I’m pretty sure the latter was 16 or 17. In both series, Justin was one year under legal, the only difference being that the US and UK have different ages of consent.
A mixture of the two:
From AfterElton:
In both the British and U.S. versions the 29 year old didn’t know how young the other character was when they picked them up, though in neither version did they particularly care once they found out. In both cases the actor were several years older than their characters- Charlie Hunnam was 19 when he began playing Nathan and Randy Harrison was 22 when he began playing Justin.
Liam is half-brother to the other kids. I saw an explanation for his parentage in promotional materials but can’t remember it offhand. Or maybe it was in the beginning of the pilot, which I FFWDed through this week since I saw the sneak preview last month.
Anyway, Liam being half-black was part of a punchline, with drunken Frank not even noticing. I think the kids’ mother dropped him off for Frank to take care of claiming he was Frank’s, thus the joke of him not noticing.
To be honest, the previews for this show were horrible. Had no interest whatsoever in seeing it.
However, after reading this thread, maybe I will give it a try.
But as mentioned, the trailers were drearily boring.
Weirdly, this is the only thing that I could see that was changed from the original series. In the original, Liam is Frank’s son. I have no idea why the change was made, but nothing else was.
BTW, one of my favorite things about the UK original is that Frank’s drunken monologues displayed an intelligent and literate mind.
That’s actually one of the best parts of it - he’s not stupid, far from it. In fact I’d say he’s intelligent enough to realise that the best way to escape the misery of life is simply to be banjaxed the whole time.
Relates to a later UK episode, don’t know if it will feature in the US version.
In the UK there’s an episode where he participates in a drug trial for money not knowing what the effect of the drug is. To his horror he realises that it prevents you from getting drunk, it’s designed for recovering alcoholics. The existential dread comes crashing down on the now permanently sober Frank and it’s not a pleasant sight, and the camera work becomes all washed out and drained of colour. Then the drug finally wears off as he’s out in the street and everything begins to regain colour and people are shown smiling and cheering at him and he sinks to his knees happy. Makes me tear up a bit actually…
OK, so we watched episode one yesterday.
Far better than the previews and trailer…but still a bit claustrophobic (I know, supposed to be with so many people living in such tight quarters) and it is taking some time to get to know these characters.
I can see how this was a British series - even with the “Americanization”, it still feels like a British storyline. Nothing wrong with that, but quite obvious in spots.
Will watch the next couple of episodes to see how it goes.
As a Brit that seemed to have utterly avoided the UK originals somehow, I am now doing this US episode 1, UK, episode 1, US episode 2, UK episode 2 … It’ll be interesting to see how it goes. Watching the believed ‘superior’ UK version straight afterwards.
I have enjoyed some of the minor changes, like the delay to the kid being outed by his brother. In the original it was done in the bedroom, in the US version it happens later, after the blowjob test, in a the car.
Appart from that it looks like Shameless but with a better budget and a fox for Fiona. I shall be continuing my method.
Oh, it appears that the Channel 4 shows were 45 mins and the Showtime one are 55 mins, so some extra stuff has to fit in there.
I like the little shout outs, like one of the kids having an Oasis T-Shirt taken off him in the first episode. Some of the slang, usually used in the UK, seems a bit out of place, but maybe that is my lack of knowledge of US slang.
Oh and if anyone calls anyone a ‘twat’ in the way that the word was used in ‘Easy A’ then there will be hell to pay.
I liked tonight’s episode a lot more than last week’s for some reason. Possibly because it focused less on the Dad, who is frankly, annoying. I know he’s supposed to be a dick, and he’s necessary for the premise, but I liked it better when he was mostly in the background and the show focused on the kids in the premiere.
I admit to tearing up a bit when the little girl had to let go of “Aunt Ginger”.
I was surprised but glad that they actually had the actors who play Ian and Kash kiss. I wasn’t sure they would go there.
Except she’s such a drama queen: the way she burst into tears over learning Aunt Ginger was dead when she’d never even met her.
I can totally understand the Kash-Ian affair- what else has either of them got? His smile when [he thought] Kash pinched his butt was kind of sweet.
Nice seeing Steve Howey naked after his teasing years on Reba. Still cute.
I started a thread for last night’s episodeif there’s any interest, incidentally.
