‘Shameless’ Season 9 Will Be Expanded, Split Up Into Two Parts
Shameless officially debuted on Showtime in January 2011 and is now Showtime’s longest-running original television series in the network’s history. Within a few years, it grew to be one of the most successful shows in Showtime history.
Each season of Shameless is characteristically 12 hour-long episodes in total. Variety, however, is now reporting that the series will officially be extended by two episodes for the series’ upcoming ninth season.
Shameless Season 9 will officially begin airing on the Showtime network beginning September 9 and will run for 14 episodes in total. Season 9 will also mark the 100th episode of the popular series.
Fans of the show were likely pleased to hear of this season’s extension; however, that extension does come with a single caveat. Due to the show’s extended length, Shameless will thus air in two separate parts. Part one will be beginning in September, with the second part of Season 9 picking back up on January 20, 2019.
A series created by Paul Abbott and produced by Bonanza Productions, Shameless touts an impressive cast for the bulk of its nine-season run. Shameless stars William H. Macy as the alcoholic deadbeat-dead and veritable show mascot, Frank Gallagher, along with Emmy Rossum as his tough and street-smart daughter, Fiona.
Jeremy Allen White also stars in Shameless as the genius underachiever Lip Gallagher, Cameron Monaghan stars as Ian Gallagher, and the show also features Roseanne’s Emma Kenney as Debbie Gallagher.
Also featured in the series is Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Richard Flood, Steve Howey, and Christian Isaiah.
Showtime also recently announced that their series Ray Donovan will premiere on October 28, beginning at 9 p.m. EST. Another series Escape At Dannemora will officially begin airing on November 18 at 10 p.m. EST.
Shameless is based on a British television series with that same name and also created by Paul Abbott. The original British series ran for 11 seasons, from January 2004 until May of 2013.
Viewership for the series started with less than a million viewers for its first season but grew to 2 million by the series’ third season premiere. Shameless’ most recent season, Season 8, premiered in November of 2017 to 1.86 million viewers showing a slight decline, but still holding fairly steady, in terms of ratings.
Critical reception for the show has been largely positive, with every season being rated above a critical score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with the exception of Season 1, which received a 74 percent, and Season 7, which holds an 88 percent.
