Shameless Trivia: 48 fun facts about the series!

Shameless is an American comedy-drama television series, remake of the British series which airs on Showtime. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about it! 1.The series depicts the dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher, a single father of six children. While he spends his days drunk, his kids learn to take care of themselves. 2. The show’s producers sought to distinguish it from previous American working-class shows by highlighting how Frank’s alcoholism affects his family. 3. HBO began developing an American version of Shameless after striking a deal with John Wells in January 2009. 4. By October 2009 the development had moved to Showtime. 5. John Wells Productions filmed a pilot episode for the cable network in December 2009. 6. William H. Macy stars in the lead role as Frank Gallagher. 7. Also joining the cast were former Dragonball Evolution co-stars Emmy Rossum as Fiona and Justin Chatwin as Steve. 8. 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. 9. In April 2010, Showtime green-lit the series with a twelve-episode order. 10. In late August Joan Cusack was cast as Sheila, a romantic interest for Frank, replacing Allison Janney, who portrayed the role in the pilot. 11. A preview of the pilot aired on December 12, 2010, after the Season 5 finale of Dexter. 12. The first season officially began airing on Showtime on Sunday, January 9, 2011. 13. It is filmed in the North Lawndale community area of Chicago and Burbank, California, at Warner Bros. Studios. 14. Before the cold open, a main character breaks the fourth wall and berates the viewer who missed previous episodes by identifying plot points relevant to the current episode. 15. Initial shooting of the second season began on July 5, 2011 and premiered January 8, 2012. 16. The series was initially set in Chicago’s Canaryville neighbourhood on the South Side, but as of season 6 the Back of the Yards neighbourhood was stated to be the location of the Gallagher household. 17. The theme song for Shameless is “The Luck You Got” by indie rock group The High Strung. 18. The majority of the music featured throughout the series is generally from indie rock bands. 19. The pilot episode made use of music from artists such as Cream, Spoon, Say Hi, 3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha, The Vines, The Moog and LMFAO. 20. The show has also featured music from Let’s Wrestle, The Eels, The Blue Van, Cake, Alien Crime Syndicate, and Freeplay Music. Music from The High Strung, Soho3, Say Hi and The High Planes Drifters can be heard multiple times throughout the show 21. The last episode of season one featured two songs by The Diner with the first being “Indie Dreams” and with “Sun and Soil” being the second. 22. In promotion for the second season premiere the entire cast of shameless sang their own version of a Christmas Carol “except this one dings grandma’s holiday turkey and suggests the best route home in case you partake in too much holiday cheer” entitled Shameless: Christmas Carol. 23. It can also be found on the special features of the season 2 DVD featurette. 24. The singer Marina and the Diamonds has also been referenced on the show, in a text by Debbie Gallagher. 25. Shameless premiered on January 9, 2011 in the United States, becoming Showtime’s highest-rated series debut on record across the network’s target demographic. 26. The first episode of the series generated 982,000 unique viewers, and was Showtime’s largest audience for a series premiere since Dead Like Me in 2003. 27. The fourth episode airing January 30, “Casey Casden”, posted 1.45 million total viewers, making Shameless the cable channel’s best-performing first-year drama. 28. Defying the usual downward trend following a premiere, the series built on its initial audience, becoming number one in its time slot among adults aged 18 through 49. 29. Subsequent episodes’ audiences fluctuated between a million and 1.14 million viewers. The March 27, 2011 season finale, “Father Frank, Full Of Grace,” drew an audience of 1.157 million. 30. The third season’s premiere episode, “El Gran Cañon” (airing January 13, 2013), drew 2 million viewers, becoming the show’s highest rated episode to date. 31. It has since maintained average ratings of just below 2 million viewers throughout the remainder of its episodes. 32. Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said that “Shameless is excellent, compelling television from the first moment. As long as it stays true to the roots of the original, it’s going to be essential viewing”. 33. The show’s first season score on Metacritic is a 66 of 100, which is a generally favorable review. The second season score on Metacritic is a 76 of 100, indicating increasingly favorable reviews. 34. The first episode of the series, “Pilot”, was watched by 982,000 viewers, making it the network’s biggest turnout for a series premiere since Dead Like Me in 2003. 35. The episode airing January 30, “Casey Casden”, received 1.45 million total viewers, making Shameless the best performing first-year drama on Showtime. 36. Unusual for a TV-show, creator John Wells has a very strict policy of no scripts allowed on set. The actors have to know their lines by heart. 37. Ethan Cutkosky (Carl) asked to be written off for a few episodes at the end of season five because he was going to start high school and wanted to experience it properly. 38. Steve Howey, who plays Kev, spent the entire season three recovering from a torn Achilles’ tendon. 39. According to details written in the early script of the show’s pilot episode, Fiona Gallagher was originally supposed to be very average-looking and overweight, with rattier clothes and messy blonde hair; a huge contrast from the slender, brunette beauty Emmy Rossum. 40. Despite being in almost every episode since season one, Joan Cusack is still listed as a “special guest star” in the opening credits. 41. A unique presenting trademark is a main characters’ breaking the fourth wall at episode beginnings, inquiring as to why the viewer supposedly did not view the previous episode before recap flashbacks with unaired scenes. 42. The “Patsy’s Pies” restaurant that Fiona is shown working at is based on a real bar and grill called “Patsy’s”, located at Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. 43. During the show’s third season Emmy Rossum had the show’s script writers give Justin Chatwin a fake scene in which he told his father he was gay. The crew members revealed it was a prank on camera. He played a gay son to a homophobic father on Weeds. 44. The show goes twice to Chicago for a week to shoot exteriors, after filming every six episodes on Warner Brothers sound stages. 45. Prior to portraying Husband and wife on Shameless, Steve Howey and Shanola Hampton were in an episode of “Reba” together. (“The Steaks are high”). 46. William H. Macy is the only series regular to have ever written (in season 2) and also direct (season 5) an episode of the series. 47. Even though it was established that Veronica was almost barren, she actually got pregnant on season 4 because Shanola Hampton got pregnant. 48. Each child, aside from Liam, identifies with the behavioral roles of children of alcoholics. There is the perfect child or the hero (Fiona). There is the rebel or the scapegoat (Carl). There is the clown or the mascot (Lip). There is the lost child or the loner (Ian). And there is the caretaker (Debs).