The first season of the UK Shameless is a classic and well worth seeking out. While season one of the US version sputtered along using the same story line of the UK version, but by the end it had finally started going off in a different direction and in the process gotten much darker than the UK version. I believe that William H. Macy is about the only American actor that could do justice to the Frank Gallagher character, but it took most of the season to finally make it his own.