With “Is The Bear a comedy?” debate nonetheless ongoing, FX is including one other title to the dialog, The Lowdown, opting to submit the hourlong noir sequence starring Ethan Hawke as a comedy for the 2026 Emmy Awards.
That could be a shift for the present, which was submitted as a drama for the Golden Globes, guild and different awards races over the past a number of months. In FX’s January Season 2 renewal announcement, The Lowdown was labeled as a “Western-noir drama.” The sequence’ largest awards recognition up to now has been making AFI Awards’ checklist of the High 10 tv packages of 2025.
The reclassification determination, which is definite to attract consideration — and lift just a few eyebrows — was made by FX after consultations with sequence’ creator/govt producer Sterlin Harjo and star/govt producer Hawke, sources stated.
Fueled by the comedic sensibilities of Harjo, co-creator of FX’s Reservation Canine — a half-hour comedy-drama that competed as comedy, incomes an Excellent Comedy Collection Emmy nomination — The Lowdown has sturdy comedic undercurrent. But, plenty of different hourlong sequence with comedic components, akin to HBO’s Succession or The White Lotus, have run as drama sequence throughout their awards runs. (Mike White’s anthology is a novel case because it began as a restricted/anthology sequence with its unique installment earlier than transitioning to drama sequence for the Emmys and most — however not all — different races. It has competed as comedy for a number of guild awards, together with the DGAs.)
In the end, FX’s willpower was that the drama-comedy steadiness on the Tulsa noir skewed barely in direction of comedy, resulting in the present’s comedy designation for Emmy consideration.
Beneath the present Emmy guidelines, hourlong sequence don’t want pre-approval to compete as comedies, a stipulation that was in place within the late 2010s. Collection submitted as comedies are required to be “primarily comedic,” no matter runtime. The Academy “reserves the fitting to have the class placement reviewed” by its Business Panel.
The place comedic dramas, dramatic comedies or dramedies match has been an age-old Emmy query, which has spawned many controversies, together with the TV Academy in 2015 permitting hourlong Glee and Shameless to compete as comedies however not Orange Is the New Black.
After which there may be FX’s The Bear which additionally mixes comedic and dramatic storytelling, perplexing awards purists. Competing as a comedy, it has gained 21 Emmys, together with for Excellent Comedy Collection. Different comedy-drama winners within the high comedy class embody Prime Video’s hourlong The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
The Lowdown follows the gritty exploits of citizen journalist “Lee Raybon” (Hawke), a self-proclaimed Tulsa “truthstorian” whose obsession with the reality is at all times getting him into bother.
Harjo, who wrote and directed the pilot, govt produces with Garrett Basch, Ethan Hawke and Ryan Hawke. The Lowdown is produced by FX Productions.
