Dysfunctional families are nothing new to television and "Raising Hope" adds another one to the canon. "Raising Hope," created by Greg Garcia, the man behind the hit "My Name is Earl," features a basically unknown cast of actors, which portrays the Chance family, a family of low income and even lower class.
The comedy's main focus is on Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff). The eldest son of the Chance family, Jimmy is given sole custody of his newborn daughter because her mother is going to the electric chair for killing a number of ex-boyfriends. The unemployed and unambitious Jimmy has the best of intentions when it comes to his new daughter, Hope, but he is clearly ill-equipped to take care of anyone, including himself.
There is something sweet about Jimmy's naiveté. The viewer cannot help but admire his dedication, and his determination to do the right thing despite his family's misgivings — they keep telling him to drop Hope off at the local fire station — is genuinely endearing.
Jimmy makes a lot of mistakes, like not knowing that he has to strap the car seat into the car while his daughter is riding in it, but he always learns from his errors and emerges afterward with renewed commitment to doing things the right way. It is easy to tell that Jimmy wants raising his daughter to be the one thing in his life that he can truly be proud of, and it is an admirable goal.
The matriarch of the Chance family, Jimmy's mother Virginia (Martha Plimpton), is one of the show's more interesting characters. Despite Virginia's irresponsible attitude — she smokes in front of Hope and complains about driving Jimmy around when he needs her help — Plimpton somehow infuses humanity into her selfishness.
This humanity is showcased in one of the more tender moments of the show, when Jimmy stays up until four in the morning trying to get Hope to stop crying. Virginia comes into the room and tenderly sings a love song until Hope finally quiets down. What makes Plimpton so intriguing in the scene is that she enters the room looking completely annoyed, as if she is only doing this because she wants to get some sleep. Yet when she starts to sing and lightly rock Hope, it is clear that she cares deeply for her new granddaughter. The viewer realizes that Virginia's insistence on giving Hope away is not because she is selfish, but rather because she wants her granddaughter to have a better life than what the family can provide for her.
Another one of the better members of the supporting cast is Sabrina (Shannon Woodward), the coy, slightly mischievous cashier at the local supermarket and new friend of Jimmy. Sabrina plays many tricks on her manager, pulling pranks like drawing faces on some of the produce, which she seems to do out of boredom in her mundane job. She is also not afraid to poke fun at Jimmy and is quick with friendly jabs at his life; she has a playfulness that works well against Jimmy's naiveté. Sabrina is not given much screen time in the pilot, but hopefully we will see her more in future episodes.
One of the weaknesses of the show is its inconsistent humor. It seems to go back and forth between comedy and emotion rather than combining them, making some parts seem a little forced or uneven. "Raising Hope" could also benefit from less gross-out humor, like the few throw-up gags in the episode, which made transitions to the more tender moments a little awkward.
While this pilot was not perfect, "Raising Hope" should be given a chance to develop. The characters are done well enough that the show can work in many ways if it keeps its focus and does not try to generalize too much. The direction of the show is also undefined enough that it is not hard to think of funny and strong storylines for Jimmy and Hope, especially if the show continues to showcase both emotion and humor.
