"Hope & Faith" (2003) TV series 2003-2006

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Creator:

Joanna Johnson

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

26 September 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Hope, a down-to-earth, happily married mom of three in Glen Falls, Ohio, had her tidy world up-ended by the arrival of her celebrity sister...

Plot Keywords:

Actor Change | Slut | Hiding In Shower | Bake Sale | Breaking The Law

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 5 nominations

Cast

Faith Ford	...	Hope Shanowski (56 episodes, 2003-2006)
Kelly Ripa	...	Faith Fairfield (55 episodes, 2003-2006)
Ted McGinley	...	Charley Shanowski (55 episodes, 2003-2006)
Macey Cruthird	...	Hayley Shanowski (52 episodes, 2003-2006)
Paulie Litt	...	Justin Shanowski (49 episodes, 2003-2006)
Megan Fox	...	Sydney Shanowski (33 episodes, 2004-2006)

Runtime:

USA:30 min | Argentina:30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Long Island City, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Touchstone Television

Trivia:

Josh Stamberg, Brie Larson and Slade Pearce were originally cast for the roles of Charley, Sydney and Justin. They were in the original pilot episode (taped on April 30, 2003), but were fired and replaced due to creative differences. The parts were recast with Ted McGinley, Nicole Paggi and Paulie Litt and the episode was shot again on August 16, 2004.

Quotes:

Charley Shanowski: ...and now I'm going to take a cold shower and think of the Golden Girls naked.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Family Guy: Brian Sings & Swings (#4.19)" (2006)

TGIF is back and with "Hope & Faith" it can be just as stupid as ever

Network: ABC; Genre: Sitcom; Average Content Rating: TV-PG; Classification: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Season Reviewed: Season 1+

ABC's TGIF line-up is back and if this show is any indication, it's exactly as we remember it. 'Hope & Faith' is a quintessential "stupid sitcom" with simple, recycled plots, bubble-headed characters and duh-duh humor that brazenly recalls the 'Full House'/'Family Matters' era. And I actually rooted for ABC to bring this idea back- I would much rather deal with this than another reality show.

I understand the niche for this type of simple show. It's Friday night, the kids are excited over the weekend and it's time to just kick back and watch some escapism. So it goes almost without saying that 'Hope' is mind-numbing, but it manages to be even worse than those low expectations. The stories barely make sense from minute to minute and every joke has a blinking neon sign hanging around it. It's also -surprisingly - toward the crude side of generic as we can see the lowered bar of TV standards has even infiltrated TGIF. The show is almost epically stupid from the directing and writing down to the lighting and visceral look. Where we aren't just not laughing, we feel embarrassed for the actors.

The actor I don't feel embarrassed for is Kelly Ripa. Ripa is a gorgeous girl and on 'Hope and Faith' we certainly get to see her with great hair and in a vast wardrobe of attractive outfits. But the series is clearly designed for those who can't get enough of her acting stupid on 'Live with Regis and Kelly' in the morning and want to see her acting stupid in the evening as well. And Ripa hams it up big time here. Meanwhile, we get the sense that everyone else in the cast is trying to tell us they know they can do better. Poor Faith Ford (so good playing a naive ditz on 'Murphy Brown' and now saddled as Ripa's straight man) looks like she's just barely trying to keep up with Ripa in the embarrass-yourself department. Jump the Shark patron saint Ted McGinley is probably the best thing about this show. Most of the time we can find McGinley happily off to the side, away from the blast, filling reactionary shots with a look of amazement at whatever chicanery is going on between the sisters. Elsewhere we find the stock obnoxious kids, also in the periphery as to not divert any power from the gleaming spotlight on Ripa.

This whole affair is the type of obnoxious, bottom-of-the-barrel awfulness that give sitcoms a bad name. It's purpose is to be an escape, but it just might give you a migraine. This was all foretold from the beginning where the show must have set a land-speed record to the bottom by resorting to a food fight in the first episode. A food fight. Of all the sitcom clichés that need to be put a moratorium on, I'd trade them all just to get food fights off the air for good.

* / 4