SHAMELESS Growing Up

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: 'Shameless - The Complete Seventh Season' on Blogcritics.

Love it or hate it, Showtime’s Shameless has been around for quite awhile at this point. The dramedy about a lower class family dealing with social, moral, and drug issues while scraping by on the South Side of Chicago recently released The Complete Seventh Season on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital. It’s an aging program that has grown along with its characters. As much as these twelve episodes continue the story, they also mark a new chapter in the life of the Gallaghers. The result is very satisfying.

Growing Up

Most of the characters are changing in The Complete Seventh Season. Fiona (Emmy Rossum) finally begins putting herself first, above family and men. To do this, she tries managing and running a few businesses. Lip (Jeremy Allen White), worried about turning into his father, struggles with sobriety. Ian (Cameron Monaghan) has things together as he works as an EMT and expands his sexual orientation. Debbie (Emma Kenney) finds out what it takes to be a mother to her infant. Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) ponders what it means to be a man. Frank (William H. Macy) realizes he hasn’t been the father he should be, and wants to do better, though he doesn’t quite know how to do it.

All of that might sound rather noble and wholesome, but those are two words that often don’t describe the Gallaghers. As they go along the journeys listed above, each at least consider illegal actions, many committing crimes. Past loves and bad relationships threaten to derail progress. Best friends Kev (Steve Howey) and V (Shanola Hampton) get into a thrupple with their employee, Svetlana (Isidora Goreshter). So there is still plenty of the mess fans are used to seeing from the clan and those around them.

Family

A theme this year is family. V and Kev redefine theirs, and aren’t sure they like it. Fiona, who has always been the rock, largely abandons hers in the pursuit of economic success. Debbie seeks to build a new family to help raise her child. When the kids he created reject him, Frank looks elsewhere to find the love he seeks. Carl leaves his home to improve himself.

Yet, while things get crazy, the Gallaghers have never seemed stronger. More of them are adults now, and so contribute financially and emotionally. They take care of one another in more meaningful ways, and their conflicts matter more. The show keeps the same spirit it has always had, but grows along with the cast. It’s a very satisfying run.

Extras

Of course, Shameless would not be Shameless without some great guest stars shaking things up. Zack Pearlman (Dragons: Race to the Edge), Ruby Modine (Central Park), and Elliot Fletcher (The Fosters) join the show as new love interests for various characters. June Squibb (Nebraska) and Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue) enter to interact with Fiona. Mickey (Noel Fisher) returns with typical craziness, and matriarch Monica (Chloe Webb) vastly changes things when she blows back into town late in the year.

The release also contains bonus material. One very good featurette centers on Ethan and Emma, two of the lead performers, and how they have grown up on set. Other cast members, crew, and the actors’ parents contribute their thoughts, and it’s a fascinating insight. A far less interesting short concerns the political leanings of Frank Gallagher. There are also deleted scenes for just about every episode in the set. It’s not a huge amount of extras, but the first featurette is great, and some of the deleted scenes are worthwhile, so it works.

Conclusion

Shameless is not getting old. I mean, yes, it’s been on for awhile. But it’s just as entertaining as ever, and if anything, more thought-provoking. If this is the kind of good stuff in The Complete Seventh Season, I look forward very much to year eight.

Shameless – The Complete Seventh Season is on sale now.

After THE AFTER

Article first published as After THE AFTER on TheTVKing.

Nearly a year after releasing its first batch of comedy pilots, Amazon.com finally posted two dramas free to stream on their website. One of these pilots is The After, which is from Chris Carter (The X-Files), a suspenseful series send after a post-apocalyptic event. Eight strangers, bound by fate, not coincidence, must come together to survive, fleeing from the rest of the world.

The X-Files was a seminal show for science fiction television, and some of the creepy mystery that seeped through that program is repeated here. There is a creature (Sam Littlefield) with weird tattoos in the woods, and no one can explain to our protagonists what is happening. Even after viewing the entire "Pilot," the long-term plot still seems murky.

But the mistake comes by making The After about a "random" group of strangers thrust together by circumstance. This concept has been done to death, and with much better ensembles. Those that make up the cast are mostly familiar faces, and none of them are bad actors. But neither is this the next Lost, and the layers that begin to peel away in the "Pilot" are predictable and formulaic.

Our central heroine is Gigi Generau (Louise Monot, The Avignon Prophecy), an aspiring actress with a thick French accent, currently stuck far away from her beloved (Jason Lewis, Sex and the City) and their child. She is joined by an 'innocent' ex-con (Aldis Hodge, Leverage), an asshole lawyer (Adrian Pasdar, Heroes), a likely prostitute (Arielle Kebbel, The Vampire Diaries), a gay clown (Jamie Kennedy, Ghost Whisperer), a senile millionaire (Sharon Lawrence, NYPD Blue), a foul-mouthed drunk (Andrew Howard, Hatfields & McCoys), and a cop (Jaina Lee Ortiz, The Shop).

