It was entertaining for a while, but as much as I appreciate the talent behind Shameless, it was obvious from the start that the show's primary fuel was shock value (and good luck with that in the 21st Century). In episode after episode about the indigent Gallagher family, we get bathroom and bedroom nudity, booze and drugs, gay and straight boinking, and petty criminality, mostly to scrounge income.
There are interesting plot lines, and even occasional wit (mostly the scripts just spew profanity, so much easier to write), but the characters were too one-dimensional to keep me going, especially the cartoonish adult trio (William H. Macy, Joan Cusack, and Joel Murray). Only Jeremy Allen White stood out in the cast, as the eldest son, Lip. He has strong screen presence and a distinctive look, on top of which, Lip was given the liveliest dialogue because he's the smart one (every formula series has a smart one).
"Shameless" reminds me of Hollywood's most unrealistic stock character, the hooker with a heart of gold. The premise is the entire theme: a deadbeat father whose seven offspring have a preternatural loyalty to one another, and to him. Hustlers with hearts of gold. An impoverished idea about impoverished people.
Though it was never predictable, it began to feel repetitive, and I called it quits-- and I gather from other reviewers here that I'm not alone. It couldn't sustain nine seasons; I only lasted half way through the third.
There are interesting plot lines, and even occasional wit (mostly the scripts just spew profanity, so much easier to write), but the characters were too one-dimensional to keep me going, especially the cartoonish adult trio (William H. Macy, Joan Cusack, and Joel Murray). Only Jeremy Allen White stood out in the cast, as the eldest son, Lip. He has strong screen presence and a distinctive look, on top of which, Lip was given the liveliest dialogue because he's the smart one (every formula series has a smart one).
"Shameless" reminds me of Hollywood's most unrealistic stock character, the hooker with a heart of gold. The premise is the entire theme: a deadbeat father whose seven offspring have a preternatural loyalty to one another, and to him. Hustlers with hearts of gold. An impoverished idea about impoverished people.
Though it was never predictable, it began to feel repetitive, and I called it quits-- and I gather from other reviewers here that I'm not alone. It couldn't sustain nine seasons; I only lasted half way through the third.