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 TV Series: Shameless

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NoCoPilot

NoCoPilot


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TV Series: Shameless Empty
PostSubject: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyMon Apr 03, 2017 8:22 pm

Netflix series was recommended to me, I almost didn't make it through the first three episodes (there are SEVEN seasons!)  Bill Macy spends the first two episodes facedown passed out drunk.

There is a female lead, Emmy Rossum, who kept me watching through three episodes.  The female co-star Shanola Hampton also ain't bad.
TV Series: Shameless Emmy-rossum-esquire-02TV Series: Shameless 39de3bfc4164076305becbed205fa612

In the 4th episode however, the writing suddenly came up, and episodes 4-8 have been pretty entertaining.  It's your typical "quirky kids pull together to make a family" plot but some of the quirks and some of the situations they get into are pretty funny.  Macy's finally having some screentime, and he's always entertaining to watch.

Maybe not the best series ever, but passable.  Which makes it stand out like a sore thumb.
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NoCoPilot

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TV Series: Shameless Empty
PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyMon Apr 10, 2017 4:01 pm

There was some other Netflix series -- name mercifully lost to memory -- that I watched a couple of seasons of and then bailed.

The characters made bad choices at every fork. Things got progressively more and more screwed up. The writers' room must have been abuzz with ideas for how to up the ante next. I gave up because it became hard to care about characters that stupid. It got tiring (and dispiriting) watching one slow-motion car crash after another.

Well,  now its happened twice.

Must be fun to write though.
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_Howard
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_Howard


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TV Series: Shameless Empty
PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyMon Apr 10, 2017 4:28 pm

I watched a few episodes of the UK version of Shameless (yes, what you saw is another ripoff of a British program). I could not get interested in the program. Trite is the word that comes to mind. I haven't bothered with the US version.
On the other hand, I enjoyed the American version of The Office, but didn't care for the UK original. Too many cultural references that I didn't understand.
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NoCoPilot

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TV Series: Shameless Empty
PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyMon Apr 10, 2017 4:39 pm

I would like to try the British Shameless. From the Wiki on it, it looks like the US version is a direct ripoff of the original, with the same exact plots and characters (unlike The Office). It would be fun to see how other actors play those parts.

The British Office with Ricky Gervais I thought was much better than the American with Steve Carell. It was a lot more subtle and nuanced and the humor wasn't all slapstick.

Slapstick only takes you so far.

But both versions were pretty hard to take. Inappropriate and squirm-inducing.
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NoCoPilot

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TV Series: Shameless Empty
PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyMon Apr 10, 2017 9:58 pm

Breaking Bad, was the other series I gave up on after a couple seasons.  Too dark, too depressing, not people I would care to spend time with IRL so I gave up.

Similar story with Weeds.  I may have made it through that one but I remember it was a chore.  I may have bailed. Can't remember.  Wouldn't go back into it at any rate.

Tried to watch Shameless UK online.  Channel4.com asks me if I want to watch it in the app.  If I say no, nothing happens (because Flash is not supported on Apple devices).

If I say yes, it takes me to the U.K. App Store.  But it doesn't tell me what app I'm looking for.  There's a Channel4 app, but it's a hip hop radio station.  There's an All4 app, but that tells me my App Store account isn't valid and do I want to switch to the US app store.  When I switch to the US App Store there is no All4 listed.

Apparently this show is not available here?
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyMon Apr 10, 2017 10:09 pm

Never mind. YouTube's got it, at least the first episode.
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyMon Apr 10, 2017 10:41 pm

Okay, it's just about scene-for-scene and line-for-line identical -- but with less engaging actors all around, and incomprehensive accents.

I can see why you bailed early, Howard.
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_Howard
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TV Series: Shameless Empty
PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyTue Apr 11, 2017 4:16 pm

NoCoPilot wrote:
Breaking Bad, was the other series I gave up on after a couple seasons.  Too dark, too depressing, not people I would care to spend time with IRL so I gave up.

Similar story with Weeds.  I may have made it through that one but I remember it was a chore.  I may have bailed. Can't remember.  Wouldn't go back into it at any rate.

