Showtime has two new Sunday night shows – one with a British influence that makes fun of American television and another that is a remake of a British series.  Episodes airs at 9:30 p.m. and Shameless follows at 10:00.

At first I thought Episodes, which brings a successful husband-and-wife writing team from England to LA to remake their hit series, was a bit dull, unbelievable, and predictable.  After all, do married people really paw one another that much?  Is this a comedy or a fantasy? And, how many cable shows of this mien do viewers really need?  The end of the pilot picked up a bit for me, even though I fear the LA jokes will wear increasingly thin. Still, I’ll give it another look.

Shameless has more punch and promise.  William H. Macy deftly handles difficult roles, and here he plays the unlikeable, alcoholic patriarch of the Gallagher family.  I’m not even sure how many children there are in this supremely dysfunctional household, but eldest daughter Fiona, played by Emmy Rossum, is the one who keeps everything together and serves as the emotional anchor of the family in the pilot.

I’m also intrigued by a storyline involving teenage brother Ian (Cameron Monaghan), whose slightly older brother Lip (Jeremy Allen White) finds gay porn in their shared room and quickly figures out who put it there.  There is ultimately an understanding struck here that demonstrates the skill of the creative team behind the series while showing the audience how this family survives despite the obstacles it faces, at least some of which are self-imposed.

The outlaw ways of this clan are not for the faint-hearted.  Some family dramas are best played out on TV instead of in the actual living room.  Still, I’ve set my DVR to record the series.  If subsequent episodes live up to the promise of the pilot, I don’t want to miss anything.