Shameless Criticism ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If you struggle with any form of negativity, please take care of yourself and add this blog to your ignore list. Otherwise, welcome to the depths of my bitterness about a show I once loved. 

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It will be hilarious if Fiona actually marries Sean in the finale and Dermot's pilot gets picked up by CBS. Some actors do multiple shows but it'd be tough for Shameless to work their schedule around a show on one of the "Big 4" networks, and they likely won't find out until after the finale airs so no last minute changes. But it'd serve the whole showrunning/writing team right to have invested all this time propping up what will be just another of Fiona's failed relationships.

Oh does Dermot have another show lined up? I didn’t know that! Can you imagine, it would literally be repeating last season where she ended the season married to Gus and started this season separated from him. I can’t say I’d be disappointed, because I’m not invested in Sean. At all. I was willing to try and give him a chance last season, at the very beginning and against my better judgement, but he just… got worse and worse to me. You know it’s bad when even the people who didn’t like Jimmy started saying they wished he’d come back. 

Maybe they’d just write in a storyline where Sean was in rehab or something and out of the picture until such a time when Dermot became available. I’d almost be okay with that because unless Fiona cheated, for once her story might actually be about her and not her relationships. Can you imagine? 

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So what if Cam chooses not to come back for an eight season? (I understand he's signed a contract until Season 7?) Do you think the writers could write him off? Would they use the suicide card or would that be way too dark even for Shameless?

I mean, they’ve written him off before without reducing to suicide so I think they could definitely do so again. Whether or not they’d want to, I honestly don’t know anymore. I still hope not. It’s not like it would be hard to send him away, the family isn’t really much of a family anymore so it wouldn’t matter much. But then again, I didn’t think it would be hard for them to just send Mickey away either, and they still chose prison over moving because apparently they thought it was more true to Mickey’s character. Who knows what they think is true to Ian’s? Since he’s run away before, though, I’m hoping they think that’s his MO. In comparison to a suicide storyline, it’s certainly preferable. 

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What is your opinion on the Caleb + HIV thing? I don't watch the show anymore but was unlucky enough to see some spoilers and it makes me furious that Ian and Caleb had sex BEFORE Caleb told him he has HIV. Why no one seems to bothered by this? Telling my partner I'm struggling with something so serious would be the first thing I'd do before taking the big step so how can people claim Caleb cares /that/ much about Ian if he didn't share this important info w/ him before taking things further?

I think the writers “gave” him HIV in an attempt to seem progressive but, as usual, fail to meet the mark and instead will likely end up contributing to the stigma surrounding HIV. Not having Caleb tell Ian before their relationship became sexual, for example, which I’m sure would feed into the fear some people already have of people who are HIV positive. And even though they briefly mentioned the treatment Caleb is on to help with his symptoms and to help lower the odds of transmitting the disease to someone else, this is Shameless. We’ve seen how this story plays out with Ian’s bipolar disorder, and Caleb’s medication is going to be too “zzZZZzzZZZz” to actually educate people on. And I’m sorry but if you’re going to go the cliche route of giving a gay male HIV, it should be about educating people and reducing the stigma. Representation is important, yes, and I understand there’s some value to there being an HIV positive character without it being turned into a big deal. But I don’t trust this show not to turn it into one at some point, because it’s just “too good” of an opportunity for them to turn away. And having Caleb keep it to himself until after sex is just one of many red flags I’m sure we’ll be getting. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there’s an HIV scare with Ian at the end of the season. 

I guess it makes sense now though why Caleb didn’t want just a hookup and wanted to date for a bit before having sex, but waiting until after the sex was a dick move, even if his odds of transmitting the disease are lower with him being medicated. It’s not foolproof by any means and there are other measures Ian could have taken to protect himself, too, and he could have done so had he actually known. If the relationship was serious enough to Caleb to take that extra step and have sex, it was serious enough to tell Ian about his HIV so Ian could make that choice for himself. I know they’re trying to compare the seriousness of Caleb’s secret to Ian’s, but really, it’s not the same thing. I’m not surprised if more people aren’t worried about it, though - the show didn’t turn it into a big deal (as far as I know) so they’re not treating it like one, either. Maybe most of the general audience will be the same, so long as Shameless doesn’t pull any stunts to exploit this storyline. 