This grouping is a lot like that assembled by broadcast network series with a similar format, such as The Nine and Lucky Seven. There isn't any single actor who stands out as amazing, and though they play their parts well enough, we're taught not to take the characters at face value, which makes it hard to trust any of the players. None of these other shows lasted, so why should The After?

What will set it apart from that category is the gratuitous nudity and frequent dropping of the F-bomb. But don't mistake The After as being HBO or Showtime level quality, as the writing is far less smart. There are some intriguing elements, to be sure, but it's not looking like the next must-see serial drama.

This is evidenced by the other people we see. While the cast is escaping from a parking garage to a mansion to the forest, the general public riots, tries to flip their vehicle, offers no assistance, even from law-enforcement, and tries to rob Lawrence's character's home with guns. The rest of the world's population is shown as a two-dimensional menace, with only the main players getting any development at all. This doesn't bode well for sustainability.

While I do have very mixed feelings on The After, enjoying it but not really respecting it, I probably will watch if it goes to series. After all, at least it's not another police procedural, and it's trying a few new things. Plus Carter's involvement gives me hope there are some bigger, well-thought out arcs that could be brought into the fold down the road. But as a "Pilot," it lacked authenticity and any real, lasting draw. Very disappointing, considering Amazon has only ordered two drama offerings versus eleven comedies so far.

The After is available now on Amazon.com.

BODY OF PROOF Examined One Last Time

Article first published as DVD Review: 'Body of Proof - The Complete Third Season' on Blogcritics.

The final season of ABC’s Body of Proof  begins on a sad note, with Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) just getting back to work after three months off, a break taken following the death of her professional partner, Peter (Nicholas Bishop). To make matter worse, her daughter, Lacey (Mary Mouser), is kidnapped, and a bomb is hidden in a dead body. So Megan’s return is not exactly something to celebrate.

It’s kind of nice, though, to start with a case that will match the current tone of the series. With both Bud (John Carroll Lynch) and Sam (Sonja Sohn) gone from the cast, too, there is a sense of loss and emptiness anyway. By going down such a dramatic, depressing path, it allows the show to match the sadness felt by fans, rather than just trying to pretend that nothing has happened and move on.

Unfortunately, the replacements for those missing characters seem a bit too contrived. I like Mark Valley (Harry’s Law, Boston Legal), but his character of Tommy Sullivan, the new police detective that works with the Medical Examiner’s office, has a past with Megan. Yes, he is more magnetic than Peter, but the two men are far too similar, making every feel like replaceable archetypes. Why must TV shows force past connections? Why not allow new relationships to bloom on their own? Why does Tommy so neatly fill the role that Peter did? There’s both a sense of continuity, and one of overreach, right from the start of the run.

There are some things this third season of Body of Proof does correctly. It allows Megan to delve deeper into her father’s suicide, uncovering a cover up, and find closure. In fact, her story overall ends on a very hopeful note. The ensemble is still intact, with delicious friction between Megan and Kate (Jeri Ryan), and comic relief provided by Ethan (Geoffrey Arend) and Curtis (Windell Middlebrooks). Each member of the cast gets some nice bits of their own this year.

The final thirteen episodes are teeming with fantastic guest and recurring stars. Among those featured in The Complete Third Series are Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), Alan Dale (also Lost), Luke Perry, Joanna Cassidy, Richard Burgi (Desperate Housewives), Lorraine Toussaint (Saving Grace), Marissa Ramirez (Blue Bloods), Annie Wersching (24), Christopher McDonald (Harry’s Law), and Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue).

Of course, bringing in that kind of roster, especially while struggling to stay on the air, does seem a bit gimmicky. And the biggest issue with the show, that it concentrates too much on the case of the week, rather than the soapy drama between the characters, which is the bread and butter of most ABC series, is not overcome. But as far as procedurals go, this one is better than many.

Now that it’s canceled, Body of Proof will be missed, most especially because Dana Delany deserves to be on screen. She is a wonderful actress who can draw an audience, a fact proven in the multiple shows she has starred in. At least we have The Complete Third Season on DVD to rewatch and enjoy, as these are pretty solid installments, especially the series finale. Hopefully, she’ll be back before you know it.

This three-disc set has five bonus features, including an amusing gag reel. Other offerings include featurettes on the look of the production, the importance of props, a set tour, and the visual effects that make Los Angeles look like Philadelphia. It’s an appropriate amount of extras for the size of the release, and while none are super memorable, they do fit with what is presented.

Body of Proof The Complete Third Season is available now.