Sounds like the remake doesn't have Mickey Rooney's "drunk" routine; this was towards the end of the time where alcoholism could be funny. I've only just recently started watching Shameless and found that Funny Alcoholism is back, baby!

Wesley's character arc is my all-time favorite.  In his first appearance in Angel he's a lame baddass wannabe, putting on airs of being a lone-wolf demon hunter.  Over the 5 seasons he becomes exactly this, at enormous cost.

I found watching it to be generally painless once I sat back and chose to see it as a modern rehash of the movie "Heavy Metal."

On the internet, nobody can tell you're a shark.