It’s time for Shameless to stop being shameless and come to an end
By Rachel Roth
The Showtime series Shameless will air its ninth season on September 9th and if the Gallagher’s have any chance of saving their pride, they should leave now.
For nine years, the Gallagher family has thrown wild parties on Showtime but it’s time they shut the party down. Shameless was the greatest show, that may be an exaggeration, but it was fantastic at one point. A hilarious and emotional glimpse of a working class family struggling to survive in South Chicago. Burdened by an alcoholic father, oldest daughter, Fiona, raises her siblings and works multiple jobs to support them. Unlike The Wire or Atlanta which focuses on the gritty side of street-life, Shameless is a comedy and audiences loved tuning in each week to see what shenanigans the Gallagher’s were up too.
Wild but mature Fiona, smart-ass Philip “Lip”, disciplined Ian, psychotic Carl, sweet Debbie and baby Liam; the family was perfect. Their chemistry fed off each other and made them believable to watch. Watching them argue over the dinner table felt real, you could easily imagine having similar fights with your own family.
The end of “Gallavich”
This was the end for many. The hideous destruction that was the considered the best written same-sex couple on television marked the beginning of the Shameless hate. I still remember the Gallavich fandom going through massive panic attacks over the couples’ break-up and when news of Noel Fisher’s departure hit, they all about had a collective heart attack.
More from Showtime
- The Curse season 1 episode schedule: Don’t miss a single minute of the mystery-comedy!
- What time is The Curse on Showtime tonight? (November 10)
- How many episodes are in Fellow Travelers on Showtime?
- Fellow Travelers release schedule: When do new episodes come out?
- Fellow Travelers cast: Who’s in the new Showtime series?
No matter how angry we are, it was inevitable. Noel Fisher’s portrayal of thug Mickey Milkovich attracted lots of attention and he decided to leave the series to pursue other projects. They had to write Mickey out of the show somehow and do so in a way that would keep his absence from disrupting the story but also leave it open for a possible return. They’re decision was not a popular one, not to mention it didn’t make much sense.
The end of Mickey’s character was an insult to the four-year build up towards the Gallavich relationship and didn’t give the respect such an amazing character deserved. Ian, who loved Mickey with all his heart, suddenly decided he didn’t care about him and forgot he ever existed. When Mickey left, a lot of fans went with him. The ones who still watch aren’t letting Showtime forget that they still miss their favorite character.
Destroying the characters
None of the characters resemble who they once were. This shows that the writers forgot what happened in seasons 1-4, or they started taking acid. Shameless is pulling a soap opera move and trying to rewrite their history by changing the characters piece by piece and hope no one notices.
Not only are the characters themselves different but the family dynamic is practically dead. That’s the whole show! A crazy family relying on each other. What’s the point if they don’t even live in the same house or act like strangers? Mother Fiona now acts like she couldn’t care less about her family and is just feeding them because she needs something to distract her from her oh so terrible life. There’s nothing wrong with Fiona wanting something for herself, going out for fun or becoming a small business owner. However, the unraveling of her character is a cheap move to force a separation within the family.
The most responsible person in the house, little Debbie, is now a rotten brat that purposely knocked herself up. The funniest part is that the writers clearly forgot that Debbie has been taking care of children her whole life. She helped raise Liam and ran a day care out of their house when she was twelve. She pops out her own kid and all of a sudden doesn’t know how to raise a child.
And don’t get me started on Ian. I’ve never seen a character so sympathetic and understanding become an ignorant prick, and it has nothing to do with his Bipolar Disorder. The show actually does an accurate representation of the mental illness, but they now use it as an excuse for him to have intense mood swings, and add extra crazy to the plot. This alone is irritating but by season 7, it was Ian himself who changed. The scrappy but kind Southside boy is now supercilious, predicable and narrow-minded.
There was a whole season dedicated to him not understanding bisexuality. He insults a man for daring to have sex with a woman when he’s so obviously gay, acting like being attracted to both sexes is an unspeakable crime. Who is this Ian? I don’t know him.
Shameless overkill
We get it, they’re shameless! We’ve seen enough and it’s getting old. Ian suggesting he murder his sister, Debbie’s toes getting amputated, and Kev thinking he was gay for half a second then forgetting all about it. Then there’s that odd threesome household that Kev, V and Svetlana had.
Going from dramady to pointless insanity shoved down our throats, it’s close to reaching the point of no return. It’s close to becoming the next Dexter. Showtime doesn’t always know when to stop a series, desperate to milk it as long as they can. Weeds, Homeland, Dexter, The Tudors (that made some sense though) and Queer as Folk‘s stories were starting to collapse by the end too.
Every year we hear the same things; “this year we see a more mature…(fill in name).” The actors and writers say this every year. I remember when they started saying that in season 4, now four years later it’s still their go-to spoiler. Fiona’s going to be mature, Debbie’s going to be mature, so is Ian and Lip, yeah we get it. They’re wild and need to take responsibility, but they never do. Another thing we hear every year is Frank’s new lifestyles. Every freaking season John Wells, or someone else, mentions a new Frank and then when the season airs it’s the same old Frank just with a new haircut and living situation. Why would any of them start acting clean-cut now? Isn’t the show about how wild the family is? Take that away and it’s basically a better written, better acted prime time soap opera.
I don’t know how we got here. It’s turning into a ridiculous series that is trying too. Either bring back the close-nit family with shameless endeavors and emotional complexities or cancel it.
Season 9 will air on Showtime at 9:00 p.m. on September 9th, and if history repeats itself, it will get an instant renewal. Then we’ll have to sit through William Macy getting another automatic Emmy nomination for the fifth year in a row. The 2018 nomination marks as his fourth and season 9 will definitely become his fifth. He’s been ranting and stumbling around drunk for nine seasons, does he need another pointless Emmy nomination? Not that he doesn’t do a good job but it’s the same thing since season 1, it’s nothing new. If they want to nominate someone from Shameless so bad it should be Jeremy Allen White or Emmy Rossum.
Next: Halo live action series is a go, 10-episode drama approved
If you’re a current Shameless fan, then I’m sorry, but it really does need to end. Before the show goes even further downhill and in ten years makes the list of “Ten shows that went from terrific to terrible.” It’ll be there right under Dexter and The Office.
I’m still burning over Gallavich.
What do you think of the recent seasons of Shameless? Do you think it should come to an end or do they have another season in them?