The Bear has sparked mixed reactions online as it went from runaway success at its first two Emmy Awards, to going home empty-handed on Sunday night at the 2025 ceremony.
The intense FX show swept the board at the awards in 2023 and 2024, setting a record last year for the most wins for a comedy in a year with a whopping 11 trophies.
However, this year it was a very different story, with newcomers like AppleTV+’s The Studio, Netflix smash hit drama Adolescence, and HBO’s The Pitt coming out on top.
The Bear went into the awards with six nominations, with Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri receiving nods for Best Lead Actor and Actress in A Comedy Series, respectively.
However, both were no-shows on the night and went on to lose to Seth Rogen for The Studio and Jean Smart for Hacks.
Fellow nominees were Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Liza Colón-Zayas for Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy, who both won the same categories last year, but were beaten on this year by Jeff Hiller in Somebody Somewhere and Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder.
The Bear has sparked mixed reactions online as it went from runaway success at its first two Emmy Awards, to going home empty-handed on Sunday night at the 2025 ceremony (show pictured)
The intense FX show swept the board at the awards in 2023 and 2024, setting a record last year for the most wins for a comedy in a year with a whopping 11 gongs (Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Liza Colón-Zayas seen last year)
However, this year it was a very different story, with newcomers like AppleTV+’s The Studio, Netflix smash hit drama Adolescence (pictured) and HBO ‘s The Pitt coming out on top
While the show also failed to deliver on its seven nominations at the Creative Arts Emmys, including losses for impressive guest stars Olivia Colman, Jon Bernthal and Jamie Lee Curtis, giving it zero Emmys in total for 2025.
It means it ties with The Crown for the biggest drop in a single year for a series in Emmys history – and the most for a comedy.
Netflix’s royal hit The Crown took home an whopping 11 gongs out of 24 nominations for its fourth season at the 2021 Emmys.
However, it only garnered six nods for the fifth season and won zero at the 2023 ceremony, suffering the same as The Bear.
This year, The Bear was outstripped by The Studio in feeling the voter love, with Seth Rogen’s new show landing 13 Emmy wins in total on Sunday, including Outstanding Comedy Series.
The Apple TV+ hit also set a new record for the most wins for a freshman comedy series, which The Bear previously held – winning 10 gongs in 2023.
The Bear’s fall from Emmys grace sparked divided reactions on social media, with many fans lamenting that their favourite show went home empty-handed.
However, the series’ previous runaway success at the Emmys has attracted significant discourse over whether the show should be competiting in the comedy category.
It means it ties with The Crown for the biggest drop in a single year for a series in Emmys history – and the most for a comedy (Imelda Staunton seen in The Crown season 5)
This year, The Bear was outstripped by The Studio in feeling the voter love, with Seth Rogen’s new show landing 13 Emmy wins in total on Sunday, including Outstanding Comedy Series (Seth pictured)
The series — which is set in the high-pressure environment of a restaurant and follows an executive chef pushing himself and his colleagues to earn a Michelin star — tends to depict more anguish and tears than laughs and smiles.
And it seems that the category complaints reached a fever pitch this year, coupled with The Bear’s slightly less glowing reviews last season, securing its fate at this year’s Emmys.
Reacting to The Bear being snubbed, many fans took to social media to voice their upset, calling it ‘wild’ that the show hadn’t won a single prize after its domination last year and insisting it deserved some recognition.
They lamented: ‘I miss when the bear was sweeping the Emmy’s’; ‘The Bear cast don’t even care to show up anymore y’all broke their spirit ……..’
‘So wild from going from breaking records to nothing. The wild nature of these awards’; ‘can i hire those etsy witches to make the bear win every single emmy it’s nominated for tomorrow’.
‘napkins was crafted together with such obvious love and care from ayo and featured an incredible performance from liza. it was by far the best episode of s3 and beautifully captured how tina became apart of the bear family. it truly deserved the emmy smh’.
‘i love that the studio got its flowers, its definitely deserved, but on the other hand i cannot believe the bear and abbott elementary both didn’t win a single emmy’; ’emmys tomorrow and i’m scared the bear isn’t going home with anything’.
‘I would like all my bearitos to know that bear was not created with the intent to win any awards. It continues to be authentic to its mission and the stars of the show keep being recognized for their hard work! 3-4x Emmy nominees is still a big deal! I’m proud of them!!!’
