Shameless (US)

Shameless lives up to its title. What's left for the rest of the season? Cannibalism? Macy is a good sport about being dragged around the kitchen like dead weight.

The charm of the show--and of the Gallagher family--is in its anarchy.

Exec producers John Wells (ER), Andrew Stearn (The West Wing), and Paul Abbott (Cracker), adapting Abbott's original Brit version, waste the talents of Macy, Joan Cusack, and Emmy Rossum (Mystic River), among others, and you'll waste your time straining to enjoy it.

That's Shameless in 30 seconds or less: messy, overcrowded, unapologetically frank and, at times, darkly funny.

It's clear that Wells has nothing but respect for the original material; if only he felt the same for American viewers. Unfortunately, [executive producer John Wells] seems to have bought into the notion that Americans need everything to be bigger, louder, messier and drawn in primary colors.

Don't let all this make the show sound complicated. Based on opening night, it looks like Shameless fun.

Shameless also has a rough and original charisma of its own, emphasizing as it does the freedom and not merely the deprivation of its family of quasi orphans.

Some brief memorable performances, particularly Cusack as a tippling housewife. Otherwise, an inexplicable misfire.

In Showtime's seemingly unwatered-down version, William H. Macy plays the drunken dad, Frank Gallagher, convincingly enough that you can almost smell the alcohol (along with less-pleasant scents) seeping from every pore. (Other highlights include Joan Cusack as an agoraphobic homemaker whose life's about to change and Emmy Rossum as Fiona, the oldest of Frank's daughters.)

The one-hour show has as much comedy as drama, providing a satisfying and unusual viewing experience.

It's best not to think of Shameless as a deep, important show. Tune in for the character drama and recognize the characters' anti-social behavior for what it is. There's no shame in that.

All this worries Fiona, of course, and her compassion keeps Shameless--a remake of a hit British show--from being a glib mockery of poverty. She is the yin to Frank's yang, organized, focused, and efficient.

Now and then Shameless sloughs off its mostly self-imposed constraints and fires on all cylinders, observing economic hardship, drunken tomfoolery and sexual shenanigans with a keen eye for class specifics.

Abbott makes sure the quirkiness of the Gallaghers is firmly rooted in three-dimensional, credible characterization. You never feel a bit of inauthenticity here.

Hamming it up big time, William H. Macy plays a booze-addled father of six kids in this uneven drama that seems more intent on taking its pay-cable liberties (nudity, profanity, etc.) to the extreme than weaving an engaging story.

While Frank's high jinks are good for a chuckle, and his love/hate relationship with his kids speaks a lot about the complicated nature of having a down-and-out family, Shameless tries too hard to milk weighty drama from generally dull characters.

Shameless is excellent, compelling television from the first moment. As long as it stays true to the roots of the original, it's going to be essential viewing.

The promising Shameless is a terrific showcase for Macy, Emmy Rossum, who plays Frank's daughter Fiona, and Joan Cusack, who plays the Gallaghers' neighbor. The show's younger cast members are also impressive; they have a low-key, realistic style that melds perfectly with the unforced truthfulness that Macy brings to his role

Shameless is deftly adapted and surprisingly appealing, crude, funny and also touching.

It simply too often feels like an unconvincing portrait of poverty and the Gallaghers, like an English council-estate family plopped in the Midwest. The next two episodes depart more from the original, and suggest the series may find its own voice; on the other hand, they're not nearly as well written.

Moments and characters like these take us out of the reality that Shameless otherwise aims to portray, falling victim to the pay-cable impulse to push the shock envelope just because it can. Which ultimately is less shocking than irritating. A shame, really.

Shameless instead is about as uplifting as rectal cancer, even though it's hard not to at least respect the gumption and resilience of Fiona. Rossum's performance in this role is all together pretty terrific.

For all the show's flaws, you can see the attraction for an actor of Macy's quality, with the kind of showy, outsized role that wins awards. But as fine an actor as he is, Frank just comes across as loud and empty. Much like Shameless.

For the most part, there's nothing here to be ashamed of. It's just that at a time when TV drama is so flush with riches, Shameless plays like a poor relative.