Does anyone remember when the first season of Arrested Development beat out the final season of Sex and the City at the Emmys? Or the iconic moment when Moonlight snatched the Best Picture Oscar from La La Land after a historic mix-up? Awards shows are full of surprises, and this year one of the most notable jaw-dropping moments is FX’s The Bear, which lost the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series to HBO/Max’s Hacks.

Despite losing in the top category, “The Bear” broke the previous record for comedy series with 11 wins. A monumental achievement that makes the three losses – all to “Hacks” – in the categories of “Lead Actress”, “Screenplay” and, of course, “Grand Prize” seem all the more shocking.

I never imagined that a series that won five Emmys for best acting — tied with 2020 drama series winner “The Crown,” the most in history — would end up losing the big award.

After months of debate over whether “The Bear” should even be classified as a comedy — a topic that Emmy hosts Dan and Eugene Levy couldn’t resist joking about — this loss raises the question: Is it time for “The Bear” to move to the drama category?

Let’s not call it an identity crisis; let’s just see it for what it is. Let’s tackle the fundamental question: Would “The Bear” have had a better chance if it had competed in the drama categories, potentially competing directly with its network counterpart, “Shōgun”?

At its core, The Bear is a 30-minute show, a format traditionally associated with sitcoms and lighthearted fare. But its dark exploration of fear, grief and trauma often pushes it closer to the realm of intense drama. And let’s not forget, it’s also in English. So could it hold its own in the dramatic realm? Given the depth of the storytelling, I’d say yes.

Take “Shōgun,” for example, a sweeping, visually stunning narrative set in feudal Japan. It’s undoubtedly a powerhouse, but as we’ve seen with non-English-language series like “Squid Game,” Netflix’s most-watched series of all time, even breakout international hits can struggle to capture the top awards. “Squid Game” couldn’t top the third (and weakest) season of HBO’s “Succession” at the 2022 Emmys, where the series received just four of its 25 nominations. Hollywood’s hesitation to fully embrace non-English-language programming remains a hurdle, but that seems to have fallen this year. But let’s face it, the field it beat didn’t exactly excite most industry members and voters. Hollywood’s strikes made it easier for “Shōgun” to move from limited to dramatic production. Nevertheless, with its universal themes and its English-language format, “The Bear” could have been a more serious contender in this sense.

The distinction between comedy and drama at the Emmys has become increasingly blurred. In 2015, the Television Academy introduced a rule that automatically classified any show shorter than 30 minutes as a comedy, while longer shows were placed in the drama category. In 2021, however, this rigid classification system was abandoned, allowing shows to choose their categories regardless of running time.

This shift has sparked a broader discussion about what constitutes a “comedy” in today’s television landscape. Shows like “The Bear” and previous nominees like “Barry” and “Orange is the New Black” straddle both genres, mixing humor with darker, more dramatic narratives.

So the question isn’t just whether “The Bear” should compete in the drama category—it’s also whether the boundaries between the two categories still make sense. For now, at least for this year, Emmy voters seem to have decided that “The Bear” doesn’t meet their definition of comedy enough to beat a more traditionally structured show like “Hacks.” With just three wins, “Hacks” has the lowest winning percentage of a comedy winner since Season 5 of “Modern Family” in 2014, its fifth consecutive win. Guess comedy is funny again now.

With the 2025 Emmys in sight, there’s a lot of speculation about where The Bear fits in the category, especially since reviews for the already-aired third season have been mixed. Will the series continue to play in the comedy space, or should it finally embrace its darker, more dramatic identity?

Although the defeat in the top category made headlines, there were still significant milestones that evening.

Veteran Puerto Rican actress Liza Colón-Zayas made history as the first Latina to win Best Supporting Actress for her moving portrayal of Tina Marrero in “The Bear.” She joins a small but growing group of Latina nominees in the category, following Sofia Vergara for “Modern Family” and Rosie Perez for “The Flight Attendant.” And considering what she accomplished in Season 3, this may just be her first time on the stage.

Her win was met with enthusiastic support from the Latino community. While introducing Cris Abrego, the first Latino chair of the Television Academy, actor, producer and comedian John Leguizamo took the opportunity to welcome all of the Latino nominees in the room, including Selena Gomez, Nava Mau and Issa López. Leguizamo also used his platform to address the long-standing issue of Latino underrepresentation in Hollywood, quipping, “Everyone’s played us but us.” For those who advocate for greater Latino visibility, it was one of the most powerful moments of the night.

In the drama category, “Shōgun” made Emmy history with 18 awards, cementing its status as the most awarded series in Emmy history. Hiroyuki Sanada became only the second Asian actor to win Lead Actor in a Drama for his portrayal of Lord Yoshii Toranaga. He was also the first to win two statuettes in the same year, including Outstanding Drama Series as a Producer. His co-star Anna Sawai became the first Asian actress to win Lead Actress in a Drama for her heartbreaking role as Toda Mariko.

Twenty-three years after James Earl Jones made history as the first black actor to win the Supporting Actor (Limited) award for his role in “Heat Wave,” Lamorne Morris became the fifth actor to take home the award for his portrayal of North Dakota Deputy Whitley Farr in “Fargo.”

Meanwhile, Richard Gadd swept the miniseries category with three nominations for “Baby Reindeer,” winning in the producing, writing and acting categories. This was the first time someone had won an Emmy in that category for acting in a series he wrote.

The biggest winner of the night was FX Networks, which received more statuettes than any other network for the first time in history. Notably, it is the first time in over 15 years that neither HBO nor Netflix topped the studio list.

As an awards analyst, I’m always looking for patterns — an overarching narrative that connects the night’s winners. Usually, there’s a clear story told by the collective choices of the Television Academy voters. But this year? The message is less obvious. Perhaps the most important takeaway from this year’s ceremony is that, despite predictions, the Emmys can still surprise us.

And isn’t that what makes award ceremonies so entertaining?