Shameless the Complete First Season DVD

Posted by Michael Weyer on 01.30.2012

Showtime's comedy hit gives you a wild but heartfelt look at a true modern family.

Shameless the Complete First Season
Warner Bros Home Video
595 Minutes



Adapting British shows for American audiences is tricky. The Office was a roaring success but the failures (Coupling and the recent Prime Suspect) outnumber those. Showtime even poked fun at it with their show Episodes as a British couple watch in horror as their witty comedy is dumbed down for a bawdy American version. It’s ironic given the fact that Showtime has also produced Shameless, an adaption of the long-running British comedy which has become one of the channel’s biggest hits. It helps that the show is perfect for cable with its wild tone and crazy comedy but also has a surprising heart that makes you enjoy these characters no matter the insanity they get into and a more realistic view of the middle class than most other TV series.

The Show

Set in Chicago, the series focuses on the Gallagher clan. Father Frank (William H. Macy) is a selfish, narcissistic alcoholic who collects disability checks, gets drunk all the time and yet complains about the world never giving him a chance. With him completely out of commission, the responsibility of raising the family falls on eldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) who works dead-end jobs to make ends meet. Phillip or “Lip” (Jeremy Allen White) is a straight A student who makes money by taking the SAT’s for other classmates and truly a genius despite his family. Ian (Cameron Monaghan) is an ROTC member who works at a grocery store and is secretly gay. Debbie (Emma Kenney) is the 11-year old whose innocent demeanor hides a conniving mind. Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) is a 10-year old whose violent behavior has teacher seriously concerned he’s a sociopath. And finally Liam (Brennan Kane & Blake Alexander Johnson) is the infant who, for reasons no one can explain, is black. There’s also the extended family: Veronica Fisher (Shanola Hampton), their neighbor and Fiona’s best friend whose odd jobs include doing chores topless for a website. Kevin Ball (Steve Howey) is the bartender at Frank’s favorite bar and Veronica’s boyfriend. In the premiere, Fiona meets Steve (Justin Chatwin), a guy who seems rich but soon shows himself as stealing cars, which wins her over and they start dating. Karen Jackson (Laura Slade Wiggins) is one of Lip’s tutoring students who enjoys giving him oral pleasure during their sessions. Her mother, Sheila (Joan Cusack) is a germophobe who’s terrified to leave her home.

The show is raunchy from its bathroom-set opening credits to the fun way characters talk right to the camera to say “this is what you missed last week” while on the toilet or drunk on the street. I haven’t watched the British version so I can’t say how close it is but this is a series made for cable, wildly embracing language and sexuality. Some may be more than a bit shocked at how deep the actors do the latter, Rossum, in particular, doffing it all in multiple episodes. The Gallaghers make the Married With Children clan look high-class, constantly in trouble, bending or breaking laws, doing whatever it takes to make ends meet and with pretty crass attitudes to boot. However, there’s a surprising heart to this show, the Gallaghers still a close-knit clan despite all their problems. A big bit is when Steve tries to “help” by sending Frank on a trip to Canada and Fiona punches him, saying her family is rough but it’s still hers and she can handle it. This interesting mix keeps the show from being too bawdy and thus more relatable.

Yes, it does get crazy as we get multiple hook-ups, a shooting, beatings and faking a funeral. But it still pulls you in with its great touches of realism. As a Chicago native, I can relate how the blue-collar folk there can be a wild bunch and try to scrape a decent life against all odds. Of course, it does indulge itself a lot in wild stuff such as when a state investigator wants to know about the family’s Aunt Ginger who’s been cashing Social Security checks for years. It turns out Ginger has been dead over a decade, Frank cashing the checks so the family does the logical thing: They take a senile woman from a nursing home, convince her she really is Ginger and let her talk to the investigator. Debbie ends up bonding with this woman, truly treating her like an aunt so has an emotional reaction when they have to send her back. The next episode, she decides to add to the family by taking a little boy from his birthday party, instigating a city-wide manhunt and the family have to go through a convoluted plan to get the boy back without revealing what they did. The show enjoys such situations but there’s also warmth with the family bonding together no matter what and handling their tough life.



