The Bear’s Status as a Comedy Gets Response from FX Boss After Emmy Nominations Announcement

There is no denying that FX’s The Bear is critically lauded and extremely popular. Season 2 of the series in particular earned rave reviews during its original airing.. With the 76th Primetime Emmy Award nominations being announced today, The Bear earned a record-breaking 23 nods, which represented the most ever for a comedy, surpassing a record set by the comedy series 30 Rock 15 years ago. The big bone of contention isn’t whether the series is good or not. Its near-universal acclaim seems to indicate this is quality television, but what has been up for debate is what genre the series actually falls under.

For some, there are very few laughs throughout an episode of The Bear, which has made its placement in the comedy categories questionable. This is something that will be debated again if the show sweeps awards from other definite comedies in this particular category in September. FX boss John Landgraf, the man overseeing the network carrying The Bear, has now shared his opinion on the show’s label.

The Bear

3.5/5

Set in a Chicago sandwich shop, The Bear follows Carmy Berzatto, a young professionally trained chef who returns to take over his family business after the unexpected death of his brother. At odds with many of the shop’s employees due to his culinary training, Carmy struggles to maintain order and keep the shop from failing entirely. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy alongside Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri. 

Release Date June 23, 2022

Seasons 3

Studio Hulu, FX Productions, Super Frog

Creator Christopher Storer

Writers Christopher Storer

Network FX

Streaming Service(s) Hulu , Disney+

Directors Christopher Storer

Showrunner Christopher Storer

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During a chat with Variety to discuss the 93 Primetime Emmy nominations that FX pulled in from its various shows, Landgraf was asked what he thought about The Bear’s apparent place in the comedy elite. The network has three shows representing Best Comedy Series, including Reservation Dogs and What We Do in Shadows, which clearly lean more comedic. When asked if The Bear’s comedy status has been questioned even more this year, Landgraf put the distinction on Emmy voters.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m in my 60s and I’ve been doing it my whole adult life. And I’ve never seen a better season of any television series, let alone a comedy, than ‘The Bear’ Season 2. Like, that’s as good at season of television as I’ve ever seen. And there are parts of that season that are very, very funny. We let the voters decide the answers to these questions.”

Whether The Bear Is a Comedy or Not Has Been a Big Bone of Contention

The question regarding what genre The Bear should fall under has been brought up consistently since the show began sweeping in the comedy categories at many of the major award ceremonies. When asked this once before, executive producer Josh Senior previously said that the show is much like life, with laughs and real moments. Senior said, “I think the show is true to life, and sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s real” and he went on to add, “The show is roughly a half-hour long and that fits the box of a comedy.”

Back in June, it was reported that rival networks had been asking the Television Academy to look into The Bear’s inclusion as a comedy, although many believed that it wouldn’t get much movement because this is a debate that has also happened around other shows in the past. According to Academy rules, the distinction between a comedy series and a drama series comes down to the episodes being “primarily comedic for comedy series entries, or primarily dramatic for dramatic series entries.” Given the series’ very tense themes, including depictions of suicide and depression, it’s easy to see why some believe it falls much more in the latter of the two descriptions.

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Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black was nominated in the Best Comedy Series category in 2014 but was switched to drama in 2015 due to a rule change that forced hour-long episodes to compete in the drama category unless they petitioned to be switched back. Landgraf was asked if The Bear would switch to compete in the drama category for Season 3, and he was pretty non-committal by saying, “I’m not focused on that question right now. Just really focused on how gratified I am that the work they did in Season 2 was recognized.”

The Bear
is currently available to stream on Hulu.

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