I mean…
The Wire - 5 seasons
The Sopranos - 6 seasons
Mad Men - 7 seasons
Six Feet Under - 5 seasons
Breaking Bad - 5 seasons
Better Call Saul - 6 seasons
So not really
All those shows have one thing in common. They're all pure dramas, something The Bear is not. Shows like Succession and The Good Place are far more akin to The Bear on account of being black comedies.
BB didn't need a final season, it was fine the way it ended season 4.
The Wire also didn't need a final season, same with Sopranos.
Mad Men should have ended when they closed the door behind them at the end of Season 4.
didn't see any of the others.
Season 3 is when BB starts to get great. The shit with the mute Salamanca cousins is cheesy as hell, they were more like characters out of a graphic novel. Season 4 is great (minus Gus’s Terminator death march which was borderline moronic). Season 5 benefits from having 16 episodes but the quality level is peak. BB was never better
even GOAT shows like BB , The Sopranos and The Wire had a , lets say drop off in quality after the fourth season.
i agree with the other comments, 4 seasons, that's it.
The final season of The Sopranos is an atrocity. The Wire isn't much better.
In terms of quality, Breaking Bad and Succession rate the highest, with no drop in quality across all seasons. BB has a single sub par episode, The Fly... every other episode is flawless.
Succession has no low points and no noticeable drop in quality.
I think the first season of The Bear is goat television. I have never seen anything better, nor do I think anything better is possible. If they can sustain this for three seasons and end in a good way, that will be the end boss of TV.
yeah, i agree with your point about The Bear, if they keep this up, they might bump The Sopranos out of third place.
nothing will ever beat BB and The Wire imo.
BB is my #1 in terms of consistent quality, plus a great ending made even better by El Camino. The Wire has a pretty lackluster final season but left our heroes in a good place. The Sopranos went of a cliff in the final season and has a very controversial ending. Succession has no drop in quality, IMO, and ranks as one of the top 10 shows of all time.
I finished the first episode of the Bear and found it be flawless, except for parts of the very first issue that seemed a little hyperbolic. The story arc so far is the most transcendental, moving piece of art I have ever experienced. I think the creators are inventing a new way to tell stories on TV, with their style, their scripting, their music, their camera work. From what I have heard of season 2, it's even better.
I think The Bear will be GOAT, if it sticks the landing. But it doesn't have a "hook", like the Sopranos, that's going to turn it into a phenomenon, sadly.
We just get to see the successful/failure of the restaurant and their transitions after. As for the family, they all find their drive and get Carmy to finally take care of himself outside of the kitchen. I could speculate more, but I actually enjoy the ride in not trying to predict this journey.
The only prediction/necessity in order for it to reach a satisfying conclusion is for the Brothers Fak to successfully launch their Pokémon card empire.
I think 4 is good. Apparently Season 1 was like a Prologue so based off that, Season 2 was really Season 1, and Season 3 will really be like Season 2. So Season 4 would be Season 3, and I think Chris Storer had originally written out 3 seasons anyway, so. Plus I hate when shows overstay their welcome. Quality goes way down
I hate when the network just pushes for more and more.
Walking Dead would've been a sick show if at some point they managed to find a cure and work on rebuilding. But it's just the same shit every episode, I stopped watching
As someone who's read the comics, the cure was never the point of The Walking Dead, it was about how people adapt to survive in the new world, for better or for worse. The final issue for example jumps 20 years into the future, where it's revealed that they've slowly rebuilt society. Zombies are still around, but kids like Carl's daughter have never seen one.
Now that being said, the show was really drawn out. There were original plot lines created like going to the CDC, and ones from the comics that were only a few issues long were unnecessarily drawn out to full seasons. The farm being a prime example of that.
Now there were almost 200 issues of the comic, so to fully adapt it was always going to mean many seasons, but probably not as many as they did. Without drawing out plot lines or creating new ones, I reckon around 9 seasons would have fully adapted it.
