La Star de la famille

Network: ABC; Genre: Sitcom; Average Content Rating: TV-PG; Classification: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Season Reviewed: Season 1+

ABC's TGIF line-up is back and if this show is any indication, it's exactly as we remember it. 'Hope & Faith' is a quintessential "stupid sitcom" with simple, recycled plots, bubble-headed characters and duh-duh humor that brazenly recalls the 'Full House'/'Family Matters' era. And I actually rooted for ABC to bring this idea back- I would much rather deal with this than another reality show.

I understand the niche for this type of simple show. It's Friday night, the kids are excited over the weekend and it's time to just kick back and watch some escapism. So it goes almost without saying that 'Hope' is mind-numbing, but it manages to be even worse than those low expectations. The stories barely make sense from minute to minute and every joke has a blinking neon sign hanging around it. It's also -surprisingly - toward the crude side of generic as we can see the lowered bar of TV standards has even infiltrated TGIF. The show is almost epically stupid from the directing and writing down to the lighting and visceral look. Where we aren't just not laughing, we feel embarrassed for the actors.

The actor I don't feel embarrassed for is Kelly Ripa. Ripa is a gorgeous girl and on 'Hope and Faith' we certainly get to see her with great hair and in a vast wardrobe of attractive outfits. But the series is clearly designed for those who can't get enough of her acting stupid on 'Live with Regis and Kelly' in the morning and want to see her acting stupid in the evening as well. And Ripa hams it up big time here. Meanwhile, we get the sense that everyone else in the cast is trying to tell us they know they can do better. Poor Faith Ford (so good playing a naive ditz on 'Murphy Brown' and now saddled as Ripa's straight man) looks like she's just barely trying to keep up with Ripa in the embarrass-yourself department. Jump the Shark patron saint Ted McGinley is probably the best thing about this show. Most of the time we can find McGinley happily off to the side, away from the blast, filling reactionary shots with a look of amazement at whatever chicanery is going on between the sisters. Elsewhere we find the stock obnoxious kids, also in the periphery as to not divert any power from the gleaming spotlight on Ripa.

This whole affair is the type of obnoxious, bottom-of-the-barrel awfulness that give sitcoms a bad name. It's purpose is to be an escape, but it just might give you a migraine. This was all foretold from the beginning where the show must have set a land-speed record to the bottom by resorting to a food fight in the first episode. A food fight. Of all the sitcom clichés that need to be put a moratorium on, I'd trade them all just to get food fights off the air for good.

* / 4

Hope (Faith Ford) is an uptight happily married mom of three in Glen Falls, Ohio. Her tidy world is up-ended by the arrival of her celebrity sister, the giant mess Faith (Kelly Ripa). Faith was a Hollywood diva as a daytime soap opera star until her soap's character was unceremoniously killed off.

Kelly Ripa was annoying, and her character unlikeable. Faith Ford wasn't much better. The constant fighting really made it hard to root for this angry relationship.

It also had on set drama as they fired the oldest daughter played by Nicole Paggi. She was great as the only fun character. For seasons 2 & 3, they replaced her with Megan Fox. Sadly, she may have the looks, but at that stage she couldn't act her way out of a paper sack.

The pilot for this show was terrible. The jokes were tired, and predictable. None of it had any logical things in it. And the acting was poor. But in the following episodes, the are just great. The jokes are unpredictable. funny, and the acting has improved so much. The writing is getting a lot better, also. For those of you who thought the pilot was bad, give the new ones a chance. They are really good!

Hope & Faith: 4/5

TV rating: TV-PG D. There ae some sexual references, but not to bad for little kids. They won't get any of the jokes, though.

I had low expectations the first time I watched this show, but it has quickly become one of my favorites. Faith Ford and Kelly Ripa are perfect for their roles on "Hope & Faith". Hope (Ford) is a housewife/caterer whose sister Faith (Ripa), a soap opera actress, lives with her, as her career is pretty much dead. Her husband Charley (Ted McGinley) is a dentist, and is always in a friendly tiff with Faith. Older daughter Sydney (Megan Fox) is a mini Faith, and is the source of a few sarcastic yet funny lines. Middle child Hayley (Macey Cruthird) is the smartest of the bunch, and has the curliest hair I've ever seen. The only person I think does not fit in with the rest of the cast is the son Justin. The character would be fine, but Paulie Litt's look and timing are off (I'm not knocking a little kid's acting skills; I think they could have found someone better). It is also fun to see how the situations Hope & Faith get into play out. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good laugh, or likes any of the cast.

*On a side note, I find it funny that their names are Hope and Faith, two values/qualities that have similar meanings. I also like that one character is named Faith, and the other is played by a Faith.

This is a really cute show that I like a lot! It is very funny and is similar to Life with Bonnie. I can see the station that plays both these shows getting a lot of viewers. This show may look a little stupid or goofy at times and being totally truthful I never had intentions to watch it. There was really nothing else on tv and I like Kelly Ripa and Faith Ford so I thought I would give it a shot. To my surprise it was a very cute and easy to follow show. I recommend this mostly to women but everyone should really give it a shot. Really Cute! I give it 4 out of 5 stars.