Have you no shame? Reasons you need to be watching Shameless

Step aside Skins and move over Antiques Roadshow, because there's a new British-bred, American-adopted series and it's Shameless...no seriously, that's its name. Showtime's second season of this Emmy-nominated comedic drama has everything a middle class American could ask for (in the form of entertainment...sorry no tax deductions).  What makes this show different from all the bandwagon sitcoms is that it transcends that basic formula of a blue collar family struggling to survive. In fact, it rejects this idea and focuses more on the individual lives of a family trying to survive in a country that doesn't register them as needy because they're scraping by without welfare.

The Gallagher family is just your average dysfunctional family: you know, an absentee lesbian mother, Monica (Chloe Webb); an egotistical alcoholic father, Frank (William H. Macy); a tough-skinned 18-year-old daughter, Fiona (Emmy Rossum), playing mom to her five siblings; her 17-year-old genius brother, Phillip (Jeremy Allen White), who makes a quick buck taking SATs for his peers; his gay ROTC brother/cousin, Ian (Cameron Monaghan); the arsonist of the family, Liam (Ethan Cutkosky), who enjoys microwaving his action figures; the youngest sister, Debbie (Emma Kenney), who collects money for UNICEF and only gives herself a small cut; and finally the toddler, Liam (Blake/Brennan Johnson), who is unmistakably black but somehow biologically related to his white family. It's also worth mentioning that they're neighbors with the bartender, Kevin (Steve Howey), who enables their father's addiction, and his girlfriend Veronica (Shanola Hampton), who's best friends with Fiona.

Sounds normal right? Wait, it gets more complicated: Phillip's, or Lip's, friend-with-benefits, Karen (Laura Wiggins), is also the daughter of Sheila (Joan Cusack), who's Frank's girlfriend. Her agoraphobic disability and obsession with cooking shows creates the perfect financial and living situation for Frank to take advantage of. While this family dynamic seems a little like it belongs in a Days of Our Lives episode or a Spanish novella, it really isn't hard to follow along when you watch an episode. There's just something so grittily real about the unfortunate situations the family is placed in. Whether it's looking for their drunken father on the streets or scrounging up enough money to pay for the electric bill, they always barely come out on top.

William H. Macy's performance is palpable as the disillusioned, alcoholic patriarch of the Gallagher family. Everything from his ruddy face and scraggily hair to the impeccable way he slurs his drunken remarks on society's faults makes you believe him to be that drunkard. You have to stop yourself from wanting to punch the screen when he is willing to give up his paternal rights to Liam just so that he can get his settlement signed by his ex-wife. When he gets shipped off to Canada, there's a part of you that wishes he won't get his passport renewed and so maybe his family will actually have a chance at being happy.

Emmy Rossum also steals every scene as Fiona, the tough-skinned adolescent having to grow up too soon to take care of her siblings. For those who've seen The Day After Tomorrow, Emmy Rossum is barely recognizable sans make-up, with undone hair and well-worn clothes. We only see a glimmer of her starlet quality on the occasions she dresses up (in the same outfit with the same gold dangly earrings) to go club hopping for the night. Her attempt at a Chicago accent works well, because it's not too much to where she sounds awful (like me when I attempt to sound British).

The children are each more witty and resourceful than the other. Whether they're hustling a truck driver into stealing the meat produce he's carrying or pretending they broke their arm so their father can continue to collect disability, their actions and retorts stay within the bounds of what is realistic, unlike other teenage scripted dramas, not to call out specifics...cough Juno cough.

That's not to say however that this series is completely free of fault. As a cynic and self-proclaimed TV addict, I realized soon enough that there are some inconsistencies, like the feasibility of parking a Porsche outside a low income neighborhood and expecting to find it the next morning or not having child protection services coming every week to check up on the children when it's well known around town their father is a drunk. Also, let it be a fair warning to those who might want to watch with their parents or turn red at the sight of nakedness: there's also an inordinate amount of sexual scenes. I guess it is the fact that it's on Showtime and premium cable networks can get away with things like mild to moderate nudity. Overall though, it's definitely shot up to my list of shows I must watch every week.

All you really have to ask yourself is: do you have any shame? If not, pick up the remote or the laptop and start watching.