foolish watcher

I’ve created a full menu of delicious morsels from ‘The Bear.’

Therese Odell
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@nattybeck2

Gronk thinks he meant to say “do take naps during the day”. Big nap fam over here! #chiuhuahuasoftiktok #naptime

♬ original sound – Natalie

HI GUESS WHAT? Yeah, I’m on the move again. LISTEN, my frequent flier miles aren’t going to replenish themselves.

But instead of leaving you only with cute animals (though there will be plenty of those, too), I’m going to leave links to shows that you might actually be interested in, specifically The Boys, House of the Dragon, and The Bear. Trying to be servicey, but please note: SPOILERS ABOUND.

Also, just because I’m gone doesn’t mean you don’t still have homework: please leave in the comments suggestions for shows that you’d like me to recap. The TV Foolishness Tournament will be here before you know it.

Here’s A BUNCH OF The Bear News

Today, we’re going to exhaust all of The Bear stories that I’ve been saving up for the past couple of months. Again, don’t click the clickies or even scroll down if you haven’t watched all of season three yet. And feel free to argue amongst yourselves in the comments about whether or not it actually qualifies as a comedy.

Is The Bear based on an actual restaurant? Yes, though it’s more complicated than a lot of stories make it out to be. The Bear is based on a Chicago sandwich joint “Mr. Beef,” which is still very much a sandwich joint with no ambitions to become a Michelin-starred restaurant: “Abso-f—ing-lutely not,” Chris Zucchero (owner of Mr. Beef) told Variety. “Excuse my language. But I would never do that.”

Here’s another interview with Chris Zucchero and how the show has changed his business. Oh, and he has a minor recurring role on the series.

But here’s what’s interesting: a few years back, my husband and I had dinner at this lovely little restaurant in Chicago called Blackbird (which was in fact awarded a Michelin star in 2019 before closing during the pandemic in 2020) that just … felt like the fancy version of The Bear in the show. It turns out Blackbird was opened by a guy named Donnie Madia who left his finance job at the Chicago Board of Trade to work at Mr. Beef. Then, with the help of the then-owner of Mr. Beef (Chris Zucchero’s dad, Joseph), Madia went on to open Blackbird. The creator of The Bear, Christopher Storer, also happened to work both at the Chicago Board of Trade and was friends with Chris Zucchero who put him in touch with Donnie Madia to help him and his writers understand how kitchens work. So while The Bear is definitely based on Mr. Beef, there’s also a lot of Blackbird (R.I.P.) in there, too. (Madia owns a number of other restaurants in Chicago, so even though Blackbird is no longer with us, if you go to Chicago you can still visit any number of Madia’s other restaurants.)

Speaking of: here are the real Chicago restaurants that are featured in the show.

As for other real-life references in The Bear: Joel McHale’s mean chef is based on a real chef … and he makes a cameo in this season.

As for Olivia Colman, she’s based on two of the greatest female chefs of all time, including my husband’s muse, Marcella.

Speaking of cameos — there were a ton this season. Do you love them or hate them or just find them distracting?

Here are just all the real chefs you might have missed who cameoed this season.

And here are a number of Easter eggs you might have missed. Speaking of Thomas Keller’s famous roast chicken, it’s the only roast chicken recipe I use, and it is as easy as it is perfect.

One of the best things about The Bear (says this Gen X mom) is the soundtrack: these are the songs featured this season. “Blowing Kisses” by Jennifer Castle was a personal favorite — she’s friends in real life with the wonderful Matt Matheson who passed her music along to the show guys and it made it on to the show, but deservedly so!

The Bear is one of the few big streaming shows that has kept the binge formula, instead of releasing episodes weekly. IndieWire sorts out whether a binge or weekly format is a better idea for The Bear.

Everyone on The Bear needs therapy.

The reason the most important character on the show only appears once a season is because SHE IS TOO INTENSE TO BE IN ANY MORE THAN ONE EPISODE A SEASON. But also, give Jamie Lee Curtis all of the Emmys.

The first episode of the season, “Tomorrow,” is almost silent, and is part of an interesting history of silent episodes, including Buffy’s famous “Hush” and The Twilight Zone’s “The Invaders.”

Could a fork on the floor in the episode “Doors” mean a lot more than just a fork on the floor?

And as we head into season four, here are some pressing questions we hope get answered.

WATCH THIS

Dress My Tour: Kate Upton hosts this new fashion competition in which up-and-coming designers make designs for musical performers. Series premiere. Hulu

Naked Gun marathon: The first three Leslie Nielsen classics — and no one was better at dry comic delivery than Leslie Nielsen.  5:46 p.m., HBO Comedy West

Password: Season finale. 9 p.m., NBC

Late Night:

TUES. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
(repeat)		 Celebrity Jeopardy!
(repeat)		 The $100,000 Pyramid
(repeat)
CBS FBI
(repeat)		 FBI: International
(repeat)		 FBI: Most Wanted
(repeat)
CW Police 24/7
(new)		 Hostage Rescue
(new)		 Local
FOX Beat Shazam
(new)		 The Quiz with Balls
(new)		 News/Local
NBC America’s Got Talent
(new)		 Password
(new)
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