Nowadays, when there are so many shows to pick from, it’s unusual for one to last for 11 seasons on television. Gary Levine, president of entertainment for Showtime Networks Inc., says that from the very beginning, Shameless had all the right stuff to be a hit.
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Last Call Shameless Showrunner Says Goodbye to the Gallaghers
Ultimately, “it boils down to great characters, great acting, excellent writing, and terrific filmmaking,” as Levine puts it.
The show centres on the Gallagher family, whose alcoholic patriarch, played by William H. Macy, is at the centre of their dysfunction. At initially, Shameless was a tough sell because of its willingness to tackle taboo topics like social status and drug abuse.
For almost seven years, the show couldn’t find a network to air it on until it finally appeared on Showtime. Now it’s the most popular comedy on the premium cable channel, and its target audience is young.
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It provides a “raw peek at the human id and ego,” as Levine puts it. In a nutshell: “It’s invigorating, authentic, and compelling. The public has learned to anticipate such bravado from Showtime. It has become our trademark.
When Shameless premiered in 2011, there wasn’t a lot of hard-hitting satire on television. The show’s creators were given the latitude to experiment at a network notorious for breaking rules.
John Wells, the show’s creator and executive producer, has said, “The sole constraint from Showtime was: You can’t steal library books.” “I don’t recall Showtime ever telling us, ‘Don’t do that,’ about any of the plots we’ve developed.” Questions like “Are you sure?” have been voiced to us. Never say “Don’t do it,” though.
There will be a final episode on Sunday, followed by a live virtual event with the cast at GallagherHouse.com. ViacomCBS conducted an interview with Levine and Wells in recognition of the show’s run, in which they discussed the show’s indisputable influence on television, the difficulties of a global epidemic, and why the Gallaghers would continue to be a part of the cultural zeitgeist.
Not Your Typical Family Sitcom
Series creator and executive producer John Wells: We attempted to market Shameless for seven years until we finally found a network willing to air it, but we kept hearing the same thing: “This universe doesn’t exist in the United States.” Showtime was the only network familiar with this setting and willing to explore it alongside us.
President of Entertainment of Showtime Networks, Inc., Gary Levine: There is no way to predict a surefire success. They are always pleasant surprises. The proposal and script I read, however, were for a truly remarkable production that cried out to be filmed.
It Struck a Chord that was One for the Ages.
Wells: We intended to produce something humorous and perhaps even controversial, but our true motivation was to shed light on a large population in our country that receives little media coverage.
Levine: There are already enough of family-friendly shows out there, so Showtime wouldn’t make one. In contrast, Shameless completely flipped the script on the traditional family sitcom. Wealth disparity and social status were important themes. Sexuality and sex were important themes. The theme was greed. The theme of the story was romantic love. And it accomplished all this without holding back a single punch, in a setting that was eerily reminiscent of the real world and real people.
Wells: After that first year, with support from our audience, we realised we were onto something. So far, so good.
Levine: It touched a nerve in a major way.
To Paraphrase, “We had to be Fearless.”
Wells: We would discuss problems before the start of each season, long before we knew where our characters were heading. In my opinion, everyone on the writing crew has a rather convoluted backstory. The group would share anecdotes about their home towns, discuss recent events in their families and social circles, and compile lengthy lists of universal experiences that may serve as targets for satire.
Levine: For the past eleven years, the meeting where the writers reveal the plan for the upcoming season has been one of the most exciting—and terrifying—of the year for me. Will it be as good as last season? is one of the many perennial concerns. Where will our heroes and heroines go now? Can we expect a comeback from Gallavich?
It’s been amazing to see our writers’ skill and ingenuity on exhibit. Many paths were discovered in the story and explored. It’s quite rare for a show to improve with each successive season, but that’s exactly what’s happened here.
Wells: This must be quite the tightrope act. And we’ve experimented with a wide variety of strategies to see whether we can maintain our balance on that precarious ledge, particularly in this age of hyper-sensitivity. The question is how to convey a point while also being funny about serious topics like police brutality.
We couldn’t let our nerves get the better of us. But we could only have been so bold if Showtime shared our lack of inhibition.
Actual Pandemic
Levine: We were quite psyched when we found out the preliminary plans for Season 11. Some very absurd events were on the horizon, in typical Shameless way. There are beautiful, heartwarming endings as well as dark, raw, authentic ones. Then, in the middle of March 2020, we had to stop everything just before we began filming.
Wells: An unexpected side effect of the pandemic is that more individuals are cognizant of the living conditions of a sizable portion of the population, including the folks who have been the focus of our programme for the past decade.
The show is mostly satirical. Our conversations are often focused on current events, so the epidemic was a natural topic of discussion. The entire season had to be rewritten.
Levine: Then the issue became when to resume filming not only Shameless but all the shows on the network. That was an extremely challenging inquiry.
Wells: To create a completely risk-free work environment was the primary obstacle. A smaller crew, shorter shooting hours, and the need that everyone wear a mask whenever they were not in front of the camera were all measures taken to ensure that everyone involved had enough rest and could focus on their work.
The fact that we couldn’t return to Chicago for more filming was a major setback. The front of the Gallagher house and some of that Neighbourhood had to be constructed on the backlot of Warner Bros. studios and supplemented with CGI because there was no safe way to film there. It was tough that we didn’t get to say goodbye properly to our Chicago crew and the area where we shot.
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As a Climax, this is the Final Call
Levine: John penned the series finale and successfully made his way to the end. He planned the ending out meticulously, and I think it’s a great one.
Wells: I felt a lot of emotion. I have experience with long-running shows. A total of 15 years of ER were shown. In the end, what you miss the most are your writing pals, the characters you’ve created.
Levine: In its final season, it remained faithful to its own identity. We wanted to go out on a high note since it has been a fantastic run. The last thing we wanted was for it to fizzle away.
Wells: And the pressure at the end of a season can be intense. That everything must be resolved neatly in the finale is a trap that is especially tempting to fall into with episodes like this one. Having their affairs in order would be totally unnatural for this family.
‘And then, all at once, the Gallaghers win the jackpot, and now they’re OK.’ was never going to be the final line. Those events have zero bearing on the show Shameless. The show’s basic premise is that the family truly cares for one another. This is how they maintain their existence! Because of this, we purposefully avoided writing a happy ending in which all of their troubles are magically resolved in the series finale.
Levine: The Gallaghers will remain in our hearts and minds long after the series has ended.
Wells: We were quite fortunate. Showtime believed in us, we had a great cast, and our writers and filmmakers understood the vibe we were going for. Most significantly, though, we had a blast. It was a fantastic time for all of us.