The Bear on FX: aka HEARD! aka YES CHEF! aka Ketamine Gene Wilder cooks for u

also once a genre is determined it is just locked in, it rarely if ever changes, as far as streaming platforms go

Interesting. So it is I guess. I remember laughing when the ceiling fell.

It's a really funny show, albeit in the same way Hill Street or Mad Men were where they working under a mask of Drama.

i watched one episode from season 1 last night where the toilet explodes, Richie walks into work with these sunglasses on and is all "what's up my replicants" and then gets in a wrestling match with Fak. i laughed a lot

also miami vice password
GOFASTBOATSMOJITOS

"I'm not like this because I'm in Van Halen. I'm in Van Halen because I'm like this."

<3

The idea of watching this does not seem at all appealing right now, although I'm sure there will be a few great episodes.

it’s fun mixed with mild stretches of occasional boredom, perfect tv!!!

ONE OF US ONE OF US

I watched the first two seasons, I'm just curious if s3 has more or less of the stuff I didn't like about the first two (clipped from upthread):

Finished s2, this is such a weird show. Obviously there's a lot to like, but half the time it feels like watching a WB show. When there's not kitchen yelling happening, it's often cloyingly sentimental with really corny dialogue (just shot in a gritty hand-held close-up that makes it feel arty).

Yeah idk, it just feels like there's a lot of padding around the good and more unique stuff in this show. The dialogue in the Carmy/Claire scenes and some of the Al-Anon monologues is kinda trite, and the montages of people ordering and eating food at restaurants and cafes is nice but could be out of any food/travel show (albeit with more tasteful music here). I really enjoyed the Copenhagen episode, but the random slice of life bits (like the injured cyclist) felt plucked out of other shows like High Maintenance and Atlanta.

xpost uh i misposted i thought i was on the dr who thread which is why none of that makes sense lool sorry

Why is it still billed as a comedy??

― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Thursday, June 27, 2024 9:43 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

30-minute Dramas aren't really a thing.

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, June 27, 2024 9:57 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

also once a genre is determined it is just locked in, it rarely if ever changes, as far as streaming platforms go

― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, June 27, 2024 10:21 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The Bear also competes in comedy categories at the Emmys and other awards shows, I suspect because the producers think it will be more competitive in comedy categories. It also used to be the case that a half-hour show was automatically considered by the Emmys as a comedy, and although that rule was changed a few years ago (before The Bear's first season), the fact that most half-hour shows *are* comedies probably helps them justify that decision.

look i’m 3 eps deep and there are for sure nourishing belly laughs to be had here
so its maybe
not NOT a comedy

Fak with the mirepoix broth? L M A O

Watched the first one, I liked it! Nice to have a reflective episode (with many beautiful shots) to contrast the craziness and tension that is surely coming later

The thing I like most about food shows is the drama of the food prep and the glory of the presentation at the end— the whole series could be like Episode 1 and I’d be happiest

Article in Slate claiming the show is bad; most of the issues taken are with the music supervision, which is interesting! I’ve never read a piece hate on music supervision so specifically before

https://slate.com/culture/2024/06/the-bear-season-3-fx-hulu-bad.html

i couldn’t disagree more with that piece and even though i read i think i can file this under “i’m not reading all that but i’m sorry that happened to you”

Heh I definitely agree about the music supervision.

I watched ep1 of the new season last night and the entire time was thinking about the scoring, it's an interesting brief to have the same four bar piano loop going for literally the entire episode, with almost zero dialogue. They did a pretty good job with slight variations so as to not make it interminable, and the strings following the rise and fall of the scenes.

I certainly didn't mind the repetition of the music, suited the flitting nature of the episode. felt very much like a dream

I thought it was something from The Social Network score at first, which it wasn't, but it *was* Reznor/Ross -- a track from Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts V.

episode 1 was a failed experiment imo. it felt like an overture, which is an interesting way to approach the first episode of a bingeable season of tv, but i only had time to watch one episode and was left pretty unsatisfied!

It was too long. At the first commercial break, I thought "wow, cool way to open the season," and then the rest of the episode was exactly like those first 10 minutes.

i thought it was a really unique thing to do in a tv show

and i found it so sad & really moving

but i am also deeply Bear-pilled so ymmv

which it wasn't, but it *was* Reznor/Ross -- a track from Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts V.