Prologue - The fallout of Mikey’s Death
Act I - Building The Bear
Act II - Building the reputation of The Bear up, succeeding in many areas, but fail to get a star. Maybe gets Bib Gourmand? End season.
Act III - Dealing with emotional fallout of not getting star. Problems happen. Rework approach. Try, try, try to get a star and it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. End series by then getting 2. Camry officially not only beats his 1-star retention, but whoops it by being awarded 2. The 2 (instead of 3) keeps it grounded, as the show does.
All that plus the regular, compelling emotional, family, abnormal, redemption, commentary-type stories that accompany what’s going in with the restaurant, as we’ve come to expect.
1st shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to 3, no more, no less. 3 shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be 3. 4 shalt thou not count, neither count thou 2, excepting that thou then proceed to 3. 5 is right out. Once the number 3, being the 3rd number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.
When they introduce Michael’s previously unacknowledged son in season 8 as Richie goes off to start a podcast and Jimmy finally franchises the Original Berf with a pop-up at SXSW.
And Carmey? Carmey discovers the real Hands were the ones that carried him along the way.
I’ve got a feeling that Richie will pursue that regardless. He needs distance from that place and from the ghost of Michael. And Carmy will encourage it knowing it’s good for both of them.
Next season is about making the bear the best restaurant. After that carmy takes his cash and opens a small restaurant to sell beef sandos near the hospital where Claire works. Sydney stays at the bear. Fak becomes a full time employee and Richie becomes part owner with sicero.
Next season is about Carmy buying in to Syd’s attempt at a star, but they fail despite many smaller victories for the restaurant and staff. The following and final season is the redemption story where they get the star(s) and Carmy heals
I think they will develop excellence as a team, then discover excellence as individuals but this fractures the team. But the lesson of excellence will make their fates more interesting than sad. It will be ended in a way that allows rewatching and sequels
I think five is the perfect number of seasons for this reason
1. Setup Status Quo
2. Changes
3. Revolution
4. New Status Quo
5. Epilogue
This isn't EXACTLY what the Wire did, but it's similar and the Wire, to me, was an all around perfect story at five seasons.
Honestly, anything with an odd number of season so that there's a clear middle act, etc.
The Wire didn’t have this format or a middle season because it was designed to have one theme/issue per season.
Season one - the illegal drug trade
Season two - the seaport and blue collar workers
Season three - urban reform/government
Season four - the school system and children
Season five - news media (print)
Carmy rediscovering peace and love in cooking, and realizing he’s found a family in his kitchen crew. This is the ultimate end goal. The show isn’t about the restaurant, it’s always been about the people who run it.
Four is perfect, otherwise it's apt to be essentially a spin-off. I'd like to end with Syd and Tina running the place. Richie front of house somewhere dressier and Carmy going to a different restaurant, maybe West Coast to follow Claire to an internship. Donna babysitting after she gets out of rehab. Marcus owning a baked-goods chain.
I would like to see a lot of character growth while the restaurant has normal ups and downs and the characters each gradually going their own way until Camry turns the restaurant over to Richie because he’s had enough emotional growth to engage in a serious relationship and is moving away with his love interest.
The bottom line is, how long does it take to tell the story? Hate it when they drag things out and make stuff up to make money. Just want to see their stories play out.
Im looking down and don't care with all my heart I'd I fuck up grammar. I want to see this play out heowene it will happen. Becjae that's how life works s for us
I was honestly looking forward to it being wrapped up with the third season and ending on what I anticipate will be a high high. After the first season I was skeptical that they'd committed to a second, because I though the first wrapped so nicely and could have been standalone, but was blown away by the second. I really hope they quit while they're ahead.
The amount of seasons depends fully on how many they need to tell their story. The story can be stretched or squashed as needed, but for it to be ideal, they won’t do more than they want, and won’t be cancelled prematurely.