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People might not agree with me on this but I seriously rather them write Mickey off than continue to write him at all... If this character isn't interesting enough to them for them to write him well, then it's better they stick to whoever they really have muse for. God knows what they could do to a character they don't really like to write for.

Honestly at this point, let’s write off all the characters and bring in new ones. At least then there’d be an excuse for the characters seeming completely different. 

…joking aside though, I’m with you on this one. I don’t want Mickey in prison and I’d love nothing more than for the writers to use up one of those Gallagher get out of jail free cards on Mickey. But I don’t want him back on the show, or involved with anyone still left on it. They’ve proven they don’t care about his character on his own, and I think he’s worth more than what he can provide for Ian in a relationship. For the record, I think Ian’s worth more too, even if I don’t particularly like him anymore. It’s a shame they’ve wasted what could have been a meaningful storyline (yet again) by focusing on his relationships.

Though, do they even have inspiration to write their favourites? Nothing original has been happening with them for a long time, either. 

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I always connected with Ian and Mick the most. The abuse scenes (especially 5x10) triggered me, and it depressed me when there was no effort to address it or have a voice of reason. I talked with my friend + she said to get over it. It hurts that she thought I was stupid and didn’t want better for me. I’m not watching the show anymore not because I’m sad about ixm (although there is that), it’s because I found characters that I could properly connect with for once and I was let down.

People who have never experienced these things themselves have a very hard time understanding how it feels, and they take for granted that they’ve never felt that way. It’s just a shame that they can’t also be understanding of the fact that even if they think it’s no big deal, it was to you. I’m sorry that you experienced that with someone you consider a friend but I hope you know there’s nothing wrong with feeling the way you did. It’s especially hard when you connect with a character because you feel their pain on a very personal level, and when a show fails to acknowledge what they’re going through or when it brushes it off… it feels like your feelings are being invalidated because they didn’t think it was worth talking about, or explaining, or they didn’t see what was wrong with it to begin with. 

The problem with 5x10 is that the writers supposedly expected it to be “common sense” that what went on between Ian and Mickey was not okay and that anyone who needed that spelled out for them obviously had other issues going on. Whether or not that’s true, it shows a complete disregard for the responsibility they have as writers. The fact is, some people do need it spelled out, because they romanticized that scene. The fact is, some people recognized it was toxic, but it’s “okay” because Mickey did that before and their relationship has always been this way. Some of us see through that, but an alarming amount of viewers don’t, and a large part of that is because day in and day out they see this kind of shit glossed over, both in real life and on television. 

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I am SORRy but people constantly say in response to me: "You couldn't make anything not problematic that is enjoyable!" and I'm like excUSE ME. I have found plenty of other shows, fics, etc. that are maybe not 100% unproblematic, but they are at least 80% unproblematic and then apologise for anything that IS problematic on their creation and then do better as the creation develops. SO.

Something being problematic in itself isn’t the issue - the issue lies with how it is portrayed. It’s like… when you have the male character who sexually harasses a female character, there are two ways a show can approach this kind of storytelling. They can romanticize and sexualize it, which happens a lot, you know, the guys getting a pat on the back for slapping a girl’s ass or catcalling her. Or they can make it clear that the guy is a disgusting creep whose actions are completely unwelcome and not okay.

The first scenario contributes to real life men thinking their actions are okay so long as the girl doesn’t protest too much, because what they’ve seen in television and movies makes them think that silence equals consent even though common sense should tell them that’s not true at all. The second scenario, although still portraying problematic behaviors, at the very least does not condone it and act like it’s okay. It doesn’t turn around and reward them for it.

People are problematic by nature, so if you’re writing a show about them, you’re going to see that from time to time. It’s just important to be understanding of the implications of your writing and the impact it has on your viewers and the real world. And it’s important to portray it realistically without glorifying it or making excuses for it, and for the writers to listen to criticism when they fail to see the harm in their writing themselves. 

