***NOTE: This article was first published on April 4, 2014.

Was it believable that he was graced with that last minute reprieve rush liver transplant?Nope.

But are we happy that it happened?

And we love him for it.

No, Frank is rather the banality of despicability.

Thats because Frank is not a hero or a villain, or even the ever increasingly ubiquitous anti-hero.

Yet, this Frank is also a product of a newly evolving television culture that allowed the transfer.

In fact, the grayer the character, the better the drama.

But it is primarily from my experience still a laugher about the shenanigans that Threlfalls lovable sloth gets into.

How can you climb that ladder when the first rung is pulled a dozen feet out of reach?

This coupled with the rise of the cable seriesanti-herocultivated a new kind of drama.

Or is that gallows comedy?

Its no mystery that we are living in the proverbial golden age of television.

It most arguably began in 1999 when HBO premieredThe Sopranos.

However, it also set another legacy that has let premium cable shows flourish in the following 15 years.

It reinvented the typical bad guy as the hero.

On most online grid television series, the idea of dealing with the mafia is a no-go.

The mobsters played by Italian-American actors are villainous villains who our righteous protagonists must overcome.

Yet, Gandolfinis Tony Soprano was our protagonist and he is clearly a bad person.

He murders family members, business partners, and even surrogate sons.

Frank Gallagher is not one of those men.

An economically receding audience with a depressed morale could rally behind a new kind of anti-hero.

For the most part, Frank doesnt kill people….necessarily (Dottie was on her way out!

), nor does he scheme like a Machiavellian overlord planning revenge on his familys oldest rival.

But his kids are the ones who truly pay for his self-destructive sins.

The show doesnt suggest it has a likable protagonist.

It challenges us to hate him and watch anyway from week-to-week.

It also allows Frank to do the ugliest things imaginable without any worry of alienating the audience.

But here, Frank was stoned enough to face his past faults with a sober eye.

The sequence is crosscut with the actual Fiona forced into a prison shower.

Hell, Grannys influence on Frank may have been just as responsible in his case.

Frank never had a chance at the American Dream.

But now, thanks to his actions, neither will Fiona.

AndShamelessimmediately reminds us what a burden and failure he is.

It is hard to laugh, but it is also impossible to look away.

William H. Macys unapologetic performance is crass, hilarious, and ultimately tragic.

But it is never heroic in any sense.

That is truly a brave feat in any medium, especially for a long-running television show.

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