The Bear (TV series)

The Bear is an American comedy-drama television series created by Christopher Storer for FX on Hulu. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy Berzatto, an award-winning chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago to manage the chaotic kitchen at his deceased brother's sandwich shop. The supporting cast includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliott and Matty Matheson.

All episodes of the first season were released on FX on Hulu on June 23, 2022; the second season was released in its entirety on June 22, 2023. In November 2023, the series was renewed for a third season, which was released on June 26, 2024. Ahead of the third-season premiere, the show was renewed for a fourth season, which filmed back-to-back with the third season.

The series has received critical acclaim, particularly for its writing, directing, acting, and production values, as well as its examination of its subject matter. The first season received ten Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Comedy Series and acting wins for White, Moss-Bachrach, and Edebiri. The Bear has also won four Golden Globe Awards, with acting wins for White and Edebiri and the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series– Musical or Comedy in 2024.

Premise
A young talented chef named Carmen "Carmy" Anthony Berzatto inherits his family's Italian beef sandwich shop after the suicide of his older brother Michael. He comes home to Chicago to run it, leaving behind his world of working in Michelin-starred restaurants. He is left to deal with his brother's unresolved debts, a rundown kitchen, and an unruly staff, while dealing with his own pain and family trauma.

Main

 * Jeremy Allen White as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, an award-winning New York City chef de cuisine, who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his late brother Michael's failing restaurant, The Beef.
 * Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard "Richie" Jerimovich, Michael's best friend and the de facto manager of the restaurant
 * Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu, a talented young chef who joins The Beef as its new sous-chef under Carmy
 * Lionel Boyce as Marcus Brooks, The Beef's bread baker-turned-pastry chef, spurred on by Carmy's mentoring
 * Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina Marrero, an acerbic and stubborn veteran line cook who embraces the opportunity to train professionally
 * Abby Elliott as Natalie "Sugar" Berzatto, Carmy and Michael's sister, the reluctant co-owner of The Beef
 * Matty Matheson as Neil Fak (season 2–present, recurring season 1), a childhood friend of the Berzattos, and sometimes-handyman for the restaurant

Recurring

 * Jon Bernthal as Michael "Mikey" Berzatto, Carmy and Natalie's late brother, who struggled with drug addiction before dying by suicide four months before the events of the series
 * Joel McHale as David Fields, Carmy's abusive executive chef in New York City
 * Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebraheim, a Somali veteran line cook at The Beef who is close with Tina
 * Corey Hendrix as Gary "Sweeps" Woods, a former minor-league baseball player who works as a runner, and later a sommelier, at the restaurant
 * Oliver Platt as Jimmy "Cicero" Kalinowski, the best friend of the father of the Berzatto siblings, whom everyone affectionately refers to as "Uncle", and the restaurant's key investor
 * José Cervantes as Angel, a dishwasher at The Beef
 * Richard Esteras as Manny, a dishwasher at The Beef
 * Chris Witaske as Pete, Natalie's earnest and naïve husband, whom most of the family dislikes because of his positive attitude
 * Molly Gordon as Claire Dunlap (season 2–present), a childhood friend of the Berzattos, on whom Carmy harbored a crush as a teenager
 * Robert Townsend as Emmanuel Adamu (recurring season 2, guest season 3), Sydney's loving and supportive father who nevertheless has trouble accepting Sydney's choice to follow an inherently risky culinary career
 * Alex Moffat as Josh (season 2), a line cook hired by The Bear
 * Ricky Staffieri as Theodore "Teddy" Fak (season 2-present), Neil's brother
 * Adam Shapiro as Adam Shapiro (recurring season 3, guest season 2), the chef de cuisine at Ever
 * Christopher Zucchero as "Chi-Chi" (recurring season 3, guest season 1), a former employee at the Original Beef while it was owned by Mikey, who is rehired to help run The Bear's sandwich window. Zucchero is the real-life owner of Mr. Beef

Guest stars
Chefs and restaurateurs Grant Achatz, Christina Tosi, Kevin Boehm, Wylie Dufresne, Will Guidara, Genie Kwon, Malcolm Livingston II, Anna Posey, and Rosio Sanchez appear as themselves in season 3.
 * Carmen Christopher as Chester, the roommate and close friend of Marcus who often visits the restaurant
 * Gillian Jacobs as Tiffany "Tiff" Jerimovich (season 2–present, uncredited guest season 1), Richie's ex-wife with whom he shares a daughter, Eva
 * Amy Morton as Nancy Chore (season 1), a scrupulous health inspector
 * Molly Ringwald as the meeting leader at the Al-Anon meetings that Carmy attends. (season 1)
 * Mitra Jouhari as Kelly (season 2–present), Claire's friend.
 * Will Poulter as Luca (season 2–present), a pastry chef who trains Marcus while he is in Copenhagen
 * Jamie Lee Curtis as Donna Berzatto (season 2–present), the troubled mother of the Berzatto siblings
 * John Mulaney as Stevie (season 2–present), Michelle's partner
 * Olivia Colman as Chef Andrea Terry (season 2-present), the British executive chef at Ever, the fine dining restaurant where Richie stages
 * Sarah Ramos as Jessica (season 2–present), the maître d'hôtel at Ever
 * Andrew Lopez as Garrett (season 2-present), Richie's supervisor at Ever
 * Rene Gube as the unnamed general manager of Ever. (season 2-present)
 * Maura Kidwell as Carol (season 2), Cicero's partner
 * Bob Odenkirk as "Uncle" Lee Lane (season 2), Donna's scheming on-and-off boyfriend and business partner of Cicero
 * Sarah Paulson as Michelle Berzatto (season 2), cousin of Michael, Carmy and Natalie
 * David Zayas as David (season 3), Tina's husband
 * John Cena as Sammy Fak (season 3), Neil and Teddy's brother
 * Brian Koppelman as Nicholas "The Computer" Marshall (season 3), a family friend of the Berzattos brought in to help The Bear cut costs
 * Josh Hartnett as Frank (season 3), Tiff's wealthy and charismatic fiancée
 * Daniel Boulud as himself (season 3)
 * René Redzepi as himself (season 3)
 * Thomas Keller as himself (season 3)

