The Bear Season 3 Sets Hulu Record

Disney announced this week that the season three premiere of The Bear has already passed 5 million views, reaching 5.4 million in its first four days of streaming and becoming the most-watched scripted premiere in Hulu history. It’s also the third-biggest season premiere of all time, and the best performance ever for an FX premiere on Hulu. The acclaimed series has been a steadily growing phenomenon, and Disney says season three has 24% more views than season two did at the same time. Season two, meanwhile, had jumped 70% over season one, effectively doubling the ratings between season one and now.

These numbers are all organized by Variety, but reported by Disney based on internal streaming numbers. The Bear has also become a cultural talking point, not just on social media, but with members of the cast getting high profile outside jobs.

“When we came back for Season 2, we debated, since we knew now that we had a hit, can we milk it a little bit? Can we roll it out over weeks? More Bear is better? We then thought that’s a rotten thing to do, to change it up for the audience,” FX chief John Landgraf recently said, explaining the series’ binge model. “The way that Chris makes it, even though the episodes are separate, there’s a whole vibe to every season so we decided not to change what we had already set in motion and I have no doubt that we’ll keep doing it because we did it in the past. Even if we could, I don’t think we’d change it now.”

FX and Hulu dropped a new description of The Bear: Season three of FX’s The Bear follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) and Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they do what it takes to elevate The Bear, their beef stand turned fine dining establishment, to the highest level, all while doing their best just to stay in business. It’s a losing battle every single day in the restaurant business. Carmy pushes himself harder than ever, and demands excellence from his crew, who do their best to match his intensity.

“Their quest for culinary excellence will propel the crew to new levels and stress the bonds that hold the restaurant together. As the team grows in size, each member will strive to reach a greater level of service within their role. In the restaurant industry, you’re never on solid ground, and with that ever-changing landscape comes new challenges and opportunities. Our chefs have learned that every second counts, but this season we’ll find out if they have what it takes to make it to tomorrow.”