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.[2] Ahead of the third-season premiere, the series was renewed for a fourth season.[3]
The series has received critical acclaim, particularly for its tension, writing and directing, acting performances, technical quality, and production values. Its realistic, accurate portrayal of restaurant and character development have been singled out by critics and the restaurant industry, as well as its approach to themes such as suicide and trauma, among others.[4][5][6][7][8]
A talented young 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.
Cast and characters
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, 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 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 sometime 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 Berzatto siblings' father, 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 buoyant husband.
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]), 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
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[b]), 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.
FX ordered a pilot for The Bear in March 2021, to be written and directed by series creator Christopher Storer.[15] FX then greenlit the series in October 2021 for a 2022 premiere date.[16] 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.[17]
In July 2022, the series was renewed for a ten-episode second season.[18] In November 2023, it was renewed for a third season.[19] In March 2024, the series was renewed for a fourth season.[20] Parts of the fourth season were filmed during filming for the third season, with production set to restart in 2025.[21][22]
The Bear premiered on FX on Hulu in the United States on June 23, 2022,[26] and became available internationally in the Star hub on Disney+.[27] The 10-episode second season was released on June 22, 2023.[28] Along with other Hulu content, The Bear became available to stream on Disney+ in the United States via the Hulu hub on December 6, 2023.[29] The third season was released on June 26, 2024.[2]
The Bear has received critical acclaim.[c] On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the overall series holds a 96% rating.[44] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the overall series has received a score of 86 out of 100.[45]
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."[30] Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 24 critic reviews.[31]
On Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 111 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."[32] Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 43 critic reviews.[33]
For the second year in a row, the American Film Institute named The Bear one of the ten best television programs of the year.[50]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.[51][52][53][54]
Season 3
On Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 101 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."[34] 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."[36] Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 based on 45 critic reviews.[35]
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Broadcast Short Form
Steve "Major" Giammaria, Andrea Bella, Matt Snedecor, Evan Benjamin, John Werner, John Bowen, Annie Taylor, Leslie Bloome, Shaun Brennan (for "Fishes")
Steve "Major" Giammaria, Andrea Bella, Evan Benjamin, Jonathan Fuhrer, Annie Taylor, Jason Lingle, Jeff Lingle, Leslie Bloome, Shaun Brennan (for "Forks")
Lionel Boyce, Jose Cervantes Jr, Liza Colón-Zayas, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Richard Esteras, Edwin Lee Gibson, Molly Gordon, Corey Hendrix, Matty Matheson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Oliver Platt and Jeremy Allen White
Karen Joseph Adcock, Joanna Calo, Kelly Galuska, Rene Gube, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Alex Russell, Catherine Schetina, Christopher Storer
The classification of The Bear as a comedy in certain award ceremonies, specifically the Primetime Emmys, has attracted media attention, given its dramatic style and focus on heavy topics.[117][118][4] Proponents of the series' categorization as "comedy" argue that the show unfolds as a dark comedy marked by ridiculous situations[119] and comedic timing,[120] relies on the comedic effect inherent to chaos,[119] is a comedy of errors[121] and is heavily characterized by back-and-forth banter[120] or snark.[121]
In 2024, the series became the most-nominated series in comedy categories at the Emmys with 23 nominations, surpassing 30 Rock which had 22 nominations in 2009.[122] However, it went on to lose the award for Outstanding Comedy Series, which it had been heavily favored to win, to Hacks, with The Hollywood Reporter suggesting that there was an insult among voters over its continued classification as a comedy.[123]
Viewership
Season 1
The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which monitors real-time data from 5 million users in the U.S. for original and acquired streaming programs and movies across subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, reported that The Bear was the second-most-streamed program during the week of July 13.[124] It later rose to become the most-streamed program for the week of July 22, before ranking as the seventh most-streamed during the week of July 27.[124][125][126][127]JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, estimated that The Bear was the second most-streamed series in the U.S. during the week ending July 3.[128] It maintained the same position during the week ending July 17.[129] FX announced that the first season of The Bear was the most-watched comedy series in the network's history.[130][131][132]
Season 2
FX reported that the second season of The Bear was the most-watched season premiere in the network's history.[133][134] Reelgood calculated that The Bear was the second most-streamed program in the U.S. during the week of June 22.[135][136][137] It later rose to first place during the week of June 29.[138] JustWatch reproted that The Bear was the most-streamed series in the U.S. during the week ending June 25.[139]Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the more than 25 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, announced that The Bear was the eighth most-watched streaming original television series of 2023.[140][141]
Season 3
The season 3 premiere of The Bear garnered 5.4 million views in its first four days of streaming, marking the best performance for an FX premiere on Hulu and the most-watched season premiere for any scripted series on the platform. This viewership represents a 24% increase over the season 2 premiere and accounts for streaming on Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S., and Disney+ in available international territories. The Bear achieved the third-largest season premiere for Hulu overall and the biggest Hulu on Disney+ premiere since the bundle's launch on March 27.[142][143]Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, calculated that The Bear was watched for 1,233 million minutes from June 24—30.[144][145] It surpassed its previous peak of 1.01 billion minutes recorded shortly after the premiere of its second season the previous year.[146] JustWatch reported that The Bear was the third most-streamed show in the United States in 2024, while in Canada, it ranked as the second most-streamed show of the year.[147][148]
Notes
^Zucchero is credited in season 1's "Hands" and "Brigade" but does not appear in those episodes.
^Though uncredited, Jacobs also provided Tiffany's voice when Richie reaches her voicemail in season 1's "Braciole".[12]
^ abNordyke, Kimberly (January 15, 2024). "Emmy Awards: Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 15, 2024. Retrieved January 16, 2024.