In the british version, the dilemma of becoming a bigamist pops up in one of the episodes and frank visits the local mormon church for advice, only for two men to literally throw him out, and frank subsequently vowing to burn all his donny osmond records.
Well, they lie, they deceive, they're lazy, they're intolerant, they're crafty, they're avaricious, they lie to the authorities of the Land to get and keep cash...
quatermass2 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, they lie, they deceive, they're lazy, > they're intolerant, they're crafty, they're > avaricious, they lie to the authorities of the > Land to get and keep cash... > > No, they wouldn't make good propective members. > > But they'd make excellent GAs!
In the british one, Frank spends most of his time getting high on illegal chemical substances, that's when he is not just plain drunk. He and all of his kids smoke pot and so do most of their neighbours on the estate. There was even an episode when the boys had an illegal farm in their attic (cannot do that in a trailer park).
Is the american one the same or is american culture not quite ready to laugh at the antics of the dregs of society who have no shame, don't work and don't care for 'proper' work and are nearly always high on some sort of substance, prescribed or otherwise?
If you ever get the chance, watch the british one - I have a feeling the american one is tame by comparison.
Most working class brits have lived on an estate like the one in Shameless and know and/or are related to folks like that - no class & no shame. It is very funny - very entertaining, although it is a dickensian description of what society becomes when socialists are in charge of education and handing out benefits: a welfare state breeds apathy and a socialist education where everyone is equal breeds more apathy. The devil makes work for idle hands, as the old saying goes. When people have no need to work, they loose the desire to complete an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. This train of thought led the creator to write shameless in the first place - he just took it to the extreme. Being long-term unemployed is a career choice in some parts of the UK.