via press release:
SHOWTIME GREENLIGHTS SHAMELESS TO SERIES
Network Orders 12 One-Hour Episodes of Family Drama from Warner Bros. Television Starring William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum
and Guest Starring Allison Janney
Emmy® Award Winner John Wells to Executive Produce
LOS ANGELES, CA, April 8, 2010 – SHOWTIME, Warner Bros. Television and acclaimed Emmy® Award-winning television and film producer John Wells (ER, THE WEST WING, Southland, WHITE OLEANDER, FAR FROM HEAVEN, SHOWTIME's AN AMERICAN CRIME) are bringing an adaptation of SHAMELESS, the long-running British series, to American premium television starring Emmy® Award winner and Oscar® nominee William H. Macy (Door to Door, Fargo, Pleasantville, The Cooler), Golden Globe® nominee Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera) and guest starring Emmy® Award winner Allison Janney (The West Wing) in a recurring role. SHOWTIME has ordered 12 episodes of the hour-long drama tracing the lives of a very unconventional family which will be executive produced by Wells and the series’ original creator and Emmy® Award-winner Paul Abbott. The announcement was made today by Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. The series will start production at the end of summer 2010.
“We’re so happy to be bringing this richly textured drama about a dysfunctional blue-collar family to SHOWTIME with two of the greatest television producers working today, John Wells and Paul Abbott,” said Greenblatt. “And to have William H. Macy and this incredible cast bringing these original characters to life is an embarrassment of riches.”
"Paul Abbott and I have been plotting to bring SHAMELESS to American audiences for several years now and we're delighted that Bob Greenblatt and SHOWTIME have given us this wonderful opportunity,” said John Wells. “We're remarkably fortunate to get to work with this exceptional cast led by Bill Macy and Emmy Rossum. We can't wait to get started bringing the raucous humor, ribald characters and political incorrectness of Paul's SHAMELESS to SHOWTIME."
SHAMELESS is Abbott's (STATE OF PLAY, TOUCHING EVIL, RECKLESS, and CLOCKING OFF) most personal work, inspired by his own complicated life growing up in a working-class family with ten children. For the U.S. version, the sprawling Gallagher family has been transplanted to working-class Chicago during the challenging times of today's recession. Making ends meet is always difficult especially with a mother who is AWOL and an alcoholic patriarch -- played by Macy -- who usually ends up passed out on the living room floor. Oldest daughter Fiona (Rossum) is left to the task of keeping her five younger brothers and Sisters on track, a task that usually proves impossible. The series also stars Justin Chatwin, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Cameron Monaghan, Jeremy White and Laura Slade Wiggins Mark Mylod directed the pilot episode.
SHAMELESS will be produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
About Showtime
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNELTM and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME® 2TM, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILYZONE® and TMC XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HDTM, SHOWTIME ON DEMANDTM and THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMANDTM. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME® PPV.
Photo credit “Gavin Bond/SHOWTIME”
I guess nobody learned anything from Kat & Kim. It is almost impossible to translate lumpen behavior/humor from one country to another successfully to another. It's the uncultured lower classes that keep nations distinct.
Re-creating Shameless for the US is a major risk. It may pay off. But I think they need to try stay close to the formula used in the original. With Kath & Kim they really made a different show and it didn't work. I didn't really see much link between the UK/US versions aside from the names of the characters. If they go and change everything then what's the point? That is why the original works. Shamelss UK is a great show thats going into its 8th season next year. It they don't mess with it too much and time it right it might be a hit. Keep the censors away from it too. The charm of the original is in the fact that it doesn't hold back. I'm glad it's going on cable.
I don't think the humor will translate.
UK & US ghetto cultures are too different.
Since BBC America won't show the original why not just show that on Showtime like Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
Because the original isn't particularly good anymore, and unlike Secret Diary which had Billie Piper in the lead role, the UK version doesn't have anything marketable.
This remake does – it has two exceptional actors (Macy and Rossum) and no-doubt some others too – and it guarantees the viewer that they'll get fantastic quality acting and good writing.
I don't think the Americans are reading for something as gritty as Shameless. One episode featured the father headbutting his teenage son in the face for taking a cigarette from his wallet. No, because he was smoking. Because it was his.
I've only watched a few episodes. It's not really my cup of tea.
If they started from the beginning they would still have some good seasons before the decline I heard a lot of good things about the show a few years ago.
Billie Piper isn't famous in the US outside of the Sci-Fi crowd.
I don't think she adds a lot of marketability to a US show.
The original is a known quantity. The remake is more of a risk as remakes have an original to live up to and be compared to.
Recent example: Life on Mars. It was ok but compared to the UK version it wasn't very good.
That said I will try it. Maybe I will like the US version better than the UK one.
That's why BBC America wont show the original, and that's why Showtime could get away with it.
BBC America doesn't show much besides reality shows now.
I wish someone would show some good UK shows besides the few that IFC shows.
When they tone down the UK shows for US tastes it normally destroys what made the show good.
this should be good.
this should be good.
Oh my god, it's only bloody Shameless. OTT trash TV, disguised as a gritty drama. No different to Skins. You're making out it's some sort of ground-breaking, landmark series that's defined a generation. Hell. No.
There are plenty of grittier series on US TV: Oz, Wire, Sopranos, Shield, BSG, etc.
It's William H. Macy, how “gritty” can the show really be.
“Shameless” has run on the Sundance Channel here in the US. As a huge fan of British TV, I too fear American remakes but in this case “Shameless” has two things going for it: one, the original writer Paul Abbott is involved (he's a genius), and two, it's on Showtime. The pay networks are much more patient about quirky shows and will give it a chance to breath. The rest is up to the producers, good luck.
Our low budget cable company doesn't have Sundance so I didn't realize it had run here.
Some of the people on the UK TV site I go to said they thought it was a great show.
Maybe they were teenagers.
I thought Skins was junk but BBC America makes like it's an award winning drama.
If it's just like Skins I'll probably not watch it.
It's been a few years since I watched the Shameless episodes I saw I don't really remember what it was about.
I was just commenting about poor quality remakes in general.
Thanks for the info.
It's William H. Macy, how “gritty” can the show really be.
“Shameless” has run on the Sundance Channel here in the US. As a huge fan of British TV, I too fear American remakes but in this case “Shameless” has two things going for it: one, the original writer Paul Abbott is involved (he's a genius), and two, it's on Showtime. The pay networks are much more patient about quirky shows and will give it a chance to breath. The rest is up to the producers, good luck.
Our low budget cable company doesn't have Sundance so I didn't realize it had run here.
Some of the people on the UK TV site I go to said they thought it was a great show.
Maybe they were teenagers.
I thought Skins was junk but BBC America makes like it's an award winning drama.
If it's just like Skins I'll probably not watch it.
It's been a few years since I watched the Shameless episodes I saw I don't really remember what it was about.
I was just commenting about poor quality remakes in general.
Thanks for the info.