Sometimes, picking the one comedy show to watch in a month is an easy choice. In April, it was Hacks, and in May, it was Poker Face.
For June, our pick is The Bear, the FX original series that’s returning for its fourth season on Hulu later this month. It’s simply head and shoulders above everything else this month.
This isn’t just one of the best shows on Hulu, it’s one of the streamer’s signature hits. The Bear has struck a chord with audiences, and it’s already won 21 Emmy Awards, including one for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Ahead of season 4’s premiere, we’re sharing the reasons why you should watch The Bear this month.
‘The Bear’ Successfully Fuses Comedy and Drama
Some of The Bear‘s naysayers claim that it’s not actually a comedy at all. Instead, they contend that it’s more of a half-hour drama. There is some merit to that, because the stories on The Bear can be very intense and emotionally charged. But it is a comedy as well, it’s just not a typical sitcom that settles in for broad humor or easy laughs.
The Bear leans into its TV-MA rating with a lot of rough language. Yet in the context of the show, it makes the scenes feel alive and less scripted. The Bear looks and feels like no other comedy/drama hybrid on television, and that may be why it stands out from the crowd. If you’re looking for a show that’s solely reliant on jokes, this isn’t it. But there are some great laughs on this series; they’re just sandwiched between the drama and tension.
The Cast Is Incredible
You may have noticed that the cast of The Bear is increasingly becoming in-demand for movie roles, particularly Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. That’s always a good sign for a TV series, because it means the right ensemble of performers is in place.
White — who first made his name as an actor on Showtime’s Shameless — plays Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, a man who takes over his late brother’s restaurant. Carmy can be abrasive, especially when butting heads with Richard Jerimovich (Moss-Bachrach). But he has a dream to turn The Bear into a world-class restaurant, and he slowly gets the other employees to buy into his vision.
Edebiri is completely charming as Sydney Adamu, one of Carmy’s first hires at the restaurant. The other members of the supporting cast are also extremely talented, including Lionel Boyce as Marcus Brooks, Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina Marrero, Abby Elliott as Natalia Berzatto and Matty Matheson as Neil Fak. There isn’t a weak link in this cast, and the audience ultimately cares about them as people rather than just caricatures who exist only to do anything for a laugh.
The Characters and Their Stories Are Compelling
As revealed in the trailer for The Bear season 4, the restaurant is on the verge of failing despite the best efforts of Carmy and his staff. Presumably, the struggle to save The Bear from closing will be the primary story for season 4. More importantly, it looks like the characters are embracing each other as a found family and standing together when things get tough.
This is the kind of show where tempers are always going to run hot, and it just wouldn’t be the same series if everyone were always on the same page. But because the audience cares about these characters and what happens with them, The Bear has some leeway to take greater dramatic swings. If this were just an ordinary sitcom, it could have lost all of the nuance and character development that make The Bear so compelling. This show may not be for everyone, but it could very well be for you.
The Bear season 4 will stream on Hulu on June 25.
