‘Shameless’ season 7 finale ratings set good note for season 8

There was a lot of drama surrounding whether or not “Shameless” would be renewed for another season before the season 7 finale aired this past weekend; luckily, most of that smoke cleared away when Emmy Rossum announced that she had a new contract, and then even further when Showtime finally made the good news official on Monday.

Now that we’ve seen the ratings for the season 7 finale on Sunday, it’s all the more clear that the network made the right decision in bringing the show back. With a total of 1.72 million viewers watching, not only was the finale the network’s top-rated episode in live+same day figures for the season, it also is Showtime’s top-rated original series broadcast for the entire year. Another interesting fun fact here: You have to go back to January 2015 to find the next episode of the show that performed better than this one did.

Were there some external factors helping “Shameless” this time around? Sure, with one of the biggest ones being a noticeable lack of competition. “The Walking Dead” ended the first half of its season the week before, and effectively the only major competition that Showtime had was over on CBS with “Madam Secretary” — and we’re pretty darn sure that these two shows do not have anywhere near the same viewership in the slightest.

Also, this episode aired right in the perfect window where people were done with most of their Christmas shopping, but before they started traveling to see loved ones on December 25. All in all, this was a pretty perfect way for the show to wrap things up for the season, and while nothing is guaranteed beyond season 8, this proves that there is still plenty of fight left in the Gallagher family still.

For more on the “Shameless” renewal, we suggest simply that you head over to the link here right away. (Photo: Showtime.)