13 Shows to Watch After You’ve Binged <i>The Bear</i>
If there was ever a question about whether Anthony Bourdain’s influence extended to The Bear, the larger-than-life chef’s memoir Kitchen Confidential briefly appears in the FX show’s latest season. Parts Unknown, his long-running docuseries about food that doubles as a travel show, follows Bourdain to cities around the world to unlock the secrets to various cuisines by visiting local eateries and chatting with the residents. But the real thesis of the show was about how food is the great connector that opens conversations between people just by the virtue of sharing a meal together.
A kitchen show before The Bear made “yes, chef” a colloquial phrase, the short-lived FOX series based on Anthony Bourdain’s memoir (which, as previously mentioned, makes a quick appearance in the fourth season) starred Bradley Cooper as a chef with substance abuse issues who is given a comeback opportunity at an upscale NYC restaurant. He leans on colleagues from previous jobs, played by actors like John Cho and Nicholas Brendon, to put together a competent staff with only 48 hours until opening. The show is much more playful in tone than The Bear (think network comedy) but there are obvious thematic and story-level similarities here, and a game for anything and jovial Cooper made the show a cult hit—even if FOX canceled it after just four episodes.
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If you wanted a whole series about Carmy’s experience at an established high-end NYC restaurant, look no further than the Starz series Sweetbitter, which was based on Stephanie Danler’s book of the same name. Unlike Carmy, main character Tess (Ella Purnell) arrives in the restaurant world somewhat accidentally, but her experience in the high pressure environment and in forging a dysfunctional family at work would be right at home on The Bear.
Part of The Bear’s charm is its dedication to Chicago—the second episode of season 3 featured a rare title sequence that doubled as an ode to the Midwestern city’s culinary scene. There have been many other shows about the Windy City but if you’re looking for more heart and more Jeremy Allen White, Shameless might be the perfect next show for you. Set on the city’s South Side, the Showtime series follows the drug-addled patriarch of the working class Gallagher family who is constantly in search of his next fix, forcing his kin to fend for themselves. As with The Bear, Chicago is inextricable with Shameless, especially as it features a lower income neighborhood.
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Stepping into Bourdain’s legacy, Padma Lakshmi’s travel food show employed a similar goal to Parts Unknown. Her short-lived Hulu series focused on the United States during an especially politically-fraught time, using food to highlight the stories of various immigrant groups who have contributed to the melting pot of the country. While tonally and formally different from The Bear, the stories told on Lakshmi’s show are emblematic of the diverse supporting cast of the scripted series.
One of the hallmarks of The Bear is the chaos of the kitchen, which can only be one-upped by that of an emergency room. HBO Max’s surprise hit follows one shift of a hospital’s ER, with each hour of the 15-episode first season unfolding in real time. The medical drama introduces memorable characters, explores plausible traumas and cases, and beautifully showcases the mental health impact of witnessing death and experiencing lasting grief.
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Another 30-minute dramedy, HBO’s Barry centers on a former hitman who tries to leave his violent past behind by following a new passion: acting. Though the later seasons become progressively darker and less funny, early seasons of Barry are darkly humorous while still also touching on similar topics to The Bear, like mental health and relationships. If sharp dialogue and a rumination on actions and consequences are interesting to you, Barry should be your next watch.
A meditation on anger, Netflix’s BEEF may be one of the closest cousins (Cousin!) to The Bear. The main characters of both shows struggle with their pursuit of professional fulfillment and the series follows the way their personal relationships are altered by it, though they’re both at different steps along that journey. BEEF is another 30-minute series that seriously blurs the line between genres and goes deeper on universal issues that tend to make people feel alienated in society.
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Donald Glover’s Atlanta was known for its experimentation with form, whether it was introducing standalone episodes with one-off characters or satirizing cultural moments within the world of the show. The Bear is much less experimental, but show creator Christopher Storer seems interested in shaking up the filmmaking of the series; the season 3 opener is a melodic journey through Carmy’s memories and gives us more background on the influential figures that shaped who he is today via wordless, repetitive snippets. It’s also worth noting that Atlanta EP and director Hiro Murai also executive produces The Bear. Beyond that, there are thematic parallels as Carmy and Earn both return home after a promising education and careers in big cities, and are forced to reinvent themselves amid tenuous circumstances.
Max’s Julia is probably the least like The Bear when it comes to tone—it’s a much lighter, heartwarming look at the culinary world—but it’s not without its own commentary about the industry. Following Julia Child’s life as she creates the first televised cooking show, the series depicts her fight to be taken seriously and touches on her ascent to celebrity chef status.
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A UK miniseries created as a coda to the eponymous film, Boiling Point is a four-episode meditation on the pressures of opening a fine dining restaurant, co-written by and starring Stephen Graham of Adolescence. Just like The Bear, Boiling Point’s plot is spurred by a health-related scare as a sous-chef Carly takes over her boss Andy’s restaurant while he recovers from a heart attack, and it highlights the all-encompassing work of being a chef. Characters in both shows struggle with alcoholism and professional disappointment, but can’t shake the thrill of being in a kitchen.
The Bear’s occasional heaviness might require a palate cleanser, and there might be no better one than the laugh-out-loud funny It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Also on FX, the long-running series centers on a group of friends who run a dive bar called Paddy’s Pub and get into ridiculous predicaments. Like The Bear, Sunny is about a found family at a small workplace, and as cliche as it is to call the show’s location a character on the show, Sunny’s name indicates how much Philadelphia inspires the humor and the language of the show—just as Chicago inspires The Bear.
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Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s exceptional series Fleabag is a meditation on learning to live with grief, utilizing an inventive structure that regularly breaks the fourth wall. Waller-Bridge’s titular Fleabag runs a hamster-themed coffee shop instead of working in a high-pressure kitchen like Carmy, but both characters are avoidant people grappling with loss while trying to make sense of who they are and where they fit in.
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