(Click Here To Check Out Our Other Gif Recaps)

The episode begins with a joint birthday party for Jimmy and Maw Maw. When he was younger, Jimmy used to hate sharing his birthdays with Maw Maw, mainly because the parties were overrun with her friends. But thanks to time and a few debilitating strokes, now it’s Jimmy’s friends who populate the parties.

With that, we are transported back in time by five years, to the day before Maw Maw’s 80th birthday and Jimmy’s 18th. Jimmy is going through an awkward phase, which entails dressing like a cross between Marilyn Manson and Edward Scissorhands. Burt and Virgina are afraid to talk to him.

Maw Maw, on the other hand, is still going strong. She’s banging out crossword puzzles, doing back flips, and making the family breakfast. While serving Jimmy, she promises him a very special birthday surprise.

That night at midnight, she wakes everyone in the house with an air horn, and tells them Jimmy’s birthday surprise is on the lawn. Thinking it’s a trampoline, the family runs out to investigate. But all they find are their belongings, and a locked door behind them. Maw Maw is tired of having freeloaders in her house, and now that Jimmy is an adult, she feels no shame in kicking them to the curb.

Desperate for cash, the family turns to living in their van. In order to stretch a dollar, they all head to the grocery store for “lunch.” But instead of buying food, they run a series of scams to get a free meal.

At the store, we get a glimpse of the usual gang as they appeared in 2006. Sabrina, who still has braces, is applying for a job at the store. Barney is morbidly obese. Shelley and Frank are shelf stocking experts.

Even Lucy, Hope’s serial killer mom, is spotted, along with her condescending boyfriend (Danny Masterson). I doubt Masterson will become a regular since it is implied that his character is Lucy’s first victim.

After the grocery store, the family heads over to Virgina’s coworkers home to live in the basement. However, Jimmy is banded from the house when he is mistaken for devil by the owner’s elderly, Spanish speaking mother. Rather than wash off his makeup, Jimmy heads out on his own. On the other hand, Burt isn’t fairing well in the basement, when he manages to wind up in a spitting match with home-owner’s llama.

With no where to turn, Jimmy begins hiding in the DVD return box at the store and waiting for the employees to go home. He spends his nights eating for free and bathing in the produce sprinklers.

In Jimmy’s absence, Burt and Virgina plead with Maw Maw to let them return. She refuses, and calls the family “losers.” The insult causes the couple to reevaluate their lives. The make a budget, get serious about their jobs, and start saving money to repay Maw Maw.

After coming up with their plan, Burt and Virgina head over to Maw Maw’s to start paying her back. Once there, they realize her mind is slipping after she repeatedly asks about long dead relatives. Although they are committed to no longer being freeloaders, they decide they should move in to help take care of the woman who took care of them.

Meanwhile, Jimmy’s plan is exposed by Barney, who suspected the store had been infiltrated by a gypsy. In the ensuing melee, Shelley is hit in the teeth by a can, Barney realizes he needs to have gastric bypass surgery, and Sabrina shows up a minute too late, dressed as a goth chick, hoping to catch Jimmy’s eye. Apparently, his goth persona reminded her of a character from her Twilight books.

After fleeing the store, Jimmy runs into Burt, who hides him from the cops. After the chase, Jimmy decides to go back to being himself and stop wearing the makeup. Together, they all go inside to celebrate with Maw Maw, who agrees to let the family stay, so long as they never let her granddaughter Virginia and her no good husband back into the house.

With that, we flash back to 2011, where everyone is celebrating yet another birthday for Maw Maw and Jimmy. As the show winds down, Burt and Jimmy reminisce about Jimmy’s make-up wearing days. Unaware of Sabrina’s attraction to goth guys, Jimmy makes Burt swear to never mention his awkward phase to her, lest it hurt his chances.

All and all, I can’t think of a better way for the show to have wrapped up, and I’m happy about the fact that it managed to get renewed.

Everyone hates summer. We’re forced out of our homes by reruns on TV, only to be assaulted by bright sunlight, abrasively green grass, and painfully hot sand. Thankfully, there’s an end in sight to the awful onslaught of summer, as evidenced by FOX’s fall schedule. Here is the darkness at the end of the painfully bright tunnel:

Monday: “Terra Nova,” the impressively ambitious show with dinosaurs or something at 8 PM, followed by “House” at 9 PM.

Tuesday: Some show called”Glee” at 8 PM, followed by the new “The New Girl” with Zooey Deschanel at 9, then “Raising Hope” at 9:30.

