Outside of both having notable casts, ABC’s Lost and FX’s The Bear seemingly don’t have too much in common. One was an hour-long sci-fi adventure network TV series that ran for six seasons between 2004 and 2010. One will have brand new episodes hitting the 2025 TV schedule, partners between streaming and FX Network, and is a half-hour (alleged) comedy vehicle. But Lost (and parent network ABC) inadvertently may be the reason The Bear takes so much flak during upcoming awards shows.
The Bear Often Takes Flak At The Emmys For Landing In The Comedy Category
… and flak it does take. While The Bear can be funny in some of its most outrageous moments and the characters themselves are occasionally amusing, the format of the FX series starring Jeremy Allen White is mostly dramatic. In fact, the show is so stressful and realistic to the kitchen atmosphere that some chefs refuse to even watch it.
Vulture about this dichotomy, and made some great points about The Bear winning a slew of comedy Emmys – and recently breaking a record 30 Rock held for many years.
Best Picture Winners at the Oscars are nearly always dramas (even when they have some very funny moments), and the drama categories at the Emmys are seen as the crème de la crème and typically announced last. So, it’s particularly frustrating for those who write great jokes to see a show that writes killer drama interfering in the one big Emmys category that does land the joke writers nominations: Outstanding Comedy Series.
The notion goes back to the idea that half-hour shows are comedies or sitcoms, and hour-long shows are dramas. Obviously, most rational people know there’s more nuance to this, but apparently this general idea is something awards shows began warming up to not so long ago. Or at least not as long ago as you might guess.
There was an era when ABC was dominating the Emmys. One year in the Noughties, the network had two tentpole critical darlings: Lost and Desperate Housewives. The former was a drama that was an hour long. The latter was more of a, let’s say dramedy, though it also ran for an hour. So what did ABC do? They got to some slick campaigning and Housewives went into the comedy category, allowing it to no longer compete with its extraordinarily popular sister series.
Both shows were nominated in 2005, though Housewives lost the comedy category to traditional sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. Lost did win the Outstanding Drama category, so it was doubtless a savvy move for ABc.
Anyway, the idea of a drama with comedic elements landing in the comedic category was allegedly born out of ABC’s wish to win all the awards, at least if you were to ask one TV writer who has spent decades in the industry.
I think that the real problem originated when ABC got greedy. They knew Lost was gonna win for drama, and so they put up Desperate Housewives for comedy.
This is obviously a hypothesis from a writer who was around during the 2004-2005 TV season, but it makes a lot of sense to me. The Bear isn’t the only “drama” or “drama-ish” to land in the comedy category. Barry, Atlanta and The Flight Attendant all come to mind when I think of those iffy middle ground shows that have earned nominations. However, The Bear is the one that might have the most grey areas when it comes to where it should belong, and it’s also earning so many noms it’s notable.
This year, The Bear won in a lot of categories but Hacks took home the aforementioned Outstanding Comedy Award. With new episodes of The Bear Season 4 premiering later this month and Emmy nominations on their way in September, I’ll be interested to find out if history repeats itself this year.
Hacks can be cringe and uncomfortable like The Bear, but it has a heck of a lot more jokes. Though I’ll defend The Bear‘s Berf shirt joke forever.