Hope & Faith

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.

You may talk a lot about this show's faults like being: traditional, formulaic, overacted, goofy.. whatever. Though, strangely it worked and with honors! I feel that big part of its real joy came from the funny 2 leads (Faith Ford) and (Kelly Ripa). They are so cute and vigorous on the screen, having a productive chemistry, looking interestingly idiot, or honestly childish, and by their overacting they deliver hilarious performance. The rest of the cast wasn't that good, but close. The scripts were surprisingly hitting the mark every time, I've never felt bored, and it managed to be unpredictable, for instance: how (Faith) is going to survive in the soap opera that she had part in?, how (Faith) will do in the shop that that she went to work at?, and how (Faith) and (Hope) may do when they found themselves imprisoned in a supermarket?, or unit to save (Hope)'s daughter from some evil party? By the way, these episodes were memorable and top notch. It wasn't another sitcom on TV, albeit it seemed so. It was so nice sitcom despite any criticism. And it's a rare time to love a work with what are supposed to be its faults, or maybe love it because those very faults!

The American Broadcasting Company, the biggest network mess in the U.S., brings us arguably one of the worst sit-coms ever conceived in Hope And Faith. H&F stars Kelly Ripa as Faith Fairfield, a washed up soap opera actress who moves in with her sister's family because she has no money left (she must have spent it all on her clothes). Ex-Murphy Brown star Faith Ford plays her sister Hope and Ted McGinley plays Hope's husband.

This show relies on 50 years of classic situation comedy devices. Unlike some shows that try to bring in something original on occasion, H&F plays it safe with hackneyed plots that have been used for decades. The show has some brutal acting (Ripa is a gorgeous woman but she has a very grating voice), awful scripts, and poor direction and awful logic. The good thing about the show is that its sheer awfulness makes it a must-see for people who truly cherish bad products. It's truly worth watching this show to see what rehashed plots they trot out, to see what Kellly will be wearing, or seeing Ms. Ford and Mr. McGinley playing thankless roles and playing second fiddle to everyone's favorite baby factory.

They also rely on a lot of guest stars; Clint Black, Regis Philbin, Kathy Lee Gifford(!), Kevin Sorbo, and Roger Clemens are just some of the people who've decided to appear in this embarrassment. Still, the show is doing pretty good for ABC but if this show was on a better network it would have been canceled long ago. If this is the best that ABC can do for a sit-com, ABC will be the Number 4 network for a good long time. Still, if you cherish cheesy, awful-out-of-the box products then check this out because I can't see any non-reality T.V. show being worse than this.

I, like many others was disappointed with the pilot. Kelly Ripa herself said the pilot was their worst show. But it is growing on me.....I love the cameos. I hope Regis comes back! I will continue to tune in each week "faithfully"