The essential episodes of Raising Hope
Watch these 15 in order and you've got Raising Hope — each pick states its reason.
- 01
When well-meaning 23-year-old Jimmy Chance has a one-night stand with a wanted felon, he ends up being a dad to a bouncing baby girl. Inspired to do the right thing by his daughter, he has to convince his less-than-enthusiastic parents and great-grandmother to help him raise her.
- 02
Jimmy asks Sabrina's cousin to baby-sit Hope so he can return to work. Burt tries to persuade Virginia to quit smoking.
- 03
When Jimmy "teaches" Hope to crawl, the family must baby-proof the house and find new places to store their belongings. It's soon revealed that Virginia is a hoarder and has been saving junk in the storage shed, which becomes Hope's favorite new hiding place. This leads Virginia to realize that she may have to change her ways. Meanwhile, Jimmy makes frequent unnecessary trips to the grocery store to see Sabrina.
- 04
When Sabrina's boyfriend can't make it to the deli guy's Halloween party, Jimmy offers to put on his costume and go in his place. Virginia takes Maw Maw, who is dressed as a cat, trick-or-treating while Burt plots ways to play tricks on Jimmy.
- 05
When a box containing videos of Hope's mother arrives from prison, Jimmy must decide whether or not to let Hope see them. Virginia explains that children need to be protected from the truth, leading Jimmy to question what exactly his parents have been keeping from him.
- 06
When Hope catches a cold, Jimmy panics because the family does not have health insurance. Jimmy figures out a way to get a second job at Sabrina's grocery store so he can afford to take Hope to the pediatrician.
- 07
Jimmy decides to put Hope in an expensive daycare center, but meets an obstacle in the form of an old record from Burt's past, so the family decides to take matters in their own hands and deal with the law.
- 08
Instead of sleeping in and ordering pizza, per his normal Thanksgiving custom, Jimmy invites Hope's other grandparents, Dale and Margine, to join the Chances for a more traditional holiday dinner. The Chances soon realize that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when Dale and Margine kidnap Hope, and it's up to them to get her back.
- 09
A washed-up rock star who is hired as the lead act at 'Grocery-Palooza', a rock concert at the supermarket where Sabrina works. Smokey was once Burt's musical idol, and Burt hopes to relive his rock-star years by playing backup for him at the concert.
- 10
When Sabrina points out to Jimmy just how many germs are lurking around his house, the Chance family becomes obsessed with cleanliness. Finding it impossible to keep Maw Maw clean, they move her to the backyard greenhouse, but after watching some old family movies, they discover a surprising secret that has kept them healthy all these years.
- 11
Jimmy doesn't mind at 23 sharing his birthday with Maw Maw, although it was hell as a kid, when she had lots of friends and he none. When he turned 18, in his impertinent Goth period (alias 'Drakkar Noir'), she 'finally' felt able to throw the Chances trio out of her home, so they had to grow up suddenly, seeking real job incomes supplemented by devious ways to skin the supermarket. Five years ago however, her mind went, so they got the house back with her as senile resident hazard.
- 12
Bored and increasingly desperate for a distraction even they can afford, Burt and Virginia try out various hobbies, until they agree improvisation acting fits them scoundrels. When Jimmy feels Sabrina a lost cause after her engagement with Wyatt, they also advise making her jealous of an imaginary perfect girl. Jimmy fails to wriggle out of a double date, so he needs to hire Mary-Louise from the acting class to play one. That proves harder but also more rewarding then expected.
- 13
Not Indecent, But Not Quite Decent Enough Proposal
At the funeral for Sabrina's grandmother, Nana, the Chance family meets Tamara (Melanie Griffith), Sabrina's mother. Nana's last will and testament has a significant impact on Sabrina and Jimmy's relationship.
- 14
At Barney's suggestion, Virginia and Burt go to a resort for a vacation; Sabrina and Jimmy want to have a baby.
- 15
Virginia's father Arnold returns to Natesville seeking help in planning his upcoming wedding. But Arnold surprises everyone when he reveals that the wedding Virginia has planned is really for her and Burt – the dream wedding they never got to have as teen parents.
Shows like Raising Hope
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