‘Beef’ and ‘The Bear’ have gotten awards season love, and that says lot about us

Netflix’s “Beef” and FX/Hulu’s “The Bear” are enjoying the kind of awards season hot streak that so many shows wish they could cook up.

Netflix’s “Beef” and FX/Hulu’s “The Bear” are enjoying the kind of awards season hot streak that so many shows wish they could cook up. But the success being experienced by two series – on the surface quite different – speaks to what viewers are hungering for: stories that examine the space where America’s “haves” and “have lesses” meet. In “Beef” – a title that refers to the slang term for a disagreement – Ali Wong and Steven Yeun play two characters who meet in a road rage incident that spirals into the ultimate revenge fantasy for anyone who has ever been flipped off by a fellow driver. In the initial confrontation, Wong’s Amy is driving a Mercedes-Benz GLC 300. Yeun’s Danny drives an older model Tacoma. The way their feud unfolds in the 10 proceeding episodes highlights the inequity that is introduced in that scene. “The Bear,” meanwhile, stars Jeremy Allen White as a fine-dining chef who returns home to run his family owned sandwich shop, fictitious midwest restaurant called “The Original Beef of Chicagoland.” In the second season, the name of the restaurant changes, and that’s not the only thing that does. As the blue-collar staff are asked to join Allen’s Carmy in establishing a fine-dining restaurant, it requires many of them – some unaware of Carmy’s own rise from difficult circumstances – to begin believing they are worthy of the chance to elevate their professional lives.