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    Shameless

    I've not seen much of this series, but the ones I've seen appear, and I'm prepared to be contradicted here, to not be as awful as the past series or so.

    Is Shameless back to being good, then? The one on E4 now has had some great lines. Laugh out loud funny. None that I can remember, mind, so there you go.

    Is it worth getting on from the start, or was I right to stop watching at the end of series 3?

    #2
    Shameless

    .

    I don't know which 'Shameless' series I saw (it was on Portuguese telly - could have been the first), but I was knocked out. It may be ... errm ... a shameless exploitation of stereotypes, but then within those stereotypical moulds, the characters are so well drawn and acted, and the scripts are so good, that for me it's a real joy.

    I wonder if our American cousins get it and get it.

    .

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      #3
      Shameless

      At first it was a real breath of fresh air. It was one of the first TV dramas to portray Northern England and its people as anything other than miserable, ballet-dancing strippers who wore cloth caps and beat their wife. It played up to stereotypes a bit, but within that framework it allowed the protagonists to be witty, clever, and emotionally three dimensional.

      Sadly after a few series, all the best characters had left: Steve, Fiona, Veronica and Kev. Among others. The programme suffered not only because it missed the strength of their personalities, but because their replacements were all so two dimensional. As The Horse suggested once, the Maguires may as well have been called the McShark Jumps.

      But. But this series has seen, from what I can glean, an attempt by the writers to pad out these previously two dimensional characters and make them seem more real. As a result the story lines have been more reminiscent of old stories - a drama with funny bits, as opposed to the series or two where it was just a farcical comedy.

      I'd be interested to hear if that is indeed the case, or if I've been the victim of an elaborate hoodwink.

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        #4
        Shameless

        I wonder if our American cousins get it and get it.

        It's shown in Canada on cable. Not sure who the audience is, Corrie fans? Ultra-hip urban anglophiles? I don't know what our Asian compatriots would make of it.

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          #5
          Shameless

          I missed Series 1, watched most of 2 onwards. I think the writers had to make the Maguires multi dimensional as they are intrinsic to the series... every episode involves at least 3 of them in some way. And all for the better... I now never miss it. Having said that, I havent watched last nights, next week episode yet, so no spoilers please.

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            #6
            Shameless

            I can't be bothered to go back to it, but I'm also hearing the odd good thing about the latest series.

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              #7
              Shameless

              Series 4 was poor. But, a couple of dull episodes aside, series 5 has been right back on track. As good as much of 1-3 in my opinion though nothing beats the episode in series 1 where Frank wakes up in France. Nearly made me swallow my tongue laughing that one did.

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