FX's The Bear has officially returned for Season 4 in the 2025 TV schedule, continuing the pattern of releasing one season per year. The full season is available now for anybody with a Hulu subscription, and enough time has passed for a binge-watch. That said, I'm not going to drop spoilers here, because we're not here for the latest trials and tribulations of Jeremy Allen White's Carmy. We're here because sitcom vets and St. Denis Medical co-stars Wendi McLendon-Covey and David Alan Grier weighed in on the hottest question each awards season: is The Bear really a comedy?
The series really started its trend of cleaning up at awards show at the 2023 Emmys, when The Bear swept the categories of Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy (Jeremy Allen White), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy (Ayo Edebiri), Outstanding Directing for a Comedy (Christopher Storer), and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy (Christopher Storer).
Considering that even diehard fans of The Bear may freely admit to coming away from episodes feeling sad and stressed due to what Carmy and Co. go through, is it any wonder that controversy stirs up every time the very dramatic series beats out traditional sitcoms in comedy categories? Well, the topic came up between Wendi McLendon-Covey and David Alan Grier when I spoke to them as a duo during the press junket for NBC's lovely St. Denis Medical mockumentary.
After reacting to their freshman sitcom scoring two Critics Choice Awards nominations after just four episodes had aired, I noted that it was great to see a network TV show getting some awards love instead of a sweep of streaming and/or cable nominations. They responded by bringing up The Bear themselves:
- David Alan Grier: "It's a big marketplace. I mean, there's so much great TV. I spend a lot of time going, 'What's a comedy, what's a drama?' [To Wendi] Like White Lotus is a comedy, you were telling me, right? And then say, Saturday Night Live is like a drama."
- Wendi McLendon-Covey: [laughs] "Yeah, if we're running this as, you know, 'Oh, 30 minutes are all considered comedies.' I don't know. I've never cried harder than I have when watching The Bear. Are we still calling that a comedy?"
- David Alan Grier: "I gotta look it up. I do have to look it up sometimes. What is it described as?"
The two actors were laughing throughout and didn't show any animosity towards The Bear for its success, but it says something that these two questioned its comedy status. Wendi McLendon-Covey was fresh off of more than 200 episodes of ABC's The Goldbergs when she joined NBC's St. Denis Medical, which came after more than a hundred episodes of Reno 911 as a very different kind of mockumentary.
As for David Alan Grier, he's been all over TV comedy throughout his career, including Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! on Netflix with Jamie Foxx, The Cool Kids, The Carmichael Show, and – of course – more than a hundred episodes of In Living Color. These two know their way around cracking jokes that hit on network television!
McLendon-Covey got a bit more serious to share her thoughts on network TV making a bit of a comeback, in light of St. Denis Medical scoring those two Critics Choice nominations for Best Comedy Series and David Alan Grier as Best Actor in a Comedy Series. She said:
The networks, I think, are coming back in a big way and I love that, especially for other actors that have been out of work for a long time. You know, we've been kind of suffering in this industry since the pandemic. So I'm all for, let's get some more network shows on. Let's get those big orders so people can make a living.
While St. Denis Medical ultimately didn't win a CCA, the comedy that proved the mockumentary format is still popular will be back for a second season. The Season 1 finale packed an emotional punch for Alex in particular, but there's no reason to believe that the full cast won't be back for Season 2 on NBC.
So, if you want to check out a show that is 100% unambiguously a comedy, you can find Wendi McLendon-Covey and David Alan Grier's St. Denis Medical streaming with a Peacock subscription now. As for The Bear... well, whether it should be classified as a comedy or not, you can find all four seasons so far streaming on Hulu.
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