It's shame that you require likeable characters to enjoy a series. You miss out not only on Breaking Bad and Weeds, but also The Sopranos, The Wire; hell even The Simpsons characters are not especially likeable. I may be wrong, but I can't remember any likeable characters in The Magnificent Seven or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest movies.

A program that has a good story line, good writing, and good acting is far more important to me than the likeability of the characters. In fact, I cannot stomach "Disneyesque"  characters. I prefer characters who are more real life; that means you get a large number of assholes.
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyTue Apr 11, 2017 4:26 pm

I don't require that the characters be likable, only that I come to care about them. Tony Soprano was a despicable person but he was complex enough to be engaging.

Can't say the same about Frank Gallagher, Walter White or Nancy Botwin.
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_Howard
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TV Series: Shameless Empty
PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyWed Apr 12, 2017 1:27 pm

How about Better Call Saul? Have you watched that?
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyWed Apr 12, 2017 2:27 pm

Not yet. Didn't see any compelling reason. Should I?
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_Howard
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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyWed Apr 12, 2017 2:34 pm

I've never seen a compelling reason for watching anything on television; can't imagine what the reason might be.

You probably wouldn't like Saul.

Did you watch The Wire?
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyWed Apr 12, 2017 3:35 pm

I think I tried it once. Obviously didn't make much of an impression.
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_Howard
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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyWed Apr 12, 2017 3:59 pm

Sometimes you have to watch more than one episode. Many programs start slowly to give you an overview of the plot and the characters. Hell, Obama said that The Wire was his favorite tv show. The show introduced is the Idris Elba, an outstanding British actor.

There are very few tv programs I watch, and you and I apparently have very different tastes in television. What programs have you watched that you found to be superior, if any?
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyWed Apr 12, 2017 5:13 pm

Six Feet Under. Connections. Clatterford. Whose Line Is It Anyway. A Doctor in the House. Fawlty Towers. BBC Earth. The Young Ones. To The Manor Born. Good Neighbors. I, Claudius. Pitbulls and Parolees. Orange is the New Black. Mythbusters. House of Cards. Friends. Seinfeld.
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_Howard
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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyThu Apr 13, 2017 8:42 am

Well, at least we agree on Fawlty Towers.
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 14, 2017 2:49 pm

Thank gawd.

You're familiar with all the others and don't like 'em?
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_Howard
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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 14, 2017 3:08 pm

I watched an episode or two of some, others I didn't watch because the subject didn't interest me. I watched much of the first year of Mythbusters, but then it got silly and I gave it up. One can only be entertained by explosions for a short time.
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 14, 2017 3:12 pm

Ever seen the unbroadcast "Do pretty girls fart?" episode? It's on YouTube. Hilarious!
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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 14, 2017 3:15 pm

_Howard wrote:
I didn't watch because the subject didn't interest me.
_Howard wrote:
Sometimes you have to watch more than one episode.
Or, presumably, less.
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_Howard
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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 14, 2017 3:37 pm

If the program's subject matter is of enough interest for you to watch one episode, and if the program is serial rather than episodic, then one episode may not suffice to give you a good idea of the program. But sometimes one episode is all it takes; I have given up on some programs after ten minutes of the first episode. I have watched serial programs which I wasn't sure about after the first episode, but I gave it two or three episodes before bailing out. Sometimes the program started slowly because it was necessary to expose and develop the characters, but then took off after the grunt work was done.
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 14, 2017 3:41 pm

It's rare though that the writing starts out shitty and gets better. Usually it's the other way round.
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_Howard
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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 14, 2017 3:43 pm

Ain't that the truth.
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NoCoPilot

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PostSubject: Re: TV Series: Shameless   TV Series: Shameless EmptyFri Apr 28, 2017 7:30 pm

NoCoPilot wrote:
I gave up because it became hard to care about characters that stupid. It got tiring (and dispiriting) watching one slow-motion car crash after another.
I decided to give "Shameless" one last try this morning. Season Three Episode One started with Fiona taking a job as an industrial cleanup person, and she gets sent to a house where the city sewer has backed up into the basement. She is literally knee deep in shit.

Then her boyfriend Steve gets involved in cutting up a body so it can't be identified.

That was it for me. Not something I want to subject myself to. No thanks.
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