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Wow the scenes with Carl in this episode really made me tear up. Especially when he told Fiona that he didn't want to be in the game because he didn't want to see anymore people die. And he was tearing up too!

I’m not watching so I don’t have much to contribute to this ask aside from saying I saw Fiona apparently combed out Carl’s haircut as well, which thank god for that. 

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I’m trying to be a little sad that Noel’s obviously not coming back to Shameless. And part of me is. But I just keep looking at what the writers have done to Ian (and everyone else tbh), and honestly I can’t even imagine what (more) they would do if they got their hands on Mickey again. They would either make him into a complete monster, backing up all of Ian’s lies about their relationship, or they would make him into this really sad, pathetic ex-boyfriend. Neither of which I’d want to see Mickey turn into. So, go be free Noel. You lawyer the fuck out of that pilot.

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I just saw someone in twitter asked Sheila if Noel was coming back for season 7 and she said "I hope so". Do you think she's just baiting Mickey fans? Do you think they're desperate enough to ask Noel to come back after destroying what he built?

I mean, it’s not really baiting to say she hopes he could come back for season 7 so much as it’s trying to come across as though she’s a fan who wants him back too. And that’s really more about changing fans perception of her and their tone toward her because if she seems like she’s on their side, maybe they’ll stop taking their frustration out on her. Let’s also not forget that she claimed to not know if Noel was returning when everyone else around her did and they were already writing him out of the show. 

I’ll also say this: even if she’s just a writer, or even if a cast member is just a cast member, it is their job to promote the show and to stir up hype and to tease fans a little with spoilers and what-if scenarios because that’s how you get people talking about it. So no matter who it is speaking, on this show or any other, take their word with a grain of salt because people change their minds, people who have more authority intervene, and at the end of the day it’s their job to make us buy what they’re selling. 

As for if they’re desperate enough to ask Noel to come back, I don’t know, truthfully. I guess it would depend on if they think it’s worth bringing him back. Lord knows they don’t know what else to write for Ian unless he’s sleeping with someone, and few people have taken a liking to their attempt at introducing an alternative love interest. So at some point, it’s definitely possible. I mean these are the same people who asked him to come back for the jail scene which was also destroying the relationship and the character and none of the people responsible seemed to be above that. 

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Do you think they kept Ian 17 for so long because they enjoy fetishizing an underage boy having sex with older men?

Truthfully I don’t know if they put that much thought into it although there are enough scenes of Ian being exploited by much older men to make one wonder why all the older gay men are always predators. Always. If they’re not, they aren’t kept on the show. 

And, honestly, even if Ian wasn’t 17 all that time and he was a little older in the same position with a much older man… even if it’s not illegal at that point, it’s still predatory and gross, he’s barely legal and the show has never portrayed it in a “May-December Romance” kind of way, either. 

That being said I think the main reason for keeping him that age for so long is simply that they had no reason to age him up. The younger kids got aged up because physically they age much faster and noticeably than Cam, Jeremy or Emmy would. Lip got aged up because of his university storyline being a core part of his character. Ian staying at 17 was, for a while, important because of him illegally enlisting in the army and the resulting consequences of that. Once that storyline was done, they apparently aged him up. None of this means they didn’t take advantage of the fact that he was underage and often put in predatory situations with older men, something that I realize was introduced by the original Shameless series but was continually explored by this version of the show by their own choosing. But, they probably wouldn’t have aged him up if that was the sole reason. It’s just another case of writing the character to suit the story rather than the other way around, and now that the story needs him to be a little older, he’s a little older.

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Here's to hoping shameless doesn't get a formal "final notice" and it just gets cancelled.

Unfortunately the ratings aren’t that bad and Showtime shows tend to go on long past the best before date, but you never know. At this point I don’t think they could give us a satisfying conclusion that wouldn’t feel rushed and underdeveloped anyway, since that seems to be their thing now, so it wouldn’t likely matter much if they got one or not. 

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I think now, the only way season 7 would be the last season is if it's cancelled. But since the contracts are coming up and end after 7 seasons I think they will definitely loose some key actors, especially Cam. Emmy might even think of moving on. So who knows what the show will be like on season 8 without some of the actors in it.

