“The Bear” crushed a lot of the competition on Sunday night, even if it failed to take home best comedy series for a second year in a row, losing to “Hacks.” Even so, the FX on Hulu series is still Emmy royalty. Last year, “The Bear” made history with its 10 wins for its first season, beating the nine “Schitt’s Creek” picked up in 2020 for its sixth season. Now, between the seven trophies the second season of “The Bear” took home at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month and the four Primetime Emmys it added to the haul on Sunday, the show has beaten its own record as the comedy series with the most wins for a single season.
“The Bear” can’t stop setting new milestones, actually. In July, it received 23 nominations for its second season — one more than the previous record-holder, “30 Rock,” picked up in 2009. Part of the strength of “The Bear” is its deep bench of formidable actors and a powerhouse episode, “The Fishes,” that was packed with eventual nominees. Season 2 racked up 10 nods for acting — from leads Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri to supporting players Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Liza Colón-Zayas and Lionel Boyce to guest actors Jamie Lee Curtis, Olivia Colman, Jon Bernthal, Bob Odenkirk and Will Poulter — and in doing so, tied the high bar set by “30 Rock” 15 year ago.
Victories for White, Moss-Bachrach, Colón-Zayas, Curtis and Bernthal this year, plus a win for Christopher Storer for directing “Fishes,” helped push “The Bear” past its own record. It also won sound editing, sound editing, picture editing, cinematography and casting.
Whether the series can best itself again next year is less certain. The third season, which debuted in June, was met with mixed reviews for the first time since the show premiered to ecstatic critical response in 2022. While the first two seasons have 100% and 99% fresh averages on Rotten Tomatoes, Season 3 went down 89% fresh. A high B+ is nothing to sneeze at, but if Season 2 lost the top prize, it’s hard to imagine Emmy voters handing it to the Berzatto family and friends for a so-so Season 3. As many have noted, maybe the TV Academy has decided the show really isn’t a comedy after all.
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