Shameless (season 1)

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File:Shameless Season 1.jpg
DVD Cover
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 12
Release
Original network Showtime
Original release January 9, 2011 (2011-01-09) – March 27, 2011 (2011-03-27)
List of Shameless (American TV series) episodes

The first season of Shameless, an American comedy-drama television series based on the British series of the same name by Paul Abbott, premiered on January 9, 2011, at Sunday 10:00 p.m. EST on the Showtime television network. Executive producers are John Wells, Paul Abbott and Andrew Stearn, with producer Michael Hissrich. The season concluded after 12 episodes on March 27, 2011. The show's season premiere 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. The season finale scored 1.16 million viewers.

Plot

The series depicts the dysfunctional family of Francis (Frank) Gallagher, a single father of six children. With their bipolar mother, Monica, long gone, the family has been run for years by Frank's worn out and oldest daughter Fiona, to raise her five other siblings: Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, and Liam.

In the first episode, Fiona and her friend, Veronica, meet Steve Wilton at a dance club, after Steve attempts to save Fiona's purse from a thief. Fiona begins a relationship with Steve, soon coming to realize that he's a carjacking thief who consistently provides countless things for Fiona: a new washer, a phone, and moving into the empty house next door. Though later on Steve's sudden and prolonged disappearances lead to Fiona believing that Steve is cheating on her, in reality, Steve is actually a wealthy son named Jimmy Lishman, who is hiding from his parents.

Lip faces a turning point when he finds out that his brother, Ian, is gay. He resonates with this by sending Ian to his girlfriend, Karen, for a blowjob but fails. Lip soon unhappily finds out that Ian is in a relationship with Kash, the manager of a local convenience store who is married to a white Muslim, Linda. Lip comes to accept this, but when Linda finds out about the affair, she blackmails Kash into giving her a baby. In addition, Kash has to deal with Mickey Milkovich, a local bully who often wrecks havoc on the store, stealing from the store and throwing food at the entrance. Ian goes to confront Mickey about the situation; they end up having sex and soon form a relationship. When Kash finds this out, he shoots Mickey in the leg when Mickey tries to shoplift. Mickey is arrested for attempted shoplifting and Kash is praised for his efforts.

Frank Gallagher, the no-brainer alcoholic of a father, wants nothing to do with his family. Often spending time at his favourite bar, The Alibi Room, the family has a grown hatred for him except for the youngest daughter Debbie, who still manages to see him as a decent person despite Frank not caring at all. After being kicked out of own house for swinging Ian, he moves in with the nice but kooky Sheila Jackson, who is an agoraphobe and lives with her daughter Karen (Lip's girlfriend). Her separated husband, Eddie, finds her amusing and crazy, often teasing and scaring her about the outside world. After Eddie calls Karen a whore during a purity ball, Sheila kicks him out and an angered Karen gets back at Eddie by raping a drugged Frank in the basement, recording it in the process. When Eddie finds the video, he proceeds to kill himself, while a guilt stricken Karen breaks up with Lip. Frank apologizes to Lip for the video.

Kevin Ball and his girlfriend Veronica are the neighbors of the Gallaghers, often sex-fueled, loud, and roped into the Gallagher's crazy mishaps. Working as a bartender in The Alibi Room, Frank accidentally gets Kevin roped into an engagement with Veronica, after Kevin had pretended to be engaged in order to get rid of a flirty girl. Truth is, Kevin is already married to an abusive girl he ran away from. When Veronica finds out the truth, the two get "fake married" in order to collect a check from Veronica's late father. The two also get a teenage foster kid from a religious cult, Ethel, who has a baby son. Even though getting a foster kid was only for the money, the two grow a liking to Ethel and let her and her son stay in the household.

Fiona meets an attractive girl, Jasmine, who is more free-spirited and wants Fiona to live a little, often attempting to set her up with different guys. She acts as a friend, helping out with the kids for meals and offering Fiona jobs. Meanwhile, Steve is caught as a car thief by a local cop, Tony, who also has a crush on Fiona. Steve is blackmailed into either being forced to leave Fiona and run away, or be arrested. Steve tries to convince Fiona to leave the country with him, but Fiona declines him and takes a new job at Jasmine's office to further take care of her family. In the end, Steve runs off without the girl he expected to be with.

