In the polarized universe we live in, the “surprise” victory of Hacks over The Bear at the 2024 Emmy Awards has become the joke of the week, with people celebrating the downfall of the great darling until then. But wait, is it supposed to be hated The Bear and loved Hacks? What do you do when you appreciate both equally? I’ve said it more than once here: The Bear’s favoritism would turn against the series. I’m not Nostradamus, it was just a rehearsed joke.

The FX series, which is available on the Disney Plus platform outside the United States, came like a comet in 2023, taking away the hope of Abbot Elementary, an ABC comedy that had been collecting all the awards in the comedy category until it ran into Ted Lasso, of returning to being the comedy of the hour. From the beginning, however, there was a strange feeling. While the series about a school in a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia followed the format of The Office and is a classic comedy, the story of The Bear is extremely dramatic, and dense, and involves themes such as suicide, depression, drug addiction, and moral harassment, all themes treated with sensitivity and depth.

So is it a dramatic comedy? Not even that, because moments of “laughing”, like when children are accidentally drugged at a party, are challenging to be considered funny. In general, there is not exactly any comic relief in any episode until the 3rd season, and even then, it was forced. Still, due to the Academy’s rules, content up to half an hour long is included in the Comedy category (how prejudiced!) and, as a result, in the last two years the cast of Abbot Elementary has been working hard to portray good losers, without convincing us, because we were equally confused.

The Bear, as a comedy, achieved two feats: it did not compete head-on with the dominance of Succession or The Crown, the two most awarded drama series that were in production when the chef arrived on the platforms and became the darling of the public and critics. The Bear followed in the footsteps of Fleabag. However, Fleabag, like Hacks, was in fact a comedy-drama. The strangeness only grew.

It is not the fault of the actors or the writers of The Bear that the game is confusing. The White Lotus, which is in the gray field of “dramedy” entered the awards in the first year as Comedy and moved to Drama. And there are more examples: Orange is The New Black was a comedy from 2015 to 2019, only changing to Drama in 2020.

FX could have followed suit and changed the genre this year, especially since it would no longer be under threat from Succession, which deservedly took all the awards. However, if it did that, it would have two of its titles competing for awards, without being able to secure victory for both. I’m talking about Shogun, which started as a Limited Series Drama and, after having a second season, changed to a Drama series in the easiest year for any win in the category. I don’t want to diminish the quality and merit of Shogun, but it was superior to the competition and would have split the votes if it had to fight with The Bear. But the voters were paying attention. It was time to award Hacks.

When it premiered in 2021, Hacks surprised me. Acidic, unexpected, and inspired by real characters (freely, of course), it featured the sensational Jean Smart, who was 69 years old at the time, as its protagonist. It was a time when the elderly were still proving themselves to be in good shape because we had Grace and Frankie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as well as The Kominsky Method, with Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.

Jean won all the awards, including the Emmy for Best Actress, but the series was falling by the wayside. In the first year, it faced the favoritism of Ted Lasso (who won) and had in the comedy category: Cobra Kai, Emily In Paris, Pen15, and The Flight Attendant. In 2022, the comedy competitors were Abbott Elementary, Barry, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, What We Do In The Shadows and Only Murders In The Building, all defeated by Lasso. In 2023, Hacks was off the air and is back now, to compete in 2024.

If we look closely, the Comedy category always has an odd one out that makes more people cry than laugh, but, in general, there is laughter at some point. The victory of Hacks, which has an extremely young team of showrunners in contrast to the protagonist, unites such opposing audiences from all platforms, but it does not have the popularity or prestige that The Bear has achieved. As my target audience, I have been impacted since the premiere and have been talking about the series and Jean Smart like a broken record in my CLAUDIA columns as well as here on this blog. And I know I am alone because few have discovered this gem.

Hacks competed with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for two years was incredible because they are basically the same story, inspired by the same real characters and with such different approaches. And I confess, I did not enjoy the third season as much as the first two.

I thought the conflict was resolved in the first two episodes, but I’m reconsidering my position. I’ll watch it again to confirm if I was right. It seems not, right?

The fact is that when it comes to awards, merit isn’t always enough. Differentiating between comedy and drama can be challenging. That doesn’t mean we have to badmouth The Bear. It just makes us celebrate that, although the rules aren’t always fair, the game is only won when it’s over.

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