When Emmy Categories Attack

 

I sometimes use the Emmy Awards as a barometer to find new TV shows to watch.  If a series cleans up with some gold statues and I am intrigued, I will give it a shot.

So, recently, we had a pack of Emmys unleashed and a Hulu show called "The Bear" scored all the major comedy categories.   Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Writer, Director, Show.  Now I had sampled its very first episode from Season 1 way back when and my initial reaction was ambivalent.  Given it only recently finished Season 2, I declared myself not that far behind and opted to see what all the Emmy buzz was about.

I liked what I watched.  Indeed, I finished the first eight half-hour episodes in three days.   I found the story interested.   A young Michelin-rated chef returns home to Chicago and takes over his brother's sandwich shop following the latter's suicide.   The new chef is met with an unruly staff, a decaying neighborhood, and mounting pills.  As cooking is my hobby, I enjoyed the inner workings of a restaurant kitchen.

But, as I watched it as engaged as I was, something was bugging me.

This show is not a comedy.   It is far from it.   There is violence and substance abuse and suicide grief and the "F Bomb" is used liberally as a noun, a verb, an adjective, and a participle.   I didn't laugh once in Season 1.   I was intrigued but as stone-faced as Buster Keaton.

I thought about some great drama shows that had gotten more laughs out of me, namely, "The Sopranos" and "Picket Fences."  I was also a big fan of "Ally McBeal" which was classified as a comedy and, in my mind, rightfully so.

But "The Bear?"  To me, it's an out-and-out drama.   Does it rank as a comedy because it is only 30 minutes long.  It shouldn't be the time that dictates the Emmy classification.   The content is dark and serious and nothing to laugh at.

Thinking about this, I started to worry a bit about the world around us.   Are our lives so freakin' dark that we can't tell the difference between comedy and drama?  And, as a result, do out-and-out laughfests from TV history even have a chance in today's dispirited society.

Rarely, does an Emmy Award telecast provoke such deep and concerning worries?

Dinner last night:  Bang bang chicken and shrimp at the Cheesecake Factory.