TV Ratings: Showtime’s ‘Shameless’ Finale Hits Season Cross-Platform High
After 11 seasons of drinking, depravity and debauchery, fans showed up for Showtime’s last call for “Shameless,” the premium cabler’s longest-running series to date, this past Sunday. The final episode of the dramedy and 12th episode of Season 11, titled “Father Frank, Full of Grace,” drew a cross-platform total of 1.5MM, up 41% versus the penultimate episode (1.1MM) and 29% over the premiere (1.2MM).
The 9 p.m. linear telecast on April 11 garnered 695,000 viewers, up 33% from the penultimate episode (522,000), and essentially tied with the season premiere’s telecast on Dec. 6, 2020 (699,000) as the best telecast of the season.
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As with all premium series, the bulk of viewing will be delivered across platforms on-demand, streaming and delayed viewing— so the numbers will likely increase once those metrics are factored in. Sunday’s projected on-demand and streaming number, 769,000, jumped by 61% from the penultimate episode (478,000) and delivered a series high for the show.
Per Showtime, Season 10 averaged 5.7 million viewers across all platforms when it aired.
Created by Paul Abbott, “Shameless” is produced by Bonanza Productions in association with John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television. Developed for American television by Wells, the series is executive produced by Wells, Nancy M. Pimental, Joe Lawson, Iain MacDonald and Michael Hissrich. The show’s first episode aired on Jan. 9, 2011.
Season 11 stars Oscar-nominated actor William H. Macy, Jeremy Allen White, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Cameron Monaghan, Christian Isaiah, Noel Fisher, and Kate Miner. The final season tackled COVID-19 because “it would have felt criminal not to,” Wells told Variety.
“Those living barely above the poverty line or below the poverty line have been the most impacted by the pandemic, and we just felt it was something that we really had to do — to show the impact it’s having on our characters,” he explained.
The show previously also starred Emmy Rossum, however, the Gallagher matriarch left the show at the end of Season 9.
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