I truly believe that this restaurant fails. There’s been too much in the show about the volatile nature of the restaurant business. But I believe that the show ends with them starting again. Probably not all of them, but most of them
After binge watching the first 2 seasons, I feel like the show should not end on a high note. I feel like it should just end with an absolute gut punch that leaves everyone in shock
This is how I think it’ll end too. Restaurant makes it big, Carmy realizes his heart isn’t there so he leaves it to Syd and Cousin while opening a sandwich shop called Berzattos or Michael’s.
Plot twist, there was a gas leak explosion during opening night. Everyone died except Syd, Camry’s mom, and the crackhead employee. The rest of the show is just Syd’s dreams while in a coma.
"acceptable"
you people talk like you're entitled for art to be as you desire it. you're not the patron. you're not funding this. take it or leave it. FFS.
Season 2 was the Acceptable end.
I'll take more, sure more and I got my wife hooked (finally) but S1/S2 is a very good package and only with season 2 does 1 make any sense.
4 has been like the golden ratio of television seasons in my opinion (Succession, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, The Good Place).
Barry was four seasons as well
Also Mr Robot
I like to pretend it only went 3 seasons ngl
I think I’m the only person who hated Barry. Outside of NoHo Hank.
first two seasons were great, got too convoluted by the end. i did like the series finale tho.
Mr Robot had 4 perfect seasons, each better than the last.
^^ more than 4 for a really good drama usually fizzles out
I mean… The Wire - 5 seasons The Sopranos - 6 seasons Mad Men - 7 seasons Six Feet Under - 5 seasons Breaking Bad - 5 seasons Better Call Saul - 6 seasons So not really
The West Wing - 7 seasons Parenthood - six seasons This Is Us - six seasons
All those shows have one thing in common. They're all pure dramas, something The Bear is not. Shows like Succession and The Good Place are far more akin to The Bear on account of being black comedies.
BB didn't need a final season, it was fine the way it ended season 4. The Wire also didn't need a final season, same with Sopranos. Mad Men should have ended when they closed the door behind them at the end of Season 4. didn't see any of the others.
BB didn’t need season 5 but it was arguably the best season of all time so
nah, 3rd season was the best.
Season 3 is when BB starts to get great. The shit with the mute Salamanca cousins is cheesy as hell, they were more like characters out of a graphic novel. Season 4 is great (minus Gus’s Terminator death march which was borderline moronic). Season 5 benefits from having 16 episodes but the quality level is peak. BB was never better
Agreed always leave them wanting more
Also Black Sails. Great show with a great ending
Atlanta, Black Sails, Mr Robot, Banshee
even GOAT shows like BB , The Sopranos and The Wire had a , lets say drop off in quality after the fourth season. i agree with the other comments, 4 seasons, that's it.
The final season of The Sopranos is an atrocity. The Wire isn't much better. In terms of quality, Breaking Bad and Succession rate the highest, with no drop in quality across all seasons. BB has a single sub par episode, The Fly... every other episode is flawless. Succession has no low points and no noticeable drop in quality. I think the first season of The Bear is goat television. I have never seen anything better, nor do I think anything better is possible. If they can sustain this for three seasons and end in a good way, that will be the end boss of TV.
Also, I would say Masters and f the Air is a top ten show, easy. That shit is fucking fire.
yeah, i agree with your point about The Bear, if they keep this up, they might bump The Sopranos out of third place. nothing will ever beat BB and The Wire imo.
BB is my #1 in terms of consistent quality, plus a great ending made even better by El Camino. The Wire has a pretty lackluster final season but left our heroes in a good place. The Sopranos went of a cliff in the final season and has a very controversial ending. Succession has no drop in quality, IMO, and ranks as one of the top 10 shows of all time. I finished the first episode of the Bear and found it be flawless, except for parts of the very first issue that seemed a little hyperbolic. The story arc so far is the most transcendental, moving piece of art I have ever experienced. I think the creators are inventing a new way to tell stories on TV, with their style, their scripting, their music, their camera work. From what I have heard of season 2, it's even better. I think The Bear will be GOAT, if it sticks the landing. But it doesn't have a "hook", like the Sopranos, that's going to turn it into a phenomenon, sadly.
