I have read all of the actors’ background profiles. Lip earned his role upon graduation from high school. I am also a fan of William H. Macy.
Overall the acting is outstanding & the scripts are of high quality. But, Shameless is not for those offended by scenes containing sex or violence.
Trailer Park Boys is addictive if for no other reason to try to figure out what type of person could create such characters & scripts. Takes the viewer into a different world (hopefully) as does Shameless.
Today I read a clip in Parade magazine about the PBS show Atlantic Crossing- which started LAST week! Luckily, I found the first episode on our PBS station’s webpage and was able to watch the first episode.
Second was tonight. I think it is really good. It’s about Norway’s royal family and (so far) their first days after the invasion by Germany in April 1940. It’s sort of The Crown, Norway style. But I’m amazed at how rich people were treated and can only imagine how those Germany wanted to eliminate were feeling. Of course they are all related as royals and that’s interesting to me.
Two other WWII series started last week too. I wasn’t able to catch up on them so recorded tonight’s shows and will try to catch up.
I took a big leap last night and decided to start Mad Men. I think I read somewhere it’s 92 hours of episodes?! Probably will take me MONTHS! I enjoy the mid century vibe - even though the sexism is so rampant. Eager to see if/how that changes through the series.
Oh, I’m jealous you’re getting to watch it for the first time. Love that show. There IS a lot of sexism, because that’s the way it was. But it’s great to see Peggy evolve and get more confident. Enjoy!
(I have a friend whose dad was one of the “Mad Men” during that time, and she said he thought it was a pretty accurate representation.)
Speaking of oldies, I finally broke down and paid for HBO, and I am watching The Sopranos. I watched dribs and drabs of it in the past but it was really new to me. Wow!
@twoinanddone , if you’re referring to World On Fire on PBS, that’s season 1 they’re re-running. I believe season 2 will start after the S1 replay is finished.
The other is called something like My Grandparents’ War–about British celebrities learning about what their grandparents did during WWII. It’s very interesting. 2 episodes have played with 2 more to go.
I think Atlantic Crossing has 8 episodes in all.
@abasket - i hope you watch it all. It is slow-paced. but so good. It’s so interesting with the advertising storylines (fall of cigarettes/growth of TV); the personal lives of all involved; the Don Draper storyline all set in the 60s. It’s been 6 years since it ended, but i remember discussing it all here on CC. Hope to hear how you like it.
I loved Mad Men and so did my family. I will say there would always seem to be 1-2 episodes in the middle of a season that felt so slow and drug on, but they would be setting the stage for the superb episodes that always followed. I think it still fits in my top 10 series of all times.
@oldmom4896 My daughter and I never watched The Sopranos either. I wasn’t much of a TV watcher pre-COVID and D was too young. Last fall we decided to watch and found that we enjoyed it. Unlike other series we watched during COVID (e.g. West Wing) we didn’t watch The Sopranos straight through until the end–we’d watch 2-3 nights a week.
Thanks for the tip! We started watching it and really like it. The acting is good and it’s a interesting period of time.
Loved Madmen. I know you have a lot of viewing to do, but it’s worth it. It has a fun finale. It’s worth all,your time. I keep trying to get DH to watch, I said I’d watch it again. For some reason he won’t.
@abasket we are re-watching all of Mad Men as it’s a favorite of ours. I hope you enjoy it. I really can never watch Jon Hamm in any other role!
@Publisher Shameless, years ago I turned it off during the first episode, many kids, addiction bothered me. Funny, last night when I should have been sleeping I saw the last half hour of the final episode!
Mad Men was my first binge ever. It led me down the path of chasing down interesting shows and getting involved with story lines, characters, and cliffhanger episode endings. Re-introduced me to popular culture, since I watch few TV shows and don’t listen much to popular music.
Just this past year, I convinced my sister to try Mad Men. She complained constantly about the treatment of the women, but kept watching the whole thing.
My 32 year old daughter said the same - “I tried a few episodes but it’s so sexist!” - which is sort of the point I think that this was corporate life in the 60’s! Hoping we see some growth and development away from that stigma through the seasons. And I have heard that the finale rivals to be a best finale of all time.
I don’t get this issue with sexism. It is intentional, as a portrayal of the '50’s. This was life at some point for some of us oldsters, and they younger women can’t even stand to watch it!
But if you are a younger person you don’t realize how blatant that sexism was. It’s really awful. So I understand that a younger person would just see this as a tv story not true to real life - but it was. There is plenty that our 30 year olds are having to experience human nature wise in today’s world that we didn’t have to face so harshly.
Even watching some shows from the 1990s-2000s have office/work situations where the sexism is a big part of the show. Watch ER or early Law and Order episodes has me asking “Could it have really been that bad?” Umm, yes.
The University Club in Denver didn’t have women as members until the late 1990s. When they finally let women in, I wouldn’t join because it was still a men’s club and women were barely tolerated. Who needs 'em?
I just found Mad Men hard to watch. I thought the sexism was realistic, but everyone seemed so unpleasant.
I’ve been watching The West Wing and it’s been really interesting to see how sexism is treated there. Sometimes I can’t tell which side they are on, though mostly the right one. 
There is one interesting episode where Sam Seaborne (Rob Lowe) is complimenting the token Republican woman on the staff. Other women find it offensive, but she says she believes in “stiletto feminism”.
@abasket. My 20 something social justice warrior daughter said the same thing about Mad Men. Every time she starts ranting about the white male patriarchy I have to tell her “oh honey, you don’t even know.” She asked my mom if MM was an accurate depiction of the 60s workplace and when my mom told her “spot on”, all my daughter could say was “Whoa”. Then she watched the whole series. Now she thinks my mom was a bad@$$ who paved the way for her.