‘Shameless’ renewed for season 6 day after season 5 premiere

Clearly, Showtime wanted to make it very clear that they are interested in keeping “Shameless” around for as long as humanly possible. How else do you explain the news that the show has already been renewed for a sixth season?

The network made the news official this afternoon at TCA, with the sixth season most likely premiering at some point early next year. It is great news for fans of the William H. Macy – Emmy Rossum series, but you still do have to pose the question: How long can this sort of show really last? It is one that creatively does bring a lot to the table, but how long can you keep the Gallagher clan in shambles, while having it be believable?

So far, the longest that we have seen a Showtime series last is “Dexter,” which ran for eight seasons before eventually coming to the most depressing end imaginable. If nothing else, let us hope that “Shameless” gets a better ending than that ever did.

Also at TCA, it was announced by the network that “Penny Dreadful” season 2 is going to premiere on Sunday, April 26. Meanwhile, the final season of “Nurse Jackie” will premiere two weeks prior to that on April 12. With it in its seventh season, it is getting fairly close to that “Dexter” run, but it’s a little different as a half-hour comedy.

In closing, let the record show that we feel like as long as the cast remains interested, there could still be at least two more great seasons of “Shameless” in the can.

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