More than 50 Dishes Were Created for ‘The Bear’ Season Four, and 5 Other Fun Facts
Regardless of what happens with The Bear the restaurant, The Bear the TV series has flipped its “Open” sign to “Closed” for good.
After five completed seasons of the FX show that we all thought was a Hulu show, it remains unclear whether The Bear is a comedy or a drama series. Well, not to the Television Academy — the fourth season of The Bear is again nominated as a comedy, where, come Sept. 14, it will take on Abbott Elementary, the final season of Hacks, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking and Widow’s Bay in the big category.
Individually, Ayo Edebiri was nominated as lead actress and Jamie Lee Curtis and Rob Reiner both got nods as guests. Series creator Christopher Storer is nominated for directing, and the show also earned nominations for sound mixing, picture editing and cinematography.
It’s a hurrah, but not a last hurrah. The Bear, a summer show, is always one season behind the Emmys cycle, so these are season four nominations, not five. In other words, we’ll probably see you again next year.
THR looks at some fun facts related to The Bear‘s entire Emmys run so far, as well as a few pertaining to production of season four.
THE MENU
More than 50 dishes were created for season four of The Bear, including Sydney’s elevated riff on Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper.
LET THEM EAT CAKE
The wedding dessert table in episode seven, titled “Bears,” was made of 10 real cakes and hundreds of edible cupcakes and bear-itozzi (maritozzi doughnuts). The savory wedding buffet included mini cheeseburgers, fried chicken wings, blinis with caviar, fig and prosciutto tartlets, and spiced french fries.
GOING BACK IN TIME
“Gary,” the special flashback episode, was shot on 3-perf film on Panavision XL2 and Panavision H-series lenses to age the scenes visually. The rest of the season was shot on the ARRI Mini LF camera paired with Panavision H-series lenses.
BREAKING RECORDS
In 2024, The Bear made Emmy history by becoming the first comedy series to win 10 or more awards in a single season (its first season). For its second season, The Bear broke its own record by winning 11 awards in a single year. The Studio surpassed that record last year, winning 13 Emmys for its freshman season.
… AND MORE RECORDS
Speaking of records, The Bear‘s sophomore season set a comedy Emmy milestone with 23 nominations in 2024, the most ever for the second season of a comedy series. The Studio later matched that for its freshman season, and Hacks received the all-time single-season record of 24 nominations for its final season, but no comedy has surpassed the number of noms for a sophomore season like The Bear.
MAKING HISTORY
In 2024, Liza Colón-Zayas became the first Latina to win the Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her role as Tina Marrero.
This story first appeared in a July stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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