Wait! Don't jump! There's a shark in the way!

[Punchline]

Raising Hope, please! Let go of the rope, you don't have to jump that shark that just swam in your way!

If ever there were a I time I could accept a "then I woke up and it was a dream" bail-out it would be for this. I love this clever little dark comedy because when it's working, it hangs its comedy on the edge of sorrowful, troublesome topics that have been twisted and turned into funny.

As a viewer, and probably as a human being, one of my favorite stories to lose myself in is a tale of a love with too many broken pieces to ever work out right. See Maggie and Joel in Northern Exposure. Pam and Jim in the Office. Even Ross and Rachel of Friends. They are Romeo and Juliet genre love stories pushed into the modern era, and Raising Hope had the perfect set up to do the same kind of wonderful to Jimmy and Sabrina. I found myself much like a witness to a traffic accident during the Valentines Day episode. I saw the writing step off the curb into oncoming traffic and there was nothing I could do stop it.

If one of your series "big problems" is that Jimmy wants Sabrina, then for the love of all things decent and writerly, don't let Jimmy get her (and so easily!!) by season 2!!! With so talented a writing staff, why would you drop a bomb on the playground of story opportunities you'd created between Sabrina and Jimmy?

I worry that the integrity of the story is now compromised. I tune in every week to watch Jimmy learn how to be a father, to see this family function despite all of the reasons it should not, and to watch the tension between Jimmy and Sabrina. That's Raising Hope. I don't want to see "Jimmy and This Girl He Likes Raising Hope."

So please, to the writing staff of Raising Hope, don't cheap out on me. This is a unique and talented piece of writing, to which mainstream viewers are rarely treated. Please don't steer it into shark infested waters.

[robyrob]

i am going to reserve judgement and see how it plays out - i do think it is kind of risky, not unlike when My Name Is Earl sent Earl to jail for a season...

[Yong Fang]

The jail season killed "My Name is Earl". I own the discs to the show and never watch the jail season. Viewers hated it too because the show did not recover from that and was cancelled.

"Raising Hope" to me is very hit and miss. Sometimes it is good, and sometimes it really sucks. The problem is that they make it too quirky, that there is no real believability.

Saying that, I love Kate Miccuci. In another universe, I want to marry and have sex with that woman. I dont know why, but I just love that girl and wished she was a regular character. This is most of the reason why I still tune in to the program. I also like Martha Plimpton and the actor who plays her husband Bert. The actors overall are great, but the writing sucks.

Garcia has had his successes, but he needs to take a backseat and let the writers write.

[studiomagic]

... and it's jumped the shark so high that it found a 2nd shark and jumped that too. It's amazing how The United States of Tara gets cancelled, but this is still on in it's current form.

I can' t get enough quirky sitcoms where the cast spends time doing things they're not good at. Lots of singing from a tone deaf cast (sans Sabrina) and the supermarket manager comes with them on every adventure... good call all around. Don't give me jokes, I want to spend 10 minutes listening to every character butcher "No Sunshine"; how did they know? Did this crack someone up at the table read?

Also, how did they know I wanted a Yes Dear reunion? We need to tribute great comedies like Cheers, All In The Family, Seinfeld and ummm Yes Dear.

Overall, they've killed the "dark little comedy that could" and for that they should hang their heads.

[lucy&vivfan]

I never thought this show was funny. It had the potential. Sometimes off-the-wall humor is funny and then sometimes it is just...off-the-wall. THat is what "raising hope" is.