It’s an occasionally successful combination, but most of the time I find it tremendously off-putting because it creates all of these different shows of varying quality within each of these shows. Shows like Weeds, Californication and Nurse Jackie don’t just mix comedy and drama, they mix broad comedy with “dark” drama in an effort to play up the inconsistency as if it were a virtue. Showtime peddles in what I’ve taken to calling “Xtreme Dramedy,” in which there is an active tension between comic and dramatic elements that the series tend to revel in. What the finale reveals is that the show and I are never going to be on the same page as it relates to this issue. While the antics that usually result from Frank’s direct interaction with his family are some of the show’s larger comic setpieces, they seem so much at odds with the “reality” of the family’s situation that I find myself resenting his presence. However, why do their lives have to intersect as often as they do, and why do we need to spend quite so much time with Frank on a week-to-week basis? The show seems built to send Frank off on off-screen adventures, chances to allow the specter of Frank to hang over his family rather than having him literally causing them trouble. I think Frank’s presence within the Gallagher family’s life is important: he is the symbol of their struggle, the man who Lip and Ian might be destined to turn into and the parent who Fiona fights so hard to make up for. I just can’t imagine looking at this show and saying “I think we should pretend Frank is the lead character” when Fiona’s position is so much more infinitely interesting. There is no universe in which Frank is actually the most important part of this narrative, and no justification for his continued presence beyond a desire to inject a sense of comedy and anti-heroism into the show to fit more closely with the Showtime brand. Macy was the centerpiece of the show’s promotional campaigns (and will be at the center of its Emmy campaign come July), but the character remains the most frustrating part of this show. True, it was naive to think even for a moment that the show might kill off Frank given that William H. I was not surprised to see that Lip stopped short of killing his father, but I have to admit I was more than a little disappointed. Or, to put it in other words, it’s already threatening to be just like every other problematic Showtime series. “Father Frank, Full of Grace” has some strong moments, but it has already put into motion an enormously problematic return to the status quo which threatens to undermine whatever strong character work might be done. The other side, the part where we consider the world that John Wells and Paul Abbott have created in Shameless’ Chicago, seems problematic as the show heads into an extended hiatus before a second season. That is a testament to the strength of the cast, and the writers for working with them, but it is only one component of the series’ future. Their story never felt like we were seeing someone else’s story transposed onto these characters, as each performer seemed to be driving the characterization as much as any sort of influence from across the pond. Between the work of Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Allen White, Cameron Monaghan and Emma Kenney, the Gallagher siblings feel as though they (if not necessarily the world they inhabit) are real people who I want to see face the challenges that result from their position. This is not to say that the show is better or worse, something I can’t judge given that I’ve seen only brief glimpses of the British series, but I felt as though the first season seemed driven by characters more than versions of characters. By the conclusion of its first season, I would argue that Showtime’s Shameless found something of an identity independent of its British predecessor.
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