Shameless is an American family comedy-drama television series developed by John Wells that debuted on Showtime on January 9, 2011. It is an adaptation of Paul Abbott’s British series of the same name and features an ensemble cast led by William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. The show is set in the South Side of Chicago and filmed throughout the city, with interior scenes largely filmed in Los Angeles.
With the premiere of the ninth season on September 9, 2018, Shameless became the longest-running original scripted series in Showtime’s history. In January 2019, the series was renewed for a tenth season, which premiered on November 10, 2019. In January 2020, the series was renewed for its eleventh and final season, which was scheduled to premiere in mid-2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it instead premiered on December 6, 2020. On December 14, 2020, Showtime announced that they are airing a clip show series during Season 11, Shameless: Hall of Shame, containing new scenes juxtaposed with clips from the show to summarize the characters’ journeys during the prior 10 seasons. Shameless‘ series finale will air on April 11, 2021.
Premise
The series depicts the poor, dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher, a neglectful single father of six; Fiona, Phillip, Ian, Carl, Debbie and Liam. He spends his days drunk or in search of misadventures, and his children learn to take care of themselves. The show’s producers sought to distinguish this production from previous American working-class shows by highlighting how Frank’s alcoholism and drug addiction affects his family. The show’s creator Paul Abbott said, “It’s not My Name Is Earl or Roseanne. It’s got a much graver level of poverty attached to it. It’s not blue collar; it’s no collar.” Showrunner John Wells fought efforts to place the show in the South or in a trailer park. “We have a comedic tradition of making fun of the people in those worlds,” he said. “The reality is that these people aren’t ‘the other’—they’re people who live four blocks down from you and two blocks over.”
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 12 | January 9, 2011 | March 27, 2011 | ||
| 2 | 12 | January 8, 2012 | April 1, 2012 | ||
| 3 | 12 | January 13, 2013 | April 7, 2013 | ||
| 4 | 12 | January 12, 2014 | April 6, 2014 | ||
| 5 | 12 | January 11, 2015 | April 5, 2015 | ||
| 6 | 12 | January 10, 2016 | April 3, 2016 | ||
| 7 | 12 | October 2, 2016 | December 18, 2016 | ||
| 8 | 12 | November 5, 2017 | January 28, 2018 | ||
| 9 | 14 | September 9, 2018 | March 10, 2019 | ||
| 10 | 12 | November 10, 2019 | January 26, 2020 | ||
| 11 | 12 | December 6, 2020 | April 11, 2021 | ||
| Hall of Shame | 6 | December 27, 2020 | February 28, 2021 | ||
Cast and characters
- William H. Macy as Frank Gallagher
- Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher (seasons 1–9)
- Justin Chatwin as Steve Wilton / Jimmy Lishman (seasons 1–3; special guest season 4; recurring season 5)
- Ethan Cutkosky as Carl Gallagher
- Shanola Hampton as Veronica “V” Fisher
- Steve Howey as Kevin “Kev” Ball
- Emma Kenney as Debbie Gallagher
- Jeremy Allen White as Philip “Lip” Gallagher
- Cameron Monaghan as Ian Gallagher
- Noel Fisher as Mickey Milkovich (seasons 3–5, 10–11; recurring seasons 1–2, 7; special guest seasons 6 and 9)
- Joan Cusack as Sheila Jackson (seasons 1–5)
- Laura Slade Wiggins as Karen Jackson (seasons 1–2; recurring season 3)
- Zach McGowan as Jody Silverman (season 3; recurring season 2)
- Emma Greenwell as Mandy Milkovich (seasons 3–4; recurring season 2; special guest seasons 5–6) (Jane Levy played Mandy for six episodes of season 1)
- Jake McDorman as Mike Pratt (season 4; recurring season 3)
- Emily Bergl as Sammi Slott (season 5; recurring season 4)
- Isidora Goreshter as Svetlana Yevgenivna (seasons 7–8; guest season 3; recurring seasons 4–6)
- Richard Flood as Ford Kellogg (season 9; recurring season 8)
- Christian Isaiah as Liam Gallagher (seasons 9-11; recurring season 8)
- Kate Miner as Tami Tamietti (seasons 10–11; recurring season 9)
Production
Development
Shameless was adapted from a long-running, award-winning British television drama of the same name. HBO began developing an American version of Shameless after striking a deal with John Wells in January 2000. By April 2001, the development had moved to Showtime. John Wells Productions taped a pilot episode for the cable network in December 2003.