Cast and characters

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Main

Special guest stars

Recurring

Episodes

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No.
overall
No. in
season
Title Directed by Written by Original air date Prod.
code
US viewers
(millions)
1 1 "Pilot" Mark Mylod Teleplay by: Paul Abbott and John Wells
British Episode by: Paul Abbott
January 9, 2011 (2011-01-09) 296769 0.98[1]
2 2 "Frank the Plank" John Wells Teleplay by: Paul Abbott and John Wells
British Episode by: Paul Abbott
January 16, 2011 (2011-01-16) 2J5402 0.81[2]
3 3 "Aunt Ginger" Stephen Hopkins Nancy M. Pimental January 23, 2011 (2011-01-23) 2J5403 0.90[3]
4 4 "Casey Casden" Todd Holland Teleplay and Television Story by: Cindy Caponera
British Episode by: Paul Abbott
January 30, 2011 (2011-01-30) 2J5404 1.11[4]
5 5 "Three Boys" Mimi Leder Teleplay by: Alex Borstein
British Episode by: Danny Brocklehurst
February 6, 2011 (2011-02-06) 2J5405 0.95[5]
6 6 "Killer Carl" John Dahl Mike O'Malley February 13, 2011 (2011-02-13) 2J5406 1.01[6]
7 7 "Frank Gallagher: Loving Husband, Devoted Father" David Nutter Etan Frankel February 20, 2011 (2011-02-20) 2J5407 1.14[7]
8 8 "It's Time to Kill the Turtle" Scott Frank Nathan Jackson and Nancy M. Pimental February 27, 2011 (2011-02-27) 2J5408 0.92[8]
9 9 "But At Last Came a Knock" Mark Mylod Teleplay by: Alex Borstein
British Episode by: Paul Abbott
March 6, 2011 (2011-03-06) 2J5409 1.14[9]
10 10 "Nana Gallagher Had an Affair" Adam Bernstein Teleplay and Television Story by: Cindy Caponera
British Episode by: Paul Abbott
March 13, 2011 (2011-03-13) 2J5410 1.12[10]
11 11 "Daddyz Girl" Sanaa Hamri Nancy M. Pimental March 20, 2011 (2011-03-20) 2J5411 1.10[11]
12 12 "Father Frank, Full of Grace" Mark Mylod John Wells March 27, 2011 (2011-03-27) 2J5412 1.16[12]

Development and casting

HBO began developing an American version of Shameless after striking a deal with John Wells in January 2009.[13] By October 2009 the development had moved to Showtime. John Wells Productions filmed a pilot episode for the cable network in December 2009.[14] William H. Macy stars in the lead role as Frank Gallagher.[15] Also joining the cast were former Dragonball Evolution co-stars Emmy Rossum as Fiona and Justin Chatwin as Steve.[16][17] 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 twelve-episode order.[18] In late August Joan Cusack was cast as Sheila, a romantic interest for Frank, replacing Allison Janney, who portrayed the role in the pilot.[19] 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.

Production

Production began in mid-September 2010.[19] It is filmed in the North Lawndale[20] community area of Chicago[21] and Burbank, California, at Warner Bros. Studios.

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the first season a 'Certified Fresh' rating of 70% based on 37 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."[22]

DVD release

The Complete First Season
Set details[23] Special features[24]
  • 12 episodes
  • 595 minutes (Region 1); 940 minutes (Region 2); 925 minutes (Region 4)
  • 3-disc set
  • 1.33:1 aspect ratio
  • Languages:
    • English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
  • Subtitles:
    • English, and French (Region 1)
    • English, Spanish, Danish, French, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, English and German for the Hearing Impaired (Regions 2 and 4)
  • Bringing Shameless to America – A look at the process of reworking and repurposing a successful UK television series for an American premium cable audience.
  • Bringing the Fun to Dysfunctional – Go behind-the-scenes of the show with key members of the cast and crew in this much-too-brief making-the-series featurette.
  • A Shameless Discussion About Sex – Rossum and co-stars Steve Howey, Justin Chatwin and Shanola Hampton have a candid chat about the sex in Shameless.
  • Audio Commentaries – Two commentaries are available:
    • "Pilot," which features a broad overview of the series courtesy of writer/director John Wells, executive producer Andrew Stern and actress Emmy Rossum
    • "Frank Gallagher: Loving Husband, Devoted Father," a more episode-centric track with writer Etan Frankel, director David Nutter, and actors Cameron Monaghan and Jeremy Allen White.
  • Deleted Scenes – A small selection of deleted scenes of the series.
    • Episodes: 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19
  • Season 2 Sneak Peek – A look into season 2 of Shameless
Release dates
 United States  United Kingdom  Australia

December 27, 2011 (2011-12-27)[25]

June 25, 2012 (2012-06-25)[26] April 4, 2012 (2012-04-04)[27]

References

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External links