This is the first pilot of the year that I've liked enough to instantly add it to my Season Pass list.
It's not the most obviously appealing premise for a sitcom -- "Let's give a bunch of idiots a baby and see if they can somehow keep from killing it" -- but creator Greg Garcia is the guy who gave us My Name Is Earl, so he knows how to write this type of character. The Chance family is struggling financially, not overly bright, and basically well meaning, and we forgive them a lot for their good intentions.
Our hero is 23-year-old Jimmy (Lucas Neff), who finds himself a single father after a one-night stand; his partner turns out to be a serial killer, and after her execution, Jimmy is left to raise the child she has named Princess Beyonce. (Jimmy will rename her Hope. Thank god.)
Jimmy lives with his parents, Burt and Virginia (Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton), who are none too excited about the thought of having a newborn in the house. "Drop it at the fire station," Virginia tells him, "but be sure you actually hand it to someone. Don't just leave it in the box out front; that's only for canned goods and puppies."
The humor here is not remotely subtle, and a lot of the laughs come from Jimmy's creative attempts to get parenting basics right. Armed with only a child-care book, he does the best he can. (How does he get the baby home from prison without a car seat? "I put her in the beanbag in the back of the van and drove real slow.")
The only major flaw here is Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw, Jimmy's great-grandmother. I'm not sure you can make senility funny these days, and Leachman's performance is far too hammy, even for a show this broad.
I was a big fan of My Name Is Earl, and Raising Hope looks like a fine continuation of Garcia's style and themes. I've got my fingers crossed that they can keep this one working.
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