I learned today that the Bagel Chateau in Maplewood NJ was one of the inspirations behind The Bear. The producer is from Maplewood.
How Would the Restaurant in âThe Bearâ Work in Real Life? (gift link) Light spoilers for Season 3 therein. I snorted when I read that people asked after Richie at Ever after his Season 2 episode. Itâs a TV show. Heâs fictional! (Iâm not a Chicagoan, so I actually didnât realize that Ever is a real restaurant, with fictionalized staff for the show.)
Having now finished the season, I agree with both of these assessments. But Iâm pretty sure the Faks are there to placate all the people whining that they âthought it was a caaaaah-medy.â (Some of us find comedy outside of the usual places, and it seems the series creators do as well.)
I think itâs one of the most effective and involving shows currently airing. Doesnât hurt that its subject matter is one Iâm very interested in.
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What is âfaksâ?
Neil Fak (the guy played by Matty Matheson) and kin.
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For all you Bear Stans.*
*Not a gift link this time.
Hah! Thanks. Watched second episode of season 3 last night and it was good. I think Iâve read so many takes on this season that Iâm going into it with lowered expectations and hopefully will enjoy it. I didnât really care for the first episode so was glad to see some forward motion in 2nd episode.
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Slander!! Black Swan is a great psychodrama, that happens to take a LOT of cues from Satoshi Konâs Perfect Blue. Portman does tend to overestimate âimportantâ films, like Jackie, but I find I like her very serious approach especially in genre fair, where her presence adds real stakes to the goingâs on. See: Annihilation or V for Vendetta.
NB: This article discusses the whole of Season 3.
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The Bear was nominated in multiple categories this Emmy season for COMEDY. Not drama.
Surprised me.
Because itâs a comedy. It has a lot of dramatic moments, but itâs supposed to be - and is - funny. And as Iâve said before, it is structured like a comedy, i.e. about 30:00/episode with three interwoven stories.
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I didnât laugh much this season. Unless you count the itty bitty banter btwn the back crew. YMDV from mine.
I donât laugh during Young Sheldon, but that doesnât make it not a comedy.
Hard pressed comparison but ok, lol.
My point was that comedy is a category of television that is not defined solely by âpeople think itâs funny.â Jane the Virgin was hilarious, as was Ugly Betty. But they were both dramas, because they are structured accordingly.
Iâm not alone. On the heels of a nomination announcementâŚ
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And so on.
âThe Bearâ is far from the only dramatic TV series ever to compete as a comedy for a better shot at glory. There have been many cases of what awards-watchers like to call âcategory fraud.â Dark shows like HBOâs âBarry,â Netflixâs âRussian Doll,â Amazonâs âFleabagâ all have competed (and won) as comedies in recent years.
And theyâre all a half hour long. I have yet to see an hour show up for best comedy, or a half hour show up for best drama.
For my viewing pleasure these are dramas with comedic moments and how the awards categorize nominations is very inconsistent generally. Music awards suffer a similar fate.
ETA: found this
The Bearâ exists somewhere in the middle of all this madness â not just in genre, but also in platform. âThe Bearâ is an FX original series but is only available on Hulu (remember that confusing âFX on Huluâ branding?), not FX. As such, episodic runtimes are free to be all over the place; Season 1 episodes ranged from 20-47 minutes.
Because pro comics appear/act in these shows doesnât mean itâs a comedy. More likely where the competition lies in any Emmy category.