Wednesday: “The X-Factor,” which is different from “American Idol” in dozens of ways, starts at 8 PM. Then it’s “I Hate My Teenage Daughter” with Jamie Pressly at 9:30. That’s right, “The X-Factor” is on for an hour and a half.

Thursday: The evening starts at 8 PM with the results show of “The X-Factor,” which mercifully is only an hour long. Then after that it’s “Bones” at 9.

Friday: “Kitchen Nightmares” at 8 PM followed by”Fringe” at 9. That’s why it’s the most popular TV night of the week!

Saturday: “Cops” is inexplicably still on the air at 8 PM, followed by reruns and “occasional” “America’s Most Wanted” after that at 9.

Sunday: It’s Sunday night animation, starting whenever all that football stuff is over -”The Cleveland Show,”"The Simpsons,” a new show from Jonah Hill called “Allen Gregory,”"Family Guy,” and “American Dad.”

Well, there you have it. Keep this in mind as you struggle to make it through another punishing summer. And remember, you can always watch reruns. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Check Out Our Other Gif Recaps Here!

We begin with Virginia consoling Burt over the loss of his boomerang. “They’re suppose to always come back,” he whimpers, after waiting 15 minutes. Suddenly, an angry woman’s voice breaks through a nearby baby monitor. Burt is alarmed, thinking someone is in Hope’s room. But Virgina tells him not to worry, since they’re just getting interference from another monitor in the neighborhood. “I saw this on’Modern Family‘, and countless other sitcoms.”

The two decide to wander the neighborhood, searching for what sounds like an abusive mother. However, when they discover the source, it turns out to be an angry wife, chastising her husband for not controlling a group of puppies (that’s what the baby monitor is for). It also turns out to be Ethan Suplee and Jamie Pressly, the stars of “My Name Is Earl.”

Jimmy doesn’t have time to snoop on the neighbors. He’s busy with his job at Howdy’s grocery store, helping his manager come up with a new TV ad. Last year’s fruit-and-vegetable themed submission was rejected, so this year, Barney has asked his employees to come up with their own ads. The ad itself aside, he feels it will build team spirit among his crew. After all, the pyramids were built by a “team” of slaves.

Back at the house, Burt can’t stop listening to the baby monitor. Despite his wife’s objections, he is transfixed by the unfolding story of a poor, downtrodden husband who is constantly belittled by his awful spouse. Before heading to bed, Burt overhears the wife threaten that there’ll be hell to pay if her husband does not remove an old tree stump by the time she returns from work tomorrow afternoon.

Determined to help, Burt stops by the neighbors’ house, and offers to remove the stump for free, claiming he is one stump away from getting a stump-removal certificate. Overjoyed, the neighbor (Andrew) gladly accepts. When his wife (Donna) returns home from work, she seems somewhat pleased with the stump removal. But her joy quickly turns to anger when she discovers that Andrew has dragged mud across her carpet. Burt is horrified that his attempt to help has backfired.

Back at the store, it’s time to unveil the ads. Frank puts forth a less than stellar commercial, focusing mainly on himself. He doesn’t care if the customers come or not. He doesn’t own the place. If he did, it’d be named Frank’s. Besides, no matter where you buy your food, it all ends up in the toilet.

Jimmy, on the other hand, decides to impress his boss by casting him as the lead in his commercial. Barney plays the hero of a Lord of the Rings-themed spot, in which he banishes the high prices of an evil troll. When Sabrina protests the fact that Jimmy casting their boss in the ad, he informs her that there are no rules.

Where’s Maw Maw during all this? I’m glad you asked. She’s busy putting scotch tape on her face. Keep it out of your eyes, Maw Maw.

Offended by Jimmy’s tactics, Sabrina decides it’s time for the gloves to come off. She enlists the help of both Hope and Maw Maw in making a slick, early-60′s style ad. Jimmy protests, but Sabrina reminds him that there are no rules. Barney, upset by his team’s infighting, decides to send all the ads to corporate, and let them decide which is best.

On a side note, who knew Sabrina was packing that kind of cleavage? Also, if Maw Maw looks good for her age, keep in mind she’s forced to use an obscene about of tape to hold her ass in place.

Despite the fact that Virgina hates busybodies, Burt convinces her to invite the new neighbors over for dinner. His hope is that if Donna sees what a good wife Virgina is, she’ll start treating Andrew with more respect. All is going according to plan, until Andrew runs home for a box of crackers. Burt tags along, and reveals his ulterior motive for inviting the couple over. However, Donna overhears the conversation on the baby monitor. Furious, she lays into Virgina for not minding her own business.

