US Shameless
I finally saw Shameless (the US version). Hmmmm.... I haven't watched the UK pilot in quite awhile but it seems to me some of what was in the first ep in the US version was from several of the first few eps in the UK season 1 rather than matching the first episode. I may be wrong there, though. I liked Emmy Rossum as Fiona quite a bit. Most of the kids seem ok though why on earth did they note that Ian wants to be in the military and showed a shot of him in a cadet troup or reserve troup or something? Was that the American PC bit thrown in there? He looks way too young too. In fact most of the kids seemed to be a bit on the young side. The girl playing Debbie seemed ok but not quite worldly enough. Too sweet looking lol And the chick that played Karen, the one under the table while Lip tried to tutor her didn't quite have that slightly trashy edge. Joan Cusak looks to be a very good Sheila but time will tell.
And Frank? William H. Macy is a good actor but so far, not quite "Frank" enough i think. The UK Frank always seems to be in a slurry haze which makes his Greek Chorus observations even funnier and more pointed at times. Take this week, in the UK new season, where he thought his daughter was dead... you could see the news slowly burrowing through his drugged brain as he took it in. Frank really does love his kids in spite of outward appearances and i think he has a special bond with Debbie. I'm not sure yet that this Frank is going to have that nasty side to him, that air of "i don't give a fuck" or, maybe, it's that he's too cold and doesn't show any sympatico to the kids at all and you wonder why they are all so fond of him. The jury's still out.
Something else that doesn't quite add up as far as the continuity goes, and maybe it's just something i'd pick up on because i'm...picky. They say that the mother left a long time ago but the youngest, Liam, is a baby that can barely walk and she left when he was a few months old. Hardly a "long time ago", more like 6 or 8 months as opposed to several years.
Anyway, Macy so far isn't quite world weary enough but there's only been one episode so far and it wasn't really awful enough to forgo the rest of it. It's hard when you really enjoy a series and see it done with different casting. For people that have never seen the UK series, they'll probably like it. As it's on cable, there's more nudity and cursing than you get on network tv. You couldn't do Shameless without that raw side of it. There would be no point. I read one review where they think that there's extra nudity and "grittiness" just because it's cable and they can. Clearly, they've not seen the original.
And Frank? William H. Macy is a good actor but so far, not quite "Frank" enough i think. The UK Frank always seems to be in a slurry haze which makes his Greek Chorus observations even funnier and more pointed at times. Take this week, in the UK new season, where he thought his daughter was dead... you could see the news slowly burrowing through his drugged brain as he took it in. Frank really does love his kids in spite of outward appearances and i think he has a special bond with Debbie. I'm not sure yet that this Frank is going to have that nasty side to him, that air of "i don't give a fuck" or, maybe, it's that he's too cold and doesn't show any sympatico to the kids at all and you wonder why they are all so fond of him. The jury's still out.
Something else that doesn't quite add up as far as the continuity goes, and maybe it's just something i'd pick up on because i'm...picky. They say that the mother left a long time ago but the youngest, Liam, is a baby that can barely walk and she left when he was a few months old. Hardly a "long time ago", more like 6 or 8 months as opposed to several years.
Anyway, Macy so far isn't quite world weary enough but there's only been one episode so far and it wasn't really awful enough to forgo the rest of it. It's hard when you really enjoy a series and see it done with different casting. For people that have never seen the UK series, they'll probably like it. As it's on cable, there's more nudity and cursing than you get on network tv. You couldn't do Shameless without that raw side of it. There would be no point. I read one review where they think that there's extra nudity and "grittiness" just because it's cable and they can. Clearly, they've not seen the original.