TV Review: SHAMELESS (2010), Season 1: Ep. 1: Pilot

Shameless (2010), Season 1, episode 1 – Pilot – introduces the Showtime audience to the dysfunctional Gallagher family. This remake has some of the favor of Skins but only a percentage and is also akin to Rosanne. though Frank (William H. Macy) is the patriarch of the family, it is his daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) that actually runs the household. It is through this that the dynamic of the family is established and maintained daily with scotch tape, rope, and gum. The success of this show resides in the fact that the viewer almost immediately roots for the Gallaghers and their dilapidated plight that stems from their unemployed, drunkard father and the circumstances her has left them all in.

The two most interesting segments of this episode was the courtship of Steve (Justin Chatwin) and Fiona and Lip Gallagher’s discovery about his brother Ian Gallagher (Cameron Monaghan). The shock on Fiona’s face when Steve shows up the next day was hilarious, as was her cursing herself when he left her house the night before. Guys often second guess themselves in the same when a girl they like leaves within less than favorable circumstances. Lip’s “intervention” on Ian was behalf was sound and amusing, as he attempted to show his brother just what he was missing out on or hadn’t experienced yet.

Whether the show is as good as the original is left to those to judge that have actually seen the UK incarnation of show. In its own rite, if the show is able to keep up the energy and honesty it may last. It’s certain funny.