Virgina is upset, and wants to make things right with the neighbors. But Burt informers her that Andrew is happier than ever. Now that Donna is angry at Virgina, the heat is off him. He’s even allowed to watch Sports Center for the first time in years (did you know Oklahoma City has a basketball team now?). Although she doesn’t want to be known as a busy body, Virgina decides to play the part in order to save the couple’s marriage.

At Howdy’s, the crew waits to see which ad has been selected. But to their dismay, corporate went with an ad from the westside store. Angered by the loss, the crew decides to band together in order to beat Howdy’s West in sales. Barney, who it turns out never sent in the ads to begin with, is proud of the fact that he brought his crew closer together.

With just one episode left in the season, “Raising Hope” seems to be ending on a high note. I could have used a little more Maw Maw, but if that’s my only complaint, I should probably just shut my damn mouth.

What did you think of the episode?

Where to begin? How about at the beginning? While working for his father’s lawn service, Jimmy discovers a large praying mantis. This is exciting, since the bug is large enough to fight the beetle he and his father have been saving. Excited by the prospected of a good old-fashioned bug fight, Jimmy immediately stops what he is doing in order to inform his dad.

However, Burt seems less than impressed by Jimmy’s discovery. For some reason, he is working with his shirt off and seems anxious for his son to leave. Confused, Jimmy hides behind a bush, and catches his father in the act of flirting with his female client.

Back at the house, Jimmy confronts Burt about the incident. While attempting to convince his son that the flirting is harmless, Virginia returns home and demands to know what her husband has been up to at work. Burt remains unapologetic, claiming that over the years, his flirting with clients has put a lot of food on the table. He might not have much in the way of intelligence, but “his guns” bring home the bacon.

Both Jimmy and Virgina are troubled by the revelation, but both are encouraged by their friends to give flirting a try for themselves. Sylvia goads Virgina into flirting with a barista, which results in a box of free scones. Sabrina also stops modeling her new “crab earnings” long enough to admit to Jimmy that she flirts with their manager in order to get better treatment at work.

While Virgina is learning the joys of flirting, Burt is attempting to appease his wife by changing his old ways. While working as a pool boy, he confronts the homeowner from earlier in the episode, and puts an end to their flirtatious relationship.

Jimmy, on the other hand, is flirting like a champ. Although technically, it’s with his straight male boss, so maybe it just counts as ass kissing. In any event, after complimenting Barney (his manager) on his robust physique, Jimmy ends up becoming his work out partner, and gets out of dead moth clean-up duty. This does not sit well with Sabrina, who feels Jimmy is encroaching on her territory.

Empowered by her flirtation at the coffee shop, Virgina returns home and apologizes to Burt for being jealous, and gives him full permission to flirt with his customers. The next day, Burt is excited to get back on the flirt train. However, now that he and his customer have acknowledged their sexual tension, all the thrill is gone. Not even a shirtless drink from the hose can help bring it back.

Virgina seems to have the opposite problem. Her flirtation backfires when she is on a housekeeping assignment and discovers the barista from earlier in the episode naked, except for a few properly placed rose peddles. He mistook her flirtations for something more serious, and is devastated to learn that Virgina is not interested.

Later, Virgina is horrified when her friend Sylvia shows up with the barista. At the coffee shop, the broken hearted man was pouring his heart out, and rather than listen, Sylvia figured it would be easier to pawn him off on Virgina. Luckily, Burt is able to diffuse the situation by building up the barista’s confidence, which prompts the man to call Burt “his new best friend.”

With the barista issue settled, Virgina tells Burt that he’s more than just his muscles, and that his ability to make people feel good about themselves is his real talent. Rather than kissing his “guns,” Burt decides to reward himself by kissing is brain. The attempt ends poorly.

In the end, Jimmy is out flirted at work by Sabrina. However, Burt decides to pass the torch onto his son, who shirtlessly rides of into the sunset on a lawnmower.

What were your favorite “Maw Maw” scenes from last night’s episode?

Fox announced at the Television Critics that they’ve picked up their comedy “Raising Hope” for a second season. At breakfast, the cast and creators mingled with the press and shared some scoops about upcoming episodes. Series creator Greg Garcia started with the guest stars over a plate of bacon, eggs and potatoes.

“We have Amy Sedaris coming up in an episode who plays a cousin of Martha [Plimpton] who are mortal enemies so that’s fun,” Garcia said. “We have a love interest for Cloris Leachman played by Jerry Van Dyke that we’re shooting soon.”

Stars Lucas Neff and Shannon Woodward revealed more. “Mary Lynn Rasjkub from ‘24’, another Fox flagship show, she came on,” Neff said. “J.K. Simmons, just a lot of quality cool very funny talented people are going to be making appearances later on.”

