Shameless
We all have family dysfunction. Some families have more FUN in dysFUNction than others. I personally know many people who have families that could qualify for an episode of Jerry Springer. I myself have lived through some Jerry Springer moments in many different factions of my family. We all do. You know it's bad when your friends say 'Girl - you can't make this stuff up!' But let me say, if you ever want to check yourself before you wreck yourself- you need to watch the show SHAMELESS. You will feel better about your family immediately.
If you think your dad is an alcoholic deadbeat dad that is abusive, you have no idea how bad it could really be - you definitely need to watch this show. If you have a daughter that you think is a thankless, ungrateful nymphomaniac, you need to watch this show. If you have a son or daughter who may be struggling with his/her sexuality, you need to watch this show. If you have a son who you fear is going to get a girl pregnant, it could be worse - watch this show. If your grandmother is packing heat, and gets furloughed from prison due to poor health, you need to watch this show. You could be the 15 year old kid that has to work to support YOUR family. You could be the 12 year old daughter that has to watch the 1 year old brother because your mother is a junkie, and your 21 year old sister that is now the stand in matriarch is off to one of her 3 jobs to help support the family. If you have a bi-polar mom who raids the secret family cookie jar of money for winter bills and blows it all on drugs, and then slits her wrists at the family Thanksgiving, you need to watch this show. And why not include the neighbors? I won't even go into their brand of craziness.

Sure, I know it's TV, but it keeps winning Emmys. Probably because it is a train wreck that is hard to take your eyes off of. You can't wait to see what happens next. While I know most of the storyline is made up - there are so many parallels with real life for so many people, myself included. Dennis asked me how this show could possibly impact me. I said 'SHAMELESS really makes you feel better about your own life and it's drama, dysfunction and injustices.' We won't escape blame and shame, it's coming. We will talk about the impact of SHAME in my life in another blog.