The Gallaghers Return

The Gallaghers Return
Courtesy Photo

Courtesy Photo

“Shameless,” Showtime’s U.S. remake of a U.K. show by the same name, returns this Sunday for a sixth season. “Shameless” remains one of the best shows on television, a crushingly realistic and hilarious portrayal of below-the-line poverty.

Centering around accidental-matriarch Fiona Gallagher, Shameless shows the lives of the Gallagher family living in Chicago in the ghetto. Alcoholic father Frank (William H. Macy) is so out of control with his drunkenness that the oldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) has slid into the role of mother by default, taking care of her youngest siblings Carl, Debbie, and Liam, with a little help from the boys closer to her age, Lip (Philip) and Ian. Along for the ride are her neighbor/best friend V and V’s husband Kev. This is the barest bones of plot outline, but six seasons in that’s the easiest way to put it.

As I mentioned, this is based on a British show of not only the same name, but also the same basic plot (Gallagher, father Frank, sister Fiona, etc.). Unlike shows such as “House Of Cards” or “The Office,” the U.K. version of “Shameless” lasted for years (11 total seasons/series), many of which took place after the U.S. version had started airing. That’s the funny thing about this show to me. The story of the Gallagher clan translates to American audiences so easily that very little needed to change from the basic formula of the original series.

“The Office” had to basically re-write the boss from David Brent to Michael Scott because the former was so unbearable and unsympathetic to U.S. audiences — especially when taken out of the hands of Ricky Gervais. The basic formula for Shameless however of asshole alcoholic father who doesn’t take care of his way-too-many kids, leaving it to his eldest child, seems to be a universal thing.

The thing that sets the American version apart from it’s counterpart across the pond though is the cast. Mentioned above are William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, but virtually every member of the cast has handed in award-worthy performances every season. Also, with six seasons currently under their belt (and Showtime’s production schedule), we’ve watched the youngest kids (Debbie, Carl, and Liam) go from being little kids chock full of innocence to being already-jaded teens. Except for Liam. He was a baby when the series started so he’s just now a little kid.

While I’m sure there is some deeper point to the show or something we’re supposed to take or learn from the events that transpire in the show, I’ll be damned if I can figure it out. The simplest answer would be that it’s a scathing indictment of American poverty. But given the British original, and the fact that there’s never any solution presented to the Gallagher’s perpetual issue of pennilessness, I’m inclined to think that poverty is just the setting through which we get the story. It’s never outlandishly funny or dramatic, it always just feels real. I’ve been watching these actors portray the Gallaghers for so long it’s kind of hard to remember that any of them exist outside of the Chicago ghetto.

No, overall “Shameless” is there to be exactly what it says; shameless. Totally, utterly, and completely shameless. Shameless in its portrayal of living life that poor in that expensive of a place. Shameless in how funny it shows life can be. Just generally shameless, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Categories: Commentary