SHAMELESS (CRAVE)

Out of all the binge-watching that has taken place in our home this year, there is one scene that stands out, and I've been struggling to figure out why. The show is Shameless and the setting is a wellworn living room, where the various members of the raucous Gallagher clan, so often collateral damage from of the calamity, intoxication, fornication, theft and insurance fraud perpetrated by their patriarch, played so well by William H. Macy, sit quietly watching a documentary on TV, in rapt attention. It's never explained what is so compelling, but there is a peace to the tableau that must be a necessary escape for these characters, who find a way to survive despite their circumstances. Perhaps we are all, to less extreme degrees, like the Gallaghers, looking for a little distraction in the midst of a chaotic world.

There is another living-room scene that comes to mind, from about 25 years earlier. A startled elderly woman looks in the direction of a childless couple in their 20s who are staring thunderbolts at her while a police drama unfolds on a nearby TV screen. Playing the role of the elderly woman was my grandmother-in-law, and she had committed the unpardonable sin of talking over the dialogue of Homicide: Life on the Street.

Long before streaming, there was must-see TV, a slogan that NBC used to refer to its prime-time lineup. Homicide was not considered must-see by many North American viewers — it peaked at 24 in the Nielsen TV ratings in Season 2 and never made it above 66 after that in its seven-year run — but it was must-see TV in our house on Friday nights: old-school binge-viewing, no interrupting allowed.

You would think there would be a streaming audience today for a show that propelled the careers of Andre Braugher (hello, Brooklyn 99) and David Simon, creator of The Wire, and was considered by critics one of the best shows on television for years after it ended. But no. It's box-set DVD or bust. And so we will continue with Shameless, having already powered through Game of Thrones, The Undoing and The Queen's Gambit since the current, neverending season of The Virus began. From what we've seen so far, it's conceivable we'll make it through all 134(!) episodes.

The characters are already members of the family, though thankfully the kind that can easily be prevented from staying too long, just with the click of a button.

Perhaps by the time this binge is done, one of the many services out there that are hungry for content will stream Homicide, too, and we can find out what dialogue we missed the first time around.