TV Great White Hope

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Martha Plimpton (Stef from The GREAT Goonies) is great as the no-nonsense, chain-smoking mum, Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood) is the deadbeat dad while WHITE Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman — now 84 years old — is great as the deranged grandmother who lives with the HOPE family. The writing and humour — very much in the vein of My Name Is Earl — is The latest in a line of white-trash sharp and wonderfully dark but it works sitcoms, and why it’s more real because you like the people. that reality TV Creator, Greg Garcia says: “I like to BY MATT POMROY watch people on TV that I’m rooting for, not rooting against. I try to create ALSO STARTING n times like these when the rich characters who have real struggles, but THIS MONTH are screwing the poor more than are good people underneath everything. ever, it’s nice to be able to root They just feel a little bit more real to me.” TERRIERS for the underdog. But underdogs Garcia grew up in Virginia and came Disgraced ex-cop Hank (Donal on television are increasingly from a working class background with Logue), who drank himself off the Iappearing via reality TV, where it’s often many of his friends living in trailer parks, job and out of a marriage, teams up hard to feel that they’re not just having while lead actor Neff was cleaning houses with a thief, Britt (Michael Raymond- James), to work as unlicensed private their dreams/desperation/situation for a living when he tried out for the investigators in the beach town of exploited for the entertainment of role of Jimmy. These are people who Ocean Beach, California. Slacker, others. In scripted television, however, have made it out of the situations they’re buddy comedies are usually pretty there’s a good tradition of American “I TRY TO CREATE depicting. lowbrow, but this comes from the working class sitcoms. Although writer of Ocean’s Eleven and the CHARACTERS WHO excellent con-man fi lm Matchstick Shows like Married With Children, HAVE REAL STRUGGLES, Garcia is now Men, so unlike the clichéd and forced Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, Malcolm In BUT ARE GOOD presumably bonhomie of other pairings, this is The Middle, My Name Is Earl have all PEOPLE UNDERNEATH wealthy from sharp, funny TV with some great depicted American blue-collar workers, EVERYTHING” years as a dialogue. There are only 13 episodes as (or simply white-trash in some cases) but successful writer it’s now been cancelled in the States, so it’s not a big investment, but still have done so with warmth and affection. and producer, during the 2007/08 writers well worth your time. You were on their side, even if you strike he worked incognito as a janitor at wouldn’t want to live side-by-side with Burger King in Burbank, California just Terriers starts May 27 at 9pm on them. Raising Hope is the latest, and it’s to prove to himself that he could still do OSN FIRST the best there’s been for some time. “real” work should he ever have to. In fact, it’s the best there’s beeneen ssinceince AAss tthehe rearealitylity ooff carcaringing fforor a bbabyaby hihitsts My Name Is Earl was abruptly cancelledcancelled JJimmy,immy, as well as the smell when chanchangingging and comes from the same creator,tor, GregGreg a nappnappyy ((“I“I tthrewhrew up on tthehe bbaby”),aby”), it’s Garcia. The premise is typicallyy screwball:screwball: hhardard not to empatempathisehise anandd root for hhim.im. 23-year-old Jimmy has a one-nightight standstand IIff you’re llookingooking for a rearealitylity sshowhow tthenhen with a fugitive who then gets capturedaptured tthishis is funnier, more enendearingdearing anandd ccloserloser and sent to the electric chair, butut sheshe to reareall llifeife tthanhan most unscripteunscriptedd TV gives birth just before leaving hhimim to currentcurrentlyly on offer. raise the baby alone. After finallyly rejectingrejecting Raising Hope starts May 31 at 8.308.30p.m.p.m. the name Princess Beyoncé, thee babybaby is onon OSOSNN CComedyomedy called Hope, giving the series itsts title.title. The original title was to be Keepp HopeHope Alive, which was better but deemedemed a littlelittle too on-the-nose for network TV.V. The clueless Jimmy (playedd bbyy newcomer Lucas Neff ) strugglesles ttoo come to terms with being a fatherher while getting loving but equallyy misguided help from his whitee trash parents who initially object to him keeping it: “Now, you take that baby to thee fire station and you hand it to ththem.em. Don’t just throw it in the dumpster!”pster!”

42 ESQUIRE MAY 2011