Showtime Previews First 20 Minutes of "Shameless" and It's Pretty Gay

[WillParkinson]

(Please note: The title is verbatim from AfterElton.com)

On Sunday night, Showtime previewed the first twenty minutes of their remake of the UK drama Shameless which the network debuts next month. Alas, I can't post it here because of nudity and language, but the good news is that as you can see from the promo pic above, it looks like the show is making no bones about the fact that Ian (Cameron Monaghan) is gay.

We see Ian several times in the first twenty minutes, including when his brother finds out Ian's been hiding the fact he's gay from him. But we see first see Ian partying as his dad, Frank (William H. Macy) describes each of his kids in a voiceover. About Ian he says, "Industrious, conscientious, ambitious, incredible work ethic. Don't have a clue where he got that from. Wants to be a paratrooper and know how to disembowel an enemy with a roll of dimes and an old gym sock."

Later we see Ian's brother Lip accidentally stumble on Ian's stash of gay erotica which clearly catches him by surprise.

He doesn't ask Ian about it right away, but when he later tells Ian about a sexual encounter of his own, he confronts his brother with the magazines. Lip seems as annoyed by the fact that Ian hid this secret from him as he does by the fact that Ian is gay. But if the U.S. version holds true to the original, Lip is going to have a very hard time accepting Ian is gay.

All in all, the first twenty minutes hold quite a bit of promise. Given that this is Showtime — as gay-friendly a network as there is — it seemed unlikely they would hide Ian's gayness, and it's a relief to see that is the case. I was a little worried about Monaghan as Ian, namely because the actor seemed so young, but he's quite good in these scenes and the character of Ian seems a worthy addition to the growing pantheon of gay teens.


Link to the article - http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2010/12/showtime-shameless-ian-gay

Link to the 22 minute preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJzaCqVwN8g

(On edit: This is TV-MA for language and graphic content.)

[Cirque du So-What]

1. I watched the preview Sunday night

Cameron Monaghan's depiction of Ian is impressive, and I look forward to watching this show.