I highly concur, four is a nice, even number to have in an ensemble cast. Every member has the opportunity to interact with each other in pairs, and with fewer protagonists, there's more time to flesh them out.
Agree. While I personally always preferred Trios more due to stronger characterization and more in-depth character interaction, Four Band Ensembles do come with overall more interesting stories and commentary.
Something else to consider when it comes to groups of 4 like these is personalities that mesh near flawlessly. Primary example of this is the teenage mutant ninja turtles. If you look at any group of 4 you'll find some way to connect them to the turtles.
This made me realize that even though the main characters of Harry Potter are a trio, many of their group conversations include a fourth person joining in (like Ginny, Luna, or Neville).
The only problem is - THE GOOD PLACE has a total of not four but _six_ central characters. As the series progresses, Michael and Janet are increasingly part of the conversation.
Yes but unlike the 4 humans, Michael and Janet still felt like an outside force that the 4 have to deal with. Michael and Janet moves the plot either because they mastermind it or they become the one that the 4 have to help or guide. Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani are mirrors/dark mirrors of of each other (Chidi's overthinking vs Jason's impulse, Eleanor's disregard of others vs Tahani's people pleasing, etc) while Michael is a mirror/dark mirror of all amd each of them. Janet has her own journey that doesnt reflect much the 4's journeys.
I've noticed that in groups of four girls, one is typically the Sweet, Naive one, another is Sexy and Boy Crazy, one is Smart and Sensible, and the final one is Sarcastic, sometimes tomboyish. The Golden Girls, Heathers, Mean Girls and Sex and the City girls all apply here.
This 4-part ensemble goes back several centuries in theater. I’d guess the formula is more obvious with “girl groups” because: 1. female-led stories tend to be ensembles, with supporting characters getting nearly as much time as the lead or no clear lead 2. we have more rigid stereotypes for women and girls; so they don’t play around with the tropes as much as they might with an all-male or coed ensemble But I think more shows than don’t use a similar outline for their top 4 central characters, just easier to hide when the characters have more room to do explore different interests and situations
Also works with the movie Now and Then: Chrissy the naive one, Roberta the sarcastic, sporty one, Sam the smart one who people look to as the leader, and Teeny - who's obsessed with being a sexy actress.
It always works in a narrative because you have one central character who is the "every man" (or woman) and then the three others representing different elements of the central character : the Id, ego and superego. Or the "wizard of Oz" formula : the brain, the heart and the guts (or labido). In SATC: carry is "every woman", Charlotte is the heart, Miranda the brain and Samantha is the guts/labido.
1. Ghostbusters! 2. Team Avatar had this dynamic in Book 2 after Toph joined the gang. I think this is usually a comedy thing, at least that's where it works best- and usually for characters who are single. Even for HBO's *Entourage* which was basically the male version of Sex and the City, I think Vincent Chase would be the Narrator, Eric was the Intellectual one, Turtle was obsessed with Status, and Johnny Drama was the Conversation Starter. But there are instances of foursomes where the characters don't fit as neatly into the archetypes. Like *Atlanta* who's Fab 4 (Earn, Al, Darius and Van) are characters that seem un-quantifiable to me. When thinking about non-comedies, one show with a unique spin on this is *Orphan Black* where the 4 main characters of the "Clone Club" (Sarah, Allison, Cosima, and Helena) are all played by one person
The ensemble cast of MY LITTLE PONY had an interesting dynamic. There were six mains, and could be paired off in interesting ways. There were two “girly girls,” two “tomboys,” and two for whom their gender wasn’t a big component of their personality. But even the two most similar personalities were different enough that they could spark stories together. It was a very systematized approach, but it worked.
The Take, I’ve mentioned this a couple times already, but Friendship is Magic is a show worth mentioning from time to time. Here for example, that show started with six primary protagonists, plus four secondary protagonists, whom could each offer dynamics for an episode or two. Maybe you could do a spin-off video about something like that?
