Down and Dirty: Showtime vs Showtime

It's fitting that the new Showtime (UK remake) series, Shameless, opens with a protracted bathroom montage. The one-hour show is dark and dirty, pretty filthy actually. The opposite of a Rockwellian snapshot. That's what makes it so good.


Well, it's starting to be good.



The biggest problem has been the scant material for the brilliant William H. Macy.  In early episodes, Macy's Frank Gallagher spent half the time (sometimes more) passed out on the floor. What can an actor do with that??  Face-up, face-down, on his side, done. 


Macy plays an alcoholic father to six kids.  He stumbles around town like a homeless man, returning to his sizeable house only to pass out.  Meanwhile, his children do whatever possible to pay the bills and stay on top, usually while smoking, drinking, stealing or lying.


But this show is not to be written off.  These kids, however immoral, illegal or unethical their behavior can be at times, are surviving the burden heaped upon them by their absent mother and vacant father. You watch the disturbing situations as they unfold because you genuinely want better for their lives.  


 Meanwhile, you just want Frank to get off the floor and out of the scene.  


By episode 4, however, things are looking up.  They've let Macy stand upright!  In many cases he's upright opposite the always spot-on Joan Cusack at her naughty best.  (The woman can convey entire sentences out of single twitch.)


Still, Macy's character is dirty and off-putting.  This would seem obvious as he's constantly drunk and a disappointment to those he loves, endures.  But if we can love and adore a well-intentioned serial killer, 



and crush on a self-absorbed, depressed, sex-obsessed writer,

then why not provide Macy with similar material?  He's got the goods to turn this forever ne'er do well into a lovable down-trodden loser we just can't help but forgive again.  


Hold on.  Would you look at this??


What was I talking about?  Oh, right, Shameless.  My Bill deserves better than this. Have we already forgotten Fargo?  


At least the cast is stellar. As oldest daughter Fiona, the darling but gritty Emmy Rossum reigns in the fantastic moppets who play her siblings.  Steve Howey is so much more fun here than as the dopey Van on Reba, while Shanola Hampton simply shines as Veronica.


I will continue to watch, because the show has some heart (and I only watch 4 shows so I'd like to hold on to them).  But, please.  Give Macy some top-notch writing to work with.  Until then, I will always have my first love, the black t-shirt, pants-dropping wonder that is Hank Moody.  





Shameless airs on SHOWTIME (that wasn't obvious at all)  Sundays@ 10/9pm est/cst