New Showtime TV Show: "Shameless" (William H. Macy)

I think there's a new actor every season playing him. Just to show his growth. He was just a toddler when the show started. The older he gets the more they'll expect out of him as an actor.

 

I love the new, clean Frank. "You don't want to hurt yourself, end up on disability"... Frank tells his new co-workers. "Nothing respectable about being a drain on the system".

 

I love this show. I've been watching it since it came out. I prefer to wait until the season is over to catch it though so i don't have to wait week to week to see more. I never saw the UK version.

 

I've never seen the show, but I'm happy for my friends that their music advisors are so good. The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band had four songs played in the series. Rev told me they made more from that than all their albums put together.

 

I thought it was telling when Frank's boss said "I'm on to you", and Frank looked guilty. I give this Frank one more episode before he's back.
Debbie is the most unlikeable character, which on this show is saying a lot. I'm waiting for Neil (who seems to be much more with it this year) to kick her ass out.
Liam had the best line of the episode-"Nonspecific back pain".
And let's make your kid strip in a really bad neighborhood-that mom was Shameless-worthy.
Kev is such a big dumb lug-getting confused about his diagnosis. His "Save Second Base" t-shirt was hilarious.

 

I can't believe how much I am enjoying, however shortsighted it might be, Frank's sobriety.

 

This last episode was classic Shameless. It's really good to see all of the siblings interacting, because the show has really gone away from that the last few seasons.
Kev (Bart) being inbred-now it all makes sense.
Both Fiona and Frank (I mean Francis) had epic take down moments. Fiona was really rubbing their noses in it.
Kev giving Fiona the breast exam-Emmy Rossum has a very expressive face, especially her eyes.
Carl of course bringing the backhoe, because Carl.
There were a few choice quotes:
"Did you say 'inbred'?" "Did you say Kentucky?"
“She crucified you?” “It was a sex thing”.

 

This show is new to me. I love it.
The U.K. pilot didn't sit well with me. The U.S. show blows it out of the water, IMO.
I'm only halfway through Season 2...

My personal highlights are the gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching scenes:
When "Aunt Ginger" gets taken back to the nursing home; Season 1, Episode 3 ("Aunt Ginger"). Heart-breaking scene in which Emma Kenney's (Debbie Gallagher) acting shines and you can't help but get choked up.
Heck, I could name several dozen scenes with a similar effect.

Another is when Monica Gallagher shows up and Debbie and Carl are visibly moved, unable to decide if they miss her or hate her. Gut-wrenching.
In the same episode, when Monica follows her kids down the sidewalk and hands Liam over to Fiona...gut-wrenching...
Finally...the Season 1 finale...the heartbreak is palpable when Fiona is supposed to meet Steve (Jimmy) at O'Hare...I won't spoil it for those who haven't watched yet...

Great show!!! One of the very best ever!!

 

Love to see people discovering this show. The first few seasons are the best ones.
About the current episode:
Lip finally getting back on the horse. Can't be Shameless without Lip shagging somebody.
Carl is a dedicated vigilante.
I don't know if I'm liking Kev's storyline so far-it seems silly and pointless. Kev's character is fairly shallow, and this plot hasn't deepened it much.
Sean returns, briefly, but only in the service of an incredible, but misdirected, meltdown by Fiona.
Always happy to see Dale Dickey show up (she's the redneck aunt); we last saw her memorably as Nash on Vice Principals.
Poor Liam is no longer special-I predict the school dumps him.
And look at Frank go-getting wet and making the ladies do the same.
Some decent quotes:
V had a few: "You meant raccoon"; "It's like one of those movies where the black folks die first". Only Shameless gets away with lines like this.
Frank: "No matter if you're straight or gay, and some of you look pretty gay."

 

I guess no one is watching? I trudge onward.
About the most recent episode:
The thrupple is back.
Frank and Liam picking up "hos" (Ho-Ho's).
Fiona has a heart! I knew she was going to take that dog.
I like how this show just glosses over common sense. How in the world did Brad cut that arm off, and then carry it away?
Lip trying to do the right thing with Brad.
Good to see Debbie hasn't forgotten her fighting ways.
Kev trying to test drive guys-they are desperate for Kev storylines.
Word of the day: "spaz-gasm".

 

I've made it halfway through Season 3...so it's tough to comment on the new season...I know it's going to be fun catching up to y'all!!

 

I haven't been commenting on any recent episodes, because it seems the show is going off the rails. So many illogical or pointless plotlines. I'm hoping for a major rebound in the last two, which seems to be a Shameless trademark. It's already coming back for season 9.

 

Really enjoying this season although there has been some major changes.

 

I really like what they have done this year. The second to last episode could have been two hours long I liked each storyline so much.

 

I've enjoyed this season. But it has been different. They've been responsible. They've been honest. They've contributed to society. They've been... decidedly non Gallagher. They're good

 

I didn't exactly love the latest episode. But...(chooses words carefully as to not reveal spoilers)... what happened to Debbie in the kitchen at the end of the episode was the most cringe inducing, laugh out loud, Gallagher like thing to ever happen on this show.