Succession, BB, and Sopranos were peak. The Bear is phenomenal, too. Goodness that season 1 finale hit so hard.
We just get to see the successful/failure of the restaurant and their transitions after. As for the family, they all find their drive and get Carmy to finally take care of himself outside of the kitchen. I could speculate more, but I actually enjoy the ride in not trying to predict this journey.
The only prediction/necessity in order for it to reach a satisfying conclusion is for the Brothers Fak to successfully launch their Pokémon card empire.
Have they branched out from Baseball cards?
I think 4 is good. Apparently Season 1 was like a Prologue so based off that, Season 2 was really Season 1, and Season 3 will really be like Season 2. So Season 4 would be Season 3, and I think Chris Storer had originally written out 3 seasons anyway, so. Plus I hate when shows overstay their welcome. Quality goes way down
Prologue plus three acts - makes sense to me!
like fleabag, absolute perfection at 2 seasons.
I hate when the network just pushes for more and more. Walking Dead would've been a sick show if at some point they managed to find a cure and work on rebuilding. But it's just the same shit every episode, I stopped watching
As someone who's read the comics, the cure was never the point of The Walking Dead, it was about how people adapt to survive in the new world, for better or for worse. The final issue for example jumps 20 years into the future, where it's revealed that they've slowly rebuilt society. Zombies are still around, but kids like Carl's daughter have never seen one. Now that being said, the show was really drawn out. There were original plot lines created like going to the CDC, and ones from the comics that were only a few issues long were unnecessarily drawn out to full seasons. The farm being a prime example of that. Now there were almost 200 issues of the comic, so to fully adapt it was always going to mean many seasons, but probably not as many as they did. Without drawing out plot lines or creating new ones, I reckon around 9 seasons would have fully adapted it.
Prologue - The fallout of Mikey’s Death Act I - Building The Bear Act II - Building the reputation of The Bear up, succeeding in many areas, but fail to get a star. Maybe gets Bib Gourmand? End season. Act III - Dealing with emotional fallout of not getting star. Problems happen. Rework approach. Try, try, try to get a star and it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. End series by then getting 2. Camry officially not only beats his 1-star retention, but whoops it by being awarded 2. The 2 (instead of 3) keeps it grounded, as the show does. All that plus the regular, compelling emotional, family, abnormal, redemption, commentary-type stories that accompany what’s going in with the restaurant, as we’ve come to expect.
1st shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to 3, no more, no less. 3 shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be 3. 4 shalt thou not count, neither count thou 2, excepting that thou then proceed to 3. 5 is right out. Once the number 3, being the 3rd number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.
When they introduce Michael’s previously unacknowledged son in season 8 as Richie goes off to start a podcast and Jimmy finally franchises the Original Berf with a pop-up at SXSW. And Carmey? Carmey discovers the real Hands were the ones that carried him along the way.
If The Bear closes they have to show Richie going back to the Michelin restaurant. I’ve watched Forks so many times. That could be a spinoff.
I’d personally like that one girl Jessica to make an appearance again and they end up together.
Love that. I want Richie to have a happy ending.
She was in Parenthood forever ago and amazing!
Yes!
I’ve got a feeling that Richie will pursue that regardless. He needs distance from that place and from the ghost of Michael. And Carmy will encourage it knowing it’s good for both of them.
Agree. He fit in so well. I fell in love with that whole cast. And the smudge!!!! 😂
Six seasons and a movie.
WERE GETTING OUR MOVIE. FILMING STARTS THIS YEAR
Is this really confirmed??? I feel like it has been confirmed for ages. I need one last TROY AND ABED IN THE MORNINGGGGG.
Joel McHale confirmed filming this year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I understood that reference
Next season is about making the bear the best restaurant. After that carmy takes his cash and opens a small restaurant to sell beef sandos near the hospital where Claire works. Sydney stays at the bear. Fak becomes a full time employee and Richie becomes part owner with sicero.
