The Bear (TV Series)

''The Bear'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Christopher Storer. It premiered on Hulu on June 23, 2022, and stars Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Abby Elliott. The series received critical acclaim. On July 14, 2022, it was renewed for a second season.

The sandwich shop interior is copied from the real-live Chicago shop Mr. Beef on Orleans, in River North. The creator was a frequent patron and friends with the son of the owner.

Synopsis

A young chef from the world of fine dining comes home to Chicago to run his family's Italian beef sandwich shop after the suicide of his older brother, who left behind debts, a rundown kitchen, and an unruly staff.

Cast

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
* Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard "Richie" Jerimovich, the de facto manager of the restaurant and Michael's old best friend
* Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu, a talented but inexperienced chef who joins The Beef as its new sous chef under Carmy
* Lionel Boyce as Marcus, The Beef's bread baker turned pastry chef, spurred on by Carmy's mentoring
* Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina, an acerbic and stubborn veteran line cook
* Abby Elliott as Natalie "Sugar" Berzatto, Carmy and Michael's younger sister and reluctant co-owner of The Beef

Recurring

* Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebraheim, a veteran line cook at The Beef
* Matty Matheson as Neil Fak, a childhood friend of Carmy and Michael, and sometimes-handyman for the restaurant
* José Cervantes as Angel, a dishwasher at The Beef
* Oliver Platt as Jimmy Cicero, uncle of the Berzatto siblings and major investor in the restaurant
* Corey Hendrix as Gary, a line cook at The Beef
* Richard Esteras as Manny, a dishwasher at The Beef
* Chris Witaske as Pete, Sugar's docile husband, generally disliked by everyone

Guest stars

* Jon Bernthal as Michael "Mikey" Berzatto, Carmy and Sugar's late brother, who committed suicide via gunshot four months before the events of the series
* Joel McHale as Carmy's old executive chef in New York City, who was abusive and dismissive
* Amy Morton as Nancy Chore, a scrupulous health inspector
* Molly Ringwald as the meeting moderator of the Al-Anon meetings that Carmy attends

Episodes

Release

''The Bear'' was released on Hulu and Disney+ internationally, in Canada on August 3, 2022, in Australia and New Zealand on August 31, 2022, and in the UK and Ireland on October 5, 2022 and in Latin America on October 12, 2022, on Star+.

Music

''The Bear'' has been lauded by critics for its soundtrack of 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s alternative and mainstream rock classics, hand-picked by the show's creator Christopher Storer and executive producer Josh Senior. Some of the songs featured on the show include Chicago-based Wilco with "Spiders (Kidsmoke)", "Impossible Germany", and "Via Chicago", Radiohead's " Let Down", Van Morrison's "Saint Dominic's Preview", Pearl Jam's "Animal", Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago", John Mayer's " Last Train Home", Refused's "New Noise", The Breeders' "Saints", Counting Crows' "Have You Seen Me Lately?", Genesis' "In Too Deep", John Mellencamp's "Check It Out", and R.E.M.'s "Oh My Heart".

Reception

Audience viewership

According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood, ''The Bear'' was the second most watched program across all platforms, during the week of July 13, 2022, the most watched program during the week of July 22, 2022, and the seventh most watched program during the week of July 27, 2022. According to the streaming aggregator JustWatch, ''The Bear'' was the second most streamed television series across all platforms in the United States, during the week ending July 3, 2022, and the second during the week ending July 17, 2022. FX announced that the series was the most watched comedy series in network history.

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a "Certified Fresh" approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 8.6/10, based on 67 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." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 24 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."

The American Film Institute named it one of the ten best television programs of the year.

Critics' top ten list

Accolades

References

External links

''The Bear''
at FX

''The Bear''
at Hulu
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bear, The
2020s American comedy-drama television series
2022 American television series debuts
English-language television shows
FX on Hulu original programming
Television series set in 2022
Television shows set in Chicago
Television series set in restaurants