The series — which is set in the high-pressure environment of a restaurant and follows an executive chef pushing himself and his colleagues to earn a Michelin star — tends to depict more anguish and tears than laughs and smiles
Reacting to The Bear being snubbed, many fans took to social media to voice their upset, calling it ‘wild’ that the show hadn’t won a single prize after its domination last year and insisting it deserved some recognition
But, while several fans complained the show failed to take home a single trophy, many admitted that the third season was not up to par with its stellar first two.
Season three of The Bear, released in June last year, received a mixed reception from viewers, who felt it lacked the momentum of the first and second.
While it scored an impressive 89 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, it marked a sharp decrease from the perfect score it received for season one and season two’s 99 per cent.
The Guardian awarded it just three stars and stated: ‘From one of the best television series of all time to rushed, unfocused and half-baked, the cooking drama’s third season is a big letdown.’
And it seemed that a lot of fans agreed, taking to X following the show’s disappointing night at the Emmys to declare it deserved the losses after suffering ‘a huge drop in quality’.
They said: ‘There was just too many good shows and The Bear kinda fell off’; ‘As much as I love the show, the previous season wasn’t that great’.
‘They weren’t going to win and the show has been poorly reviewed by fans in back to back seasons. Like Westworld after season 1, I think the shows moment in the sun is gone.’
‘Season 3 didn’t deserve any Emmys IMO. It was a huge drop in quality from season 2 (except Napkins, which was honestly pretty wonderful)’; ‘the bear fell off this year was insane for some other tv series that deserved it more’.
But, while several fans complained the show failed to take home a single trophy, many admitted that the third season was not up to par with its stellar first two
‘The White Lotus and the Bear losing all their Emmy nominations was truly my highlight of yesterday’s event. Both shows had banger first and second seasons, but the drop in quality on the third was genuinely crazy’.
Meanwhile, the arrival of the Emmys renewed debate over whether The Bear belongs in the comedy category, which many claim has caused it to steal awards from more joke and humour focused shows and sitcoms.
It has even become a running joke at the Emmys, with Harrison Ford questioning if The Bear was a comedy on the red carpet on Sunday, while last year, hosts Eugene Levy and Dan Levy poked fun at the show’s categorisation in their monologue.
Eugene quipped to the audience: ‘I know some of you might be expecting us to make a joke about whether The Bear is really a comedy… but in the true spirit of The Bear we will not be making any jokes’.
And former Saturday Night Live star and mother of Hannah Einbinder, Laraine Newman, also let loose an expletive-laden tirade about the show last year, after her daughter lost out on Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series to The Bear’s Liza.
In since-deleted tweets, she seethed: ‘Every time I think about The Bear being in the comedy category for the Emmys I can feel an ulcer developing’ before bluntly adding: ‘F***. THE. BEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
And it seems that its ill-fitted categorisation has finally come back to bite The Bear, with many viewers celebrating the show being knocked off its Emmys throne, while declaring that it was a sign that it should be competing in the Drama category instead.
They penned: ‘The evil has been defeated (the bear winning on comedy categories)’; ‘Guess hollywood has it’s new favorite comedy and thats The Studio.’
And former Saturday Night Live star and mother of Hannah Einbinder, Laraine Newman (pictured) also let loose an expletive-laden tirade about the show last year, after her daughter lost out on Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series to The Bear’s Liza.
It has even become a running joke at the Emmys, with Harrison Ford questioning if The Bear was a comedy on the red carpet on Sunday, while last year, hosts Eugene Levy and Dan Levy p oked fun at the show’s categorisation in their monologue (pictured)
And it seems that its ill-fitted comedy categorisation has finally come back to bite The Bear, with many viewers celebrating the show being knocked off its Emmys throne, while declaring that it was a sign that it should be competing in the Drama category instead
‘they been sweeping at the Emmys too much idk it’s time for some #changes’; ‘the bear will be sweeping NOTHING at the emmys today’.
‘FINALLY And no shade cause this show is great with wonderful acting but WRONG category’; ‘They swept the first two seasons, they’ll be alright lol. The show is not a comedy and needs to stop being put in that category.’
‘They gotta start competing in the drama category like they always should have!’; ‘the bear should not be winning the emmy this year’; ‘The Studio stole its thunder’.
‘I’m for sure the only one guessing that The Bear is going to win little to no Emmys tonight. Like, give other shows like Shrinking a chance to win something.’
‘the bear should not be in the comedy category, it’s a very good show but it’s not a comedy, i’d rather it lose fairly in the category it should be in rather than it unfairly win against actual comedy shows’.
