'Shameless' may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it hooks you fast and Willman’s 'Magic Lover' is equally clever and unforgettable.
The big news of the week is not that there is a brand-new show on any of the streamers or on linear television. Nope.
The exciting tidings are that Shameless, yes, the hillbilly festival of sex, drugs, scams and whatevers, is now available on Netflix. All 11 seasons are there.
Shameless, in short, introduces viewers to the dysfunctional family headed by drunk dad Frank Gallagher. He’s a dad of six and he spends his days getting drunk and high. All this while Fiona, Phillip, Debbie, Carl and Liam are growing up through a haze of their own demon-making years.
There’s an endless roll call of swindles, affairs, petty crime and, well, life on the wrong side of the tracks. Literally. It’s Chicago, it’s poverty, it’s life’s gigantic hustle.
The show wrapped in 2021, and it used to be available on Dstv, some of it, anyway. Because somewhere during the pandemic, Shameless just vanished. If memory serves, there were about three seasons that went missing in action.
But then again, during Covid, everyone suffered from a Frank Gallagher short-term memory challenge, as the fog of roast chicken bans, tobacco and booze denials had everyone shivering in their takkies.
‘Shameless’ is not everyone’s cup of tea
Shameless is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is, at the same time. The show takes a few moments to get into, but then you are hooked. It also hasn’t aged, and it feels as relevant and entertaining today as it did more than a decade ago when William G Macy first became Gallagher.
The casting was superb, the performances exceptional and the ridiculousness of the situations the family find themselves in, well, as crazy as before. It is an absolute must-watch and rinse, repeat, and then some if you’ve seen it all before.
Also Read: Leanne Manas: A South African TV legend
Sticking with Netflix, the Justin Willman Magic Lover special is an hour-long, brilliant and fantastic performance that’s as unforgettable as it is clever. Willman is a magician and illusionist. If you have not watched his street magic shows on the streamer yet, it’s about time you did.
Magic Lover sees Willman on stage in an intimate theatre and, at first, what you see is what you get. And after the first 15 minutes or so, well, it starts feeling somewhat like a school concert featuring a travelling magic and puppet show.
After watching so many of Willman’s street magic specials, disappointment starts creeping in fast, because trick after trick starts feeling somewhat rudderless and nonsensically boring.
Willman’s magic is incredible
But that is just an illusion. Because if you press on through to the 30 minute marker, then to the 45 minute hand on the clock, well, it becomes fascinating. And that is, because the sum of the collective amounts to a much larger illusion and Willman’s just been playing cat and mouse with his audience, both live and at home.
What makes Willman different to the likes of David Blaine and David Copperfield is that he takes magic and the magic of magi, to the people. He’s part of the audience as much as he is the ringmaster. His street magic shows are engaging and you never want the end credits to roll.
Turns out, the hour-long Magic Lover is the same, because he plays everyone. Where Blain and Copperfield are producers, Willman is a performer and accessible. He gives of himself and that’s special.
Magic Lover is Willman at his best. He is funny, warm and the mini tricks he shares with the audience build up to a grand finale that’s as astounding as it is breathtakingly clever. When you get tired of Shameless after binging a few seasons, break it up with Willman, because he’s proven yet again why he deserves to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
NOW READ: It’s lekker, messy creativity and art
