Shameless

If you grew up in a household of poverty, chaos, filth, parent who inflicted narcissistic abuse and or suffered from chronic bouts of substance abuse and you (one of the older kids) was forced into the role of parent (parentification, which yeah, is yet another form of abuse all on its own), and tasked with 'surviving' on your own while also caring for the well-being of your other siblings, than you will completely relate to the characters in this show. If you know what it is like to have next to no food in the house, how to wash your clothing in the bathtub because the washer broke a year ago (and no one is there to get another one, nor can you, a teenager, afford to buy one), there is no hot water or heat, again, you will be able to relate. If you were raised by loving, emotionally stable, financially responsible parents who actually took care of you - welcome to the f*ing party. You get to learn how we're not all raised the same and why some people absolutely hate their selfish, abusive birth-givers while also having a strange trauma bond with their relatives/abusers. We just want our parents to be just like yours; loving, supportive. Instead, ours aim to financially and emotionally use us for their own gains. And they don't care if the heat is on, the diapers are changed, and if there is food in the house. Some of us start out in life with miserable childhoods and young adulthoods, struggling day in and out, stuck in survival mode (doing everything we can just to stay alive and together), only to have those same siblings and mix of relatives stab you in the back later. This show covers it all in layer upon dysfunctional layer. General abuse and abusive behavior mirroring, hyper-sexualized youth, narcissism, substance abuse, hypervigilance, on-going anxiety, parentification of children, normalization of abuse, etc. You name it, it happens, one shocking, twisted episode at a time. Overall, the show is shocking (to some who haven't lived through some of this), well-done, well-written (mostly), and entertaining in a dark, dysfunctional, not so healthy kind of way. Most of the time, you're just holding out hope one day these kids will grow up to have better lives and try not to mess up too much along the way. Of course, some don't quite land as well as hoped. This is not a light hearted family comedy/drama.

A typical (low income) family in America. Disfunctional all the way they stick together and they actually care about each other. Feona the oldest daughter is the glue the holds them together. She has vowed to take care of her siblings (5 or 6, maybe more). Feona has heart. These kids have no mother and an alcoholic father. If not for Feona they would have been seperated and sent to foster homes and orphanages. A normal life is not possable for Feona. Frank (the father) is always close to dieing and sits on a pitty pot, whining about life and expecting things he has never earned....like respect. Then there Lip, he has all the makings of a college graduate but will have to jump through hoops to get the education he deserves. The obvious hardships for Lip become apparent when he has trouble getting to class on time. There is more to do in a day when your in a large family that is poor, than just get up and go to class. One sibling realizes he is gay and another young girl is struggling with puberty and boys. The youngest is not related......who knows where he came from. I love this show. Very well written. Entertaining.

I have loved every season ive watched. It's funny, but sad only because I know it's a hard reality for to many kids. My upbringing while full of to many funerals and some health issues (asthma), I had a good and easy life with 2 loving and mentally stable parents, who kept food on the table, a roof over our heads in a safe neighborhood, in a small town with some issues. I however was unable despite my best abilities to give my children the same. So I can relate to this show from my children's