Critic Reviews
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70
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
25(64%)
mixed
11(28%)
negative
3(8%)
Showing 39 Critic Reviews
Jan 4, 2011
100
Abbott makes sure the quirkiness of the Gallaghers is firmly rooted in three-dimensional, credible characterization. You never feel a bit of inauthenticity here.
Jan 6, 2011
100
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.
Jan 9, 2012
91
Because the bond between them is so strong, all the show's disparate pieces - the filthy comedy and the desperation, the joy and the depression - hold together just as well.
Jan 6, 2011
90
[The] sentimental streak in the show is compensated by Frank's coldness and the scrappy urban realism, translated so effectively from the British original.
Jan 9, 2011
90
While there's a little something lost in translation, the show retains enough of the core of the original that--bolstered by strong performances from top to bottom--it's as good a remake as any import since "The Office."
Jan 6, 2011
88
The charm of the show--and of the Gallagher family--is in its anarchy.
Jan 4, 2012
88
Almost nothing about this series is conventional. That's part of the appeal.
Jan 5, 2012
88
If you want bold activities, high drama and laughs motivated by something other than fame, tune in for Season 2 of Shameless.
Feb 7, 2013
83
Essentially, Shameless is still Shameless: A raucous, shocking, moral battleground, a family comedy taken to twisted extremes, boosted by a uniformly fine cast, and consistently entertaining.
Jan 17, 2014
83
Macy, Rossum & Co. have never been more explosively entertaining, while this year's hilarious story setups are deviously par for the course on TV's most insane, debaucherous dose of weekly WTF. [24 Jan 2014, p.65]