Simmons plays Burt’s (Garret Dillahunt) older brother Bruce. Rajskub returns with cousin Mike, who had left to join a cult. “Mary Lynn is cousin Mike’s wife which we’ll find out in an upcoming episode,” Neff said. “There’s all sorts of funny stuff that happens. Now he’s come back and he’s brought the cult with him, so we get to meet the cult. That’s a great episode.”

Sabrina (Woodward) starts spending more time at the Chance home, so she gets to meet the guest stars too. “I’m at the house actually for the whole episode so I’m with them.”

Garcia previewed another major episode that may close out the season. “We’re working on a flashback episode that could be our season finale,” Garcia said. “It’s pretty much going to be a whole flashback episode. That doesn’t go too far back but explains some stuff of why the family is still living with Cloris Leachman.”

Some of the episodes are still about Baby Hope too. “We have an episode coming up where the house is infested with germs,” Garcia said. “The whole family, now that they have a baby in their house, they’re obsessed with germs and realize that they’re not living in the cleanest house in the world. There are a lot of special effects in that one.”

It also gives Sabrina a chance to freak out! “I start acting a little out of my mind,” Woodward said. “It turns out I’m neurotic, very, very neurotic. It’s great. I figure also the more they start integrating Sabrina into the family, her quirks have to come out or else it’ll just be her observing them forever. I think it’s important for her to start to feel comfortable to expose all of her neuroses. The first episode back you find out Sabrina’s a severe germaphobe.”

“Raising Hope” returns this February on Fox.

Bijou Phillips is no stranger to the limelight. The daughter of ’60s folk messiah John Phillips (front man of The Mamas and the Papas for all you musical laymen out there), the young Phillips took up the role of New York City it-girl with all the tabloid-pumping charisma of a fledgling boehmian celebutante. Now an established actress with big-screen cred and a wealth of critical acclaim under her belt, Phillips this year made a pair of impactful guest appearances in Fox’s new Tuesday night sitcom “Raising Hope.”

A word from Bijou: “I do what I want.”

More pics of Bijou after the jump…

Shannon Woodward’s resume is a lengthy rundown of TV appearances, recurring characters, pilots, and plays. Best known for her role as the streetwise offspring of two suburban con artists in “The Riches," the 25-year old actress has sinc taken on the guise of Sabrina in Fox’s new single-camera comedy "Raising Hope." An accomplished up-and-comer for sure. Oh, and that smile ain’t half bad either.

A word from Shannon: "I figured if I was scared of it I might as well do it."

More photos of Shannon after the jump.

“Raising Hope” is the kind of edgy comedy I want to see on TV. I don’t want to spoil anything because you should experience it fresh like I did, but I could not believe what I was watching. They’re putting this on TV?! And they should. It’s the same half hour whether they go crazy or play it safe, so just go crazy.

The setup it takes to make Jimmy (Lucas Neff) a single dad is outrageous. By about 10 minutes in, I couldn’t believe how far they took it. I don’t know if they’re going to be able to do this every week, but I hope so. Aside from the shocking dark comedy, the humor is just joyfully immature. They say “wiener” and that makes me smile. The characters’ behaviors are so outrageous and politically incorrect, only Fox would put this show on.

Jimmy is a well meaning goofball. He’s clearly not going anywhere, still living at home in his 20s and working for his dad, Burt (Garret Dillahunt). Burt is so immature I didn’t realize he was the dad at first. They’re introduced doing landscaping work and Burt messes with his sons like an alpha male older brother.

His mom, Virginia (Martha Plimpton), mispronounces words because she’s not been educated to how you say things correctly. They live in Maw Maw (Cloris Leachman)’s house, and Maw Maw is senile except for a moment of clarity that passes and she goes back to being a funny senile old lady.

The show offers a more creative view on raising a baby than the Hollywood movies on the subject. This family is aggressively doing it poorly. They endanger the baby and that’s good comedy. They are honest about what a pain in the ass a newborn is, none of that Nine Months/Three Men and a Baby adorable propaganda.

Even the characters we’ve seen before, like the Alzheimer’s grandma and the harassing father figure, have the edge that makes those archetypes funny. They’re not trying to play nice so everyone still likes them. Mike (Skyler Stone), the party animal brother, and Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) the sarcastic Jons checkout girl, don’t do much yet but they get a few laughs each.

