Shameless (U.S.) is a television dramedy that airs on Showtime or on demand through streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu. This is the ratings for season six found on TV Series Finale .
| Air date | Episode | 18-49 demo | % demo change | Viewers (mil) | % mil change | ||
| Sun | 1/10/2016 | 06-01 | 0.63 | -21.25%† | 1.439 | -18.70%† | |
| Sun | 1/17/2016 | 06-02 | 0.66 | 4.76% | 1.642 | 14.11% | |
| Sun | 1/24/2016 | 06-03 | 0.75 | 13.64% | 1.697 | 3.35% | |
| Sun | 1/31/2016 | 06-04 | 0.68 | -9.33% | 1.704 | 0.41% | |
| Sun | 2/7/2016 | 06-05 | 0.47 | -30.88% | 1.157 | -32.10% | |
| Sun | 2/14/2016 | 06-06 | 0.60 | 27.66% | 1.590 | 37.42% | |
| Sun | 2/21/2016 | 06-07 | 0.72 | 20.00% | 1.658 | 4.28% | |
| Sun | 3/6/2016 | 06-08 | 0.62 | -13.89% | 1.499 | -9.59% | |
| Sun | 3/13/2016 | 06-09 | 0.68 | 9.68% | 1.682 | 12.21% | |
| Sun | 3/20/2016 | 06-10 | 0.63 | -7.35% | 1.601 | -4.82% | |
| Sun | 3/27/2016 | 06-11 | 0.56 | -11.11% | 1.452 | -9.31% | |
| Sun | 4/3/2016 | 06-12 | 0.66 | 17.86% | 1.633 | 12.47% | |
| -100.00% | -100.00% | ||||||
| Season averages | 0.64 | -10.09% | 1.563 | -1.09% | |||
Shameless target audience would be about 16-35 year-old’s, this is because that there is mature content, maybe too mature for younger than 16, yet there is still a good story line for an older generation to get into. The main characters are the people you would consider to be from the wrong side of the tracks, meaning that they were of a very low income. The characters in the show who have a higher income tend to only be in the show for a short period of time to show the differences in social classes
The episode of the season that I chose to use as the primary source for this post was Episode 7 called “Pimp’s Paradise”. This was the fourth most watched episode of the series, but I felt that it was a very powerful episode.
I think that race is very well represented in this season, but even more in this episode. Over the beginning of the season when Carl came back from Juvie he began to act very strange, wearing dreads and acting like he was hood. He was even called out by a girl he was trying to get with for acting in some way that he wasn’t.
He begins to realize in this episode that it was wrong for him to get involved with the people who made him want to act so strange. I think another interesting thing in this episode that pertained to race was to do with the Gallaghers cousin and reading a book report in school that was pro-Nazi. He was sent home from school because it was found offensive. However, Frank worked his magic and got the school to okay it, since it wasn’t actually wrong, just super insensitive.
The representation of class in this episode is somewhat different then the rest. As said before the main characters, meaning the Gallagher, are a very low income family, and often in each episode they are clawing there way through the day financially. In this episode, the Gallaghers actually now own the house they live in. Something that isn’t very usual for them financially, but how the money was procured was clearly illegally, because it was given to Fiona by Carl, so they still manage to keep that low-income, wrong side of the tracks vibe.
This is what Carl has decided he wants to do with the house he believes to be his because it was his money.
Gender was addressed in this episode by Frank and his new/old honey Queenie. Queenie was a lover from Frank’s past and she comes in to take over care of her daughter’s son, also Frank’s daughter’s son. While she has to wait for papers to be processed she begins to get very involved with Frank, while also pressuring him to state his “man of house” position. They both believe that he should be able to control his kids, even though he doesn’t even take care of them. He isn’t even there most of the time and because he is a man who produced all these children, that gives him the right to tell them all what to do.
I think this episode also did really well in representing sexuality. We have the character of Ian who is invited to a wedding by his boyfriend, but what he doesn’t realize is his boyfriend just wants to shove his homosexuality in his very religious family’s face. This I find interesting because they then begin to make a spectacle of themselves which I always thought is exactly what they didn’t want, a giant spectacle made over them.
Picture Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5090596/
http://recapguide.com/recap/15/Shameless-US/season-6/episode-7/