Whenever people tell me a TV show has gotten better, I’m skeptical. Here’s the thing: EVERY TV show gets better from its pilot. There are literally only two or three shows in the history of the medium that started out with a pilot and then just got worse from there. TV shows are organic creations, and as they stay on the air, they grow and change. Casts get to know each other and build better chemistry. The writers figure out how to play to the actors’ strengths. Directors find ways to get through episodes as efficiently as possible. A lot of shows just restate their pilot for all time, but practice almost always makes perfect. An F show will eventually become a D show, and so on, right up the line. It’s just the way the medium works. In some ways, it’s better to have a shitty pilot than a good one. The latter leaves you far too much to live up to.
This week, I’m looking at two shows I’ve had people bugging me about getting much, much better since the pilot. One is Raising Hope. The other is Outsourced. Now, granted, I’ve watched every Raising Hope so far, and most Outsourced episodes so far, so I’ve been able to watch what these shows are doing to try to accelerate their improvement. And while I still think Raising Hope takes the lazy way out with some of its humor, I think it’s improving rapidly enough that I feel no problem setting a season pass for the show. Creator Greg Garcia’s a real pro, and he’s figured out how to craft a fairly amusing, sweetly enjoyable half hour of TV. It helps that this is a show that looks like no other comedy on TV right now. Look at the muted colors and subtle rhythms of that long-shot of Jimmy carrying Sabrina home in costume in front of the toilet-papered tree. It’s a striking image, and it becomes sweet with the emotional content going on right in front of it. (Outsourced, well … we’ll get to that on Thursday.)
Raising Hope has rapidly become Fox’s big hope for the fall season. It’s the only new show the network has picked up to a full season order, though its ratings are far from spectacular (or, really, all that solid). Lone Star was an out of the box bomb, and Running Wilde hasn’t been able to hold on to even the tiny audience Raising Hope has. Plus, Raising Hope has its critical champions and holds on to just enough of Glee’s young audience to make it seem like it has room to grow. Where most new shows have been plummeting week to week, Raising Hope has hung on to a small but seemingly loyal audience. And the show has rewarded that audience, I’d say. Each episode has steadily gotten a little better (until tonight’s second half-hour, which we’ll get to in a second). The show is figuring out a better way to balance its “Ha, ha, laugh at the dumb hicks!” laughs and its “Ha, ha, dumbasses put babies in danger!” laughs with its genuinely sweet character moments. it’s a tough trick to pull off, and the show still hasn’t mastered it, but it’s well on its way.
The first half-hour tonight shows off perfectly what I’m coming to love about this show but also what still doesn’t work on it. I still think Lucas Neff is a bit too much of a cipher to hold the center of this show, but he’s coming into his own. The scenes where he’s caring for Sabrina or where he’s calling his friends about taking good care of the baby are nicely understated. Furthermore, the chemistry between the cast members is really starting to crackle, and the emotional core of every episode is pulled off in just the right fashion. Take the plot about how Jimmy’s dad (Garrett Dillahunt, who’s quietly turning in Emmy-worthy work) used to scare his young son, the better to get a nice, tight man hug. It should be stupid on its face – and the way it all pays off is vaguely terrible – but the emotional core, two men who love each other but aren’t sure how to express that, is present. You’ve seen this before, but the writers and actors are putting new shades on an old story.