10 Reasons You Need To Stop Your Life, Sit Your Ass Down And Watch ‘Shameless’ Right Now
By Becca Martin
For some reason the only thing I actually enjoy talking about in life is Shameless.
It’s a good conversation starter, “Hey, I’m Becca, let’s skip the bullshit and get to the real questions: have you seen Shameless?”
Then when people (weirdos) reply no, I instantly just freak out and tell them they have to watch it because it’s the best show I’ve ever seen in the entire world and if they die without ever watching it then they didn’t live to their full potential.
This led me to deciding it’s time to create the ultimate *reasons why* list, and obviously there aren’t any spoilers since you clearly haven’t watched the show I don’t want to ruin the greatness for you!!
1. The character development is INCREDIBLE. Throughout every season on the show every character is developing in a new way. They are all growing in their own time and evolving into the characters we love even more. The best part is there isn’t just one or two main characters that you love. You love everyone because everyone on the show is developing in their own way. Every single one of them has their own situations they find themselves in, their own struggles, their own love life problems, their own drama. It’s hard to even have a favorite character because the show has done such a wonderful job making everyone so involved and complex in their own way. Each character has their own storyline and intense flaws that you feel way too heavily involved in.
2. They each go through drastic downfalls which make you love them even more. The brief background that anyone would give you on this show is that it’s about a poor family living in south side Chicago. The dad’s a drunk, the mom is gone, the kids raise themselves while dealing with their own fucked up problems. So like any teenager and 20 something, they fuck up. But their fuck ups might be a little more drastic. Watching them tear their lives apart in the show at different times is heart wrenching, but it ultimately makes you love them more when they realize or are pushed to do better by each other than let life ruin them completely like their parents allowed to happen to them.
3. It makes you feel everything all at once. This is a show that gets you hooked because of how well-written it is. It’s the kind of show that has you up until 4 AM binge watching when you have to be up in a couple hours for work (thank God for Netflix or the world would be shit). Shameless will make you laugh, cry, cringe, feel betrayed, pain, anger and occasionally it even can make you feel happy on a good day. It completely twists your emotions, making you wish you were part of the show and even in the family.
4. You will fall in love. With everyone. Especially the characters and their relationships. There are some dreamboats in this show that will inevitably capture your heart in ways you won’t understand because everyone loves a bad boy (or girl).
5. It’s full of great one-liners. Every now and then some of the characters spit out some great one-liners full of emotion or truth that you’ve never related more to and it makes you respect them a little more every time.
6. It’s wildly entertaining. I have never been bored through an episode of Shameless because the Gallagher lifestyle is never boring. They aren’t sitting home on their asses watching TV all the time like me, instead their out getting into shit, trying to make ends meet, falling in love with people who are no good for them (or they’re no good for). There’s always some crazy story line or wild antics that they’re up to.
7. Shameless portrays real life issues that are generally overlooked and forgotten about. Including (but not limited to) bi-polar disorder, poverty, addiction, suicide attempts, foster care, homophobia, and the list goes on and on. This show does an INCREDIBLE job shedding light on the things in life that are often overlooked when the problems are on going and real. It opens your eyes and slightly helps you understand a life that you may have forgotten existed while you are busy saying you aren’t privileged because things like this do happen in real life, not just on TV. It’s so important the show spreads light on these topics and social issues.
8. The romantic relationships on the show between characters is unreal. I enjoy and care more about their relationships than I do about my own. I’ve never rooted so hard for anyone in my life and it’s not even real. Shameless does an excellent job portraying a same-sex relationship between two of the characters. It has made me cry, laugh, become extremely ecstatic and feel completely heartbroken over and over. The way their relationship is shows the truth behind being young and in love, not knowing what is best for you or your partner and the confusion that comes with their relationship struggles. There are so many layers and complications that come to life throughout their time, but you will fall in love with them and you will internally scream, a lot.
9. It portrays real relationships. There is no happy ending, you are constantly disappointed, you have your heart on guard and you can only hope for the best because you never really know what people are thinking. It’s real, it’s raw, it’s painful and it’s honest. There are no Hollywood movie endings where everything works out because it’s fake. Nope, not in Shameless, everything on camera is painfully real – people lying, leaving, fucking you over and things falling apart. It reminds you that you’re not alone.
10. The actor’s relationships in real life is amazing. We get to watch perfect flawlessness on the TV between the characters, but you also get to see them interact in real life. There is nothing more fulfilling than seeing your favorite actors from the same show interact and show each other love in real life. The cast of Shameless does just that, they have breakfast with each other, post supporting pictures, hang out and don’t even get me started on the Season 7 premier party they all had together at William H. Macy’s house. They show their real sides through social media together and how much they all love and support each other, and honestly that’s so refreshing and wonderful to see.
So now that you’ve read this, do yourself a favor and go watch Shameless. Now.