quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I liked Ted Lasso. I got a completely different dysfunctional I want to kill myself vibe from The Bear.

Did you watch the whole series? The character arcs developing? In my opinion it’s pretty real. Ted Lasso was like a fairytale. Don’t get me wrong, I loved TL, but this is a little bit more gritty.
On the other side of the coin, my sis who turned me onto The Bear couldn’t stand Ted Lasso. Different strokes for different folks.

I watched the first season and absolutely hated it. There’s like a couple more seasons and I never gave them a shot. Based on how “gritty” and unlikable I found the characters I had no desire to. I didn’t bring up Ted Lasso, I don’t find these two shows even mildly similar in any way. Like I said, reviewers loved the dark appeal of this show. If you like dark, suicidal, drugs, drudgery, then you might love this. lol

I try to like any good show, but I hear you- I’ve struggled with a few.
Ted Lasso was awesome, so was Shoresy (if you can handle that level of crudity, you see it’s a love story about old time hockey).
I loved Severance. Another my sib couldn’t take more than a few episodes of. I’ve been trying Stick, but the The Bear pulled me away.

It’s art. The main actor in Bear just amazes me with his sincerity and intensity. That’s impressive acting to me.
My comment, in my original post, was that this show wasn’t a comedy. In that, I think we agree!

The Bear is fantastic. It’s a ride through the often messy side of relationships and life. There’s a lot of emotional trauma, growth, and laughs. If Ted Lasso is like a hug The Bear is like a fraught therapy session.

I"m a fan of the Bear, if only because I know a number of these character types through the food service industry. Having lived and now living nearby to Napa Valley, there's a number of attributes from The Bear that are patterned after The French Laundry and how it operates. That environment is immensely stressful and demanding, not because of the belittling or, abusive behavior but due to the exacting nature required; its not for everyone if you're not process oriented it'll be a very difficult.

As for the show, I really like Sydney's character, I'm enjoying her story-arc as her story has a lot of parallels to many chefs I know and what they've gone through without diving too deep into worn tropes. s1 is very different than s3 and s4, I hope to see Claire Bear more, she's quite a peach and Carmy knows how much he screwed-up by following his mother's poor behavior. I've warmed up to Richie, his changes seem to have stalled after s3...we'll see I'm still working though s4. Seeing John Cena show up pissed me off, he was out of place and very nearly made me start thinking the show Jumped the Shark with the cameos.

One of my all time favorite shows. I don't understand why Sydney is being so coveted by Shapiro to be CDC and having her ass kissed by Carmy and Uncle Jimmy. She hasn't earned it in my opinion. Her dishes aren't up to the level she thinks they are and she has demonstrated that she can't run the pass.

As for the Ted Lasso discussion, just watch the series' Christmas episodes back to back. You get a pretty good feel for the difference between the two in a nutshell.