Macy is a surprising but good choice for Frank, whose behavior drives you crazy. This is a man who’s completely selfish, self-absorbed, no parenting skills whatsoever, his only desire the next drink and yet acts like he’s the one victimized by life. He pulls constant schemes to rip people off and will ignore the kids even as he yells about being their father. Macy is believable as a constant drunk with his rantings and getting into trouble that makes you laugh even if you hate what he does. An intriguing episode has him giving up drinking to get $3000 from a medical study and surprising everyone by becoming an actually decent guy. However, the family knows it won’t last and decide it’s better to end it now rather than drag out this happy period and make it harder when he goes back to his old ways. A subplot is how he ends up living with Sheila after her husband leaves her, treated to some twisted bedroom antics and being tempted by Karen. Every now and then, Frank will do something to make you close to feeling sympathy only to negate it, a character trait few shows can pull off well but this does. Through it all, Macy goes out of his way to make the role believable to the point you barely recognize him.

He’s more than matched by Rossum who throws herself perfectly into Fiona, from the Southside accent to her messy wardrobe. The young actress really breaks out here, showing Fiona tangling with the responsibilities of being the real person to raise the family and handling all the bills. Her arguments with Frank have real fire to them, making you feel her years of frustration and anger building in her being released. The actress is great with the material, especially her work with Steve, the two clicking nicely as a couple (with the running gag that their sex scenes are always interrupted). Chatwin has a good air as a guy who’s cocky but determined to win Fiona over but really blossoms in the latter half of the season when a surprising past is uncovered about his character that changes things. But Rossum is the real focus, easy to dismiss her because of all the nudity but she truly imbues this character in a believable manner, especially the episode where the family’s long-absent mother (Chloe Webb) returns and we quickly realize that Frank is actually the better parent of the two. Fiona’s rage at her mother for leaving them is perfectly captured and it’s astounding how well the actress sinks into the part and makes it feel so real.



Ian is an interesting character as you realize that, while incredibly bright, he’s the most likely of the kids to follow Frank’s path with a conniving mind and often self-centered manner. His smarts are good to the point where the state board investigates him on suspicions he’s cheating, not willing to accept someone from this family can be this smart. However, it’s shown he’s just not interested in studies, just bouncing through life. He has a good chemistry with Karen as Wiggins gives the girl a nice edge, the classic “innocent-looking girl who’s really a vixen” tempting Frank by making sure she’s nude in the bath when he enters. She gets great material in the last few episodes when her father’s attempt to make her “pure” again leads to a dark path and a major shift in the finale that the actress pulls off well. Monaghan can be a bit stiff but still interesting touches with his odd relationships with his convenience store boss (Paj Vahdat) and a bully (Noel Fisher) that both lead to interesting developments. He gets a good plotline when the question of his paternity comes up mid-season and his struggle to accept his sexuality is wonderfully done. Kenney gets laughs as the classic “little girl with adult mind” but smartly, the show has her stick with girly stuff like crying and such even as she shows her inheriting the family mindset. When she’s questioned on the kid she abducted, she’s totally believable spinning a tale to the cops with Fiona looking on in equal parts amazement and horror at how good a liar she is. Cutkowsky has the least amount of stuff, more folks reacting to him such as his principal making it clear he thinks the kid is a serial killer in the making.



For the “adult” characters, Veronica is fun, a former medical student who provides the family with health care, a sassy attitude but still clearly a friend to Fiona and Hampton does a good job not making her the cliché “Black gal” of the show. Howery has a nice edge as Kev, he and Veronica having a wild sexual relationship as he handles the gang. A fun bit is when he basically proposes to Veronica by accident and finds himself having to go through with the wedding despite the tiny obstacle that he’s already married. Cusack is a delight as Sheila, her quirky humor put to great use as a woman terrified of most everything in her life, unable to accept she’s raised a sex maniac for a daughter, thinking Frank her knight in shining armor and hilarious with stuff like creating a “lifeline” out of sheets to keep her bound to the house when Liam wanders away.

The show is frank about sex and the love scenes feel raw and real, not filtered down or “artistic” but feel authentic and that helps. The little touches help such as Fiona stealing toilet paper from her job as a motel maid and pocketing some of the money from school charity drives. It’s that tone that keeps the show from sliding into parody but feel true to life and making you think this is a family that can exist anywhere in the country. The Chicago winter setting is fitting, adding a gritty tone to the series. That’s aided by the way scenes are shot up close and the camera whipping about, showing how unpredictable real life can be. Under the crude humor and sex, there’s a heart a lot of network shows can’t touch and earns its laughs along with making you care for the characters. The title may be Shameless but there’s no shame in enjoying one of the best comedies to hit cable TV in quite a while.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.0

Video

Widescreen with 1.33:1 ratio. The picture is clear although it should be remembered that the show is shot on a grainy feed to add to its realistic air so don’t be upset if it seems less than crystal. Given the tight camera angles, you don’t need anything too fancy as the series is meant to be a tight affair to help get into it.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.0


Audio

5.1 Surround Sound with subtitles in English. Again, the audio doesn’t have to be too top-notch but does its job well, letting you enjoy dialogue and music perfectly fine.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.0


Bonus Features

Thankfully, Showtime hasn’t done their usual skimping out on extras for one of their TV series sets as this boasts some nice bonus stuff.