Well we know if they lost Cam the show wouldn’t really be much different than it already is now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ William H. Macy is apparently more than willing to continue playing the same old, same old Frank for as long as the show is airing. Emmy has a lot of love for Fiona but seems to be tired by the storylines she’s given, so it would depend on her relationship with the people in charge, I think, if she felt like she owed them another season or if she decided to move on to bigger and better things. I do know the original series wrote off quite a few of the characters but considering this show doesn’t properly develop secondary characters and cares about no one aside from the Gallagher’s, I don’t think they could do the same. 

I don’t see a cancellation in Shameless’ future yet, though, and I figure they’ll probably try a few tactics to prevent that first. 

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I have seen rumors that showtime did pick it up for season 7 but due to low ratings it is canceled after season 7... Multiple news outlets reported this in January?

I never heard anything about that and I think there would have been a lot more celebration in the bitter half of the fandom if that were the case so unfortunately those rumors are likely just that - rumors. And possibly wishful thinking. Of course, I don’t follow news or interviews for this show that often even when I was still a fan so I could be wrong and anyone with concrete evidence to confirm this is welcome to reblog correcting me. :)

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If season 7 is the last one, when do you think that they confirm it?

Ordinarily in my experience with shows that are coming to an end, when they announce the renewal they say it’s the final season. We’ve already had the renewal announcement for season seven, before season six aired, so I’m not sure if we’ve missed that window already or if there’s still a chance they’ll say it’s the final season. The writers would need to know before writing it, though, so they can come to some kind of coherent conclusion. That could (unfortunately for some) mean this is not the last season but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I really don’t see it going beyond eight seasons, though.

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I feel neither the writers nor the cast realise how sad and angry we are (Mickey fans and ex shameless fans). They probably think we're just a bunch of Internet kids. They've been receiving not-so-good reviews and some online harassment, but still.

They absolutely think that, which is funny because while I realize some haven’t bothered explaining their frustration, those who actually have got treated the same as if they hadn’t. And were blocked, up until Sheila decided doing a Q&A was a good idea. (Remember how she said she wouldn’t answer any questions about Mickey anymore because there would be a specific location created for those questions and then she just… kept… answering them… I’m guessing they realized what a bad idea that would actually be lmao.)

Really, the only thing there’d be a chance of these writers listening to is the critics, and they’ve already been ignoring them. As for the cast… I don’t know. I feel like they’re a little more aware, because they actually do pay attention to the criticism. I mean, Emmy liked that one tweet that wasn’t even directed at her, it was just on the Shameless tag on Twitter. And if she’s going through the Shameless tag, you know what she’s seeing amidst the ass kissing. 

I also feel like some of the cast are fans like us, maybe not of every character or relationship or storyline, but of their own character. So Emmy feels frustration with Fiona and Cam feels frustration with Ian, because they saw more to these characters and these characters are very dear to them because they’re the ones who brought them to life. And these two characters have especially been screwed over by the writing.

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TBH I don't think Noel left on good terms with the cast or atleast he isn't on good terms with them anymore, I mean Cameron and Noel (and Steve) were both at the same party and there has been no mention that they even acknowledged each other.

It’s probably just awkward, and I’ve never gotten the sense that they were particularly close off the set anyway. Cam did give Noel a respectful farewell on Twitter, so at that point they were still at the very least civil. As for Steve, well, I kind of get the impression that he resents the fact that fans are paying more attention to Mickey being written off than the rest of the show. I don’t think any of them would have gone out of their way to avoid Noel at the party though. And unless you mean from a third party, I doubt Cam, Steve or even Noel would want to mention anything about seeing each other because the fandom is still really volatile and that would only fan the flames. 

That’s not to say I think they are on good terms or that Noel left on good terms, because things have felt awkward with the cast for a while and I’m uncertain if it’s because of the harassment they had to deal with or because of what happened with Noel or both. But I don’t think they’d go as far as giving him the silent treatment or avoiding him either, particularly when they’re still following him on social media as far as I’ve heard.