The American comedy-drama series, created by Paul Abbott and developed by John Wells, aired on an American premium television network called Showtime for ten years from 09 January 2011 to 11 April 2021.
Shameless gets based on a British series created by Paul Abbott, which has the same name. It has an ensemble cast of twenty or more actors throughout the eleven seasons. However, the main actors are Emmy Rossum, Justin Chatwin, and William H. Macy.
William H. Macy played the main character, Frank Gallagher, an unemployed and alcoholic father of six and an adopted son. He always remains high, only thinks of his next drink, and makes money in illegal ways.
Thus, Frank’s eldest and smartest daughter, Fiona Gallagher (played by Emmy Rossum), raises the children alone and becomes their legal guardian. However, the first nine seasons showed her struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. Fiona’s neighbors cum friends are the only real adult examples for Frank’s children.
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Number Of Seasons In Shameless
Shameless has Eleven seasons which contain a pinch of everything. Every season has twelve episodes, except the ninth season, which has fourteen.
Shameless Season 1
The first season aired from 09 January 2011 to 27 March 2011. The season began with Frank as a trashy father having a dysfunctional family. Ian turns out to be homosexual, and the secret is only known by his brother, Lip (Phillip), and a friend.
Steve smuggles Frank to Toronto with a stolen car but gets him back on Fiona’s orders. After breaking up with him, Fiona begins a physical relationship with a local cop named Tony, who liked her from childhood.
In the final episode, Frank stands outside the Gallagher house to ask for forgiveness from Lip and takes whatever he gives as punishment.
Shameless Season 2
The second season aired from 08 January 2012 to 01 April 2012. Frank gets into a debt of $10,000. Fiona shares intimate scenes with many in this season. Steve marries Estefania, the daughter of a drug dealer, only for his survival.
Steve gets back to Fiona after several attempts by the end of the season. The Gallagher family removes Frank from their house, and Karen ends her relationship with Lip by running away.
Shameless Season 3
Shameless Season 3 aired from 13 January 2013 to 07 April 2013. Shameless Season 3 Episode 1 is the highest-rated episode of the series to date. Sheila and Jody became a couple in the previous season, and now they struggle with their parental lives.
Frank gets admitted to a hospital due to liver failure. He even vomits blood. The doctors and Fiona ask him to stop drinking, but he ignores them. Lip gets a graduation party, and Fiona gets promoted at work. Frank secretly escapes the hospital and walks on the streets alone in the final episode.
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Shameless Season 4
The fourth season makes Shameless, the dark comedy which got aired from 12 January 2014 to 06 April 2014. Frank continues to vomit blood and discovers that he needs a liver transplant costing $150,000.
Stubborn Frank runs from the hospital with the help of Carl, and the two have a drink near Lake Michigan. Sammi, the new character, turns out to be Frank’s eldest daughter. Moreover, she has a kid named Chuckie.
Shameless Season 5
The events that occurred in this season get portrayed after three months after those that occurred in the previous one. The fifth season aired from 11 January 2015 to 05 April 2015. Frank lives with Sheila and is recovering from his liver transplant. He tries to sell his bear under the brand name, ‘Frank’s Milk of the Gods.’
Frank gets emotionally closer to his doctor, Bianca, who struggles with pancreatic cancer. She disappears after leaving a ‘Thankyou Note’ for Frank for keeping her happy.
Shameless Season 6
Bianca supposedly drowned herself in the ocean in the previous season. Frank mourns and asks God from every religion why she was taken away from him. Fiona got intimate with many males till this season. Thus, she gets pregnant but does not know who the father is.
Fiona shifts to Sean’s place, and Frank informs her about Sean’s secret heroin addiction on their wedding day. Thus, their wedding gets canceled, and the duo fights for Will’s custody. The sixth season aired from 10 January 2016 to 03 April 2016.
Shameless Season 7
Shameless Season 7 aired from 02 October 2016 to 18 December 2016. The story begins two months after Fiona’s canceled wedding. Frank, thrown into the freezing river by his family in the previous season, wakes from a coma. However, he gets disowned by them.
Later, Frank goes to a shelter and creates his own family of homeless people. Monica dies of brain damage and leaves her property for the Gallaghers, but Fiona does not take her share. They forgive Frank and party after Monica’s funeral.
Shameless Season 8
Shameless Season 8 aired from 05 November 2017 to 28 January 2018. Frank lived in a monastery after Monica’s death. He returns to his family, apologizes to all of them for his previous behavior, and hunts for a job as a responsible person. Kevin gets detected with a tumor in his chest.
Fiona and Ford are happily in a relationship. Ian gets arrested during a protest. Eddie runs away from the bike shop, leaving her niece, Xan, behind. However, Xan goes to the Gallaghers’ house after getting invited by Lip.
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Shameless Season 9
Ian got arrested in the eighth season, and the ninth one revolves around it. He becomes the leader of his gay inmates in prison. This season aired from 09 September 2018 to 10 March 2019. Frank’s leg gets injured when he squats in the vacant apartment.
However, doctors refuse to treat Frank due to his unpaid bills. So, he takes months to recover. Fiona gets charged with a misdemeanor and leaves the south side, according to her lawyer’s suggestion.
She gets on the plane to reach an unknown destination. Ian spots her plane after it takes off and wishes her better luck.
Shameless Season 10
Shameless Season 10, aired from 10 November 2019 to 26 January 2020, is the first season that did not show Fiona, the original member of the series. Fiona left $50,000 for the Gallagher family before leaving in the previous season. Debbie takes charge of that amount and leads his family.
Ian marries Mickey, and Terry demolishes their honeymoon suite, which had burned down their wedding venue. Faye gets Frank arrested on drug charges making him face thirty years in prison.
However, Frank gets a sympathetic judge. Thus, he ends up in a rehabilitation center instead of prison.
Shameless Season 11
The final season of Shameless aired from 06 December 2020 to 11 April 2020. Veronica and Kevin sell illegal products to make a profit during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Debbie, Lip, and Tami also struggle. Lip wants to earn as he does not want to stay with Tami’s family, but Debbie stops him from doing so.
A six-episode limited series got announced in December 2020 that showed the journey of all characters throughout the first ten seasons. It got titled ‘Shameless Hall of Shame.’
Is Shameless Worth Watching?
Shameless is worth watching. It stands at the eighth position among the 2011’s best TV shows, according to BuddyTV. The fantastic casting takes our attention away from the leaps of logic. The first eight seasons had the highest rating of 90%, which declined to around 70% for the ninth and eleventh seasons.
The seventh season had 88%, while the tenth season had only a 20% rating. No character was perfect, which helped the viewers connect to them. Shameless teaches the value of a family and unity among the family members.
Audiences watched the characters grow and develop as a person throughout the eleven seasons. It was a hugely successful series, and the performances delivered by skillful actors have a huge share in it.
Frank is the most loved character in the series, followed by Fiona and Lip. The fourth season was the best, as it made Shameless a high-quality dramedy. It had some dark moments which did not disappoint the viewers.
Kevin and Veronica were the best couple. They fought and got separated for some time but returned for the sake of love and respect. Meanwhile, Sammi Slott-Gallagher and Debbie Gallagher were the least popular characters in the series. People liked the series until it held its roots.
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