List of Raising Hope characters

This is a list of fictional characters in the television series Raising Hope. The article deals with the series' main, recurring and guest stars.

Main cast

Hope Chance

Played by identical twins Baylie and Rylie Cregut.

Barney Hughes

Barney Hughes (Gregg Binkley) is the manager of Howdy's, the store where Jimmy and Sabrina work. He used to be overweight but he had gastric bypass surgery. He is a divorced father to two sons, Barney Jr. and Trevor. His parents are two lesbians. He likes to collect dolls and pig figurines. He had a brief relationship with Sabrina's Aunt Maxine. He was a recurring character for the first season and got promoted to main character for the rest of the series.

Appeared on: 71 episodes

Recurring cast

Shelley

Shelley (Kate Micucci) is Sabrina's cousin. Shelly had previously made out with Jimmy during a party. Two years later, Shelley reappears after Jimmy needs a babysitter. Shelley is positive that Jimmy loves her and they start a relationship, which is ended by Jimmy when he reveals his feelings for Sabrina to her. She used to have a dead tooth that she kept as a conversation starter, but had it fixed out of fear of being made fun of. Shelley runs a daycare center for children, dogs, and senior citizens, for whom she frequently plays the ukelele and composes songs. In the episode "Mongooses," she is seen repeatedly turning her light switch on and off forty-five times, believing she must do so "to stay alive". As Hope's babysitter, they grow a strong bond. In season 2 episode 20, Shelley is the first name Hope says, to Sabrina's annoyance. In season 4, Frank professed his love for her and the two started a relationship.

Appeared on: 26 episodes

Frank Marolla

Frank (Todd Giebenhain) is a creepy and incompetent co-worker at the store where Jimmy and Sabrina work. However in Season 1 finale, it was shown that he used to do a good job before he wasn't watching what he was doing and the can accidentally hit Shelly. It was revealed in season 2's The Men of New Natesville, that he shared the same bully as Jimmy in high school, and the two of them bonded over the fact. Since then, he has largely displaced Javier and Marcus as Jimmy's best male friend. In season 3 He and Jimmy were married, but later got an annulment in episode “What Happens at Howdy's Doesn't Stay at Howdy's”. In season 4, he professed his love for Shelly and the two started a relationship.

Appeared on: 50 episodes

Javier and Marcus

Javier and Marcus (Ray Santiago and Jermaine Williams) are Jimmy's best friends. They keep trying to get Jimmy to do dangerous and outrageous things.

Both appeared on: 5 episodes

Mike Chance

Mike Chance (Skyler Stone) is Jimmy's cousin and Hope's first cousin once removed. He worked for Burt's gardening business before leaving with a girl to join a cult. In "The Cultish Personality", Mike returns with his wife Tanya (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and "brother-husbands" Jeff (Paul F. Tompkins), Rodney (Chris Frontiero) and Chester (Kent Avenido). Tanya practices polyandry. It is revealed that his father (Burt's brother) Bruce (J.K. Simmons) had kicked him out of the house, and Burt had taken him in. After being falsely accused by Burt of kidnapping Hope (Burt's attempt to get Mike out of the cult and back with his father), Mike reunites with his father and joins the family mattress business.

Appeared on: 4 episodes

Sylvia and Donovan

Sylvia and Donovan (Tichina Arnold and Phill Lewis) are rich friends of Burt and Virginia's. They first met the Chance family when Jimmy attempted to make friends with their son, although they had already known Virginia through her cleaning their house.

Arnold appeared on: 3 episodes

Lewis appeared on: 2 episodes

Wyatt Gill

Wyatt (Ryan Doom) is Sabrina's ex-boyfriend, who is away at college. He isn't liked by Jimmy and his family. Sabrina and Wyatt break up because Jimmy and his (fake) girlfriend take them on a double date that doesn't turn out right.

Appeared on: 8 episodes

Lucy Carlyle

Lucy Carlyle (Bijou Phillips)[1] is Hope's mother. She is a serial murderer who has killed several of her boyfriends after inadvertent influence provided by Shelly (who merely said she should "get rid of" her boyfriend, but Lucy took the advice out of context and thought she meant kill him). She met Jimmy after trying to escape her latest murder attempt. She then seduces him and becomes pregnant with Hope. Soon afterward, the Chances learn what Lucy really is and turn her in to the police. Eight months later, Lucy contacts Jimmy and reveals that she is pregnant with Jimmy's baby. After delivering a daughter she originally names Princess Beyoncé, Lucy is sentenced to death by electric chair. In one of the later episodes, Jimmy, Burt, and Virginia receive the memoir Lucy left Hope, which includes a video about how to survive in prison and how to dance sexually. In the first part of the season 2 finale, it is revealed that Jimmy married Lucy in prison, and that Lucy is not dead after all. In the second part, Lucy arrives at the Chance's house and says that if Jimmy and Hope don't move to Tibet with her she will fight for sole custody of their daughter. Lucy's lawyer wins the case and Lucy gets Hope. Sabrina understands that, although Jimmy loves her, he loves his child and it would be wrong to keep him from Hope, and so tearfully agrees that he should go with Lucy. On the way to the airport they pass Sabrina and Jimmy stares out of the car window at her, leading Lucy to stop the car and ask him if he really does love Sabrina, to which he replies yes. Lucy then gets out of the car, says "I'm doing this for my daughter." and chases after Sabrina with a knife; but before she can kill her, she is run over by a blind man driving a tour bus. Jimmy then gets Hope back and the Chances go back to their ordinary lives. She did not appear until season three again when the death certificate was needed to make Jimmy and Sabrina's wedding certificate official. So when Virginia and Burt go to get it from her dad, she attacks them and is shocked by an electric collar, revealed to still be alive.

In Greg Garcia's original pilot script of the series, Lucy is not killed by the electric chair due to loose wires. After the failed execution, she argues with the warden that a second attempt to kill her would be considered barbaric, comparing it to the case of Willie Francis. She mentions that the case eventually went to the Supreme Court, and while they ruled against him five votes to four, she states that that was before female judges, lamenting that "No way Ginsburg and Sotomayor let me fry try twice". Believing that God "saved" her "for a reason", she also demands Jimmy to return Hope to her. However, Jimmy ultimately decides against it. It is implied at the end of the script that the character was to become a recurring antagonist, as the headline of a newspaper reads "Execution botched. Lawyers vow to get client released".[2] Elements of the original script were reused when Lucy was revealed to be alive in the season 2 finale.

Appeared on: 7 episodes

Rosa Flores

Rosa (Carla Jimenez) is Virginia's Mexican boss. Virginia and Burt temporarily moved into Rosa's house after Maw Maw kicked them out. She has three children. She later recommended her company to give Virginia a promotion.

Appeared on: 12 episodes

Jack

Jack (Sean Bridgers) is a ponytailed hippie who kidnapped Burt twenty years ago.

Appeared on: 2 episodes

Wally Phipps

Wally Phipps (Lou Wagner) is an incompetent attorney who has "helped" the Chances with occasional legal matters.

Appeared on: 8 episodes

Reverend Bob

Reverend Bob (Leslie Jordan) couple-counselled Jimmy and Sabrina and later performed their wedding. He married a foreign woman, not for love, but to help her get U.S. citizenship. He has shown to have some homesexual feelings.

Appeared on: 2 episodes

Guest stars

Throughout the series, many of the regular or recurring cast members of My Name is Earl have appeared in supporting parts from minor to main.

References

  1. ↑ "Raising Hope: Cast & Details". TVGuide.com. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  2. ↑ http://www.zen134237.zen.co.uk/Raising_Hope/Raising_Hope_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

External links