Raising Hope

Raising Hope
Intertitle
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Gregory Thomas Garcia
Starring	Lucas Neff Martha Plimpton Garret Dillahunt Shannon Marie Woodward Gregg Binkley Cloris Leachman
Opening theme	"Daddy-O" by The Freelance Economy
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	44 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Greg Garcia
Producer(s)	Henry J. Lange Jr.
Cinematography	Walt Fraser
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television Amigos de Garcia Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	HD: 1080i/720p SD: 480i/576i
Original run	September 21, 2010 (2010-09-21)[1] – present
External links
Website

Raising Hope is a television comedy program first aired on September 21, 2010, on Fox.^[1] The series airs on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm.^[2][3] On January 10, 2011, Fox renewed Raising Hope for a second season, which premiered on September 20, 2011.^[4]

Following its first season, the show received two nominations at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Martha Plimpton was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Cloris Leachman was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Plimpton also won the 2011 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

On April 9, 2012, Raising Hope was renewed for a third season.^[5]

Premise

A 23-year-old single man must raise his infant daughter, conceived from a one-night stand, with the help of his flawed family after they find out the baby's mother (who has killed multiple boyfriends) was sentenced to death and electrocuted when the baby was only six months old.

Casting

• Lucas Neff as James "Jimmy" Chance, Hope's father. He is a 23-year-old who is clueless about raising a child and everything else. Before having Hope, he met and had a one night stand with Lucy, resulting in her pregnancy and the birth of Hope. He did not know about Hope until seven months later when Lucy contacted him. He also did not know that Lucy was a serial killer until the morning after their one night stand. Jimmy is harmless and kindhearted. When he was a teenager he went through a phase where he dressed like a goth. Jimmy is a fan of The Lord of the Rings and often does an impression of Gollum, which his family finds irritating.
  • Trace Garcia (credited as "Trace!"^[6]) as 3-year-old Jimmy.
  • Mason Cook as 8-year-old Jimmy.
  • Greyson Chance as 13-year-old Jimmy.
• Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance. Hope's grandmother, Jimmy's mother, and Burt's wife. Virginia conceived Jimmy when she was fifteen (he was born on prom night). Her mother wanted to be a swinger and left her when she was two years old, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother, Maw Maw, who told Virginia that her mother had died when she'd fallen and accidentally hit her head on a duck lawn ornament. Virginia works as a housecleaner.
  • Kelly Heyer as teenage Virginia.
• Garret Dillahunt as Burt Chance. Hope's grandfather, Jimmy's father, and Virginia's husband. Burt conceived Jimmy with Virginia when he was seventeen. He has a lawn care/pool cleaning business with Jimmy as his assistant.
  • Cameron Moulene as teenage Burt.
• Shannon Woodward as Sabrina Collins. She works at the nearby grocery market despite coming from a rich family. She spends most of her time drawing on cantaloupes and mixing up the cereals and soup cans. She immediately catches Jimmy's attention, but has a boyfriend who is studying finance in New York. She is extremely nearsighted but usually wears contacts. In the middle of Season 2, Sabrina breaks up with her boyfriend and she and Jimmy decide to start dating each other.
• Baylie and Rylie Cregut as Hope Chance (born Princess Beyonce Carlyle), Jimmy and Lucy's daughter.
• Gregg Binkley as Barney Hughes (Recurring season 1, starring season 2), the manager at the store where Jimmy and Sabrina work. He used to be overweight but had gastric bypass surgery. Barney also has a large collection of dolls within his home.
• Cloris Leachman as Barbara June "Maw Maw" Thompson (Recurring season 1, starring season 2), Virginia's 84-year-old grandmother, Jimmy's great-grandmother, and Hope's great-great-grandmother, who appears to have Alzheimer's Disease. Maw Maw has short-lived moments of lucidity in which she can be very helpful or very angry about the entire family living in her house. Her moments of lucidity are random, and each member of the household has "dibs" on a task they would like her to accomplish for them. For comedic purposes, she is billed in the main credits as "And Introducing Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw."

