One of the best things about this era of television is that there are so many shows that don’t fit neatly into the categories of comedy and drama — a wonderful explosion of uniquely told stories that blend multiple genres. These are shows that have gone on to not just popular and critical acclaim, but recognition from the Emmy Awards, still the most highly-regarded awards body devoted to celebrating great TV. This includes FX’s The Bear, which won Outstanding Comedy Series at the 75th Emmys.
And that’s what leads us to the question that has been asked more than a few times in recent weeks, since the cuisine-and-Nine Inch Nails-powered series received 23 Emmy nominations in July. Answering it, though, actually leads to a lot of other questions, a deep dive into the history of the Emmy Awards, and maybe discovering a weird glitch on the official Emmys website. So let’s get into it, beginning with the basics…
Why is The Bear is nominated as a comedy series? Season 3 wasn’t funny!
So this is the most important thing to mention up front: Because of the way eligibility works, The Bear Season 3 has not been nominated for any Emmys yet — it’ll be in consideration for the 2025 awards. It’s The Bear Season 2 which received 23 nominations this summer, and will likely do pretty well when the Emmys are handed out on Sept. 15th.
Is The Bear considered a comedy because (most of) its episodes are around 30 minutes?
The answer to this is actually no, not officially. Here’s how the TV Academy currently makes the distinction in the official rules:
COMEDY AND DRAMA SERIES are defined as programs with multiple episodes (minimum of six), where the majority of the running time of at least six episodes are primarily comedic for comedy series entries, or primarily dramatic for dramatic series entries, in which the ongoing theme, storyline and main characters are presented under the same title and have continuity of production supervision.
