For many TV observers, the bears and controversial Emmy nominations go hand in hand. In recent years, every time the show Emmy’s nominations – like this year’s 13 nods – has inevitably pulled out the same statement from the discourse machine: “The bear is not a comedy.” The show has consistently deserved nominations and won in comedic Emmy categories that are triggered by spectators and critics, the questions: “How can a show about fear, trauma and family envelopes be a comedy?” But this leads to another question: at a time when genres are constantly blurred and reinterpreted, are categories important at all? And besides, this whole debate overshadows the success of the artists?
This year one of the breakout stars Ayo Edebiri Emmy’s story wrote. She is the first woman ever nominated for acting and directing in a comedy series, and she is the youngest black woman who has received three actors. She is ready for her directorial work in the episode “Napkins” for her director’s work for her directorial work for her comedy series “Outstanding Directing for a Comedy”. While the bear calls a “comedy”, it could undoubtedly be questionable that Edebiri’s phenomenal work deserves recognition both before and behind the camera – and gains award.
This tension between the category and the content has made the bear a lightning rod for the price discourse, and to be fair, the debate “Emmys was” is not complete. There is a long story of shows that make strategic decisions to improve their chances of success. With the Emmys, shows can submit in every category that they choose and tend to choose the ones they gain. The leading actors submit to the category of supportive actors or more dramatic shows that submit to the comedy categories and bend the rules to secure an award. For example, Joe Morton, who played the protagonist Oliva’s father of protagonist Oliva in the scandal, was submitted for the category “Outstanding Guest Star”, although she appeared in most episodes in this season.
It also does not help that the television academy (which heads the Emmys) has found for years that comedies were defined as a term of 30 minutes. Therefore, a show like The Bear, which researched panic attacks, mourning spirals and emotional stretching of high inserts together with lighter comedic moments, were classified as a comedy as a comedy, since the most running times of the episodes fit according to definition to the comedic categories. You changed these rules in 2021. Comedic acting was historically undervalued. When a show like the bear dominates the comedy category, it raises valid concerns about whether dramas traditionally and equally deserved comedic work. The reality is that TV genres spread a medley of storytelling styles, which is ideal for spectators, that appreciate innovations -the award shows must remain up to date.
If you take all of this into account, it is difficult not to feel happy for Edebiri – what is most important is that your work is recognized. Her work in front of and behind the camera was exceptional. Season 3 of the bear often felt sluggish and tried to find his feet, but the flashback episode “Napkins” (Edebiri’s directorial debut and written by Catherine Schetina) stood as a beautiful, tender insight into chef Tina (played by Liza Colón-Zayas) and how it became. We see how the wife of the working class, mother and woman fight the working class after we were suddenly pushed back into the modern, LinkedIn-identified world of work, which against graduates and younger workers who compete for the same jobs with endless faux polish and the immense pressure to continue to take care of her family in a job market that does not estimate it. A random but deeply significant encounter with Mikey on the beef helps Tina to reinvent herself at the workplace.
The bear tends to switch between unbearably hectic and calm; EDEBIRI shows her directorial chops by leading an episode that is penetrated by this quiet silence. We see how the camera focuses on aspects of Tina’s everyday routine and see how the stability of her life is crumbling. While this part of Tina’s story is sad, she is not a miserable figure. Despite the fear, EDEBIRI gives the character a feeling of struggle, determination and dignity.
In the fourth season 2025, Edebiri continued to build on her skills and staged in the episode “Worms” – a tender portrait of blackness, family and community – and in a very introspective study. Sydney (EDEBIRI) faces a long -stretched dilemma: Should she stay in the bear or join the new company of the chef Adam Shapiro? When Shapiro feels more as an unpleasant misfires than as a sustainable new business partner, it is also the first time that the show is explicitly immersing in racist topics.
As a result, Shapiro does not understand that Sydney’s hair date will probably take all day. He explains why he breaks a rap song on the east coast and is then surprised if it decides to put on Beethoven instead. He expects her to “bring in Afro Caribbean influences”, although they have never really seen them how they are this kitchen style (Sydney is also Nigerian). He later asks her if she saw the Chris Rock documentary Good Hair. He has reduced the air of a “white ally” in 2020, which reduces Sydney to her racist identity, puts it into a box and reduces her humanity. (Predictably his good nature disappears quickly if he later doesn’t get what he wants in the series.)
While the bear could be questionable as a “comedy”, there is no doubt that Edebiri’s phenomenal work deserves recognition both before and behind the camera.
“Worms” also reflects the deeply familiar shared experience of black women who take care of their hair: Sydney clapping hairdresser/cousin Chantel (played by Danielle Deadwyler, who is strange in the episode) and can be at home with a salon that the stylist code switching, in the boys that you can do with that Sydney-Sydney-Chantel Dogy-Switching Thanting, played with the Sydney Sydney Sydney Sydney-Sydney-Sydney-Sydney-Sydney-Sydney-Sydney. It is a very credible representation of an almost universal experience for black women.
Researching Sydney’s dilemma through her conversation with the much younger TJ is an interesting turn. There is hardly any food in the house, so make a spontaneous shopping spree and make a homemade meal. The timer on the oven is fixed at 12:00 p.m. In contrast to the requirements of professional cuisine, time is hung and Sydney has the time to look at their decisions by simplicity of a child’s metaphor: selection in which house to go to the night. Getting an insight into the family relationships from Sydney creates a contrast to Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), who cannot even remember that he is now an uncle.
“Worms” skillfully demonstrates the tension between someone who appears on paper (Shapiro) and people who, despite their shortcomings – like at home (Syds colleagues on the bear), appear “correct”. Edebiri’s ability to convey this tension in her meandering dialogue, wide eyes, breaks and sometimes non -convincing justifications for why it is still on the bear is excellent.
Comedy or drama, writing, storytelling and the director of the bear is warm, grounded, realistic and brings us back to the heart of the show: Food. The bear is often much more interested in personal and microphone than the political and macro, but for me it has always quietly reflected a truth about multicassian America, especially for workers in the working class. People with different backgrounds work, build and take care of each other. The bear restaurant is often referred to as a family – albeit as chaotic – and that extends to something that is very true about people in America, contrary to the history that conservative rulers want to tell. In a wider landscape of ice attacks and other racist enemy policies, the calm politics Edibiri feels skillful and convincingly important.
The Emmys will probably continue to cause controversy, but EDEBIRI’s work in the bear was exceptional whether it steals scenes in front of the camera or designed the emotional storytelling behind it. The show may blur the lines of comedy and drama – but that is actually an important component so as not to make the bears too much inaugurated.
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