If Shameless had no other redeeming qualities besides seeing William H. Macy playing the alcoholic mess that is Frank Gallagher, it would still be worth recommending. This is undeniably one of the best performances on TV right now, and a lot of it is that the character is so incredibly well written, but there’s also no denying that Macy adds a whole set of layers to Frank. Instead of playing him like a drunken fool all the time, he plays it completely straight, emphasizing the cleverness with which Frank has been able to get by all these years. He’s needed to be that smart, if you can call it that, to survive the life that he’s lived.
There’s also his hilarious tirades against Obama and the political system and other paranoid rants that he uses to put blame for his situation on anyone he possibly can. He always has an explanation for why he’s in the state he’s in. More recently in the third season, we see even more layers to Frank, when he makes a plea to keep his children, and we see a hint of genuine love he has for them despite his problems. Of course, right after this he loses track of them and couldn’t care less. Macy understands these dimensions to Frank and makes them real.
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