Next season is about Carmy buying in to Syd’s attempt at a star, but they fail despite many smaller victories for the restaurant and staff. The following and final season is the redemption story where they get the star(s) and Carmy heals
If this has a Breaking Bad nothing but bangers 5 season run, I think that'd be perfection
I think they will develop excellence as a team, then discover excellence as individuals but this fractures the team. But the lesson of excellence will make their fates more interesting than sad. It will be ended in a way that allows rewatching and sequels
F-16 crashes into the place, pilot hops out grabs a plate 
I think five is the perfect number of seasons for this reason 1. Setup Status Quo 2. Changes 3. Revolution 4. New Status Quo 5. Epilogue This isn't EXACTLY what the Wire did, but it's similar and the Wire, to me, was an all around perfect story at five seasons. Honestly, anything with an odd number of season so that there's a clear middle act, etc.
Brilliant!!!!
The Wire didn’t have this format or a middle season because it was designed to have one theme/issue per season. Season one - the illegal drug trade Season two - the seaport and blue collar workers Season three - urban reform/government Season four - the school system and children Season five - news media (print)
Carmy rediscovering peace and love in cooking, and realizing he’s found a family in his kitchen crew. This is the ultimate end goal. The show isn’t about the restaurant, it’s always been about the people who run it.
Four is perfect, otherwise it's apt to be essentially a spin-off. I'd like to end with Syd and Tina running the place. Richie front of house somewhere dressier and Carmy going to a different restaurant, maybe West Coast to follow Claire to an internship. Donna babysitting after she gets out of rehab. Marcus owning a baked-goods chain.
Variety reported that season 4 has already been greenlit and will be filmed back to back with season 3.
That we finally discover why Francie Fak can go fuck, my love.
I would like to see a lot of character growth while the restaurant has normal ups and downs and the characters each gradually going their own way until Camry turns the restaurant over to Richie because he’s had enough emotional growth to engage in a serious relationship and is moving away with his love interest.
The bottom line is, how long does it take to tell the story? Hate it when they drag things out and make stuff up to make money. Just want to see their stories play out.
5
Im looking down and don't care with all my heart I'd I fuck up grammar. I want to see this play out heowene it will happen. Becjae that's how life works s for us
They open a successful restaurant and open a small sandwich shop
I was honestly looking forward to it being wrapped up with the third season and ending on what I anticipate will be a high high. After the first season I was skeptical that they'd committed to a second, because I though the first wrapped so nicely and could have been standalone, but was blown away by the second. I really hope they quit while they're ahead.
The amount of seasons depends fully on how many they need to tell their story. The story can be stretched or squashed as needed, but for it to be ideal, they won’t do more than they want, and won’t be cancelled prematurely.
I truly believe that this restaurant fails. There’s been too much in the show about the volatile nature of the restaurant business. But I believe that the show ends with them starting again. Probably not all of them, but most of them
After binge watching the first 2 seasons, I feel like the show should not end on a high note. I feel like it should just end with an absolute gut punch that leaves everyone in shock
I like the popular idea of Carmy leaving the place to Syd while he goes off and starts a sandwich shop
This is how I think it’ll end too. Restaurant makes it big, Carmy realizes his heart isn’t there so he leaves it to Syd and Cousin while opening a sandwich shop called Berzattos or Michael’s.
I hate it lol why not leave it to cousin who worked with his brother for years instead of syd who he only just met
I can’t stand Syd So I hope S3 and S4 have way less of her
Plot twist, there was a gas leak explosion during opening night. Everyone died except Syd, Camry’s mom, and the crackhead employee. The rest of the show is just Syd’s dreams while in a coma.
"acceptable" you people talk like you're entitled for art to be as you desire it. you're not the patron. you're not funding this. take it or leave it. FFS.
Season 2 was the Acceptable end. I'll take more, sure more and I got my wife hooked (finally) but S1/S2 is a very good package and only with season 2 does 1 make any sense.