With "Shameless" gearing up for its Season 2 premiere (Sun., Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. EST on Showtime) William H. Macy stopped by "Live! With Kelly" (weekdays, syndicated on ABC) to talk about the raucous, raunchy, recession-themed comedy. On the show, Macy plays Frank Gallagher, the drunken patriarch of the Gallagher clan, a single-parent family struggling to make ends meet in Chicago.
While "Shameless" gets plenty of laughs from family parties and hijinks, Macy emphasized that the show tells an authentic story about family life during the economic downturn. "For some reason, our show has a moral center that I find really, really moving," Macy explained. "It's a segment of the population that has never been presented properly. We make fun of people and we laugh about it, but this is a real look at low-income Americans who are struggling, and they've just got such a great heart."
Macy also discussed Joan Cusack's character Sheila Jackson, who, as an agoraphobic, is scared to leave her house. Last season, Frank cooked up a scheme to have an affair with her that resulted in him living in her house for free. Macy complimented Cusack's performance on the show and channeled his character Frank when talking about Cusack's Emmy nomination for the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. "She's fantastic ... got nominated for ... something, with a trophy," Macy said.
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