Showtime made use of Dexter season 5 finale on Sunday, December 12 to promote its new comedy, Shameless. The cable generously gave the first 20 minutes of the adaptation of British TV show with the same title.
The pilot is none other than the introduction to the characters, mainly the people who live under the same crooked roof and call themselves the Gallaghers. William H. Macy plays a far-from-stellar working-class patriarch of an unconventional Chicago brood of six while Emmy Rossum is the eldest daughter keeping things together.
Rossum’s younger siblings are played by Jeremy Allen White, Cameron Monaghan, Emma Kenney, Ethan Cutkosky and twins Blake Alexander and Brennan Kane Johnson who play baby Liam. There are four other major characters played by Joan Cusack, Justin Chatwin, Shanola Hampton and Steve Howey.
The comedy begins airing January 9 at 10/9c. The following sneak peek may be unsuitable for those below 17.

Source: AceShowbiz.com

Realizing that she had accidentally spit part of her Rice Krispies treat on my knee, Emmy Rossum — on her lunch break from shooting Showtime’s Shameless in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago on Wednesday — briefly stopped what she was saying to co-star William H. Macy and turned her attention to me.
“I’m still in character,” Rossum said, and turned back to her conversation with Macy.
On Shameless, Rossum’s character, Fiona, is the eldest of six children in a dysfunctional working class family. Because it’s a single-parent household — and the one parent, Frank (Macy), is an unemployed alcoholic — Fiona is a mother figure for the hard-partying Gallagher family. Rossum filmed a scene Wednesday morning in which her character gets her house’s power turned back on.
“It’s raw and jagged and more real,” said Rossum, describing her role later that afternoon in her trailer. Rossum previously appeared in the films Mystic River and The Phantom of the Opera. “It’s what I always wanted to do. I’m channeling my inner ballsyness. I think I’m becoming (gutsier) by playing her.” Continue reading…

Whether or not you’ve seen the award-winning British drama series Shameless, you’ll likely enjoy Showtime’s adaptation this winter. That is, if you are a fan of serious film actors crossing over into premium cable under the skilled wing of an expert showrunner (John Wells, whose credits include ER and West Wing) working his magic on a comically dysfunctional-yet-heartwarming series. Showtime’s Shameless features William H. Macy as a working class single father who boozes through the day and defers to his harried daughter Fiona — played by Emmy Rossum — to raise herself and her six brothers and sisters as they beg, borrow and steal to support the family. Like the U.K.’s Frank Gallagher (played by David Threlfall), Macy’s Frank Gallagher is an unemployed former convict who finds difficulty caring for his rag-tag brood, but feels comfortable preaching about the prejudices against the poor from a bar stool. Both Macy and Rossum seem like they have the potential for Emmy nominations — particularly Rossum, who looks more than convincing as overworked, under-appreciated teenager playing mom — and if the show finds an audience, Shameless could last 8 seasons like its U.K.-based series. In the meantime…
VERDICT: Sold — not only on the American version but tempted to track down the British original.

Source: Movieline.com