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Shameless (U.S. TV series)
Shameless is an American comedy-drama television series developed by John Wells that debuted on Showtime on January 9, 2011.
It is a remake of the British series of the same name created by Paul Abbott. The series features an ensemble cast, led by William H. Macy
and Emmy Rossum. Set in the South Side of Chicago, the series is filmed in Los Angeles, with the exterior scenes shot in Chicago.
The series has been renewed for a ninth season, which will make it the longest-running original scripted series in Showtime's history.
Premise
The series depicts the dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher, a single father of six children. While he spends his days drunk
or in search of misadventures, his kids learn to take care of themselves. The show's producers sought to distinguish it
from previous American working-class shows by highlighting how Frank's alcoholism affects his family. Paul Abbott, the show's creator, has said,
"It's not My Name Is Earl or Roseanne. It's got a much graver level of poverty attached to it. It's not blue collar; it's no collar." When John Wells,
the showrunner, began pitching the show, he had to fight efforts to place the show in the South or in a trailer park. Wells explained,
"We have a comedic tradition of making fun of the people in those worlds.
The reality is that these people aren't 'the other' – they're people who live four blocks down from you and two blocks over".
Development
"Shameless" was adapted from a long-running award-winning British television drama of the same name.
HBO began developing an American version of Shameless after striking a deal with John Wells in January 2009.
By October 2009 the development had moved to Showtime. John Wells Productions taped a pilot episode for the cable network in December 2009.
William H. Macy stars in the lead role as Frank Gallagher. Also joining the cast were former Dragonball Evolution co-stars Emmy Rossum as Fiona
and Justin Chatwin as Steve. Paul Abbott, whose semi-autobiographical telescript became the pilot episode for the original UK version,
is credited as an executive producer on the U.S. version. In April 2010, Showtime green-lit the series with a 12-episode order.
In late August Joan Cusack was cast as Sheila, a romantic interest for Frank, replacing Allison Janney, who portrayed the role in the pilot.
Production began in mid-September. A preview of the pilot aired on December 12, 2010, after the Season 5 finale of Dexter.
The first season officially began airing on Showtime on Sunday, January 9, 2011. It is filmed in the North Lawndale community area of Chicago
and Burbank, California, at Warner Bros. Studios. Before the cold open, a main character breaks the fourth wall
and berates the viewer who missed previous episodes by identifying plot points relevant to the current episode.
Filming
Initial shooting of the second season began on July 5, 2011 and premiered January 8, 2012. The series was renewed
for a third season renewal on February 1, 2012, and initial shooting began June 27, 2012. The third season premiered on January 13, 2013,
and two weeks later on January 29, Shameless was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered January 12, 2014. On February 18, 2014,
the series was renewed for a fifth season. Production on the first episode began on July 3, 2014 with the first episode table read,
with initial shooting for the season beginning on July 8, 2014. The series was renewed for a sixth season on January 12, 2015. Shameless was renewed
for a 12-episode seventh season on January 12, 2016. Season 7 premiered on October 2, 2016.
The series was initially set in Chicago's Canaryville neighborhood on the South Side,
but as of season 6 the Back of the Yards neighborhood was stated to be the location of the Gallagher household. In December 2016,
it was reported that Emmy Rossum had requested that she be paid more than William H. Macy for future seasons, to make up
for previous seasons in which she was paid less than Macy. The pay dispute briefly delayed work on an eighth season of the series while she
and Warner Bros. Television negotiated. The dispute came to an end on December 14, when Rossum confirmed through Twitter that she would continue
to work on the series, with production of an eighth season to begin in May 2017. On December 19, 2016,
Showtime officially announced that Shameless had been renewed for an eighth season. Just days after the eighth season premiere,
it was announced that the show had been renewed for a ninth, which would bring the show past the 100 episode mark.
Music
The theme song for Shameless is "The Luck You Got" by indie rock group The High Strung.
The majority of the music featured throughout the series is generally from indie rock bands. The pilot episode made use of music
from artists such as Cream, Spoon, Say Hi, 3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha, The Vines, Ace of Spades, The Moog and LMFAO. The show has also featured music
from Let's Wrestle, Eels, The Blue Van, Cake, Jimmy Eat World, Alien Crime Syndicate, and Freeplay Music. Music from The High Strung, Soho3, Say Hi,
The Record Company and The High Planes Drifters can be heard multiple times throughout the show. A few songs being
"We Are The Men You'll Grown To Love Soon", "Silly Boy" and Beginners Luck. Capital Cities has been heard on the show with their song
"Who's That Dude Pt. 1", as well as Johnny Foreigner with "Absolute Balance" and Bosshouse Music with "Chicago Blues". The songs "Vireo's Eye"
and "Inch of Dust" by Synthpop band Future Islands were also used in the first season. The last episode of season one featured two songs
by The Diner with the first being "Indie Dreams" and with "Sun and Soil" being the second. In promotion
for the second-season premiere the entire cast of shameless sang their own version of a Christmas Carol
"except this one dings grandma's holiday turkey and suggests the best route home in case you partake in too much holiday cheer"
entitled Shameless: Christmas Carol. It can also be found on the special features of the season 2 DVD featurette. The singer Marina
and the Diamonds has also been referenced on the show, in a text by Debbie Gallagher.
Broadcast
Shameless premiered on January 9, 2011 in the United States,
becoming Showtime's highest-rated series debut on record across the network's target demographic.
The first episode of the series generated 982,000 unique viewers, and was Showtime's largest audience for a series premiere
since Dead Like Me in 2003. The fourth episode airing January 30, "Casey Casden", posted 1.45 million total viewers,
making Shameless the cable channel's best-performing first-year drama. Defying the usual downward trend following a premiere,
the series built on its initial audience, becoming number one in its time slot among adults aged 18 through 49.
Subsequent episodes' audiences fluctuated between a million and 1.14 million viewers. The March 27, 2011 season finale, "Father Frank,
Full of Grace," drew an audience of 1.157 million. The third season's premiere episode, "El Gran Cañon", drew 2 million viewers,
becoming the show's highest rated episode to date. It has
since maintained average ratings of just below 2 million viewers throughout the remainder of its episodes.
Critical reception
Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said that "Shameless is excellent, compelling television from the first moment. As long as it stays true
to the roots of the original, it's going to be essential viewing". The show's first season score on Metacritic is a 66 of 100,
which is a generally favorable review. The second season score on Metacritic is a 76 of 100, indicating increasingly favorable reviews.
Tom O'Neill of the Los Angeles Times reported on the Emmy buzz about Shameless, especially with respect to the performance of Emmy Rossum, stating
"she didn't have much Emmy buzz after Shameless debuted in January, but that changed after she gave powerhouse turns in such episodes as 'But
at Last Came a Knock'". BuddyTV ranked Shameless on its list of 2011's best new TV shows.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a 'fresh' rating of 74% based on 31 reviews, with the critical consensus
"Shameless is a dark, urban dramedy that overcomes its leaps of logic thanks to fantastic casting, intriguing ambiance, and shock value."
Seasons 2-5 each have a 100% rating as of January 27, 2015.
Ratings
The first episode of the series, "Pilot", was watched by 982,000 viewers, making it the network's biggest turnout for a series premiere
since Dead Like Me in 2003. The episode airing January 30, "Casey Casden", received 1.45 million total viewers,
making Shameless the best performing first-year drama on Showtime.
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