My current favorite shows staring 4 women all star black women • Harlem (2021) - Amazon • First Wives Club (2019) - BET Plus • Run The World (2019) - STARZ
The four temperament ensemble. A trope as old time yet it works. For me my go-to four group will always be the Strike Team from FX’s The Shield great show that was before its time. Vic Mackey the choleric aggressive capable leader but bossy to the point of over controlling. Shane Vendrell the sanguine as quoted perfectly ‘his heart tends to be ten steps ahead of his brain’. Curtis ‘Lem’ Lemansky the chilled grounded easy going member that acts as the heart of the team the white sheep in a group of corrupt cops his loss really broke the team. Ronnie Gardocki the melancholic played for laughs in the initial seasons but by the end of the show he developed into a cold calculated planner.
I wonder, where does this leave groups of 5 &6? Otherwise I think Adult Swim did an ironic joke with a bump about a quote about how good things are in threes, basically they listed 3 shows about duos(Tim &Eric, Rick &Morty, Tuca &Bertie)as their counter argument,
The book Surrounded By Idiots by Thomas Erikson is a great book based on this format. I fekt very called out being dominant red and its taught me to be more conscious on my straight to the point style.
Hey the take. I'm subscribed and watch a lot of your videos. I'm big fan of TV and movies. Y'all seem touch on great ones. But there is one show I never see you talk about. The show is girlfriends. I only bring it up because it would fit so well with this current video. If you ever want to add that or break down that show it would be great.
Girlfriends also did a stellar job of discussing class issues among friends and specifically in the Black community (Joan, as Maya will tell you, can be "classist and egregious").
It's Always Sunny didn't hit it big until the 5th member showed up: The Mantis, The Muscle, The Warthog, CEO of Wolf Cola, Gun and Rum Ham enthusiast, Frank Reynolds.
I've watched this video twice now, and other TV show quartets are coming to mind. I won't typify all of them. Bonanza: Ben was the sensible one, Adam the artistic/intellectual one, Hoss the kind, sweet one, and Joe the hot-tempered one (and closest to being the sexy one). You could even put them into Hogwarts houses: Ben the Slytherin, Adam the Ravenclaw, Hoss the Hufflepuff, and Joe the Gryffindor. All in the Family: Archie was the Traditionalist, Edith the sweet one, Mike the Rule-Challenger, and Gloria, maybe, the Emotional One. Star Trek: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and, to round it up into a quartet, Scotty. The Beverly Hillbillies: Jed, Granny, Jethro, Ellie. Someone else mentioned The Honeymooners (Ralph, Ed, Alice, Trixie), which, of course, begat The Flintstones (Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty). There was also I Love Lucy (Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, Fred). I wonder what one can make of Jonny Quest (Jonny, Hadji, Benton, Race)? Then, of course, there's Scooby Doo (Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy). The play A Raisin in the Sun had Walter Lee, Lena (Mama), Ruth, and Beneatha. Death of a Salesman had Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy. A Streetcar Named Desire had Blanche, Stanley, Stella, and Mitch. The Glass Menagerie had Amanda, Tom, Laura, and Jim, the Gentleman Caller. Of course, a one-time play has a different dynamic from a TV series. Long Day's Journey into Night had... I'd better stop myself now.
@@dEMonAngeLclone Except they talked about Harry Potter and GOT & how it didn't strictly need to be about 4 characters but they needed to be the core personalities. Living Single had the 4 core personalities. Plus Girlfriends had WIlliam and Insecure had Lawerence. So yeah, I'm still calling BS
@@mikejohn29mj Lmao 🤣🤣🤣 I autocorrected it to Overton in my head, so I didn’t catch that she wrote singleton. Maybe that was an actual autocorrect for her though
On Yellowjackets, the archetypes are subverted: - Shauna is the Storyteller, but what story? - Natalie is the Image-Conscious Rule Follower, but what image, and what rules? - Misty is the Conversation Starter, but who's listening? - Taissa is the Progressive Intellectual, but is she in control or being controlled?
WHERE is Paper Girls??? ERIN: Narrator, leader, glue of the group KJ: Image concious, rule follower, who deep down wants to break rules TIFF: Progressive, intelligent one MAC: Wild, rebellious, rule breaker, hates social rules
That is cool. A very popular personality type system in modern psychology is the Myers Briggs. David Kiersy has a book about it, called Please Understand Me. He gives four major types. Then each type is further subdivided to four. This forms a total of sixteen types. The book actually gives Wizard of Oz as one of the examples of the four major types. Dorthy is a guardian type. The scarcrow is a rational type. The tin man is an idealist type. The cowardly lion is an artisan type.
