On Sunday night, fans of television comedy were likely overjoyed to see Hacks win the top prize over The Bear, as the latter series has frequently been subject to criticism regarding the question of whether or not it qualifies as a comedy series at all.
Each time the Jeremy Allen White-led series wins an award, there is a resurgence of articles and "hot takes" on social media criticizing its placement in this field. What a joke (pun intended)! Dare we say, what a fail on the part of the Television Academy for not stepping in and calling a spade a spade—or rather, calling a drama a drama.
Who can blame these critics? After all, the FX series set in the Chicago restaurant scene deals with serious themes from family tragedy to addiction, and there are far more "tearjerker" moments than laugh-out-loud ones. It's weird to see The Bear competing with the likes of Abbott Elementary and Hacks, while shows like The White Lotus, a social satire about wealth and class, previously contended in the drama race. All three of those series undoubtedly have a higher number of jokes per minute than The Bear does, which likely had something to do with its surprise loss at the end of last night. So why has the Television Academy continued to categorize it as a comedy and what does that categorization say about the state of television comedies in 2024?
Perhaps TV Academy members who voted for The Bear for best comedy would argue that it was more about the "best" part and less about the "comedy" part. Even making that logical leap, though, dismisses the fact that this category historically has been and should be about laughs. As for the overall quality of the show, that's up for debate as well. Regarding its newest season, Jack Hamilton of Slate wrote, "It's becoming impossible to ignore how bad the FX hit has gotten." Still, if we consider the mentality that the Television Academy loves the show regardless of its genre classification, would that not make the case for eliminating genre distinctions at the Emmy Awards altogether? Let's take a closer look at how the evolution of TV comedies and the Academy's antiquated rules about genre further the argument for an overdue makeover of the awards ceremony.
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In 2015, the Television Academy ruled that shows with episodes exceeding 30 minutes needed to be submitted as dramas. This upholds a dated look at TV shows that better captures the older days of network television dominance rather than the proliferation of premium cable and streaming content that has been on the rise in the 21st century. There are exceptions to this ruling if the creators and producers behind a show wish to formally petition to be considered in a different field. That’s how The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the recently wrapped hour-long program about a comedian in the 1950s, rightfully ended up in the comedy category. However, there are plenty of shows that could use reclassification in addition to The Bear. For instance, Ted Lasso may have begun as a half-hour comedy but few would describe it as that today, as most of its episodes in subsequent seasons run between 45 and 60 minutes and include far more serious subject matter than that of its early storylines.
So if the creative powers-that-be behind The Bear could formally petition to be moved into the drama category, why don’t they? Wouldn’t it save them from more embarrassment and criticism? Perhaps, though they likely view the drama category as a far more competitive field. On the other hand, despite finally losing the top prize last night, the creative team behind The Bear has had no problem dominating most of the comedy race, winning several awards for acting and directing. Critics will argue that the prestige look and feel of the show give it an unfair advantage in the comedy field. The same could be said of other shows in the past like Girls, Barry, and Fleabag, which all blended comedy and drama. Should they make The Bear funnier to avoid further criticism? That feels a bit extreme, as it would compromise the integrity of the show Christopher Storer created.
To put it bluntly, the landscape of comedy has changed on television. Gone are the days when this race was populated entirely by network sitcoms like Friends, The Office, and 30 Rock. Very few shows that follow this formula wind up getting nominated in 2024. While many mourn for the glory days of the sitcom, we might as well accept the fact that our collective approach to genre has become more sophisticated and transcends the confines of how the Television Academy currently defines comedy and drama. As we noted, their method of distinguishing one from the other isn’t even about jokes; it’s about episode length!
Let’s also not forget the baffling rules for classifying “limited series” as well. HBO’s True Detective, which was in its fourth season this year, found itself in this category because it’s technically an anthology. In previous years, Big Little Lies and The White Lotus were also classified as limited series. Until they were renewed for second seasons and ended up switching over to drama. The category demarcations here are ultimately pointless because it’s unlikely that all successful limited series are going to stay limited. After all, this is the business of Hollywood, and when you have a breakout hit on your hands, what are you going to do? You’re going to make more of it! That’s what happened to Shōgun this year, which was originally going to be submitted as a limited series but ended up in drama because of its series renewal.
So what would an overdue makeover look like? Should episode length be a distinguishing factor (i.e. Best Half-Hour Series vs. Best One-Hour Series)? What about separating new shows from returning ones? Or what if there were just one category for Best Series of the Year? Well, it would be harder for The Bear to win that award, but it wouldn’t be out of the question. Sure, it might feel strange at first to see a historical epic like Shōgun compete with a network sitcom like Abbott Elementary, but the alternative of imposing genre confines clearly is not reflective of the state of storytelling in the streaming era.
Furthermore, there are shows that defy genre classification to an even greater extent that would have a better shot at getting recognized. For instance, Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s twisted series The Curse made it onto several critics’ lists as the best of TV last year. However, there were valid arguments for why it should be submitted as a comedy, drama, or limited series. It was ultimately submitted as a drama and received no nominations. Perhaps some voters saw it on the list and questioned why it was there. It’s certainly not the fault of the creators and producers behind the show because they were forced to make a choice. If these genre categories did not exist, you might end up seeing bolder shows like The Curse getting a fair shot.
Of course, eliminating genre categories would come at a price. Fans of pure comedy will argue that there is no way their favorite shows would get proper recognition, as voters tend to have a bias toward more “prestige” content (whatever that means). The best way to combat this is to ensure that the voter base of the Television Academy continues to include a wide range of industry professionals including those who want to uplift and reward comedies. We also need to get over our collective biases that dramas are more valuable and are more worthy of awards.
Keeping the genres separated is not going to fix that problem. Forcing us to look at great shows regardless of their tones and moods is far more likely to have an impact, though it will surely take time. However, until the day comes when the Academy eliminates genre-based categories, the same critiques will continue to arise each time The Bear gets nominated or wins as a “comedy.” Rather than hearing and ignoring those valid complaints time and time again, it would be far more productive for the Television Academy to finally update its rules to better reflect the more sophisticated blurring of genres we see across television programming today. The Oscars only have one Best Picture each year; it’s time for the Emmys to reward one Best Series.
Thumbnail Attribution: De'von Wellesley
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