Better Things: Season 4

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 6 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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8.0	Your Score
8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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Better Things

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Season Details & Credits

FX | Season Premiere Date: March 5, 2020

Summary: The family sitcom co-created by Pamela Adlon returns for its fourth season.

Genre(s): Comedy

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Season 4 Episodes

tbd
S4:E11. Listen to the Roosters
Air Date: September 4, 2021
tbd
S4:E10. Listen to the Roosters
Air Date: April 30, 2020
tbd
S4:E10. Listen to the Roosters
Air Date: April 30, 2020

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Matt Zoller Seitz

Mar 2, 2020

Season four of Pamela Adlon’s FX series Better Things, created, directed by, and starring Adlon as an actress and a single mom raising three eccentric, steel-willed girls, boasts four episodes that are stone-cold classics, endlessly rewatchable and rewarding. The rest of the season is pretty good too — so nervy yet exact that it makes almost every other American TV show, even excellent ones, seem formulaic and timid in comparison. Read full review

100

IndieWire Ben Travers

Mar 5, 2020

Watching these episodes is an experience, and while Sam Fox stands tall as one of television’s best characters, Adlon has created a vehicle around her lead unlike anything else you’ll see. Read full review

100

Dan Fienberg

Mar 4, 2020

One of these days Emmy voters will notice that when it comes to half-hour TV direction, the thing Adlon is doing here, week in and week out, is astonishingly attentive, empathetic and, when it wants to be, hilarious. The show is loose, but never scattershot and Adlon's directing confidence is equally evident in how the camera navigates around the Fox home and in how well the entire series plays to the strengths of its actors. Read full review

100

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Mar 5, 2020

Brilliant. ... The writing on this show is so smart in that the characters don’t all sound like mouthpieces from the same writing team as happens on most mediocre sitcoms. ... There’s a theory that TV and film needs to always be about people with lives more interesting than our own. What Pamela Adlon understands is that there’s equal value in presenting people as truthfully as possible, and thereby allowing us to see our own interesting lives reflected. Read full review

Alan Sepinwall

Mar 5, 2020

The feeling of intimacy and empathy in the parenting scenes remains superb, particularly during a Sam/Max argument in one episode that involves every woman’s least favorite word. But it’s not a coincidence that both Sam and Better Things often seem lighter and happier when she gets some grown-up time, turning her gaze outward to learn about other people’s triumphs and heartbreaks. Read full review

Verne Gay

Mar 2, 2020

Aside from a nagging sense that Sam and "Things" are standing in place. Inertia is part of the joke except that we think we already know the punchline. TV shows are about journeys too but through the early episodes, this one seems like it may be stuck in neutral. Read full review

User Score

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User Reviews

crony

Jul 11, 2020

Not your average family, and not your average sitcom.It's very funny, but it is also real, with moments of poignancy. There are moments that are truly surprising; the lack of hackneyed, formulaic writing is refreshing. So is the absence of precious kid scenes. The child actors are quiteNot your average family, and not your average sitcom.It's very funny, but it is also real, with moments of poignancy. There are moments that are truly surprising; the lack of hackneyed, formulaic writing is refreshing. So is the absence of precious kid scenes. The child actors are quite accomplished,and the stories are relatable, even though Sam, the mom, struggles with a career most of us only fantasized about, she definitely struggles. Mostly, though, and again, it is FUNNY. In this current atmosphere, which is riddled with angst, and various social issues, funny seems in short supply. But not here! Louis C K's hand is lighter than expected, and sometimes almost gentle. All tolled, this is a terrifically fun ride.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Ali_Marashian

Mar 6, 2020

The season premiere was so warm in a rainy day. I can't love this show enough.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

gabrismelo

Mar 28, 2020

This season promises so much. Pamela Adlon always amazing. Thanks for this!!

