History YMMV / RaisingHope

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In later seasons Burt repeatedly wears a tshirt that says "I'd rather be in Virginia" with a picture of the state of Virginia on it. No one ever draws attention to it. Burt's wife's name? Virgina.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In later seasons Burt repeatedly wears a tshirt that says "I'd rather be in Virginia" with a picture of the state of Virginia on it. No one ever draws attention to it. Burt's wife's name? Virgina.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In later seasons Burt repeatedly wears a tshirt that says "I'd rather be in Virginia." No one ever draws attention to it. Burt's wife's name? Virgina.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Burt and Virginia have tried to get Maw Maw into a nursing home, but none of them would like to take her. In a later episode, however, she is taken away by Social Service and gets sent to one. After believing she was better off there, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Maw Maw eventually violently assaults several aids and threatens to kill a therapy cat]]. That's ''clearly'' a reason why none of the nursing homes would accept her.

* HarsherInHindsight: In "Say Cheese", Sabrina states that all of her family pictures are not genuine family moments, and that they all are "fake". As the series progresses, this phrase takes a new whole meaning when her family background gets explored in later seasons.

* CrazyAwesome: Maw Maw, full stop.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Burt and Virginia have tried to get Maw Maw into a nursing home, but none of them would like to take her. In a later episode, however, she is taken away by Social Service and gets sent to one. After believing she was better off there, [[RealityEnsues Maw Maw eventually violently assaults several aids and threatens to kill a therapy cat]]. That's ''clearly'' a reason why none of the nursing homes would accept her.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Lucy. Not the character herself per say, but many people hated the way she was used in the show after it was revealed that [[spoiler:she [[NotQuiteDead wasn't quite dead]], ''twice'']].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: 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.

* EarWorm: Watch episode three of the first season, and get "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" stuck in your head for the following week.

** While understandable because she is a dangerous psychopath, Lucy's prison life and her eventual execution could have been explored much better. Especially considering that her character's role (Hope's biological mother) is reduced to a plot device rather than any genuine development. Instead, the writers constantly made her [[spoiler:survive]] with increasingly contrived reasons in order to justify her later appearances.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Shelly. She has several connections to many characters in the show (she formerly worked at Howdy, she is Sabrina's cousin, she was also Jimmy's one night stand, she run a daycare where Hope was going, etc.) and was a major supporting character in the first season. However, she was later DemotedToExtra and never got ADayInTheLimelight episode of her own.

%%* {{Moe}}: Shelley (she is, after all, played by Kate Micucci).

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Every single scene of the Chances with Maw Maw from the first season becomes strangely touching when it is eventually revealed that [[spoiler:they all could live on their own, but decided not to so they could take care of her when she started to present symptoms of dementia, heck, they ''even'' fought to stay with her!]]

* DesignatedHero: Jimmy during the early seasons when he pined for Sabrina. Instead of DoggedNiceGuy he can come off as more of a emotionally manipulative creep that was deliberately wanting and hoping for a couple to break up just so he could have Sabrina.
* DesignatedVillain: Wyatt, the victim of Jimmy and his family constantly pushing Jimmy and Sabrina together and pushing him under the bus.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "Burt Mitzvah - The Musical" is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. People break out into songs and choreographed dancing at the drop of a hat. Somewhat explained when other people who hear about it are skeptical.

* BrokenBase: The second season finale. It was heavily debated among the fandom whether or not the twist that [[spoiler:Lucy survived her execution]] was a good idea, or if it was good handled. Not to mention how [[spoiler:she tried to murder Sabrina in her VillainBall moment, just to be [[NotQuiteDead (supposedly)]] killed at the end of the episode]], no matter how funny this scene was to others.

** While understandable because she is a dangerous psychopath, Lucy's prison life and her eventual execution could have been explored much better. Especially considering that her character treat (she is Hope's biological mother, afterall) is reduced to a plot device rather than any genuine development. Instead, the writers constantly made her [[spoiler:survive]] with increasingly contrived reasons in order to justify her later appearances.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" for the season 2 finale. [[spoiler: Perfect for both the TearJerker of Lucy winning custody of Hope over the Chances and the Awesome Moment of Lucy getting hit by a bus.]]
** Also both instances of "Danny's Song."
** All three songs in Burt Mitzvah- The Musical.

