I have been trying really hard to like this show on Hulu called “The Bear.” A couple of my friends from out of town have asked me if I watch it. To someone who has visited Chicago it must seem like the perfect reflection of what Chicago is all about.
It isn’t……
I don’t want to go through the list of things that are wrong, but I will mention the biggest thing that turned me sour.
Season one, episode six is titled “Ceres.” Now most of us know Ceres is the goddess of grain and there is a statue of her on top of the Chicago Board of Trade. When the building was built in the late twenties Chicago was the hub of grain trading. Hence, a statue dedicated to agriculture.
In the episode the family is gathered in the kitchen making braciole. The older brother is telling a story about how the statue has her back to the East as a symbol of fuck you to New York.
Ceres faces north and it is the Opera House that actually was built to face away from the East as a snub to New York.
It killed me listening to this blabber mouth speech. I worked under that statue for over thirty years and these idiots can’t take poetic license about a building, a bar and a symbol so dear to the Chicago trading community.
I finished season one and had no desire to start season two. Though the next episode after the horrible “Ceres” episode started with Lyn Brehmer on XRT. After Lyn died I watched the beginning again to hear his melodic voice one last time. So I was hooked back onto “The Bear.”
Last night I watched season two episode six called “Seven Fishes.”
Hazel was in bed, George was in his “Weird Science” Bedroom and Fritz was sitting behind me playing Roblox on my computer.
This episode had nothing to do with Chicago. It was set on Christmas Eve in a very Italian home filled with family and friends. Jamie Lee Curtis plays the drunk and depressed mother to the three main siblings that the show centers around.
Jamie Lee Curtis from the Halloween movies. Jamie Lee Curtis that showed her boobies to Dan Aykroyd in “Trading Places.” She nailed the drunk mom drinking wine and chain smoking cigarettes as she prepared dinner for the Feast of Seven Fishes. She gave an award winning performance. The writers wrote a beautiful episode. Seems these writers are good at their job as long as they leave Chicago out of the picture.
Throughout the chaos and rage of this episode Fritz moved from my desk to the couch. At one point Jamie Lee Curtis loses her shit and Fritz said, “she reminds me a lot like mom.”
Tears streaked down my face… during a week that started with a frightened Hazel texting me that mom was having another meltdown… it was painful to hear Fritz put it in words. I’m at a crossroads again on this journey of life. My kids have their own Jamie Lee Curtis.
I’m still not endorsing ”The Bear” just yet. They’ve messed up Chicago history. They have no clue of the importance Chicagoans put on our Italian Beef sandwiches. The actors are Californians that can’t pull off Chicagonese. Like Ditka once said, “they are Smith’s, we are Grabowski’s!”
But “The Bear” nailed how many of our families have major drama and the holidays usually set the stage for the dramatic shit hitting the fan.
It is Sunday Funday in Chicagoland! It looks like it’s going to be a perfect summer day. Yesterday was a great day at the old ballpark. This week we enter into the middle of July.
The sunrise and sunset times are getting shorter on the Chalkboard. Before you know it we will be celebrating Christmas with those we awkwardly love. Just don’t throw any forks at Uncle Anthony.
Go spread love today you Chalkheads!
