Tina Fey Talks About Truth In Comedy In Netflix’s ‘The Four Seasons’

What would happen if everyone decided to live in their truth and do what makes them happy? There would be a lot of fallout. This happens in Netflix’s The Four Seasons starring Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Will Forte.

Viewers love the eight-episode adaptation of Alan Alda and Carol Burnett’s beloved 1981 romantic comedy of the same name. Fey created and wrote the series alongside Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, and the trio did a remarkable job modernizing this heartfelt story that celebrates long-term friendships and marriages.

The show debuted at No. 1 on the English TV list with 11.9 million views in its first week on the platform following its May 1 release date. The story follows three middle-aged couples (portrayed by Fey, Carell, Forte, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Marco Calvani) as they navigate life and love…and then divorce, loss, and grief.

In a sit-down interview, Fey and Forte described why the pains of life make for good comedy. When asked if she agrees with the saying that comedy is tragedy plus time, Fey said yes, and added another ingredient. “I think that one is true for sure. The other axiom is that only the truth is funny. So, if something rings true in some way, it’s probably going to be funny.”

The viewer tags along as six friends go on four vacations in a year, each told over two episodes, as one of the couples goes through a divorce, and how that impacts the other two couples.

“Alan’s beautiful movie inspired us,” Fey confirmed, adding that they took creative liberties from the midpoint on and with the ending. Though she hasn’t faced this scenario in her friend group, Fey confirmed that the writers shared their real-life experiences with this dynamic. “They were very generous and shared things that we used.”

When Carell’s Nick announces that he’s leaving his wife, Anne (Kenney-Silver), after 20 years of marriage and that he’s fallen in love with the younger Ginny (Erika Henningsen), the other two couples, Kate (Fey) and Jack (Forte), and Danny (Domingo) and Claude (Calvani), are left to navigate a new friend dynamic and wonder if divorce amongst friends could be contagious.

When asked how they’d handle it if a friend blew up a marriage and changed the entire dynamic of their real-life friend groups, Fey and Forte agreed it’d be hard to pick sides or exclude anyone. “If this happens, both sides would have to be okay with me maintaining a relationship with both of them,” Forte confirmed.

“Alan was very thoughtful in the way he wrote the characters in the original movie. We were very happy to have an eight-episode arc to work with so we could go back to Anne and see how she was coping and how she was doing at the end of that year,” explained Fey. “I think the friends feel guilty about her not being on certain trips and how things change.”

In a separate sit-down interview, Fisher and Wigfield explained why they wanted to retell and modernize this story. They had been discussing Alda’s film with Fey, and agreed that this would make for a great series.

“We were talking about doing a show about real people, marriage, and friendship,” said Wigfield. “Structurally, it’s so interesting. It has such a hook to it. You see these three couples who have been friends forever, and you follow them over a year in four different locations. The story deals with such a relatable, huge thing that happens to this friend group when one couple gets divorced and the guy starts dating a younger woman. It felt so real to us.”

They don’t villainize Carell’s character even though what he does is such a cliché. He finds true happiness. “When your close friends get a divorce, it rocks you even though you are not in that marriage because the parameters of the friend group just got shaken up. There’s also the question of whether or not I can still be friends with both of them,” contemplated Fisher. “Is hanging out with this one a betrayal of that one?”

Both agree that it would be a challenge to hang out with the new person, even in support of the friend who blew up the marriage. “You’re like, now I’m hanging out with the new girlfriend, but is the old wife going to be mad that I’m doing that? I think when you see people make those giant life changes, you can’t help but reflect on your own life,” Fisher added. “There’s a study that says divorce is contagious. So, it can ripple through, and we wanted to toy with that idea, too, because that’s scary for the other friends.”

When asked if she thinks this would be considered a betrayal of the friend who was left, Wigfield paused before answering. “What was interesting for us was that everyone could be both right and wrong, because, of course, the ex-wife is going to be hurt, but you have to move on even if she isn’t ready to yet. So, now you have to navigate that while also having to embrace this new person coming in.”

In this case, they wanted the character Ginny to be a likable person, someone who is making a genuine effort to ingratiate herself with this group of people. “It’s complicated and nuanced,” said Fisher.

It was also important to make Carell’s character happy with his choice. “It’s so easy to judge and say that he’s going to have regrets and the kids are going to be mad about that when he’s thriving. It’s easy to judge at first,” pondered Wigfield. “I think that is what’s so interesting and lovely about having friends that you’ve known forever. You’ve all seen each other through the highs and lows, and you compare yourself to them, but also, they’re witnesses to everything that you’ve been through.”

Wigfied described why divorce can rock a friend group to its core. “In this situation, when somebody bails on a marriage, it’s like an affront to marriage, and if you’re a person who subscribes to it, that is a big blow,” she explained, adding that this story had she and Fisher, who are best friends, really appreciating their spouses and longtime friends. “It made us see how meaningful and precious those relationships are.”

“It does come at a cost,” concluded Wigfield, of the fallout that comes with living in your truth. “There’s always a cost, but there’s also a cost to staying in something that isn’t working.”