Country of origin United States Original network Showtime | No. of episodes 12 | |
Original release January 9 (2011-01-09) – March 27, 2011 (2011-03-27) | ||
The first season of Shameless, an American comedy-drama television series based on the award-winning British series of the same name by Paul Abbott, premiered on January 9, 2011, at Sunday 10:00 p.m. EST on the Showtime television network. Executive producers are John Wells, Paul Abbott and Andrew Stearn, with producer Michael Hissrich. The season concluded after 12 episodes on March 27, 2011. The shows season premiere was watched by 982,000 viewers, making it the network's biggest turnout for a series premiere since Dead Like Me in 2003. The episode airing January 30, "Casey Casden", received 1.45 million total viewers, making Shameless the best performing first-year drama on Showtime. The season finale scored 1.16 million viewers.
Contents
Overview
The series depicts the dysfunctional family of Francis (Frank) Gallagher, a single father of six children. While he spends his days drunk, his kids learn to take care of themselves. The first season mainly focuses on the ups and downs of Fiona Gallagher's new relationship with Steve Lishman. Their relationship begins when Fiona has her purse snatched at a nightclub and Steve attempts to retrieve it from a mugger. The season also follows Kev and Veronica, the Gallagher's neighbours, as they are forced to become foster parents due to fertility problems. The Gallagher patriarch, Frank meets Sheila Jackson, the mother of Lip's girlfriend Karen and the two become a couple. Lip also discovers that his closest brother, Ian is gay and having an affair with a married man. But this could soon change when Ian starts an affair of his own, with a local bad boy. The absent mother of the Gallagher clan, Monica returns with her lesbian lover Roberta and the couple want to take Liam to live with them.
Development and casting
HBO began developing an American version of Shameless after striking a deal with John Wells in January 2009. By October 2009 the development had moved to Showtime. John Wells Productions filmed a pilot episode for the cable network in December 2009. William H. Macy stars in the lead role as Frank Gallagher. Also joining the cast were former Dragonball Evolution co-stars Emmy Rossum as Fiona and Justin Chatwin as Steve. Paul Abbott, whose semi-autobiographical telescript became the pilot episode for the original UK version, is credited as an executive producer on the U.S. version. In April 2010, Showtime green-lit the series with a twelve-episode order. In late August Joan Cusack was cast as Sheila, a romantic interest for Frank, replacing Allison Janney, who portrayed the role in the pilot. A preview of the pilot aired on December 12, 2010, after the Season 5 finale of Dexter. The first season officially began airing on Showtime on Sunday, January 9, 2011.
Production
Production began in mid-September 2010. It is filmed in the North Lawndale community area of Chicago and Burbank, California, at Warner Bros. Studios.