‘The Bear,’ Plus 3 Things to Watch on TV This Week

Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that are airing or streaming this week, June 23-29. Details and times are subject to change.

If you can’t take the heat …

“The Bear” — FX’s hotly anticipated kitchen drama — airs its fourth season this week. The first season, which aired in 2022, had a familiar premise of the prodigal son returning home: Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), who was climbing the culinary career ladder, goes back to Chicago to take over the family’s sandwich shop after a sudden tragedy. Much of the drama takes place in the kitchen, where Carmy, like Hamlet in a pair of Birkenstock Tokios, navigates his grief while managing competing pressures. In subsequent seasons, “The Bear” has included cameos by such real-life Michelin-starred chefs as René Redzepi and Thomas Keller.

“The Bear” is about the pursuit of greatness, however fleeting, but it doesn’t play into the myth of the individual genius either. Much of the show’s success is owed to the fleshed-out portraits of an ensemble of characters — Liza Colón-Zayas and Ayo Edebiri have both picked up Emmys for their roles — whose abilities and dreams are as real as those of the show’s tortured frontman. Season three ended with a cliffhanger involving a consequential review for Carmy’s new fine-dining restaurant. Tune in for more of the show’s choreographed mania. Streaming Wednesday on Hulu.

A point of origin

In fire forensics, the “point of origin” is the term for where things ignited. For the Apple TV+ original series “Smoke,” that was the podcast, “Firebug,” about a real-life arsonist who tried to use his crimes as fodder for a novel, and then got caught. “Smoke” will run for nine episodes and center on the fraught partnership between an arson investigator (Taron Egerton) and a detective (Jurnee Smollett) as they try to catch two serial arsonists on the loose. A game of cat and mouse ensues, set to the melancholic crooning of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, who wrote the series’s theme song, “Dialing In.” “Smoke” was created by the novelist cum TV writer Dennis Lehane, who is also an executive producer. Fans of Lehane’s books “Mystic River” and “Shutter Island” may appreciate the show’s slow-burning drama (forgive the pun). Streaming Friday on Apple TV+.

Redemption arcs