Television Shameless

[aihfl]

her departure means that the show should probably come to an end

Agreed. The characters' lives are so tightly woven together, I'm not sure it could make it without Fiona.

Yea she is good looking but her character always got on my nerves tbh. Can't adequately explain why exactly.

I'm usually watching it on Netflix in the background while I work and when she's naked and riding some guy I pay closer attention, but overall, yeah, her character is kind of annoying. She's basically a ho, except you don't have to pay her. There's also something kind of narcissistic about her. But to me, Fiona is most appealing when she dispenses Southside justice. Just like how Larry David says all the things we want to say in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fiona dispensing Southside justice is probably something many of us want to do if social norms didn't keep us from doing it. I guess you could say that about all the Gallaghers.

I really didn't care that much for her storyline with the apartment and liking that douchebag carpenter.

I don't even know why that character was even added. He does nothing to drive the show. For someone who's had all those interesting life experiences, he sure is dull to watch.

I've tried to watch the American version, but just don't get it. As you say, cultural differences.

Understandable. I love the American Sanford and Son, but when a I tried watching the original Steptoe and Son with a friend from the UK, I didn't really get it. But not all UK humor goes over my head - I loved Benny Hill.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Agreed. The characters' lives are so tightly woven together, I'm not sure it could make it without Fiona.


I'm usually watching it on Netflix in the background while I work and when she's naked and riding some guy I pay closer attention, but overall, yeah, her character is kind of annoying. She's basically a ho, except you don't have to pay her. There's also something kind of narcissistic about her. But to me, Fiona is most appealing when she dispenses Southside justice. Just like how Larry David says all the things we want to say in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fiona dispensing Southside justice is probably something many of us want to do if social norms didn't keep us from doing it. I guess you could say that about all the Gallaghers.


I don't even know why that character was even added. He does nothing to drive the show. For someone who's had all those interesting life experiences, he sure is dull to watch.


Understandable. I love the American Sanford and Son, but when a I tried watching the original Steptoe and Son with a friend from the UK, I didn't really get it. But not all UK humor goes over my head - I loved Benny Hill.

Heh, who didn't love Benny Hill? My very earliest wankathons were inspired by the scantily clad ladies in the closing scene...



What about 'The Inbetweeners'? I've also tried to watch the US version and found it a very pale imitation. What do you guys think? Again it could just be down to cultural differences, but I suspect the US version was just shit...

 

[quiet roar]

Pretty much every US version of a european or australian show is a sub-standard, dumbed-down copy of the original, and therefore, relatively crap.

 

[wallywogs]

Watch the British Version.

 

[aihfl]

Pretty much every US version of a european or australian show is a sub-standard, dumbed-down copy of the original, and therefore, relatively crap.

If our shows are so "dumbed down" and "crap," why is American TV directly usually directly exported and not suitably remade for intellectually superior people? Oh I know why. I saw Law and Order UK during a stay in London and thought it was so laughably bad I really enjoyed it. But I'm pretty sure that's not what the show was going for. And the UK Shameless? Boring. As. Shit. Yes, I've seen it.

 

[CoastTwoCoast]

If our shows are so "dumbed down" and "crap," why is American TV directly usually directly exported and not suitably remade for intellectually superior people? Oh I know why. I saw Law and Order UK during a stay in London and thought it was so laughably bad I really enjoyed it. But I'm pretty sure that's not what the show was going for. And the UK Shameless? Boring. As. Shit. Yes, I've seen it.

Haha! You couldn't pay me to watch the UK version of Shameless.

 

[opioidsoveragain]

Haha! You couldn't pay me to watch the UK version of Shameless.

didnt even know there was a UK version. Will give it a try

 

[mal3volent]

I used to be into that Skins show when I was younger. I was pretty excited when they came out with the US version...but it was complete crap. I want to say it was like 2009 or 10 maybe? And on MTV. That was the problem. Put it on Netflix, HBO, or Showtime where they could have had more freedom with the writing and it would have been totally different.

The whole us/uk debate is pointless because it really has nothing to do with the respective countries and everything to do with who gets the rights to which show, what network it airs on, what type of show it is, etc. As I said, the Skins remake was bad. Shameless seems to come down to which do you relate to more, which explains the geographic split.

I'm a pretty huge Big Brother fan, and while I like the UK version for what it is, I think the US version (and Canadian which was based on ours) is MUCH better from an entertainment standpoint. The "dumbed down" label would be better applied to the original in this case, as it mostly just unabashed voyeurism with no strategic/competitive element.

Also, the whole Americans are dumb argument doesn't make much sense when basically the world watches our movies, plays our games, uses our websites/apps...

 

[spacejunk]

I tend to avoid hollywood like the plague, fwiw.

Not that american culture is dumb - but i prefer brit/aussie/nz humour to the "haw haw, ya geddit" lack-of-subtly in mainstream US comedy much of the time. Some US comedy is pure gold, but much of it is garbage. It is exported globally for a number of reasons - many of which are economic, i assume - and the pure volume of content created by american companies.

YMMV - but i love the UK (original) Shameless, and couldn't bring myself to watch the yank remake.