Two episodes have audio commentary. “Pilot” features Rossum with producers John Wells and Andrew Stern. Wells says he wanted to bring the show to America for years and “had to wait for the economic collapse for it to be applicable.” They discuss the house set and how they had to fight not to make it bigger so the show would work. Rossum talks about how the cast bonded like family off-set and Wells reveals that while most of the show is shot in L.A., Cusack’s scenes are done in Chicago so she can be with her family. A funny bit has Rossum talking over a scene of Fiona dancing and how she was told to “dance less well.” Wells gets a great line on how networks are “aspirational” TV while Shameless is more realistic. Rossum discusses the sex scene in the pilot of Fiona and Steve in the kitchen and how awkward it was and Stern talks about Macy wanting to have input and his reaction of “Bill Macy cares what we think?” It’s a good commentary touching on various parts of the show like how they make sure the Gallaghers may not have money but still their own clothing style.
“Frank Gallagher: Loving Husband, Devoted Father” has writers David Nutter and Etan Frankel along with Cameron and Allen White. They repeat the line that the show is “not the TV version of life but the real version of life.” It’s a bit drier than the other commentary but stuff on shooting in a brutal Chicago winter and using the same lobby set as The West Wing. The writers mention how they only watched the first season of the British version and only wanting to borrow what was great. They enjoy discussing the memorable scene of Rossum nude in a hotel pool and a fight scene with Ian. The actors are happy that they never pitched anything the cast wasn’t comfortable with and mention things like how a big revelation happens off-camera as they don’t feel the need to show everything.

Bringing Shameless to America (13:38) is the main making of feature. Paul Abbott, the creator of the original British show, talks about how he was inspired by his own family with a line that can pertain to a lot of people: “We didn’t know what we looked like from the outside.” Executive producer Mary Mylod talks about how they wanted to make the American version a bit warmer in tone. Writer Nancy Pimemental states that their goal was to show greater America how real families survive. “Never mind blue-collar, we’re no collar.” Wells sums up the appeal with “these people don’t have two dimes to rub together but I want to hang out with them.” There’s discussion on how they use wider lenses that “don’t judge” and Macy cracks about how the way they shoot means “we have to make sure we’re good all the time.” A great comment is how Chicago was chosen as it’s basically the American “mirror” to Manchester, where the original series was set. The cast is bright discussing all this, especially Kenney on being so young and exposed to such raunchy material. It’s a good feature but be warned that’s it on the first disc and contains scenes from future episodes so wait until you’re done with the show to watch it.

Shameless: Bringing the FUN to Dysfunctional (15:11) focuses on the casting for the show. Macy begins talking about the craft of acting before stating “it’s about the money” and Abbott mentions how the British show was 60 percent newcomers but they wanted some familiar faces for the U.S. version. Chatwin is funny, saying he auditioned seven times and eventually slept with Wells to get the role. Wiggins had swine flu when he auditioned but still won the role. Macy says the challenge of Frank is how far he can push the man’s slimy side without crossing the line. Rossum notes the irony that she was an only child so didn’t expect to bond with the gang so well. Indeed, the first meeting they had wasn’t a table reading but going for miniature golf together, showcasing the great bond the cast has that makes the show work.

A Shameless Discussion About Sex (12:40) has Rossum, Chatwin, Hampton and Howerey on the bar set answering some viewer questions on the show. They all note how they agreed with the producers on making the sex scenes brutal, “more like it really is.” There’s a funny bit of how the guys note that “it’s more stressful to show our junk than your boobs” and that women don’t have to worry about suddenly being “flat-chested when it counts.” It’s a good talk, especially when they note how America is so shocked by sex stuff on TV while British people just take it for granted.

There are a dozen deleted scenes spread throughout the discs, some good ones like Frank praying at a church and Steve accidentally stealing a car with a baby inside. There’s also a brief peek at the second season currently playing on Showtime.

Rating: 8.0

The 411: It's easy to dismiss the show because of its raunchy language and sexuality. But there's real heart here and one of the most realistic takes on modern-day family life on television today. The cast is great, especially Macy and Rossum who perfectly inhabit their characters and are matched by witty writing. The extras do a nice job fleshing things out and show that when it comes to capturing a real family, this series puts almost any on TV to shame.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]