William H. Macy stars in the lead role as Frank Gallagher. Also joining the cast were Emmy Rossum as Fiona and Justin Chatwin as Steve, former co-stars from Dragonball Evolution. Paul Abbott, whose semi-autobiographical telescript was the basis for the UK pilot, is credited as an executive producer on the U.S. version.
In April 2010, Showtime green-lit the series with a 12-episode order.
The Sheila Jackson character (a romantic interest for Frank), was first portrayed by Allison Janney in a pilot, however in late August 2010, the role was recast and Joan Cusackended up playing Sheila for the aired episodes. Production began in mid-September.
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.
The series is set in Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood on the South Side.
Most episodes begin with one of the main characters who breaks the fourth wall to berate the viewer about missing previous episodes. Then the show cuts to a recap montage of plot points relevant to the current episode, followed by the opening title sequence.
Filming
The series is mostly filmed in the North Lawndale community area of Chicago and Burbank, California, at Warner Bros. Studios.
Initial shooting of the second season began on July 5, 2011 and premiered January 8, 2012. The series was renewed for a third season on February 1, 2012, and initial shooting began June 27, 2012. The third season premiered on January 13, 2013, and two weeks later on January 29, Shameless was renewed for a fourth season. It premiered January 12, 2014.
On February 18, 2014, the series was renewed for a fifth season. Production on the first episode of the fifth season began on July 3, 2014 with the first episode table read, with initial shooting for the season beginning on July 8, 2014.
The series was renewed for a sixth season on January 12, 2015. Shameless was renewed for a 12-episode seventh season on January 12, 2016. Season 7 premiered on October 2, 2016.
In December 2016 it was reported that Emmy Rossum, after multiple seasons of being paid significantly less than her co-star William H. Macy, had requested that she be paid equally and compensated in future seasons to make up for the previous salary discrepancies. The equal pay negotiations, which were vocally supported by her co-star Macy,briefly delayed work on an eighth season of the series, while she and Warner Bros. Television negotiated. The dispute came to an end on December 14, when Rossum confirmed through Twitter that she would continue to work on the series, with production of an eighth season to begin in May 2017. On December 19, 2016, Showtime officially announced that Shameless had been renewed for an eighth season. Just days after the eighth-season premiere, it was announced that the show had been renewed for a ninth, which would bring the show past the 100-episode mark.
In August 2018, Rossum announced her departure from Shameless after nine seasons playing Fiona Gallagher. In October 2018, Cameron Monaghan also announced his departure from the series after playing Ian Gallagher for nine seasons; however, it was later announced Monaghan was expected to return for the tenth season.
On January 13, 2020, it was announced that the series had been renewed for its eleventh and final season, that was scheduled to air Summer 2020, but is now being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that Macy, White, Cutkosky, Hampton, Howey, Kenney, Monaghan, Fisher, Miner and Isaiah would all be returning for the series’ final season.Production on the final season commenced on September 8, 2020. Production for the final season ended on March 12, 2021.
Music
The theme song for Shameless is “The Luck You Got” by indie rock group The High Strung. The majority of the music featured in the series is from indie rock bands. The pilot episode used music from artists such as Cream, Spoon, Say Hi, 3OH!3, The Vines, Ace of Spades, The Moog and LMFAO. The show has also featured music from Let’s Wrestle, Eels, The Blue Van, Cake, Jimmy Eat World, Alien Crime Syndicate, Capital Cities, and Johnny Foreigner.
In promotion for the second-season premiere, the entire cast sang their own version of a Christmas carol, entitled “Shameless: Christmas Carol”. It can be found on the special features of the season 2 DVD featurette.
Broadcast
Shameless premiered on January 9, 2011, in the United States, becoming Showtime’s highest-rated series debut on record across the network’s target demographic. The first episode of the series generated 982,000 unique viewers, and was Showtime’s largest audience for a series premiere since Dead Like Me in 2003.
The fourth episode, “Casey Casden”, airing January 30, posted 1.45 million total viewers. Shameless was the cable channel’s best-performing first-year drama. Defying the usual downward trend following a premiere, the series built on its initial audience, becoming number one in its time slot among adults aged 18 through 49. Subsequent episodes’ audiences fluctuated between a million and 1.14 million viewers. The March 27, 2011 season finale, “Father Frank, Full of Grace,” drew an audience of 1.157 million.
The third season’s premiere episode, “El Gran Cañon” (airing January 13, 2013), drew 2 million viewers, becoming the show’s highest rated episode to date. It has since maintained average ratings of just below a million viewers throughout the remainder of its episodes.
