying the right side of low-key, and propelled along by Vivaldi’s violins, The Four Seasons is something of a delight.

The mix of Fey and her writing team’s combination of clever wordplay and broad comedy is performed as skilfully as you would expect from a cast this strong, but it is smart rather than smart-arsed.

Part White Lotus without fatalities, part Gilmore Girls on HRT or Golden Girls with men, The Four Seasons is Fey and her writing and acting ensembles on fine form, everything informed by her rigorous intelligence, wit and experience.

Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons is less zany than her previous TV work, but still delivers solid laughs, beautiful locations and a fantastic cast.

It’s not as funny as one would hope. But the series improves as it continues, expanding on the characters and their relationships, which become more recognizable, realistic and funny with each episode.

Tackling the headaches of marriage with wit and warmth, it contends, persuasively, that the search for peace, contentment, and togetherness—and for who you are, what you want, and where you’re going—doesn’t end once the knot has been tied.

While The Four Seasons was created by a trio of comedy specialists, the writing is just as sharp when it isn’t trying to elicit the audience’s laughter. The series is particularly good at drawing out the little things that can steadily gunk up the gears of a relationship.

Though hardly revolutionary, The Four Seasons is an entertaining watch enlivened by its ace cast.

The adaptation, created by Fey, Tracey Wigfield, and Lang Fisher, is shinier than Alda’s, and perhaps more staid than some Fey and Wigfield fans will want in a show about relationships, but the material stays true to its source.

Despite some languid pacing and a surprising lack of laughs, the chemistry among the cast of The Four Seasons saves the show from being a pale remake of a film that was well-regarded 44 years ago.

The series, as a whole, isn't going to be the most exciting comedy of the year, but as a warm and true-to-life look at marriage and friendship as you age, it really works.

There is something old-fashioned about “The Four Seasons,” a very watchable, breezy, bumpy new Netflix comedy from Tina Fey, Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield.