Omss-Culture: Culturebox: Raising Hope



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television Raising Hope Uncouth single fatherhood can be funny. By Troy Patterson Posted Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010, at 11:46 AM ET *Raising Hope* (Fox, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET), a sitcom about single fatherhood, passes for a rookie hit this fall, a distinction attributable to this fall's absence of genuine rookie hits. Hawaii Five-O has surfed, smirked, and semiautomatically shot its way to the head of this mediocre class, and the fat jokes of Mike & Molly are causing several million American paunches to jiggle with mirth every Monday night. Responding to the Nielsen numbers put up by the rest of the new shows, the average industry analyst musters an occasional "not bad" and mutters many an "eh." In this context, Raising Hope rates an amiable "OK," I think, though that's not my area of expertise. I'm just here to suggest grading the show's entertainment value on the same generous curve. Your hero is Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff), still a boy in his early twenties, cutely awkward and awkwardly earnest. Seeing Jimmy wear a mop of indie-rock bangs and an R. Crumb T-shirt, we interpret his presentation as a polite refusal of his family heritage. All indications are that the lad has been brought up to sport a mullet on his head and Skynyrd merch on his back. Jimmy lives at home with the parents who had him when they were 15--a father who runs a little lawn-and-pool-care company and a mother who works for a maid service. A blue collar is not to be confused with a red neck, but Raising Hope is the invention of Greg Garcia, who created My Name Is Earl and continues to mine a tacky lower-middle stratum of American society for every broad joke and stray gem it has to offer. He and Fox--the go-to network for off-color domestic sitcoms ever since Al Bundy first warmed its toilet seat--seem happily matched in their fascination with bad taste. To continue reading, click here. Troy Patterson is Slate's television critic. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Why on Earth Did Ginni Thomas Call Anita Hill? And Why Now? Please Stop Asking Me About Sarah Palin's Wardrobe! Spitzer: The Most Shocking Discovery Yet About How the Banks Hid Toxic Mortgages	Advertisement
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Now playing: *Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V* at www.slatev.com.
television Raising Hope Uncouth single fatherhood can be funny. By Troy Patterson Posted Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010, at 11:46 AM ET *Raising Hope* (Fox, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET), a sitcom about single fatherhood, passes for a rookie hit this fall, a distinction attributable to this fall's absence of genuine rookie hits. Hawaii Five-O has surfed, smirked, and semiautomatically shot its way to the head of this mediocre class, and the fat jokes of Mike & Molly are causing several million American paunches to jiggle with mirth every Monday night. Responding to the Nielsen numbers put up by the rest of the new shows, the average industry analyst musters an occasional "not bad" and mutters many an "eh." In this context, Raising Hope rates an amiable "OK," I think, though that's not my area of expertise. I'm just here to suggest grading the show's entertainment value on the same generous curve. Your hero is Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff), still a boy in his early twenties, cutely awkward and awkwardly earnest. Seeing Jimmy wear a mop of indie-rock bangs and an R. Crumb T-shirt, we interpret his presentation as a polite refusal of his family heritage. All indications are that the lad has been brought up to sport a mullet on his head and Skynyrd merch on his back. Jimmy lives at home with the parents who had him when they were 15--a father who runs a little lawn-and-pool-care company and a mother who works for a maid service. A blue collar is not to be confused with a red neck, but Raising Hope is the invention of Greg Garcia, who created My Name Is Earl and continues to mine a tacky lower-middle stratum of American society for every broad joke and stray gem it has to offer. He and Fox--the go-to network for off-color domestic sitcoms ever since Al Bundy first warmed its toilet seat--seem happily matched in their fascination with bad taste. To continue reading, click here. Troy Patterson is Slate's television critic. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Why on Earth Did Ginni Thomas Call Anita Hill? And Why Now? Please Stop Asking Me About Sarah Palin's Wardrobe! Spitzer: The Most Shocking Discovery Yet About How the Banks Hid Toxic Mortgages	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters on Slate Unsubscribe \| Newsletter Center \| Advertising Information Please do not reply to this message since this is an unmonitored e-mail address. If you have questions about newsletters, please go here.
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to newsletters@slate.com. Copyright 2010 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC \| Privacy Policy Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive \| c/o E-mail Customer Care \| 1150 15th Street NW \| Washington, D.C. 20071

Culturebox: Raising Hope

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