Country of origin United States Original network Showtime | No. of episodes 12 | |
Original release January 8 (2012-01-08) – April 1, 2012 (2012-04-01) | ||
The second 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 8, 2012, at Sunday 9:00 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 April 1, 2012. The shows season premiere brought in 1.58 million viewers, which was higher than the season 1 premiere. The episode airing March 4, "Parenthood", received 1.6 million total viewers, its highest rated show of the season. The season finale scored 1.45 million viewers.
Contents
Overview
It's summertime in Chicago, and the Gallaghers are back and up to the same tricks. Frank – after losing a bet with a fellow bar patron – is now in over his head $10,000, and Karen refuses to let him steal the money from Sheila again; Frank uses Liam to win sympathy panhandling, until the bar patron takes Liam as collateral for the money. Lip wants to continue seeing Karen, who is now attending Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings and in a sex-free relationship with a fellow group member; however, he is also preoccupied with summer courses, running a fighting ring, and selling pot and alcohol out of an ice cream truck with Kev. Fiona and Veronica are waitressing at a local club; Fiona is seeing someone to get her mind off of Steve, though Veronica is adamant her new boyfriend is "a rebound" and "even looks like Steve." Ian is still working for Kash and Linda, whose marriage is deteriorating despite her pregnancy; Ian also expresses interest in attending West Point, and Lip agrees to help him with his application and grades; he is also looking forward to Mickey's release from jail. Debbie and Carl run a babysitting service in the house to bring in extra funds. Sheila is simultaneously trying to find Eddie (who committed suicide last season) and working on getting over her agoraphobia.
Development and production
The show's second season began shooting on July 5, 2011 and it premiered on Sunday, January 8, 2012 at a new time slot at 9:00pm.
Casting
Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Joan Cusack, and Laura Slade Wiggins return in the second season as Veronica Fisher, Kevin "Kev" Ball, Sheila Jackson and Karen Jackson. Also returning are Noel Fisher as Mickey Milkovich, Pej Vahdat as Kash, Tyler Jacob Moore as Tony Markovich and Vanessa Bell Calloway as Carol Fisher. The role of Mandy Milkovich originally played by Jane Levy in season one was recast due to Levy beginning work on her own TV series on ABC titled "Suburgatory". It was announced in late 2011 that Emma Greenwell would now appear as Mandy Milkovich for the duration of the show. Zach McGowan appears as Jody Silverman a man Karen meets at Sex Addicts Anonymous and later marries. Stephanie Fantauzzi was cast as Estefania, Jimmys Brazilian wife and drug lord's daughter whom he marries as a way for her to come to the USA.