If ‘The Bear’ Season 4 Premieres Without Promotion…

The Bear is out of hibernation. FX premiered the fourth season of its hit fine-cuisine dramedy on Hulu on Wednesday, June 25, which may come as a surprise to you.

Ahead of the first season of The Bear, you could not take New York City mass transit without being bombarded by ads for the unknown cooking show starring the guy who played Lip on Shameless. But even commuters couldn’t fathom that the billboard they were staring at would turn into the new show of the year, let alone the summer. Ahead of the fourth season, anecdotally, it felt like there were further ads on the street — but there sure were plenty on our TikTok feeds. (A spokesperson for FX told us the marketing campaign was as robust as ever.)

You’ve probably also read little season four promotion in the press — like in The Hollywood Reporter, for example — and there are multiple reasons for that.

FX had initially set up a junket for The Bear for Monday, June 9. The virtual press conference had a dual purpose: 1) to promote The Bear season four, and 2) to act as an FYC (For Your Consideration) awards campaign for season three. The junket was canceled — a scheduling issue, we were told at the time — and it was not rescheduled.

Though we were told that talent would still be available for individual interviews, the show’s three leads — Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri — were still “mostly unavailable due to scheduling,” FX said. (White has the Bruce Springsteen biopic from 20th coming later this year and Moss-Bachrach stars in July’s Fantastic Four.) Series regular and executive producer (and former culinary consultant) Matty Matheson was also unavailable, as were other show producers, presumably including series creator and showrunner Christopher Storer.

At least they all had time to enjoy a meal at Musso & Frank.

OK, so that was just a little spirited ribbing. Of course they should celebrate the premiere for themselves — and this group has to go fine dining.

For those not in the entertainment-media business, it is rare to not have producers and major cast members made available to the press ahead of a new season — and exceedingly rare during awards campaign season. FX won the most Emmys of any network in 2024, so it’s not exactly amateur hour for the brand; they known what they’re doing and they clearly do it well.

TV journalists are usually granted access to screeners ahead of a new season’s release. A smaller pool than usual was sent screeners for The Bear season four (and for seasons two and three). FX shared screening links with only a select group of critics, which included (one at) THR. An FX spokesperson told THR that more than 219 critics and reporters were given early access at 108 publications. To be fair, curating a tight list of critics and publications is not a wholly uncommon practice for the highest-caliber of series — HBO does it too. It is network PR’s job to control access and avoid leaks. Screeners are a privilege, not a right — it’s just that usually more people are in on that privilege.

What critics could and could not do — or rather, when they could or could not do something — with those screeners is a bit weirder. Reviews of The Bear season four were embargoed for publication until 11:15 p.m. PT Wednesday night (which is 2:15 a.m. ET on Thursday), or a seemingly random six hours and 15 minutes after premiering (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Wednesday). It wasn’t random at all, THR math found. The collective runtime of all 10 season four episodes is precisely — you guessed it — six hours and 15 minutes. So in theory and in practice, a super fan could watch and finish (exactly) the entirety of The Bear season four before the moment a TV critic’s review could influence their opinion and action. But that wasn’t the point of it, the FX spokesperson said. The embargo was simply an attempt to not spoil information about the season’s guest stars or how the season ends.

Review embargoes are a very common logistical practice in TV and film, though one’s exact timing can sometimes speak volumes about the internally perceived quality of the product. For example, in the movie world, a day-of-release embargo on reviews is often a sign the studio knows its movie sucks. In TV, it is much more nuanced. For example, it has become common for a platform — especially a streaming one — to embargo a review until 12:01 a.m. on the day of a TV premiere. You have to pick a time, and in an industry that barely programs to time slots anymore, the literal first minute of the day on which a new show or a new season is released is as good as any. The embargo for The Bear season four, however, is rare.

But it’s not the craziest we’ve ever seen. It’s not even the craziest we’ve seen in the past month or so. For its feature film Ballerina, a spin off from John Wick, the studio Lionsgate (basically) asked critics to adhere to one embargo for positive reactions and a later one for negative takes. That did not go over well, nor should it have.

And we’re not suggesting that FX believes The Bear season four stinks — they don’t — our belief is that the strict rules surrounding this one reflects the seriousness Storer feels for shielding fans from even the smallest potential spoilers on his show. Again, we have receipts.

On the night of the season four premiere, an FX rep emailed media asking that a “spoiler alert” be issued “at the top of all detailed reviews/recaps/coverage.” Generally that’s just good practice if there are semi-significant spoilers. But FX (and Hulu) didn’t even release the episode titles and descriptions for The Bear season four until Thursday. That’s maybe a bit much.

This precedent here was set well before the new season. For season one, when The Bear was a totally unknown summer show, a combination that rarely results in a flood of Emmys, the “do not reveal” spoilers list even included the guest casting of Oliver Platt as Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) uncle. No offense to Platt, but reporting his role is not exactly akin to breaking the next James Bond. We’re not saying that’s a crazy-egregious example of what goes on inside The Bear’s PR machine, but it is an example.

FX is generally very press-friendly, which is why much of this feels particularly unusual (and makes it easy, correctly or incorrectly, to presume that Storer is the applying a particular level of pressure here). But FX is also fan-friendly, a job the spokesperson said it must take as seriously as it does its interaction with the media. That can often be a delicate balancing act, the spokesperson said. And they don’t always get it right. You know who else doesn’t always get things right? The media.

But the media loves FX, and we do feel that, typically, it loves us back. Since we’ve been talking inside baseball throughout this whole story, here’s a recent very inside baseball example of the love-fest: When FX’s longtime publicity boss, John Solberg, internally announced his plans to retire, many entertainment publications (like THR) covered it as industry news. That’s not exceedingly rare, but it is a tip of the cap to Solberg’s impact on the business, both professionally and personally. Most (if not all) of us genuinely like John, but John earned the coverage through his accomplishments. As has Solberg’s boss, John Landgraf.

Landgraf, is considered one of the most reputable executives in the business. When he speaks, we cover. Landgraf is a TV genius who has shepherded FX to the top of most critics’ lists. (Solberg is the one who fostered those reviews, and the one who oversaw the rules related to The Bear’s season four publicity campaign.) Landgraf also famously coined the phrase “Peak TV” — in 2024, he declared it over.

So none of this is a shot at FX — not from us, at least. We see the experience with The Bear’s publicity machine to be a one-off. But it is still just… off.

The Bear needed season four to be good — while the first and second seasons were beloved by both critics and everyday viewers, audiences turned their backs a bit on season three (the critical reception was also down, but not as dramatically).

The restrictive embargo has now lifted, the season four reviews are in, and they’re…pretty good, to be honest. Yes, the new season has endured the show’s worst critical reception thus far, but the sentiment from TV critics is still generally positive.

Well, not all TV critics. THR’s Angie Han didn’t love it.

In her review, Han wrote that “the latest run has the feel of a show burnt out from the effort of trying to outdo itself. Rather than push forward or drill deeper, it retreats into familiar territory as it prepares, maybe, to wind down for good.”

“The spark that lit up earlier volumes has dimmed significantly,” Han wrote.

Of course, by now, you’ve had more than those six hours and 15 minutes to decide what you think for yourself about The Bear season four. If, that is, you knew it was even on.