We all have guilty pleasure TV shows. After much hiding in the closet about it, I’m ready to admit that against my better judgment, I find “Raising Hope” pretty damn hysterical most times.
I tried to avoid laughing at it, because it’s just so stupid. The adventures of the wildly dysfunctional Chance family, complete with two idiot parents, a son who is raising a little girl he had with a serial killer, and some bumbling grocery store clerks that are their friends, is about as dumb as it gets.
But the wonderful fiance watches it all the time and I slowly but surely fell in love with it, because even though it’s occasionally moronic, it’s also sometimes brilliant. And usually hilarious. I was moved to finally write about it after last week’s fabulous episode featuring Burt Chance’s “conversion” to Judaism and the wonderful song and dance numbers (above) the people in town use to teach him and the family about Jews.
If you already watch “Raising Hope” you know it’s great. No need to be ashamed, I tell myself; sometimes we need some stupid comedy in our lives.
**I rarely watch commercials, especially since with DVR’s you really don’t need to. But watching so much NCAA Tournament basketball on multiple TV’s the last few weeks, I found myself loving the new Volkswagen Beetle ad, featuring the guys in ski masks, and a wardrobe malfunction that leads to confusion at the convenience store.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s pretty great (above).
**Finally, Monday was Opening Day in major league baseball, where everyone starts undefeated and with so much optimism, and after one game the fans of a winning team start dreaming of the playoffs, and the fans of the losing teams start calling sports talk radio shows and declare disaster.
My Yankees were drubbed by the Red Sox, the Mets won on Opening Day, and apparently Bryce Harper hit 11 home runs (OK, only 2) for the Nationals.
But the best thing that happened was definitely at Dodgers Stadium. New owner Magic Johnson was ready to throw out the first pitch, when manager Don Mattingly (and yes, he was my childhood hero and it’s still weird to see him in anything but Yankee pinstripes) came out and called for a reliever.
And out came the greatest pitcher in team history, and one of the best in the history of the sport, the great Sandy Koufax.
He’s been estranged from the Dodgers for years; hoping this is a first step back in. Baseball’s better when someone like Koufax is involved (and during Passover, no less!)
Wide World of Stuff 