--> '''Burt/Virginia:''' Well, that's how I remember it.
* BaseBreaker: Lucy. Not the character herself but how she was utilized in the show due to the fact that she was revealed to be [[spoiler:NotQuiteDead ''twice'']].
* BrokenBase: The season 2 2-parts finale. It was heavily debated among the fandom whether or not the twist that [[spoiler:Lucy survived her execution]] is a good idea or not and how well it was handled, not to mention [[spoiler:her VillainBall moment of trying to murder Sabrina and ([[NotQuiteDead supposed]]) death at the end]] (no matter how funny the scene in question was).

* EarWorm: Watch episode three. Get "Istanbul" stuck in your head for the following week.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: The "Dream Hoarders" episode says you have to have dreams to get by in life. The problem with that is Virginia and Burt's dream of getting rich was to buy lottery tickets and horde away furniture for their dream home, essentially wastes of money and a horrible hoarding obsession, respectively.
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Burt and Virginia tried to get Maw Maw into a nursing home, but none of them would take her. One episode has her get sent to one when she is taken away by Social Services. [[RealityEnsues Then, after believing she was better off there, Maw Maw eventually violently assaults several aids and threatens to kill a therapy cat.]] There's a reason why none of the nursing homes would take her.
* GrowingTheBeard: The second half of season 1 is agreed to be the point that the show truly growing on its own and the humor getting less cliche and inconsistent.
* HarsherInHindsight: In "Say Cheese", Sabrina stated that all of her family pictures have been called fake. This sentence just took on a whole new harsher meaning after her family background was explored in later seasons.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Every single scene of the Chances with Maw Maw from the first season became strangely touching when it was revealed that [[spoiler:they are eventually managed to live on their own but chose not to so they can took care of her when she began to have dementia and even fought to stay with her]].
* HilariousInHindsight: In a episode of Garcia's [[Series/MyNameIsEarl last series]], it had Earl trying to made amends to his former teenage babysitter and her boyfriend who got pregnant when Earl poked holes in the guys condom. When he visits them, he finds out they got married pretty young and actually have a happy marriage, even with a slacker son who lives with them. This pretty much describe the grandparent Chances[[note]]Including poking holes to the condom[[/note]].
** There was also the episode of Earl helping Randy find a girl he had a summer romance with when he was a kid. Its then turns out it was [[spoiler:Joy]]. Those two would then quest-star as a married couple.
* {{Moe}}: Shelley (she is, after all, played by Kate Micucci).
* NightmareFuel: Jimmy's nightmare about Hope killing Virginia and Burt is really surreal. Especially the part where Burt has a Jack-In-The-Box crank in his ear and a clown puppet pops out of his mouth.