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

All_ButTrU4

Dec 18, 2021

They are fantastic moments with enough filler to bog the season down. Whilst still a must watch the magic is diluted and left with a above average season that pales to it's aforementioned achievements in its first three seasons

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Darek100

May 7, 2020

This season has lost me after I've been an avid watcher. The daughters are written meaner with each season...credit to the actors who portray Sam's daughters because they're believably mean...discredit to the writers for making me dislike them to the point I don't want to watch anymore.This season has lost me after I've been an avid watcher. The daughters are written meaner with each season...credit to the actors who portray Sam's daughters because they're believably mean...discredit to the writers for making me dislike them to the point I don't want to watch anymore. Switch the focus back to the adults and leave the kids in the background instead of making them smarter than the adults.… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

bobbymcd

Jun 21, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is just lazy show making. No plot, poor dialogue, even the actors give bad performances, and we know they can be good. It's as if Pamela is just shoveling this out and can't be bothered to do a second draft of the script or get one more take when shooting. I'm betting she excuses it by saying it's more real with the imperfections left in, but it just comes across as amateurish.

On top of all that it's becoming increasingly clear how vapid and superficial the characters are. We lost count after a while at how many times the show commented on the visual beauty of female characters this season. It is CONSTANT. There is alot of internalized misogyny in this show and it used to be so different. Seasons 1 and 2 were some of our favorite TV shows of all time, but the show keeps stumbling to new depths.

Plus not a single positive romantic relationship can be found anywhere in the show. It's as if they don't exist. If this season is a reflection of Pamela Adlon's inner psyche, well, it's a scary place to visit. It also feels like something that would have been fresh in 2003. Not so much in 2020. It took ten really bad episodes to finally get us to the point of realizing that this show is regressive, especially in it's view of women. It comes off like an older baby boomer who thinks they're "with it".

Phyllis is still amazing, partly because Celia Imrie can do so much without words. It means poor scripts don't hamper her as much as the rest of the cast. But it's been a shame to see characters like Frankie become so bland and outright dumb. Do you really think a character like that who has been so intelligent and thoughtful would want a quinceañera to honor the "people of the land she lives in"? I think it's way more likely she would have known that the Spanish colonized the land she lives in and sought out some indigenous connection. That's just one big example of details that aren't thought through in this season.

This all reminds me of the film Booksmart, which had a great cast and was supposed to be modern and smart about the way teenage girls see themselves and the world at this moment in time, but the script was actually re-written by an older woman (i forget if she was the exec producer or what) who is hopelessly out of touch and it ended up seeming dumb and clueless, especially about gender, class, and race.

Pamela needs some new writers and someone on set not afraid to tell her that a scene isn't working. There is still a ton of talent there, we just want to see it used more effectively.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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SEE ALL TRAILERS

Seasons & Episodes

88

Series Overview
Season 5

93
- Season 5 Overview
  Air Date: February 28, 2022
Season 4

90
- Season 4 Overview
  Air Date: March 5, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E11. Listen to the Roosters
  Air Date: September 4, 2021
- tbd
  S4:E10. Listen to the Roosters
  Air Date: April 30, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E10. Listen to the Roosters
  Air Date: April 30, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E9. Batceañera
  Air Date: April 23, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E9. Batceñera
  Air Date: April 23, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E8. Father's Day
  Air Date: April 16, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E8. Father's Day
  Air Date: April 16, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E7. High Man. Bye Man.
  Air Date: April 9, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E7. High Man. Bye Man.
  Air Date: April 9, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E6. New Orleans
  Air Date: April 2, 2020
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  S4:E5. Carbonara
  Air Date: March 26, 2020
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  S4:E5. Carbonara
  Air Date: March 26, 2020
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  S4:E4. DNA
  Air Date: March 19, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E4. DNA
  Air Date: March 19, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E3. Escape Drill
  Air Date: March 12, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E3. Escape Drill
  Air Date: March 12, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E2. She's Fifty
  Air Date: March 5, 2020
- tbd
  S4:E1. Steady Rain
  Air Date: March 5, 2020
Season 3

94
- Season 3 Overview
  Air Date: February 28, 2019
Season 2

96
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: September 14, 2017
Season 1

80
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: September 8, 2016