What really works though is how sweet the show is. As silly and unredeeming as the characters are, they ultimately have moments of real humanity. And it’s sincere humanity, not that very special moment at the end of a sitcom after everyone’s been insulting each other for a half hour. They do something real and you see that someone can be compassionate 1% of the time. It’s almost like even the heart is sort of wrong, and that’s all part of the Fox comedy edge.
 

The new comedy “Raising Hope” is a family show, Fox-style. Jimmy (Lucas Neff) still lives at home with his parents (Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt) and grandma (Cloris Leachman). They’re kind of a trailer park type family, although they have a house, but Jimmy becomes a single dad so he needs their help and advice, good and bad.

Series creator Greg Garcia (“My Name Is Earl”) presented the show to fans at the Paley Center for Media’s PaleyFest: Fall TV Preview for Fox. On the red carpet, Garcia discussed his follow-up to “Earl.” He did mention specifics from the pilot and upcoming episodes so beware of spoilers.

SJ: Does “Raising Hope” get even crazier after the pilot?

GG: No, that’s about as crazy I think as it gets and then it settles into kind of just an offbeat quirky domestic sitcom hopefully. Yeah, I just kind of thought why not get them in a bizarre situation. I kind of thought to myself if I saw a family at the park and it was just a nice normal family with a baby, and then I saw another family like our family and I learned that the mother was a serial killer and she was executed and they got stuck with the baby, I would follow that family home to look in their windows and see what the heck’s going on more than the other family. So I don’t know, it all just seems interesting to me.

SJ: But you wouldn’t want to keep up the wild antics?

GG: We’ll have wild things. Yeah, we have some wild things from here to there. We’re not going to be killing people every week though. That’ll probably be the only murder we have for a while but we try to push the envelope and do what we can. You want to have a mix of doing that and being grounded and get people to feel something as well. Episode two we have Maw Maw breastfeeding. Cloris Leachman’s breast feeding the baby so we’re not backing off too much.

SJ: Is that medically accurate?

GG: I don’t know. I think powdered milk is coming out or something. I don’t know what exactly is going on but she’s attempting. She’s attempting to have that happen.

SJ: So those are the kinds of storylines we’re going to see.

GG: Well, that’s not a storyline I wouldn’t say. That’s a quick little gag. The storylines, I think there’s going to be a lot of conflict that comes up for our adults surrounding the baby. There’ll be some stories that have to actually do with raising a baby but also I think the baby will be a catalyst for stories. Lucas’s character will remember things that his parents did to him when he was a child because he now has a child, and that will cause some modern day conflict and we’ll have some more just adult stories as well. We’ve had a lot of fun exploring the different characters. We have Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt. You’re not going to just do stories about a baby. You want to investigate their marriage and stuff that’s going on with them as well.

SJ: Is Fox a good environment for your sense of humor?

GG: Oh, it’s been great. I’ve got to say, the difference between working at NBC and Fox has been night and day. Just with the collaboration that they let you have with promotion and just the support that you get, it’s been fantastic.

SJ: Do you feel the audience understands what the show is and what they’re getting into?

GG: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think some people don’t read the reviews necessarily and just see the billboards and promos, I think they’ll be surprised to see a woman gets executed in the pilot because I know they’re not leaning heavily on that in the promos and everything. But I think what’s fun about that is you know that this family has a baby but you have no idea how they get it just on promos and billboards alone. That’s a big added surprise that you’re going to see in the pilot.

SJ: It seems more open ended. Did you ever regret coming up with the list on “My Name is Earl” and giving yourself a structure like that?

GG: No, not at all. The list just proved to be an engine for stories. It was great. I thought that was a great device and this is open ended in the sense that you have a baby, you’re going to have to raise it. So that baby is going to age and as the baby ages, new stories come about. In the meantime, when the baby’s stuck in a period of time where not a lot of new things are going on, you’ve got a love relationship that you’re pursuing. You’ve got things going on in the house with just normal everyday family drama.

SJ: Will the baby age in real time?

GG: I don’t know. Knock on wood, we get a whole first season, we’ll probably keep it at this age for the first season. Then if we’re lucky enough to get a second season, we may consider jumping it in age to three or four years old and just say that time has passed. Therefore you can just do more stories with a kid that’s talking and going through different things.

SJ: That would be a big jump. I was thinking would you recast another infant and keep doing baby stories?

GG: Possibly. It all depends on where the stories come from. If we feel like we can do a ton and ton of stories with the baby as an infant, then yeah. But my experience with having infants around the house is eventually they get kind of boring. And then they get to be two and three years old and they start talking and walking and doing all kinds of fun things and more interesting things come about. So more than likely we would advance it more than we would just keep it at the same age.