It's not about "dumb entertainment" or "high brow / low brow" - honestly (as a person with many many close american friends and family) it's about american insularity.
I understand the cultural references of both countries, and personally i prefer british telly

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

US Frank v UK Frank:




No contest. US Frank is a fuckin pretty boy...

 

[mal3volent]

US Frank v UK Frank:




No contest. US Frank is a fuckin pretty boy...

 

[CoastTwoCoast]

I prefer the way the US Shameless casts looks so oh well. I couldn't make it past a couple seconds of the UK one.

I got a thing for Lip and Fiona, both turn me on like crazy! Oh and what's also cool about the US version of Shameless is Kev and V. They
are an interracial couple in the US version and also incredibly good looking and funny. I enjoyed Kev and V's storyline the most last season with Svetlana. They are hilarious.

Anyone see the season 9 premiere yet? How was it? I'm going to make sure I watch it today.

 

[spacejunk]

Lol. I fookin' loove the original lad. he look like a genuine trash bag, not a movie star with stubble

The British Shameless is fucking superb, so i can't bring myself to watch an americanised version. Nothing to do with being against american telly, but like the Office...it was great because it was british, and i can't see the purpose of making an american version.

It makes me wonder what the point is - i mean, is british humour really that foreign to US audiences?
There are some types of american comedy i don't really understand - like most will ferrell movies - which i think are just not funny at all. Not that it's alien to me, just not to my taste. Same with some uk comedy or australian comedy though.

But i'm not really curious enough to understand these american remakes to actually watch them. sorry if that's derailing the thread a bit, but i just think "if it ain't broke, why fix (remake) it?"

not ragging on US audiences, US humour, US culture or anything else. i just don't understand the need, and find the whole thing of americanised remakes so boringly unoriginal.
maybe it's my loss - because some people here clearly love the american shameless. but it's like listening to the beatles then putting on a monkees record, to me. not a perfect analogy, but good enough

 

[mal3volent]

Still not watched any of the new season, but just been thinking... they could easily use Fiona leaving as an excuse to totally restructure the show. Let's face it, it's not just her storyline that's run its course. If they can write Roseanne out of Roseanne​ and turn it into The Connors ...they ought to be able to do something similar with Shameless.

They could do so many things, but just as an example, the Gallagher house burns down and they're forced to relocate somewhere else in Chicago. I don't know Chicago, but some part of the city that harkens back to the early days of the show, back before the south side gentrification storyline. If I could just have it my way, it would revolve around Carl, Lip, and Liam...Frank would have to be there in some capacity. Debbie, Ian, Kev, V, etc would still have their part but the core would be Carl, Lip, and Liam.

They could easily write in new female characters. There's a million talented actresses out there that would kill to be on that show.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Found a list of some of (UK) Frank's quotes:

- If I'd have known she was a lezzer I'd have asked her back!

- Pint and a couple of Es, Kev.

- Deliver us from evil, or grant us the certainty of being caked enough not to give a fuck. Amen.

- People say the children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way. But after you've had eight of your own, you realise that's a load of bollocks. Darwin had the right idea; just leave the buggers to fend for themselves.

- No gear? You call yourself a fucking teenager?

- Lip you were a gobby little shite, always had too much to say for yourself, so you should know, that I've had a little piss in every bottle of pop you've left in the fridge since 1997.

- So what if I'm not an astronaut, or the Prime Minister, or a football player. I am Vernon Francis Gallagher. I came, I saw, I drank the fucking lot.

- Son when you have them, little babies, you love them. Even if they're real mingers. I mean when Ian was born he looked like David Gest.

- I've fallen in love. And it hurts, like someone's taken my bollocks, rolled them in chilli sauce and invited them to take up permanent residence in my gut.

- Despite your reasonable tone and helpful advice, I still fucking hate you.

- A baby comes into the world, another brain departs...

- I promise I'll always be there for you. As long as I'm collecting your benefits.

- The best part of you ran down your mother's leg.

 

[spacejunk]

^ poetic mate. love it

 

[mal3volent]

If god didn't want us putting things up our ass, he would have given the rectum a gag reflex.

— Frank Gallagher (American)

 

[CoastTwoCoast]

Haha! I do love British slang so I'm missing out on that factor not seeing the UK version.
Watched the season 9 premiere and it was funny. Frank is such a dirtbag as we know, but it still kinda amazes me the levels he sinks to. I might bail though because for the previews coming up, Frank is going to gather the white people together, like rally them up to take back the state or some crap. We have enough of that racial tension going on now in the states. I just don't feel like watching it being perpetuated on a TV show that I'm looking to for laughs.

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

"The Young Ones", "Monty Python" and the Canadian "Kids in the Hall" seemed to have an influence on some of the evolution of our shows and were favorites of mine but our (early) "Saturday Night Live" broke the mold imo.

I also like some of the Simon Pegg stuff that comes along but I have to put my vote in for the American Shameless 100%. I'm still up in the air over Fiona (Emmy R.) leaving but feel the rest of the cast, like an older Carl can carry it just fine.

 

[mal3volent]

So Cameron Monaghan who plays Ian is leaving the show as well, apparently.