Ohhhh. Damn, those records keep giving for them. Score one for the music supervisors, minus one for the composition team. They must have edited to the music then rather than the reverse.

ohhh Ghosts V! … ok i lost track of the online releases at some point.

anyway it’s a fucking beautiful choice imo

I didn’t recognize it and thought it was original, and remarked “wow they really gave the composer a TASK with this episode”

They must have edited to the music then rather than the reverse.

Thought about this in episode 3 when Carmy is finishing plating the same dish five or six times, and it's absolutely timed with the classical piece underscoring it.

Jordan's WB comparison is coming to mind the more the season goes on (I'm on e5, and I'm sure there are more tonal shifts on the way). I wish the people outside the main characters were less "normies" and just had more interesting ways of having a conversation. (Imagining Carmy dating a female equivalent of Fak or S1 Richie.) It's not that they need to be ~colorful~, it just makes me think how Joe Swanberg (especially in Chicago-centric Easy) can make intimate conversations pop while still being credible, and this could use that.

I’m on episode 8 and i have been crying my face off, it’s so crazy. I have hella mom issues so this one hit me where I live

Jamie Lee Curtis really nails this personality type <3

and Abby Elliott is the busines, what a fucking g

I enjoyed season 2 but it did feel like a step down. Too many cameos (I didn't like the family dinner episode at all) and a turn towards sentimentality.

the bear video game actually looks pretty cool pic.twitter.com/pijrftMFDr

— Michael Kandel (@K_A_N_D_E_L) June 28, 2024

lmao

Ahahaha, holy shit

lol

amazing

Started reading that Slate takedown dismissal of the show by frequent music critic for them Jack Hamilton. He started giving away some plot items , so I stopped reading, but I did see him say the music has become too white and not reflective of many genre’s associated with Chicago; plus he says the music programmer is the type of guy who would play Astral Weeks at a party.

The Bear s03e01 pic.twitter.com/ZNz1OzGyv6

— Rob (@robrousseau) June 29, 2024

i am on record as enjoying the music but at the tail end of Ep10 they fire up James “Laid” and my entire body was like ._.

in context it turned out to be a good house party song for the scene & totally works but omg if i never hear that song again it will be too soon

Agree. The “guy who would play Astral Weeks at a party” is the sort of indictment that vindicates my feelings on the topic.

Even though I didn't need to hear "Strange Currencies" again, I did like how they layered it in with the Reznor ambient music. Haven't seen a TV show do that before when neither music is occurring within the scene itself.

Finished the season this morning. As always, exasperated by parts of it (same was true of Succession and most other shows that end up being the one or two per year that I watch), but also glad to have put the time into it.

When a Ricky Jay voice-over happens in addition to back-to-back songs loudly underscoring scenes, the PTA influence showed itself too boldly.

am i going to try removing the wishbone from a chicken? signs point to yes

Enjoying it quite a bit so far. Episode 3 is an editing masterclass. I agree with the "music's too white" criticism, though. Was thinking the same even though hearing Kate Bush pop up was kinda glorious.

omg watching that guy struggle with the cork in s3 was the first thing that stressed me out
(i forget his character's name, sry! it's about 9 min in)

woops i meant ep 3

yes! that super stressful

Not sure about this season overall. It felt somewhat slight compared to the seasons 1 and 2. Episodes 3 and 6 are excellent, though. They better wrap this up with one more season, though. Too many loose threads.

Did I write “though” enough?

Pretty sure S4 is set to be the final one, and I believe they’ve already finished filming it.

ep 3 was indeed really good
watching Tina at the farmer's market shopping to Spinning Away, less so (to be clear -- I LOVE TINA)

after finishing s3 and knowing s4 is in the works it seems like this season will function as a bridge to s4 … this season felt like more of an exploration of the impact of s2 finale and looking more closely at the emotional web holding everyone at The Bear together

i think it works in terms of what it actually ~is~ vs what we expected it to do

speaking of, the convo about the dead moms club absolutely killed me. keep in mind that i work in a restaurant.

not long ago it was fathers' day and all of us scheduled to work were coincidentally members of the dead dads club, which we joked about endlessly until we were presented with a gigantic cake our coworkers had made for us with pics of our dads on it. mine was a photo i took of my dad when i was 12, he was looking straight at me/the camera. i also made a pie for us bc i felt like i had to do something. two of the deaths were within months, mine was just over a year ago, and the fourth guy lost his dad about 13 years ago. from the kitchen to the hosts, we all ate cake and pie and talked about our dads and i haven't had that kind of camaraderie in my life...ever? this ep reminded me of that.