TCA: William H. Macy Happy to Play An Alcoholic On 'Shameless'

It was a shaggy-haired William H. Macy who showed up this afternoon in Pasadena for a TCA session hyping his new John Wells-produced Showtime series Shameless that premiered last Sunday. He portrays Frank Gallagher, the single father of a wildly dysfunctional clan who is unapologetic about his chronic alcoholism. And in fact, so is Macy himself -- unapologetic about his character's drinking issues, that is.

"It sure is fun to play someone who's toasted all the time," Macy said. "I feel like I spent my whole career speaking for the little guy, the disenfranchised. A lot of people in this country right now are toasted, drunk as skunks...and I speak for them, for the people who like to start the day with a couple of brewskis...I have the role of the century here. Plus, the wife really digs the hair. This (touching his facial hair), not so much."

DL