* [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct She Really Can Act]]: Music/KatyPerry guest-starred in an episode playing a deranged prison guard. Between her acting, the padding, and makeup, a lot of people didn't realize who was playing the character.
* ShippingBedDeath: Humorously referenced by Burt and Virginia when Jimmy and Sabrina get together, wondering if their relationship will be as interesting now that the UnresolvedSexualTension is resolved. Burt jokes that there is a girl at the copy place with a boyfriend, so he can transfer that same pattern somewhere else. To the shows credit, Jimmy/Sabrina was never a mainstay of the shows plots and that same episode went out of its way to demonstrate that there is still plenty of story to tell between the two.
* {{Squick}}: The beginning of the second episode has a scene where Jimmy walks in on Maw Maw attempting to breastfeed Hope. To say nothing of her french-kissing her great grandson in the pilot, believing him to be her long-dead husband.
** This is pretty much Maw Maw's entire shtick. Another "great" example is the episode where she thinks she's in labor (and Jimmy's dad ends up helping deliver... ''[[NauseaFuel something]]''.)
** Burt giving his son Jimmy a several second-long kiss on the lips, then requesting he [[HoYay take off]] [[IncestIsRelative his pants]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: From "Burt Mitzvah - The Musical," we have "Rock the Torah," which seems to be the ''Film/StElmosFire'' theme with different lyrics.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Sabrina found out that Jimmy is the goth guy that she has a crush when she first worked at Howdy could have been a good plot for an episode or at least a RunningGag. Instead, she never say anything even there's evidence that she found out about this off-screen.
** While understandable because she is a dangerous psychopath, Lucy's prison life and her eventual execution could have been explored, not to mention the fact that she is Hope's biological mother is reduced to a plot device rather than any genuine development. Instead, the writers have to constantly have her [[spoiler:survived]] with increasingly contrived reasons in order to justify her later appearances.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Shelly. She has several connection to many character in the show (a former worker at Howdy, Sabrina's cousin, Jimmy's one night stand, running a daycare that has Hope in it etc.) and was a major supporting character in the first season. However, she was DemotedToExtra in later seasons and never got ADayInTheLimelight episode of her own, despite her connection to Sabrina.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" for the season 2 finale. [[spoiler: Perfect for both the TearJerker of Lucy winning custody of Hope over the Chances and the Awesome Moment of Lucy getting hit by a bus.]]
** Also both instances of "Danny's Song."
** All three songs in Burt Mitzvah- The Musical.

* SheReallyCanAct: Music/KatyPerry guest-starred in an episode playing a deranged prison guard. Between her acting, the padding, and makeup, a lot of people didn't realize who was playing the character.
* ShippingBedDeath: Humorously referenced by Burt and Virginia when Jimmy and Sabrina get together, wondering if their relationship will be as interesting now that the {{UST}} is resolved. Burt jokes that there is a girl at the copy place with a boyfriend, so he can transfer that same pattern somewhere else. To the shows credit, Jimmy/Sabrina was never a mainstay of the shows plots and that same episode went out of its way to demonstrate that there is still plenty of story to tell between the two.

** Burt giving his son Jimmy a several second-long kiss on the lips, then requesting he [[{{HoYay}} take off]] [[IncestIsRelative his pants]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Sabrina found out that Jimmy is the goth guy that she has a crush when she first worked at Howdy could have been a good plot for an episode or atleast a RunningGag. Instead, she never say anything even there's evidence that she found out about this off-screen.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Shelly. She has several connection to many character in the show (a former worker at Howdy, Sabrina's cousin, Jimmy's one night stand, running a daycare that has Hope in it etc.) and was a major supporting character in the first season. However, she was DemotedToExtra in later seasons and never got a DayInTheLimeLight episode of her own, despite her connection to Sabrina.
* VillainSue: [[spoiler:Lucy]] became this in [[spoiler:her return]] in "I Want My Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back". To recap: [[spoiler:she survived her execution, fooled everyone to think that she has changed and got the custody to Hope despite being a serial killer]]. The only thing that stopped her is being [[spoiler:ran over with a bus]]. [[spoiler:Her next appearance]] in "Modern Wedding" subverted this as it was revealed that [[spoiler:she suffered brain damage and thought she return to being 8 years old]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Burt and Virginia tried to get Maw Maw into a nursing home, but none of them would take her. One episode has her get sent to one when she is taken away by Social Services.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Frank for his creepy behavior and HiddenDepth. Shelly is also one even after she was DemotedToExtra.

* BrokenBase: The season 2 2-parts finale. It was heavily debated among the fandom whether or not the twist that [[spoiler:Lucy survived her execution]] is a good idea or not and how well it was handled, not to mention [[spoiler:her ([[NotQuiteDead supposed]]) death at the end]] (no matter how funny the scene in question was).

** While understandable because she is a dangerous psychopath, Lucy's prison life could have been explored and the fact that she is still Hope's mother is reduced to a plot device rather than any genuine development. Instead, the writers have to constant have her [[spoiler:survived]] with increasingly contrived reasons.