Reception
Critical reception
Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said that “Shameless is excellent, compelling television from the first moment. As long as it stays true to the roots of the original, it’s going to be essential viewing”. The show’s first season score on Metacritic is a 66 of 100, which is a generally favorable review. The second season score on Metacritic is a 76 of 100, indicating increasingly favorable reviews. Tom O’Neill of the Los Angeles Times reported on the Emmy buzz about Shameless, especially with respect to the performance of Emmy Rossum. He said “she didn’t have much Emmy buzz after Shameless debuted in January, but that changed after she gave powerhouse turns in such episodes as ‘But at Last Came a Knock'”. BuddyTV ranked Shameless #8 on its list of 2011’s best new TV shows. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a ‘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.” Seasons 2–8 each have an above 90% rating as of April 2020, with the exception of season 7, which has an 88% rating. Seasons 9 and 10 have the lowest ratings with 70% and 40% respectively as of April 2020.
Ratings
The first episode of the series, “Pilot”, 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.
| Season | Timeslot (ET) | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | Avg. viewers (millions) |
Avg. 18–49 rating |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Viewers (millions) |
Date | Viewers (millions) |
|||||
| 1 | Sunday 10:00 pm | 11 | January 9, 2011 | 0.98 | March 27, 2011 | 1.16 | 1.03 | TBD |
| 2 | Sunday 9:00 pm | 12 | January 8, 2012 | 1.58 | April 1, 2012 | 1.45 | 1.36 | 0.72 |
| 3 | 12 | January 13, 2013 | 2.00 | April 7, 2013 | 1.82 | 1.65 | 0.81 | |
| 4 | 12 | January 12, 2014 | 1.69 | April 6, 2014 | 1.93 | 1.71 | 0.82 | |
| 5 | 12 | January 11, 2015 | 1.77 | April 5, 2015 | 1.55 | 1.58 | 0.71 | |
| 6 | 12 | January 10, 2016 | 1.44 | April 3, 2016 | 1.63 | 1.56 | 0.64 | |
| 7 | 12 | October 2, 2016 | 1.24 | December 18, 2016 | 1.72 | 1.42 | 0.54 | |
| 8 | 12 | November 5, 2017 | 1.86 | January 28, 2018 | 1.73 | 1.50 | 0.54 | |
| 9 | 14 | September 9, 2018 | 1.31 | March 10, 2019 | 1.35 | 1.04 | 0.36 | |
| 10 | 12 | November 10, 2019 | 0.76 | January 26, 2020 | 0.92 | 0.85 | 0.24 | |
| 11 | 12 | December 6, 2020 | 0.70 | TBA | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| 12 | 6 | December 27, 2020 | TBD | TBA | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
Shameless : U.S. viewers per episode (millions)
| Season | Episode number | Average | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 1 | 0.98 | 0.81 | 0.90 | 1.11 | 0.95 | 1.01 | 1.14 | 0.92 | 1.14 | 1.12 | 1.10 | 1.16 | N/A | 1.03 | ||
| 2 | 1.58 | 1.25 | 1.28 | 1.37 | 1.01 | 1.44 | 1.41 | 1.60 | 1.31 | 1.16 | 1.51 | 1.45 | N/A | 1.36 | ||
| 3 | 2.00 | 1.37 | 1.99 | 1.53 | 1.31 | 1.48 | 1.76 | 1.66 | 1.67 | 1.61 | 1.65 | 1.82 | N/A | 1.65 | ||
| 4 | 1.69 | 1.60 | 1.83 | 1.22 | 1.58 | 1.90 | 1.89 | 1.77 | 1.70 | 1.63 | 1.76 | 1.93 | N/A | 1.71 | ||
| 5 | 1.77 | 1.76 | 1.96 | 1.26 | 1.64 | 1.26 | 1.44 | 1.60 | 1.62 | 1.67 | 1.43 | 1.55 | N/A | 1.58 | ||
| 6 | 1.44 | 1.64 | 1.70 | 1.70 | 1.16 | 1.60 | 1.66 | 1.50 | 1.68 | 1.60 | 1.45 | 1.63 | N/A | 1.56 | ||
| 7 | 1.24 | 1.11 | 1.44 | 1.38 | 1.20 | 1.44 | 1.33 | 1.40 | 1.56 | 1.60 | 1.58 | 1.72 | N/A | 1.42 | ||
| 8 | 1.86 | 1.37 | 1.34 | 1.59 | 1.51 | 1.52 | 1.58 | 0.81 | 1.65 | 1.52 | 1.52 | 1.73 | N/A | 1.50 | ||
| 9 | 1.31 | 1.12 | 1.05 | 1.09 | 1.00 | 0.92 | 1.00 | 0.80 | 0.84 | 1.14 | 0.97 | 0.81 | 1.13 | 1.35 | 1.04 | |
| 10 | 0.76 | 0.91 | 0.84 | 0.87 | 0.83 | 0.89 | 0.84 | 0.86 | 0.77 | 0.89 | 0.81 | 0.92 | N/A | 0.85 | ||
| 11 | 0.70 | 0.69 | 0.62 | 0.57 | 0.57 | 0.52 | 0.41 | 0.55 | 0.48 | 0.59 | 0.52 | TBD | N/A | |||
| Hall of Shame | 0.43 | 0.42 | 0.40 | 0.40 | 0.35 | 0.29 | N/A | 0.38 | ||||||||
Audience measurement performed by Nielsen Media Research.
