'Shameless' - 'Pilot': Get out of my dreams and into my car
What did everybody think of the family dramedy?
Steve (Justin Chatwin) and Fiona (Emmy Rossum) in "Shameless."
Credit: Showtime
If you read my review of Showtime's "Shameless," you know I liked the tone and many of the performances but wasn't completely in love with it yet. Now that the first episode has aired, I'm curious what everybody thought. Are you going to want to spend an hour a week with the Gallaghers? And I'm curious what fans of the UK show thought of it (without offering spoilers for that version of the show).
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupCree
January 10, 2011 at 12:05AM EST Reply to CommentI thought it was excellent. High energy, funny, and sweet without being sappy. It's easy to root for this family. Looking forward to seeing more.
galxe
January 10, 2011 at 12:20AM EST Reply to CommentMetacritc's interpretation of your review is a bit odd (0/100).
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shameless-us/season-1/critic-reviews
sepinwall Metacritic's numerical translation of my reviews is often odd. I've stopped trying to make sense of it.
January 10, 2011 at 12:29AM ESTJake
January 10, 2011 at 12:44AM EST Reply to CommentNever seen the UK version, but I felt there were quite a few forced or unearned moments, some of which could've benefited from being held for later episodes. Also, some of the interactions didn't quite play naturally enough for me. Nevertheless, the episode was engaging enough that I didn't mind much. Some very nice performances, particularly from Rossum. As a pilot, I thought this was quite successful. You can definitely feel the John Wells influence on the show. I'm on board.
January 10, 2011 at 12:49AM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed it though the Fiona/Steve relationship seemed rushed.
Ugh
January 10, 2011 at 12:56AM EST Reply to CommentThis show is not only corny and unrealistic, it's insulting and irresponsible.
Grifter Do elaborate, Miss or Mr. Ugh! Tells us more!
January 10, 2011 at 1:34AM ESTJohn
January 10, 2011 at 2:58AM EST Reply to CommentIt's one of those cheesy premium cable shows that thinks that shock equals quality, not realizing you need wit and insight to back it up.
Rossum will keep me coming back for at least a few episodes. We'll see after that.
Realcity
January 10, 2011 at 1:02PM EST Reply to CommentOverall we thought it was entertaining here at the Realcity office, but left a little to be desired. We haven't seen the UK version so don't have any qualms there, but did feel like a lot of the problems were too easily wrapped up. Maybe that's just the nature of pilots and they'll kick off some longer running issues later on. Or perhaps all of these resolutions were only temporary, we'll see. If you're curious to read more check out our analysis:
http://realcityny.com/shameless-pilot/
Clay
January 10, 2011 at 1:49PM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed it although I did think it was uneven in tone. It felt like some of the "we're actually a happy family" moments were forced. The Gallaghers are already an interesting and tragic bunch with a rich story. The pancake breakfast coda just made me feel like I was being told "it's okay to like these people even though they're screwed up."
It's a dark comedy, let it be dark.
netaniac
January 10, 2011 at 2:01PM EST Reply to CommentWrite a comment...
netaniac
January 10, 2011 at 2:04PM EST Reply to CommentI am hooked! This is show is touching, funny, and plan out brilliant. I think the cast has this electrifying energy between them. It's a beautifully deep show. I watched a few episodes of the British version afterwards, different undertones. There's something magical about the American version. Just my opinion. Thank you Showtime.
ps
January 10, 2011 at 2:34PM EST Reply to CommentI thought there were some good elements, but it seemed to be trying too hard. We get it. There's going to be swear words and nudity and sex and drinking. It didn't feel organic. Also the female neighbor isn't a very good actress (at least in this role). Her delivery is fake and forced. Everyone else seems to be aces.
Shitegeist I agree about the neighbour, in fact both of the neighbours. Not a patch on Maxine Peake and Dean Lennox Kelly in the original.
January 10, 2011 at 6:19PM EST
January 10, 2011 at 4:56PM EST Reply to CommentRossum was great, and it had a couple of moments, but overall I found the pilot tedious and hard to sit through. The show seemed so self-satisfied with it's "unapolegetic wildness". Also, I've been poor and I'm familiar with the lifestyle, and this seemed totally alien to me. I also thought Macy, while sticking out like a sore thumb, also gave a pretty terrible performance, and I'm a fan.
Also seemed like a "this is what rich people think poor people are like" type of thing. Won't be tuning in next week. Really looking forward to Lights Out tomorrow.
Shitegeist
January 10, 2011 at 6:17PM EST Reply to CommentStrangely enough I really enjoyed Justin Chatwin's performance and actually prefer it to James McAvoy's in the UK original. Now, obviously I know that McAvoy is a much, much better actor than Chatwin, but I found McAvoy so gratingly smug in the original that Chatwin is much more palatable by comparison.
Tom
January 10, 2011 at 10:36PM EST Reply to CommentBogus.
This did not travel across the Atlantic. At all. Maybe setting it in South Boston or Philly would have helped - maybe- but a Chicago version felt synthetic.
January 11, 2011 at 12:30AM EST Reply to CommentI only saw the last 20 minutes of the show. Now, this obviously means I missed a lot of what happened, but I was able to get what the show was about...some of the dynamics between the characters, etc.
