Raising Hope

Fall's best new sitcom has the manic zip of Malcolm in the Middle and the diabolical humor of raising Arizona. [27 Sep 2010, p.55]

A serial killer, a state execution, slapstick involving a baby--Fox's new Raising Hope is deliciously demented and easily the funniest new show of fall.

Garcia's single-camera editing amplifies the comedy inherent, rather than being a crutch to create it. And the casting here is as good as "Earl," which is saying something--even if Leachman goes a bit off the rails as wacked-out "mamaw."

There may be a smaller number of top-notch newbies this season, but Raising Hope, a celebration of parenthood and childhood, of small joys and big struggles, is certainly one of them.

The original title, "Keep Hope Alive," is funnier, but Raising Hope better suits a very funny sitcom that leavens its satire with sympathy.

It's a bit of a kitchen-sink approach, frankly, but there are laughs to be found here, along with genuine familial affection--even if the family members don't always have the words to express it.

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.

Raising Hope is funny, sweet, occasionally provocative, and occasionally over-the-top in a regrettable way.

The pervasive "what about the children" atmosphere we live in might be exactly what makes Greg Garcia's new Fox sitcom "Raising Hope" so wryly, delightfully, honestly hilarious.

I'm already sold. Plimpton is sensational as Jimmy's tough-as-nails mom, who'd just as soon drop the baby at the fire station, but we soon learn she has a way with a lullaby. Leachman is a riot, Garret Dillahunt scores as Jimmy's proudly immature dad, and special props go to the stunt babies.

Overall, Hope feels like a very new take on an old, old story.

Hope, however, has more going for it than a good heart and some good lines. It has a very good cast, with Neff and Dillahunt sure to be welcome weekly presences.

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.

Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt as the dumb dad's parents really make this one impossible to ignore completely. And even though we've already got "Oh no the ugly chick likes me" jokes and "You're right, the baby's limbs could get amputated this way" jokes and other material that might make you smile but never laugh, there's also a slightly disturbed tone here that's hard to match on sitcoms about yuppies having bad hair days.

The show's astringent tone, its excursions into low comedy--scenes like the one where everybody trying to diaper the baby ends up throwing up on her, and similarly stomach-churning fun--all work to counter the sentimentality of themes like this one. They work only in part here, and in this case that's all to the good. The show is meant to be a comedy, and it is--a smart and witty one--but there's no missing, either, under all that grotesquerie, its hard-core sweetness.

Raising Hope is low in concept, lower in class and lowest of all in shame--but relatively high in laughs, so long as you keep your living room curtains closed so no one can see you watching.

You can probably tell this is not your average sitcom. What you probably can't sense is a surprising tenderness and gentle humor (along with the crass) in this family, living on the socio-economic fringes in the house of Jimmy's grandma, so dotty she rarely wears enough clothes.

Raising Hope is not for the easily offended and humorless but the pilot is consistently entertaining for viewers willing to embrace Garcia's universe of downtrodden characters.

There are at least the slivers of promise that the show could get better. 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.

I'm slightly more taken with Fox's sweeter absurdedy, Raising Hope, though I still mourn the original title: "Keep Hope Alive."

Fox's best comedies are always off-center. Raising Hope forgets to stay there.