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Artios Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Casting Television Pilot – Drama | John Frank Levey | Nominated | |
| Critics’ Choice Television Awards | Best Actor in a Drama Series | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | Joan Cusack | Nominated | ||
| Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| 2012 | Critics’ Choice Television Awards | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Emmy Rossum | Nominated | |
| Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series | Chloe Webb | Nominated | |||
| GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Showtime | Nominated | ||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | Joan Cusack | Nominated | ||
| PRISM Awards | Comedy Series – Substance Use Prism Award | Shameless | Won | ||
| Best Performance in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Won | |||
| Best Performance in a Comedy Series | Emmy Rossum | Nominated | |||
| 2013 | BMI Film & TV Awards | BMI Cable Television Music Award | Fil Eisler (as iZler) | Won | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | Joan Cusack | Nominated | ||
| Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a TV Series Recurring Young Actor | Nicky Korba | Nominated | ||
| 2014 | GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Showtime | Nominated | |
| Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a TV Series Guest Starring Young Actor 14–16 | C.J. Berdahl | Nominated | ||
| Critics’ Choice Television Awards | Best Actress in a Comedy Series | Emmy Rossum | Nominated | ||
| Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series | Jeremy Allen White | Nominated | |||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series | Joan Cusack | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program | Julie Michaels | Nominated | |||
| 2015 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy | William H. Macy | Nominated | |
| Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy | Emmy Rossum | Nominated | |||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Won | ||
| Critics’ Choice Television Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series | Cameron Monaghan | Nominated | ||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series | Joan Cusack | Won | |||
| GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Shameless | Nominated | ||
| 2016 | People’s Choice Awards | Favorite Premium Cable TV Actress | Emmy Rossum | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program | Eddie Perez | Won | |||
| 2017 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Won | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program | Eddie Perez | Won | |||
| 2018 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy | William H. Macy | Nominated | |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Won | ||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program | Eddie Perez | Nominated | |||
| People’s Choice Awards | The Bingeworthy Show of 2018 | Shameless | Nominated | ||
| 2019 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series | William H. Macy | Nominated | |
| Shorty Awards | Best Actor | Emmy Rossum | Nominated | ||
| 2020 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or Variety Program | Eddie Perez | Won |
Home media
| Name | Release dates | No. of episodes |
Additional information | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
| The Complete First Season | December 27, 2011 | June 25, 2012 | April 4, 2012 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Second Season | December 18, 2012 | N/A | February 13, 2013 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Third Season | December 17, 2013 | N/A | December 18, 2013 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Fourth Season | December 30, 2014 | N/A | December 17, 2014 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Fifth Season | December 29, 2015 | TBA | January 13, 2016 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Sixth Season | August 30, 2016 | TBA | January 11, 2017 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Seventh Season | September 26, 2017 | TBA | January 10, 2018 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Eighth Season | April 24, 2018 | TBA | September 19, 2018 | 12 |
|
| The Complete Ninth Season | April 23, 2019 | TBA | May 15, 2019 | 14 |
|
| The Complete Tenth Season | May 12, 2020 | TBA | May 20, 2020 | 12 |
|
In other media
On the November 16, 2018 broadcast of the A&E program Live PD, deputies of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio were shown serving an arrest warrant to theft suspect Storm Wisener. When the deputies located her and allowed her to put some clothes on before being transported to jail, a TV in the room they were in could be heard loudly playing a sex scene from the Shameless episode “Church of Gay Jesus,” complete with the sounds of Rossum’s character, Fiona, moaning in pleasure. Shortly afterward, host Dan Abrams remarked, “So it seems Storm has been captured, but maybe Stormy was in the background there.”