This show doesn’t have enough of a following to merit a thread per episode. I’d recommend asking a mod to remove “US premiere” from the thread title and we can just call this thread home. (Be sure to leave the spoiler warning in the title, though!)
I’m liking the show well enough, that is to say I’m liking Emmy Rossum well enough. It bugs me that I haven’t the first clue who she is, though, since the pre-promotion kept touting her name like getting her was a coup. I watch a metric assload of movies and am familiar with all sorts of obscure actors, and I’ve never even heard her name before this show, much less seen her.
The older brother is veering a little too far into saintly territory; I hope they dial him back a little. Super genius guy who gracefully takes a beating without so much as a stern glare at the little brother who brought that unjust beating down on him? At least let him yell a little and punch little bro in the arm or something. Noogies, even. Anything. It wouldn’t annoy me so much except they did so well with his discovery of his brother’s sexuality making him seem like an organic person. It’s a shame to turn right around and make him into a hollow caricature. Gandhi Einstein. (Just based on this episode, does he seem like the kind of guy who would whore out his girlfriend to his own brother like he did in the pilot?)
Well, they weren’t boyfriend/girlfriend then, and he’s trying to litmus test his brother for the gayness and the only hooker he could afford would be total skank.
I’m trying to figure out ages. Fiona is out of school and goes nightclubbing which means she’s either 21 or has a fake ID (either feasible) or that perhaps you don’t have to be 21 to get into nightclubs in Chicago (anyone know). The older boys are in high school. It would seem:
Fiona- ~21
Lip- ~17
Ian- ~16
Debbie- ~12
Younger Boy (can’t remember his name)- ~10
Liam- about 18 months or so (I can’t judge baby’s ages- I know he’s old enough to walk and talk a little)
Anyway, there’s some big gaps in the kid’s ages. Has Bill ever done jail time?
The mother walked out either sometime after Liam was born so she’s gone about a year, OR she walked out, got pregnant with Liam, dropped him off when he was born and left again.
Apparently before Frank got disabled (whatever his disability is) he was already on the wild side- the scene of him snorting coke with his aunt and all 12 years ago.
I can’t really fault the mother for walking out. She was probably damned near suicidal having to deal with all the kids AND a sorry ass “needs killin’” husband like Frank. I’ve tried to think of who would be a good actress to play her- she’d need to be dark haired like Fiona, around 40 (much older and Liam would be an improbability and much younger Fiona would be)- any suggestions?
Roseanne would be too old for the mother but could make a good maternal grandmother. Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) would be good as Frank’s successful brother who he hates.
The mother walked out when Fiona was 14, four years ago. Liam doesn’t have to fit into any timeline, as he is obviously not Frank’s. Mom dropped him off shortly after he was born, out of the blue.
EDIT: If it were a few years from now, I’d say Shannyn Sossamon for the mom. (She’s 32 now.)
I hear plenty of radio ads for “18 and over” nightclubs on a Chicago dance-music station (B96 to be specific), and at least some of the ads include a disclaimer that “you must be 21 or over to drink”. They also include the suggestion that patrons “dress funky, not junky.” :dubious:
Here is a page and here is another and yet another and another listing teen dance clubs in and near Chicago.
Not that it matters to me, as I haven’t got cable, but is this show set in or near Chicago? If so, can any Chi-Dopers who’ve seen it tell us whether it’s filmed here or whether its the usual “guest starring as Chicago: Toronto” (or Vancouver, or the like).
It is set in Chicago. I’m not certain where it’s shot, but the neighborhood looks pretty accurate for a decaying blue collar one like those on the south side and my own home town (Harvey, just south of Chicago).
In one episode Frank is kidnapped and abandoned in Toronto by his daughter’s boyfriend and the Canadian flag is seen flying. I wondered if this was partly an in-joke as to where it’s actually filmed.
And Thank Og for a plotline about a gay kid who gets bullied (albeit not for being gay- in fact the opposite) and his response involves a baseball bat. I’m so tired of gay kids being depicted as delicate hothouse flowers. (I like Glee, but yeah I’m lookin’ at ya Kurt…)
I don’t think so. In the UK original, Steve took Frank to France by car. So this is how they adapted the story to the US.
In last night’s episode we learn that the kids HAVE been taken away by the welfare before. I’m wondering why they wanted to come back; their foster families generally looked okay. And Debbie DOES need psych care.