10 Reasons Why Shameless Is Better than Nine Perfect Strangers
It might seem odd to compare these two shows, one a kind of comedy and the other a kind of drama, but they have so very much in common. For example, both feature drug use and addiction and use that negative hook to keep us entertained, they both focus on intimate human relationships and what a mess they always are, and both deal with people’s personal baggage, endlessly. Also, in both shows, bad people do good things and good people do bad things. Both shows are also filled with characters that spend so all their time talking and talking and talking about each other.
But Shameless is a much better show and here’s why:
1) Although we know the characters on both shows are actors, the ones on Shameless seem to portray possible real people living in marginal situations where they have to beg, borrow, and steal just about everything they have. We all bump into people like this on the street, in the subway, in the grocery store, or in our living rooms. I am not one of those people, but I sure have a lot of them in my immediate family. But who are those people on Nine Perfect Strangers (NPS from now on)? Do you know any people like this? Best friends with a famous romance novelist? A former football star? A lottery winner? How about knowing people who would willingly dig their own graves and lie in it? I know some weird people, but none like this.
2. The drug use in Shameless is ugly, horrifying, dangerous, and clearly meant to put the viewer off from addiction, even if the portrayal comes with humor. The “micro-dosing” of who knows what on NPS is presented as an option, a cheery way to enlightenment, and something we should all be doing when it’s delivered in smoothies at a resort. Seems to me that borders on the irresponsible.
3. The characters on both shows have real-life struggles, depending on what your idea of real life is, but they differ in how they approach those struggles. The characters on Shameless are always scheming how to pay the mortgage, buy food, find childcare, and fix the car, while those on NPS are having pretty perfect lives in comparison and find their way through their issues by talking. In my experience, talking about problems is fine but even an ounce of conniving (let’s call it planning or puzzle-solving, shall we?) seems to work much better.
4. The hair. Everyone on NPS has great hair. The hair on Shameless is best exemplified by Frank, the Dad, and his horror house of wispy dirty locks that make you cringe, but Debbie, Veronica, and Fiona have great hair, so maybe this is a tie.
5. The set design on Shameless is more real, and more interesting than on NPS. Take for example the couch that suffered months of Frank’s disgusting body when he had the bad leg. We’ve all seen that couch on Craig’s List. The various places to sit in NPS were surely created by some auteur and we’ve never seen one of those on Craigslist, nor do they look comfortable.
6. NPS has art on the walls, the Shameless house has a very big TV in the living room — which do you prefer?
7. The small children on Shameless (Liam and let’s thrown in Frannie the baby) are aware, smart, individuals who have a good take on their family and grasp how to get what they need among the chaos all around them. The one teenager on NPS seems like she has no idea who her parents are, why she is with them, or what really happened to her twin brother. I can’t even remember her name.
8. I could fault Shameless for the actors not digging into the South Chicago accent, but in comparison to Nicolo Kidman’s ridiculous fake Romanian (or whatever it is) accent, Shameless is the winner in the acct contest. Nicole, you are no Meryl Streep and that accent is so awful it makes one want to ridicule you, or turn down the sound. Or turn it off.
9. Attitude — Everyone in NPS is disappointed in themselves or someone else, and always angry. Everyone in Shameless is hustling, having sex, stealing, drinking, or taking drugs. Me, I’d rather do all that l than be angry and disappointed all the time.
10. NPS is yet another boring show about people vacationing in luxury and not explaining where their money comes from while on Shameless, the people have nothing luxurious and they all either work or develop elaborate and mostly successful cons for the money. We certainly see where their job-related money comes from — working in a bar or motorcycle repair shop, as a welder, being an EMT, renovating a building, reselling stolen goods, and failing at all those things.
In the end, Shameless is more instructive about real-life (and how bad it can really get), and a lot more fun, than NPS because their lives and struggles are normal, even if a little out there at times. And we care about the charters. I mean, who cares about those I finding themselves? But how many fans really hope that Lip stays sober, Fiona finds success and love, Debby becomes a fashion icon, Ian goes back to being an EMT, V and Kevin stay married forever, and Liam becomes president. These seven strangers are just perfect if only Frank would go away permanently. And I know a really nice resort where he could have drugs all day long and talk and talk and talk the way he does on Shameless, but in this so-called paradise, eight other perfect strangers might listen because they are so bored, just like their viewing audience.