I wasn't impressed. It seemed to be trying too hard to be "dysfunctional."
In my circle of friends I've always argued that the best comedy of the decade was actually a "black comedy" called Malcolm In The Middle.
That show nailed the dysfunctional family dynamic and was also hilarious.
You, Shameless, are no Malcolm in the Middle!
GMac
January 11, 2011 at 3:41AM EST Reply to CommentI thought the pilot was fantastic, a very pleasant surprise. Emmy Rossum is perfect as Fiona, enough that I totally buy into this scrappy clan as a loving family who at least have each other.
The two older brothers killed their scenes together, and nicely portrayed their strong fraternal bond. I actually like that the show didn't drag out the tension of Ian's secret with several episodes of paranoid conversations and awkward gags and just let Lip confront, and then accept, his brother.
Plenty of comic moments, but overall it feels more like a drama in my opinion. Either way, perfect for the Showtime brand and their best new show in years.
January 11, 2011 at 7:08AM EST Reply to CommentI'm a big fan of the original Shameless and this episode was too similar to the british pilot to be fully satisfying. I also noticed a lack of rhythm, mainly due to a badly selected music.
I think that Paul Abbott just wants to re-write Shameless with a more stable cast: in Shameless UK, after three seasons (= 2 seasons in America's cable shows) most of the characters were gone.
Joe How dare you! No matter what the occasion, if you have not one, but TWO Spoon songs the music selection is perfect!
January 11, 2011 at 11:24AM ESTAngela I too didn't care for the choice of music. When one of the boys was riding off on his bicycle I thought the photography was great, but the music got in the way. Same with another song that might have been Spoon too? But the music's only part of a larger "noise" about this show that bothers me. Sorry, guess I'm not a Spoon lover. :)
January 14, 2011 at 12:03AM ESTCam
January 11, 2011 at 1:09PM EST Reply to CommentHave to admit I bailed on the pilot 20 minutes or so in. I expect to try it again later if I hear good things but I thought it was way too over the top with the whole "look how wacky this family is" introduction and then the sequence at the bar seemed like something out of a lame teen drama... I fully admit to not giving it a fair shot but it felt extremely inauthentic to me (and I expected to really like it)
January 12, 2011 at 1:10PM EST Reply to CommentI think that I will really like this show, even though I felt like the pilot episode was really rushed, and even though this show is on Showtime, I was still a little shocked to see full frontal on a male character.
January 12, 2011 at 6:39PM EST Reply to CommentI loved it. I never saw or even heard of the UK version, but I thought the performances in the U.S. pilot were excellent, and I loved the characters (particularly the kids). I'm definitely interested in seeing more.
G-Monstrosity
January 14, 2011 at 8:42AM EST Reply to Commentok. i am a decently harsh critic when it comes to stuff. i've gone over what ive rated on netflix and i am unkind to many things, but i'm kind of finding that the reasons people are not liking this show are coming off as near nonsense.
now, for starters i was surprised how much i liked it. is it perfect? no. but it's a tv show. if the pilot was perfect you'd expect everything following to be and when they didn't live up to that you'd go nuts then. the issues that came up in this episode are definitely coming back. if you had watched the previews during the credits, you'd have seen that.
the show is about a family that grew together after their mom split and they were left with their selfish, alcoholic father. they fend for themselves and fiona turned into more of a mother than a sister so yeah you better damn believe a family like that is gonna do their best to be as happy as they can be 'cause if they didn't try they'd probably kill themselves. the point of the show is to like them even though they're "screwed up" so i don't see what the harm in that is. why would you watch a show about people you don't like? that sounds terrible. the neighbors need some development other than bumbling big guy and sassy black girl, yes, but it was the first episode for gods sake! give them a chance before you burn them at the stake. Macy did pretty well, and since he is a well-rounded actor this role shouldn't be hard for him as long as they use him properly. i saw someone said this was no Malcolm in the Middle. yeah. it's not. cause that show was bad. if you think that was the best comedy than you don't watch anything good. ever. it was an unrealistic, over-exaggerated take on a dysfunctional family, and they knew that. it wasn't bad at first but it doesn't deserve a militia (even a single-manned one) defending its honor to this day. music wasn't bad. the reason why they go with a slightly grungier sound when lip is on the bike is because he stole it. you clearly hear the little girl scream "that's my @#!$ing bike!" watch it again, it'll make sense. the uk show was different because it gave the feel that these people are really unlikeable. some were a little easier to handle than others. but i found myself liking more of these characters than the almost sinister presence of some of the others from across the way. sorry for the rant but jeez, some of that needed to be said.
Angela
January 14, 2011 at 7:34PM EST Reply to CommentI liked all the main characters and the choice of actors in the family, Fiona's boyfriend Steve, plus the next door neighbors. The story between the two brothers felt honest and sweet to me.
The rest was just 'eh. The pace was too frantic and got to me in the end. They could have used half of their material in this episode and I would have been more satisfied. The writing was good but insanely rushed I couldn't appreciate it. It made me miss Rubicon and Mad Men that much more. This reminds me of Parenthood only on speed.
I feel kind of bad because there's a lot of good things going on in Shameless. And by the end of the episode I felt like my life was a little too boring and safe. But I think this show must be for people under 40 with ADD, ADHD.