The Bear is becoming an Emmys villain and it needs to make one big change

Despite The Bear walking away from the 2024 Emmys with a historic amount of wins, the show has become a villain in the eyes of many viewers.

Whether or not you’re a fan of FX’s The Bear, it would be foolish to discredit the series for its impact on pop culture.

From its stunning soundtrack to unforgettable performances, it’s no wonder the series has been sweeping through every award season, including the 2024 Emmys.

However, even with all of its success, The Bear has found itself at the center of a major scandal for one reason: it’s in the wrong category.

Let The Bear be the dramatic mess it was meant to be

During the 2024 Emmys, The Bear took home 11 awards including Best Actor and Best Directing, which outpaced its 2023 record.

While this is a huge win for the show, many people aren’t happy with its success because it won each award in the comedy category.

For reference, The Bear went toe to toe with projects like Only Murders in the Building, Abbott Elementary, and Saturday Night Live. Compared to these other shows, The Bear looks like a straight-laced drama like Mad Men or The Sopranos, with the same amount of cursing but a lot less murder.

At the end of the day, shows like Only Murders in the Building and Abbott Elementary are actual comedies; they work to inject humor everywhere they can, even in the most serious of situations.

In contrast, The Bear does not promote itself as a funny show at all. It’s a gripping family drama that deals with issues like addiction, mental health, poverty, and more.

While the series has some humorous moments, like Ritchie being stabbed by Sydney or any conversation involving the Fak brothers, at the end of the day, the show is more of a drama than anything else.

FX/Hulu

However, the Television Academy of Arts and Science, aka the group behind the Emmys, class The Bear as a comedy because that’s how the show’s producers categorize it every year.

Because the FX hit isn’t as gut-punching as Succession and doesn’t leave the audience gasping for air like Yellowjackets, The Bear crew see themselves as semi-comedy writers thanks to the levity they throw in from time to time.

But, this is doing such a disservice to not only The Bear, but other light-hearted comedies that have to share the same category with the show. Abbott Elementary absolutely deserved to win some of the awards in the comedy category because it has been churning out laugh after laugh since it premiered in 2021.

But, if The Bear continues to lie to itself and keep the cloak of comedy on its back, it will hinder other works from getting the love and praise they worked so hard to achieve.

There’s nothing wrong with being a hard-hitting drama with some jokes sprinkled in, and the sooner The Bear comes to terms with that, the sooner they can start winning the awards they actually deserve.

For more, be sure to check out our list of TV shows streaming this month and new movies you should watch.