Agreed, it's not too big of a number, and just small enough for many characters to interact, and to keep track of all of their personalities and dynamics.
It comes all from classic mythology and medicine. Back then it was considered that everyone was made of four elements: water, fire, air and earth. Depending on your mixture, you ended having a certain complexity and mentality, and could end developing certain diseases. Air was often associated with intellectual people; water, with sentimental and artistic; fire, with adventurous and physically driven; and earth with practical and stable people. That mixture is still present in many contemporary culture objects as it provides balance amomg all four and conflict between each two of the resulting possible pairs.
Another version very close to this is the 4 temperaments, mentioned in the video too. The ancient Greeks believed that the 4 fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, black bile yellow bile) determine a person's mood. Some literature connected them with 4 elements too. Choleric are the bossy type A, ambitious, passionate, connected with fire. Sanguine are free spirited, perky, just wants to have fun, represented by air too. Phlegmatic are serious, calm, stoic, observant, represented by earth. Melancholic are emotional, creative, empathic, connected with water.
Four personalities work because it can represent the human psyche: Id, ego, superego, and person. In SATC, Samantha is the ID, Miranda is the ego, charlotte is the superego, and Carrie is the human. In girlfriends, Lynn is the ID, joan is the superego, Toni is the ego, and maya is the human In insecure, Kelli is the ID, Molly is the superego, Tiffany is the ego, and issa is the human
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants I'm not sure exactly who falls into which but is such a good core 4 of different characters nonetheless. Some of the parallels I see, but some idk.
This archetype structure has been around since the renaissance (Commedia dell’arte). It wouldn’t have evolved and lasted centuries if it wasn’t effective for telling interesting stories
As has the five man band and the legendary trios (literally since biblical times). You can analyze these a bunch of different was but it kind of basically all comes down to being the embodiment of specific personality, problem solving, etc types
As a _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ fan, I would put that show in that category. In seven seasons it had twelve main characters: (Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Angel, Oz, Riley, Anya, Spike, Dawn, and Tara), thirteen core/season long villains: (The Master, Darla, Drusilla, Spike, Angelus, The Mayor, Faith, Adam, Glory, Warren, Jonathon, Andrew, and Evil Willow), and twelve secondary characters not considered one or the other, but important to the story: (Joyce, Jenny, Wesley, Snyder, Robin, Kennedy, Amanda, Vi, Rona, Harmony, Larry, and Amy) Out of all these core characters, and the many non-core characters I didn't mention, at the end of the series it comes down to a four-person show of Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles. It just disguises itself a little more than what was mentioned in the video.
This video only stands to reinforce how crazy it is that HBO still went ahead with And Just Like That - where one of the core four is missing. Couldn’t even go begin to imagine if Seinfeld returned without Kramer.
I haven’t read the book yet but ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ sounds like a great quartet. For the uninitiated, it’s a group of Senior Citizens who solve cold cases.
Hmm...The Beatles weren't a TV show, unless you count the mid-1960s Saturday morning cartoon show...but then, there were those movies... John was the Smart One, Paul the Cute One, George the Quiet One (or the Deep One), and Ringo seemed to be the Happy-Go-Lucky One. How those four types would fit into the types mentioned in this video, I don't know. In the TV-movie Birth of the Beatles, a biopic about their early years, someone (Brian Epstein?) said John was the brains of the group, Paul was the heart, George was the soul, and Ringo the sinews. In the 1960s TV show The Monkees, Mike was the sensible one, Micky the outlandish one, Peter the sweet one (often portrayed as the dumb one), and Davy the cute/sexy one. Someone once wrote that Davy corresponded to Paul, Peter to Ringo, and Mike and Micky shared the George and John roles. Observing their appearances, Micky resembles John, Mike resembles George, and Davy resembles Paul a little, but not much.
@@ShindlersFiist The Beatles were primarily a real-life rock group, not a TV show. The Monkees were a TV show that morphed into a real-life rock group.
Great video! I feel like this reminds me of one of your older videos that made me follow you guys years ago. Fresh topic that was hiding in plain sight!
