Raising Hope

There are two forms of comedy I love: nonsensical comedy and satire. A satire is poking fun at something that genuinely happened, or happens. A nonsensical comedy is when it's revealed Maw-Maw's mother is alive, so Maw-Maw's mother is brought in to live in the house. Maw-Maw's mother and Maw-Maw have had a feud for years, until Maw-Maw gives her mother a quarter. The mother then shits herself to death. It's all okay, because Maw-Maw can't remember her mother's visit, but seems to think she and her mother reconciled sometime long-ago.

Raising Hope manages to hit both of those, but is usually just a straight nonsensical comedy.  Jimmy, previously known as doofus--not in a mean way, I call my rabbit the same thing--fathered a baby to a serial killer, and is now trying to raise it. He still lives with his parents, and he's crushing on a girl who works in the supermarket. Oh, and his great-grandmother, Maw-Maw, who has Alzheimers, lives with them. Whereas The Riches couldn't figure out how seriously it wanted to take itself, specifically when it came to it's character's drug habits, Raising Hope knows how seriously it wants to take itself: Not at all. Especially when it comes to Maw-Maw,  whose Alzheimers moments are always played for laughs.

Sabrina has to be my favorite character, who seems to be the 'straight man,' to the family's crazy guy, at first. Sure, she draws faces on the fruit and re-arranges the store she works at, but that's just because she's bored.  Then it's revealed that she sleeps with pantyhose on her head at night. Why? Spiders.

'Nuff said.

None of the characters, except Sabrina, are particularly intelligent, moral, or rich. Unlike shows like Revenge, Pretty Little Liars, House of Cards, and so on, I feel like I've met most of these people, making this comedy strangely relatable. Sure, it takes place in a not-quite-reality, but so long as it's a consistent not-quite-reality, I'm perfectly fine with that. (The logistics of them being allowed to keep Maw-Maw just because she threatened a few cats, and a serial killer being let go because she survived her execution, are nonsensical, but standard in its own universe.)

This is definitely not for everyone. While it's a smart comedy, it's not a realistic one, and it could bother some people.