Development
FX ordered a pilot for The Bear in March 2021, to be written and directed by series creator Christopher Storer. FX then greenlit the series in October 2021 for a 2022 premiere date. The sandwich shop interior is copied from the Chicago shop Mr. Beef on Orleans Street, in River North. Storer was a frequent patron and a friend of the owner's son.

In July 2022, it was renewed for a ten-episode second season. In November 2023, the series was renewed for a third season. In March 2024, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which will be filmed back-to-back with the third season.

Music
The Bear has a soundtrack of 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s alternative and mainstream rock classics, chosen by the show's creator Christopher Storer and executive producer Josh Senior. Some of the songs featured on the show include Chicago-based Wilco with "Spiders (Kidsmoke)", "Impossible Germany", "Via Chicago", and "Handshake Drugs", Radiohead's "Let Down", Van Morrison's "Saint Dominic's Preview", Pearl Jam's "Animal" and "Come Back", Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago", John Mayer's "Last Train Home", Refused's "New Noise", The Breeders' "Saints", Erasure's "A Little Respect", The Replacements' "Bastards of Young", Counting Crows' "Have You Seen Me Lately?", Genesis' "In Too Deep", Nine Inch Nails' "The Day the World Went Away", John Mellencamp's "Check It Out", R.E.M.'s "Oh My Heart" and "Strange Currencies", Weezer's "The Christmas Song", The Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm", and Taylor Swift's "Love Story".

Release
The Bear premiered on FX on Hulu in the United States on June 23, 2022. It is available internationally in the Star hub on Disney+. The 10-episode second season was released on June 22, 2023. The third season was released on June 26, 2024.

Season 1
According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood, The Bear was the second-most-watched program across all platforms during the week of July 13, 2022, the most watched program during the week of July 22, 2022, and the seventh-most-watched program during the week of July 27, 2022. According to the streaming aggregator JustWatch, The Bear was the second most streamed television series across all platforms in the United States during the week ending July 3, 2022, the second during the week ending July 17, 2022, According to FX, the first season was the most-watched comedy series in the network's history.

Season 2
According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood, The Bear was the second most watched program across all platforms in the United States during the week of June 22, 2023,  and the most during the week of June 29, 2023. According to JustWatch, The Bear was the most streamed television series across all platforms in the United States during the week ending June 25, 2023. According to FX, the second season was the most-watched season premiere in the network's history. According to Whip Media's viewership tracking app TV Time, The Bear was the eighth most-watched streaming original television series of 2023.

Critical response
The Bear has received critical acclaim. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the overall series holds a 96% rating. On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the overall series has received a score of 87 out of 100.

Season 1
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 8.7/10, based on 80 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Like an expertly confected sandwich, The Bear assembles a perfect melange of ingredients and stacks them for optimal satisfaction—and thankfully keeps the crust-iness for extra flavor." Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 24 critic reviews.

The American Film Institute named it one of the ten best television programs of the year. The Guardian named it number one of the best 100 TV shows of 2022 and described it as "the best workplace drama since Mad Men". The Bear appeared in the top ten on numerous publications' "Best of 2022" lists, including first for The A.V. Club, BBC, People, and TVLine, among others.

Season 2
On Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 109 critic reviews are positive for the second season, and the average rating is 9.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Instead of reinventing the menu, The Bear's second season wisely opts to toss its lovable characters into another frying pan of adversity, lets 'em cook, and serves up yet another supremely satisfying dish." Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 42 critic reviews.

For the second year in a row, the American Film Institute named The Bear one of the ten best television programs of the year. The Bear appeared on many publications' lists of the best TV shows of 2023, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and People, among others.

Season 3
On Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 87 critics gave the third season a positive review, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critics consensus states. "Having set an exceedingly high standard of excellence for itself, The Bear spends its third season simmering, stewing, and giving off an aroma that whets the appetite." The website also reported that the season was "as audacious as ever" and it "still seems to continue delivering compelling and often intense television with performances that are so dependably brilliant that they're not even mentioned in most of the reviews. Instead, at this point in a show's life, it's easier to find faults in its sameness or changes, or in its attempts to repeat or outdo itself." Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 based on 44 critic reviews.

Accolades
The classification of The Bear as a comedy in certain award ceremonies, specifically the Primetime Emmys, has attracted some controversy, given its dramatic style and focus on heavy topics such as family trauma, suicide and drug use. In 2024, The Bear became the most-nominated series in comedy categories at the Emmys with 23 nominations, surpassing 30 Rock which had 22 nominations in 2009.