Attention, fans of the quirky Fox sitcom Raising Hope.
In case you missed the memo, the Season 3 finale will air at a special time - 8 p.m. today. That’s today.
Fox already has renewed the series for another season, but to soften the blow until it returns in September, there will be two episodes back-to-back tonight. That’s an entire hour (well, 46 minutes once you factor out the commercials) of the marvelously funny Chance family.
If you aren’t a fan, you should be. Raising Hope is witty, entertaining and frequently surprising. The writing is several notches above the usual reconstituted sitcom banter, and the ensemble’s comedic timing is impeccable.
I would go so far as to call the series smart, but that scares off a sizable chunk of a mass audience - the nondiscriminating folks who keep bland, hackneyed series chugging along year after year.
Name one? OK. Two and a Half Men.
Raising Hope stars Lucas Neff as Jimmy Chance, a naive 25-year-old who had a one-night stand with a serial killer and ended up with the baby (Hope) after the mother was sent to death row for her crimes. She escaped electrocution, but got smashed by a bus.
Yes, I realize that sounds a bit grim when boiled to the essentials, but it’s not.
Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt play Lucas’ parents, Virginia and Burt. Shannon Woodward is his wife, Sabrina. Gregg Binkley is Barney, her boss at Howdy’s Supermarket, and the incomparable Cloris Leachman is Virginia’s eccentric grandmother, Maw Maw (real name Barbara June Thompson).
Maw Maw is a pistol, but is increasingly senile with occasional flashes of lucidity.
This is the most functional dysfunctional family on TV. At the center of all the silliness is love, and there are frequent heartfelt sentiments along with the laugh-out-loud moments.
If you’ve never watched an episode, tonight’s doubleheader would be a good place to start, especially the second one.
In the first, “Burt Mitzvah: The Musical,” Burt’s parents come for Easter dinner and disclose they’ve discovered they’re Jewish. Hilarity ensues when Burt goes to a Jewish deli to ask what it takes to be a Jew.
That’s when the musical numbers kick in, complete with dancing. It’s a hoot.
Also a hoot for viewers of a certain age are tonight’s two guest stars from the ’70s - Shirley Jones (The Partridge Family) and Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man) as Burt’s parents.
Want to feel creaky, fellow boomers? Shirley Partridge is 78, and Col. Steve Austin is 73.
A previous treat was when Tippi Hedren and her real-life daughter, Melanie Griffith, appeared as Sabrina’s grandmother and mother.
The second episode, “Mother’s Day,” is a tour de force for Leachman, when Burt and Barney travel to Maw Maw’s childhood home to take pictures for her on Mother’s Day. Much to their shock, they discover that Maw Maw’s mother is still alive.
Leachman plays both roles, and if this performance isn’t worthy of an Emmy, I don’t know what is.
For the record, the adorable Hope is played by identical twins, 3-year-old Baylie and Rylie Cregut. They’re the most charming duo on TV since fraternal twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Again, want to feel old? The teeny former stars of Full House are 26 now (and still teeny, but filthy rich).
Final note: Raising Hope is rated TV-14 for adult dialogue and language.
More Ellen. The Ellen De-Generes Show, now in its 10th year, has been renewed through 2017.
Soaps return. Canceled ABC soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children will debut online April 29 on production company Prospect Park’s The Online Network. The half-hour shows will be available on Hulu or Hulu Plus and iTunes. Agnes Nixon, who created both series, will be a creative consultant.
Next Bachelorette. Several e-mails tell me some readers missed the announcement. Desiree Hartsock, who was passed over by current Bachelor Sean Lowe, will be ABC’s next Bachelorette when the show debuts May 27. Hartsock, a spunky and adorable 26-year-old bridal stylist, had the inside track on Lowe until the hometown dates. It was a heartbreaking farewell, but Lowe, who was rejected himself by Emily Maynard in Bachelorette Season 8, eventually picked Catherine Giudici.
Lowe then took his abs to Dancing With the Stars, and we’ll see him again when Sean and Catherine get hitched on ABC on a date yet to be announced.
Finally, ABC breathlessly informs us that Hartsock “is eagerly looking for a life filled with spontaneity, love and laughter.”
Sigh. Aren’t we all?
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail: mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend, Pages 32 on 03/28/2013