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Shameless on SBS

Shameless is losing its magic too. Who cares about Norma? Or the mother? Or Debbie? Or Liam? Or Carl? Or Frank, really? I care more about the Maguires than I do about the Gallaghers these days. I don't give a crap about that female copper who is (to put it in bogan language) a mole. Or the guy who wants to shag her. I want Sheila, and Lip, and Fiona, and Steve, and Kev, and Veronica back.

The show has too many characters these days and is too clever for itself. Last night didn't make sense - Stan is a cop, like he wouldn't have looked her up - and why would she have given her real name? And why did it take the female cop that long to look her up (a few days apparently) to find out that Stan had been conned? The show needs better writers.
 
^ I agree. Except about the Debbie bit - I love Debbie. Remember when she was selling the pirated videos door-to-door and the police stopped her so she pretended she was a bible basher? And all those extravagent scams she organised to hide something from someone, eg. child services. Debbie's a classic.
 
Without spoiling anything, I think it's pretty obvious to say that the 16 episodes in one series was too much of a good thing - they should at least have split them to air in two batches of eight episodes.

The real issue I have though is as they lose more and more Gallaghers, more and more episodes concentrate on Frank - and frankly (no pun intended), he is one of the characters who interested me the least. He's brilliant in a supporting role seeing how others react to him, but when he's in the central role the episodes are never as good.


Love the Maguires though - and in many ways it would be better now if we said goodbye to the Gallaghers and rebuilt the show around them instead.
 
Yeah, I agree.

nutmeg: I used to like Debbie, but I haven't seen her do anything but hate and scowl for a long time now.
 
Okay, Shameless is offically wei-erd. Ian is fcuking his brother. And he didn't mind fcuking him again.

I think Shameless really crossed the line with that episode.
 
Has everyone abandoned Shameless? If you have, I wouldn't blame you.

Last episode included Mandy meeting a man and thinking she has killed him when she also takes an E from the same batch, calls Karen and together they 'dispose of the body' by wrapping him in a rug and throwing him down the ditch. Not surprisingly, he comes back from the dead and enters the pub, all stitched up, where Mandy actually tells him what she did. He is initially angry, but forgives her and it's all smiles. You killed me and disposed of my body? No worries!

Meanwhile, Shane is onto Yvonne (as if), and in the end, Mimi and Paddy take two slabs of beers to drink it up with Yvonne and Stan (the cop). As if. Stan shows no sign of having been shot in the shoulder the previous week.
 
Yeah, I got sick of it and watch Bones then the last half hour of Shameless sometimes. I liked it so much better when that loopy woman with the twins was the drunk Dad's bit.
I dont' like half the people anymore, I think I hate the Mum and that fat woman doesn't thrill me. Kids are ok.
 
16 episodes was a mistake for the fifth season (a mistake which will be repeated for series six next year), especially airing them in one block. It wouldn't have been so bad if they kept it at 8 episodes but aired two separate series a year. And as much as I love the Maguires, I think how the Gallaghers have been ripped apart really damaged the show. They survived Fiona and Steve leaving as firstly they got fantastic exits, but secondly there was still a whole family unit left behind - but when Lip left and Ian moved out the family was no more really - and Monica will never be Sheila.

That said though the teasers for the next series leave me in no doubt I'll be watching the next series - but this is the first year I won't be too bothered if Santa doesn't deliver the last series on DVD.
 
I can't give it up though. :)

I don't like how they make all the women out to be hard arses or complete tarts, or both.

Sheila & Monica, maybe Fiona a bit - slappers
Yvonne, Mimi, Karen, Debbie, Mandy, Veronica, Kelly - hard arses you wouldn't want to fcuk with.
 
Good news / bad news (which IMO is actually good news). Series 7 has been confirmed even before series 6 airs, but due to the credit crunch it's likely to be cut back to 8 episodes, which IMO can only be good for the show.
 
Why didn't someone tell us that Shameless was back on, in THIS thread?

Looked good.. now Ian's gone eh?
 
The sixth series is definately an improvement on the fifth, though still not meeting the high standards set over the first few series. However, it still has it's moments of both effective drama and laugh out loud comedy (mainly thanks to Mickey) - and midway through the series is one of the best episodes for years.

Re: Ian
He is absent for a few episodes but does return later in the series
 
Good to know. I'm not the biggest fan of Ian's storylines, but I don't like losing the original cast.
 
Don't know how far you are through it now but stick with this series as the second half of it is some what of a return to form, with episodes getting better and better every week. We also finally get to see more of Meena and Chesney (literally in Meena's case) in latter episodes - brilliant characters who've been left in the background too long.
 
How far through the series are you - have you got to the bit where it gets good yet? (You'll know it when you see it)

The series finale just aired here - I'll keep it zipped but the last 15 minutes were fantastic.
 
I missed the week before last, but this week Carl found out Mickey was gay, two coppers left (thank God, they were useless), Frank got the shits because he told Monica to sleep with the tax man so he wouldn't have to go to jail (very dodgy storyline, like he'd care that much), and Paddy is tied to a bed (another storyline which is up the creek). Way too heavy for me.

Please don't hint at any spoilers.
 
Paddy is returned a heroin addict. Monica left again. Debbie has another boring storyline.
 
I guess you reached the end of the series a couple of months back, so some news about series 7. Firstly, C4 have backtracked on plans slash the number of episodes so there will indeed be 16 episodes this series. Whether that's good for the show is debatable - the last couple of series could have done with a few episodes less, but cutting them by half would likely have meant cutbacks to the cast too. As things stand it looks like most of the main cast are returning.

Secondly, more is revealed in the spoiler below but Pauline McLynn, most famous for playing Mrs Doyle in Father Ted, is the notable new addition to the cast, along with Valerie Lillie, playing her mother, whilst there are rumours an ex-cast member will be returning too, but no word on who.

As for more season 7 teasers:
Frank Gallagher (David Threlfall) finds a new love this series with the arrival of local librarian Libby, played by Shameless newcomer Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Jam & Jerusalem). Libby’s passion for romantic literature wakes in Frank something that has been dormant for so long… and then he meets her mum Patty (Valerie Lilley – The Catherine Tate Show) who might just put a spanner in the works.

Eight months on from the tragic loss of Mandy, the Maguire family are preparing to welcome a new addition to the clan, a baby son for Karen (Rebecca Atkinson) and Jamie Maguire (Aaron McCusker). And baby Connor’s arrival doesn’t mean Joe Pritchard (Ben Batt) will loosen his hold on Karen, who soon discovers that motherhood brings on some unwanted Jackson family traits.

The Jockey’s got a new landlady – Mimi Maguire (Tina Malone) so Patrick (Sean Gilder) has to come to terms with their separate living arrangements.

While Kelly (Sally Carman) takes her new godparent duties to the extreme, boyfriend Shane Maguire (Nicky Evans) gets involved with wedding scams – and then thinks about a wedding of his own.

Micky Maguire (Ciaran Griffiths) and Ian Gallagher (Gerard Kearns) now share a bungalow together, as the perfect odd couple.

Meanwhile over at the Gallaghers, Liam (Johnny Bennett) hits senior school and develops his first crush, and Carl (Elliott Tittensor) and girlfriend Maxine (Joanna Higson) get adventurous in the bedroom.
Nothing there that would spoil your enjoyment of the series by reading now. However, if you've read that you'll see that...
Yvonne and Stan are not mentioned, so I hope they (well Yvonne especially) haven't left, but wouldn't be too surprised if they had, or at least do within the first few episodes.

It's expected it'll return in the UK in January as usual, but there are some reports it could begin in November, or at the very latest around Christmas.
 
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