The Emmy Awards yesterday night went down without too much controversy overall, with the awards going to clearly deserving victors such critically acclaimed programs like Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Succession, and Beef.
However, were they classified into the appropriate categories? The Bear, a popular comedy series on FX that follows the inner workings of a Chicago restaurant, was the main topic of contention that evening. The show won six comedy categories, including best comedy series, lead actor in a comedy series (Jeremy Allen White), supporting actor in a comedy series (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and supporting actress in a comedy series (Ayo Edebiri).
Because they did not think of The Bear as a comedy at all, many social media users, including ardent supporters of the program, seemed to be adamant that there had been some sort of error. One commenter on X wrote: “It’s not a comedy, even if I adore it deeply, and these accolades are unfair to the other comedy finalists as well as the show itself. One person said, “The Bear is a phenomenal show, but it’s not a comedy; it’s straight drama.” Another person agreed. It’s a drama with some humorous parts.”
While there were some funny moments in the first season of the show (which was nominated because the Emmys were postponed until 2023), such as the inflatable hot-dog wrestling, the Xanax-spiked kids party, and any scene involving Fak (Matty Matheson), anyone who watched the episode Review, or followed Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) as she struggled to find her place and voice in the kitchen throughout the series, will know that this is a drama.
While there are undoubtedly hilarious moments within all of this, much as in life itself, you get the impression that comedy and making people laugh weren’t Christopher Storer’s primary motivations when he created this series. Instead, the show deals with topics of loss, grief, anxiety, identity, and stress.
Ironically, Succession, the night’s greatest drama series winner, may have had a lot more belly laughs than any other show, which is why Vanity Fair dubbed it “not an American drama, but a British comedy.” In fact, Kathryn VanArendonk of Vulture noted in 2019 regarding Succession’s Emmy nominations that it was “weird to see [it] nominated as a drama, because, in so many ways, Succession is a comedy,” a reversal of the criticism directed towards The Bear’s classification. The show only grew more plainly a drama as its world-building developed.
Why was it assigned this particular category?
Why, therefore, is The Bear categorized as a comedy? Some have speculated that its creators may have done it strategically because they felt it would have a stronger chance in the comedy categories. Prior to Monday’s ceremony, Screen Rant postulated that: “Choosing to concentrate on their secondary genre enhances the likelihood of The Bear’s triumph.” The Bear has an even bigger advantage over its rivals because of its dramatic edge, in addition to the possibility that the crowd in the humor pool will be a little smaller.”
The distinctions between comedy and drama categories at the Emmys have become increasingly shaky. In 2015, the Television Academy, the organization that organizes the Emmys, arbitrarily and automatically classified any show that runs 30 minutes or less in the comedy category and any longer in the drama category. However, everything changed once more in 2021 when the Academy said that it would no longer classify a show as a drama or comedy based on how long it ran, giving producers of those shows the freedom to place themselves in whichever industry they saw appropriate. If The Bear’s genre placement was done so for tactical reasons, it certainly paid off.
However, did the positioning of The Bear harm other comedies that were more “traditional” or overtly humorous, such as Abbott Elementary, Ted Lasso, or Jury Duty—some of the other comedy candidates this year that The Bear defeated? Maybe, and the reason some argue that it means more than the Emmys is that it calls into question our perceptions and appreciation of comedy, which is arguably the most individualized genre of all. TV comedy has evolved over the years, from the half-hour studio sitcoms of the past to cringe-comedy mockumentary-style shows, and more recently, to more bizarre, surreal series that are laced with humor but are difficult to pin down, like Atlanta (which won an Emmy for Comedy),
The Practice, or The Curse, which concludes this month. Is pure comedy, with its well-written jokes and sincere moments of belly laughter, losing out in the midst of all this?
Or maybe it’s becoming more and more pointless to try to separate comedies from dramas; perhaps awards ceremonies should do away with these distinctions completely. In yesterday night’s winners’ press conference, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, star of The Bear, stated so beautifully: “I think these concepts of comedy and drama are a little bit out of date. We’re all just trying to convey how hilariously messy being human is, and we’re all in pain.”