History Series / RaisingHope

** Burt gets mad at Jimmy, so he tells him ''exactly'' what he and Virginia were going to do as end-of-the-world-sex. [[NoodleImplements It includes a lot of pudding.]]

* RealityEnsues: In "Prodigy", the Chances realize that Jimmy can play piano and sing extremely well after he's drunk, with them realizing the similarities of the situation to that of "[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Wasted Talent]]". As it happens, [[spoiler:that was only because ''they were all drunk at the time'']].
** In "Throw Maw Maw From The House Pt. 2", we see Maw Maw seemingly being well-cared for. She eventually reacts violently, and the hospital staff can't handle her. Though with the show its PlayedForLaughs, this is why most nursing homes don't take in patients who have violent dementia, since those patients are often a danger to staff and patients alike and thus a liability.

* BrokenAesop: The "Dream Hoarders" episode tells the viewers that they have to have dreams to get by in life. The problem with this is that Virginia and Burt's dream of getting rich was to buy lottery tickets and horde away furniture for their dream home, while wasting lots of money and getting a horrible hoarding obsession, respectively.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Burt's "I'd rather be in Virginia" t-shirt.
** The Little Beaver's song. The most overt part is the end which references licking little beavers but the whole song is this hidden as a quasi-girl scout song.
--> ''A Little Beaver marches without fear\\
A Beaver's always in the front and not the rear\\
When a Beaver's lost and cold she warms up by rubbing sticks\\
I'll never give up because a Little Beaver can't be licked.''

* GirlsLoveMusicians: Jimmy used to be a musical prodigy before he was accidentally hit in the head. When he shows his love interest Sabrina a tape of him playing, she seems impressed. This causes Jimmy to try and regain his talent, believing this will win Sabrina's affections.

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* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Since meeting her in the first episode of the series, Jimmy has harbored feelings for Sabrina, who has a boyfriend. But in the WholeEpisodeFlashback season finale it was shown that Sabrina was an awkward (but {{Adorkable}}) girl with braces who pined after Jimmy when he was going through his {{Goth}} phase. There was even a bit of of DramaticIrony at the end of the episode thrown in for good measure.

** It's also highly unlike she would have been put in the electric chair in the first place. While some states do allow the electric chair as an option, it's not the default execution method in any state and Lucy would have had to have chosen it over lethal injection. She also wouldn't have gone from arrest to execution in less than a year.

* ParodyEpisode: The WeddingDay DocumentaryEpisode parodied ''Series/ModernFamily''. Justified in the plot since, according to Sabrina, the camera men ''actually'' work for the series, and they were hired by her mom as a wedding gift, because she couldn't make it to the wedding.

* EarWorm : InUniverse Discussed in season 4, episode 22. "I have to finish playing this, or it's just gonna go around and around in my head."

* MagicPlaticSurgery: Smokey Floyd is introduced as a grizzled old man but he appears much younger in later appearances bar some subtle wrinkles and references to health maladies typical of the elderly[[note]]Done so Creator/JasonLee wouldn't have to spend hours getting prosthetics applied and removed[[/note]].

* CreditsGag: Every episode's opening credits[[note]]from Season 2 on[[/note]] features the phrase "{{And introducing}} Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw."

* FakeGuestStar: Creator/ClorisLeachman was credited as a guest star for the first season despite being prominently featured throughout the show, in the opening credits, and in all promotional material because of contractual issues. In later seasons, she gets [[CreditsGag credited]] as "And introducing Cloris Leachman" most likely as a reference to this situation.

* GoldenMoment: OnceAnEpisode with Jimmy and one or both of his parents, and occasionally with a voice-over of him repeating [[AnAesop the Aesop]] to Hope. [[TropesAreNotBad But done]] ''[[TropesAreNotBad very]]'' [[TropesAreNotBad well]].

* TookALevelInDumbass: As evidence that TropesAreNotBad, this happens to Sabrina. Earlier episodes she was a smart, quick-witted, sarcastic but friendly girl who was there to comment on Jimmy's situation. By the end of the first season, she showed some neurosis and having panic attacks that made her more prone to mistakes and odd behavior, making her more of a RoundedCharacter.

* UglyGuyHotWife: Downplayed significantly with Jimmy and Sabrina. It's been shown a few times that Sabrina could get a guy who is more attractive, rich and muscular than Jimmy. But it has been systematically destroyed because A) Jimmy is not that bad looking to begin with, B) Sabrina's family is already very wealthy and she dislikes what that lifestyle has done to them, C) Jimmy is a very {{nice guy}} who is always considerate and loving to her (avoiding WhatDoesSheSeeInHim) and D) she is amazed at how HappilyMarried Burt and Virginia are and wants that for herself.

** Jimmy tries to help a teenage boy go out with a teenage girl but the girl's father only catches part of the conversation and jumps to the conclusion that Jimmy is a pervert.

* MistakenForPedophile: A debatable example, Burt is on the sex offenders register for having sex with a minor. When at court to get removed from it his lawyer steers him away from an elementary school class like he would do something. Nevermind the fact that...
** A. Burt committed the act when he was 17
** B. The girl in question was one year under the legal age, and he didn't know because she looked older.
** C. The minor he slept with Went on to become his wife and the only person he's 'ever' slept with. While he did technically do the crime his lawyer treats him like he is a stereotypical sex offender.

* ContinuitySnarl: The show doesn't seem to make up its mind on whether or not ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' is in the same universe, or that it is a TV show. Among other things, the series has been referenced through a [[TheMovie movie]] poster, and a TV commercial for the show... but Patty (the Daytime Hooker) has shown up a couple of times, and a TV news anchor very briefly mentions that "a small-time crook with a long list of wrongs he was making amends for, has finally finished" in ThePilot.

* FanDisservice: Maw Maw [[RunningGag usually walks around topless]] (mostly when she is "not-lucid"), as she doesn't seem to care at all what others may think of her. Cue the [[BrainBleach understandable moments]] where many characters have to stop her of doing so in public.