 

How about Macy's SAG award? He def deserves kudos for his consistently great performances.

 

Spoilers ahoy!

Well this last episode has confirmed it-this show has lost it's marbles. When Debs gave Liam the clippers, I was ready to throw the remote at the set, but of course, it's Frank that does the deed, in graphic detail. Yikes. Although he had the quote of the show: "Smells like steak".
Gay Jesus, Frank trying to collect fraudulent Social Security (and nobody asks for I.D.?), Carl giving up military school for his nutso girlfriend (because that marriage can't possibly be legal), Fiona's extremely illegal methods to get rid of squatters. When the most plausible story line is Svet killing her Russian rival because she knows her addle-brained husband won't notice the difference, you know it's probably time to jump ship. But there's one more episode left, so might as well finish it out and hope next year is better. Still can't get the toe scene out of my mind.
Edited to add: William H. Macy surely deserved that SAG award.

 

And yet, a great hour of TV.

 

yeah that scene was rough, i think, i coulnt watch .....you missed lip maybe finally getting his act together. still waiting for him to find his true calling though. its been hit or miss for me

 

I just love everything about the show. While the story lines might be stretching reality at times, the performances and the writing are always spot on and the show is never boring. And the show's heart is in a good place. That said, I had to look away during the toe scene myself.

 

Yes I forgot about Lip. Finally getting back with Sierra in the most inevitable story line. Lip is usually never wanting for female companionship.
I get that this show is built on wildly improbable scenarios, but this season it just seems so over the top.

 

*Spoilers*

I agree, for the most part.

I thought the Kevin, Vee, and Svetlana storylines are just written because they had nothing interesting for the characters to do. It was all filler. Kevin finding that he was genetically tied to some oddball southern 'tribe' was just stupid and a waste of time and the search to get Svetlana married off to money was just more filler. How many times did we have to see Kevin find his balls and attempt to dominate Vee and Svetlana? It wasn't funny -- again, to me, it felt like the writers simply couldn't come up with anything of value for these characters to do and the audience was left with the best that they could come up with. Which wasn't much.

Kevin and Vee used to have a tighter connection to the Gallagher family (especially Fiona) and it seems that that connection is now lost. The only times that they cross paths are in the bar (for two seconds - and usually it's with Frank) or a quick exchange on the porch of a house which is usually just a "how are you doing, girl?" conversation. These characters are no longer involved in the overall narrative of the show any longer -- it almost feels like they have their own mini-show (that bores me to tears) within the larger show. They've become irrelevant.

The Frank Canadian immigration storyline, although funny at moments, didn't move the needle for me storywise.

The Ian as the savior of gay teens on the street and his transformation into some sort of exalted religious leader was reaching on a lot of levels. It was ho-hum for me and I didn't really care if he was arrested or not. I thought the entire story line was ridiculous. Like you said, the show is built on improbable scenarios, but this one left me thinking "yeah, this isn't working and I just don't care." He was able to seemingly at will jump up and track down a random religious meeting that was trying to convert another gay teen, but what the hell happened to his job as an EMT? He's giving so much time to these kids and the shelter and the scripture battles and the throngs of people that gather simply to touch him as we walks past and I'm thinking to myself "doesn't he have a job that he needs to be at 40 or 50 hours a week". And it's kind of an important job that he rarely seemed to show up for any longer -- or the writers just glossed it over and the viewer is just suppose to assume that he's working full time and saving a subset of people on the southside of Chicago at the same time? And I was truly amazed that a van literally blew up about 20 feet from him and he doesn't even flinch. I know it's TV, but c'mon! I don't know how many more times the writers can go back to the "is Ian off his meds again" well...

The basic guts of the storyline was fine, but what the writers did with it left a lot to be desired.

The Fiona and Lip storylines, throughout the season, are the only ones that really held any water for me. There seemed to be a lot of thought and time put into the continued development of their characters and situations and everything else was just to fill time until the show returned to them (I'm looking at you Carl getting Married and Debbie losing your toes!). And kudos to the actress that plays Sierra -- they should continue to work her character into the story.

I still enjoy the show and will be back for season nine -- and I understand that a long running show will have it's peaks and valleys, but this season, more than any other, had me questioning the writers and their ability to juggle multiple storylines for this cast of characters.

 

Debbie and her toes

 

Spoilers blah blah blah.


Season 8 is a wrap. I thought the resolution of the Fiona story line was a little too clean and easy. I can't believe after all that family did it suddenly dawned on them that going to court was a bad idea.
In what universe would Lip be allowed to take that little girl home?
I was waiting for Kassidi to run into a pole as she was chasing after the bus. BTW, they are still married, right? So not much of an escape for Carl.
Can't even comment on Ian's storyline for the utter absurdity of it, the thrupple story as well.
Debbie is recovering nicely from a 3 toe amputation.
And, fittingly, Liam looks like he made out the best.
I thought this season was uneven, but it had its moments. I will be back for season 9, with high hopes and unfortunately lower expectations.