Development and production

In June 2009, Fox announced it had booked a put pilot commitment with show creator Greg Garcia.^[7][8] Michael Fresco signed on to direct the pilot in September 2009, which was originally titled Keep Hope Alive.^[9]

Casting announcements began in November, with Martha Plimpton and Lucas Neff as the first actors cast.^[10][10][11] Olesya Rulin joined the cast shortly thereafter as Sabrina, the new love interest for Jimmy.^[10] Garret Dillahunt came on board in late November to portray Jimmy's father, Burt.^[12]

In early December 2009, Kate Micucci was added to the cast as Jimmy's cousin. The pilot was filmed in December 2009, with Bijou Phillips as Lucy the serial killer/Hope's mother.^[13][14]

In early spring 2010, reports stated that Cloris Leachman would portray Jimmy's great-grandmother, Maw Maw.^[15][16] In March, Fox decided to recast two roles from the pilot. Shannon Woodward replaced Olesya Rulin as Sabrina, Jimmy's new love interest.^[17] Also recast was the role of Jimmy's cousin, and the role reverted back to male with the addition of Skyler Stone as Mike.^[14][18] With this, Kate Micucci's role changed from Jimmy's cousin to become Shelly, the cousin of his love interest Sabrina.

Fox green-lit the pilot to series with an order in mid-May 2010.^[19][20] On May 17, 2010, Fox announced at the upfront presentation that the series, with the new title Raising Hope, was included in its 2010-11 television schedule and set for a fall 2010 premiere.^[2][21]

On October 6, Fox ordered 9 more episodes of the first season, bringing the first season to 22 episodes.^[22] It was the first full-season pickup of the 2010-2011 primetime television schedule. On January 10, 2011, Fox renewed Raising Hope for a second season.^[4]

Reception

Critical reception

Raising Hope has received positive reviews from critics. The show's first season received an average score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, meaning it received "generally favorable reviews."^[23] Metacritic also reports that 78% of its users gave the show's first season favorable reviews as well.^[23]

Tom Gilatto of People Weekly called the show the best new sitcom of the season, favorably comparing it to Malcolm in the Middle. Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times was lukewarm towards the show, stating that "Raising Hope is funny, sweet, occasionally provocative, and occasionally over-the-top in a regrettable way." Other critics were harsher towards the show, such as James Poniewozik of Time Magazine, who stated that "Neff is amiably charming, Dillahunt and Plimpton give their characters a realism that belies the pilot's often-contemptuous jokes, and maybe 20% of the first episode shows a sweet-heartedness that rises above the easy white-trash humor." Regardless, reviews of the show were mostly positive by the end of the first season. Much of the show's praise went particularly to the performances of Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt.^[24]

The second season of Raising Hope premiered on September 20, 2011 on Fox, moving to 9:30pm from its original 9:00pm time slot, due to the acquisition of New Girl. The second season received similar positive reviews to the first, with Matt Roush of TV Guide calling it "A treat for anyone who loves a good call-back to classic sitcoms."^[25] As of October 2011, the users of Metacritic have given the show's second season a 7.9 out of 10, indicating "generally favorable reviews."^[26]

Ratings

Awards and nominations

International broadcasts

In the United Kingdom, Sky1 picked up the broadcast rights and added the show to its 2010-2011 UK & Ireland autumn schedule, beginning November 2010.^[33]

In Spain, it is broadcast on FOX and is called Hope

In Italy, the series premiered the 3rd of February 2011 on Fox. The Italian title is Aiutami Hope! (Help me Hope!).^[34]

In the Czech Republic, the series is broadcast on HBO. This show premiered the 1st of February 2011. The Czech title is Vychovávat Hope.^[35]

In India, it is broadcast on STAR World

In Ireland, it is broadcast on RTE 2

In Latin America, the series is broadcast on I.Sat. The show premiered on March 2011. ^[36]

In Romania, the series is broadcast on HBO Comedy^{[citation needed]}

In New Zealand, the series is broadcast on TV3 (New Zealand)

In Australia, the series premiered on the Ten Network, before moving to Channel Eleven.The series is also broadcast on The Comedy Channel, where it premiered on the 7th of September 2011.

In South Africa, the series is broadcast on M-Net.

In Canada, the first season aired on Fox 29 and on the Global Television Network^[37] at the same time as Fox in the US. However in 2011, Citytv bought rights from the Global Television Network, and began broadcasting the show.^[38]

In The Netherlands, the series will be broadcast by RTL5. The show premieres on December 6, 2011.

In Malaysia, Raising Hope is on Astro Star World, Channel 711.

In Philippines, the show is aired on Jack TV.

In Serbia, Raising Hope is aired on Fox Life.

In Greece, Raising Hope's first season was aired on Fox Life.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Raising Hope

• Official website
• Raising Hope at the Internet Movie Database