Raising Hope Review: Primetime’s Latest Kooky, but Loveable Family

My Tuesday night line-up used to be all about those singing choir kids from Ohio…until Princess Beyonce came along.

I’m talking, of course, about the new half-hour sitcom on FOX called Raising Hope. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing this show yet, it’s about Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff), a 23-year-old guy who is left to raise his infant daughter after the mom is executed for being a serial killer. Sound kooky? That’s only the half of it.

Jimmy lives with his mom, dad, and great-grandmother. He had a one night stand with a hot girl named Lucy who turned out to be a serial killer. That one night stand was enough though to conceive a baby girl who Lucy decides to name “Princess Beyonce.” Well, I guess that’s one step above Pilot Inspektor.

When Jimmy gains custody, mom (Virginia) and dad (Burt) don’t want to have a baby in the house. They themselves also happened to be young parents when Jimmy came along. After a lot of talking, Jimmy persuades his family to keep the baby girl who they rename Hope. The episodes that follow are all about Jimmy’s life as a new father, and his dedication to give Hope the best upbringing as possible with some help from his offbeat parents.

The cast of characters is what really makes this show entertaining, though. Lucas Neff is adorable as Jimmy – a guy who’s just trying to figure out his way through life, with the addition of a baby. Jimmy’s not the brightest guy out there, but he’s determined and has a good heart. Sometimes he’s even more of an adult than his own parents which leads me to…

Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance and Garret Dillahunt as Burt Chance. They’ve been together since high school, had Jimmy as teens, and now work regular blue collar jobs. Virginia is part of a maid brigade and Burt runs his own landscaping business. Virginia’s more of a feisty, practical and blunt person while Burt is probably the most chill and laid-back guy around. He’s also the most attractive grandfather on television. Just sayin’.

Rounding out the stellar cast is Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw and Shannon Woodward as Sabrina. Maw Maw is Jimmy’s disoriented great-grandmother. One minute she thinks Hope’s a dog, the next she starts kissing Jimmy because she thinks he’s her dead husband. The hijinks never end in the Chance household! Sabrina is one of Jimmy’s few friends (and his crush) whom he meets at the local grocery store. She’s got a dry, sarcastic sense of humor but her presence is a great addition to the show.

With such a colorful array of characters, there’s never a dull moment on Raising Hope. It always manages to find the perfect balance between being comedic and heartwarming (like when Burt would scare Jimmy just to get a hug from him…awwww!). The audience is always rooting for Jimmy and his family to accomplish whatever their latest plan is (getting health insurance for Hope, creating a live Nativity scene, the usual). And of course we can’t forget the actual star of the show – baby Hope. She may not have any lines, but without her there would be no show! And she’s just the cutest thing on television. It makes me wonder, if the show is on the air for a while, how long will they keep her as a baby? Perhaps I’m thinking too far into the future…but I do hope we get to hear her first words and they’ll be something ridiculous!

Fox made a wise choice, from my point of view, to air Raising Hope directly after Glee. It attracts the same young audience and shows the realities of life in a relatable set-up (maybe minus the whole baby situation). If it weren’t for its convenient timeslot, I’m afraid I would’ve never seen this gem.

Here are some of my favorite moments from Raising Hope’s freshman season so far – what are yours? And are you glad you tuned in?

Virginia the Hoarder: Hope crawls into Virginia’s clutter-filled shed and gets “stuck.” The family tries vacuuming the baby out of her crawlspace, and it works for a second, but the diaper goes off first and Hope continues her adventures in the shed. It’s up to Maw Maw to use her almighty Jenga skills and apply them to the stack in the shed in order to get Hope out safely.

Parenting 101: “I didn’t say they didn’t have car seats, I said we didn’t have them.”-Virginia

Sometimes They Can Be Grown-Ups: After a night of crying, Virginia and Burt go to Jimmy’s aid and start singing a song to get Hope to sleep showing they actually know what they’re doing sometimes as parents. It’s a real turning point in the show at an early stage, and very sweet.

Lessons from Beyond: Lucy made Hope a video from jail before her execution to teach Hope the essentials in life…mainly having to do with how to murder someone and dance suggestively. But Jimmy edits it to make it seem much more PG because he wants Hope to have some sort of memory of her mom.

Safety First: In one episode, Jimmy meets Lucy’s parents and invites them for a family Thanksgiving. In introducing Hope, he says: “I have her picture here. I keep it in my wallet next to the condom I always carry now. Fool me once, right?”

Raising Hope returns to Fox tomorrow, February 8, at 9/8c.

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Images courtesy of Fox/IMDbPro.