First Aired: September 21, 2010 on FOX
Starring: Lucas Neff as Jimmy Chance, Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance, Garret Dillahunt as Burt Chance, Shannon Woodward as Sabrina, Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw, Gregg Binkley as Barney, and Kelly Heyer as Teenage Virginia.
Raising Hope TV Show is about a pool boy, Jimmy, who becomes a single parent to an infant after the mother he had a one-night stand with ends up on death row. Once coasting along through life in the slow easy lane, Jimmy now faces a tougher job than pool cleaning; being a dad. Jimmy’s quirky family members are not very happy about the little one and his parents, who had him when they were 15, never knew anything about raising a child and offer little help to Jimmy and his new daughter. Jimmy may tries to get help from Sabrina who is a checkout clerk he met at the supermarket. He is constantly trying to get the nerve up to ask her out. Despite it all, Jimmy is determined to raise Hope.
New York Times The original title, “Keep Hope Alive,” is funnier, but Raising Hope better suits a very funny sitcom that leavens its satire with sympathy. Alessandra Stanley
PopMatters As it walks a line between between mockery and compassion, Raising Hope most obviously evokes a comparison with creator Gregory Thomas Garcia’s last series, My Name is Earl. In the new show, however, the players are more believable and less caricatured. Michael Abernethy
San Francisco Chronicle Raising Hope works on two levels, the absurdist gags about dysfunctional families and lower-class values that populated “Earl,” and the never-too-saccharine sweetness that Jimmy brings to the world. If Garcia can keep up this mix, Fox may have itself a non-animated comedy hit. Tim Goodman
Los Angeles Times Raising Hope is funny, sweet, occasionally provocative, and occasionally over-the-top in a regrettable way. Mary McNamara
Raising Hope – Official Site Raising Hope TV Show – Enter the world of FOX’s Raising Hope TV series and learn more about characters, episodes, and cast.
