RAISING HOPE: Lucas Neff & Greg Garcia share their insights on the magical world

In Fox’s off-beat, yet endearing family comedy Raising Hope, Lucas Neff plays Jimmy Chance, a new single father who attempts to raise his baby daughter, Hope, the best way he knows how – with the aid of his unconventional parents, Virginia and Burt, and his wacky grandmother, affectionately known as Maw Maw. Creator and executive producer Greg Garcia, along with Lucas, took time out of their busy schedules to share in a conference call with NiceGirlsTV some of the secret ingredients that go into making the hot comedy series.

Greg said that while he was not exactly sure what inspired him to write a television series about a single father, he was drawn to the idea of doing a fun comedy and he wanted to make it as crazy of a situation as possible. He said, “I kind of knew the premise I wanted was this family, trying to raise this baby on their own and not knowing what they’re doing. . . . [and] I really wanted this guy to—the character of Jimmy — to have as little help as possible.” (And, clearly, saddling a young father with a baby after his one-night stand is executed for murder is about as outrageous a concept as he could come up with!)

Then speculating on why the show seems to resonate with fans and the television audience, Greg said that viewers seem to connect with and appreciate the unique and hilarious struggles that the Chance family endures as they go about their daily lives. He elaborated, “There’s always something nice about turning on the TV and seeing people that are worse off than you. It makes you feel a little better about yourself.” Lucas added that, from his perspective, “I think there’s a flip-side to that coin, too. . . . I think that if the writing’s funny and the themes and the characters are relatable, I think people can tune in and enjoy it.”

Talking about what he was looking for when he went looking for the right actor to cast as Jimmy, Greg shared that the most important thing was that the actor would be someone who the audience would find real – and upon meeting Lucas, that is what he noticed first and foremost. He said, “[Lucas] just felt very honest and real to me.” Greg further explained, “I wanted this character to be somebody that people were rooting for and kind of the eyes of the audience into this crazier world, somebody that definitely feels very overwhelmed by this new responsibility thrown in his lap. And I just got that from [Lucas’] performance. I got that from him as a person that he was a very—it just came through in his performance that he was very honest and likable guy.”

Lucas added that in order to capture the elusive realism, he just strives to be open to everything and everyone around him. He tries to allow for spontaneity and listening for direction when performing. He revealed, “My best work on this show has always been what I’ve embraced: the other people working on it; listening to the directors, and listening to the other actors — just being as open as possible.”

When asked if the character of Jimmy has begun to rub off on Lucas in his personal life, Lucas noted, “There’s a very symbiotic thing which happens on good TV shows and with great writers, which is that they start to embrace who the actors are and try to make the roles more specific to what they bring and they can do. I know we certainly try to incorporate the abilities and talents of all the actors on the set. There’s some goofy skills that Jimmy has that are certainly only there because they’re skills that I have.” But that is really the extent of it for now, though Lucas still strives to try to meld his better qualities into the character so that it touches the audience as being real.

Lucas also gave props to his darling co-stars, the twins who play Jimmy’s daughter Hope on the show, sharing, “They’re great. They’re really, really personable [and] they’re really social. I think they’re in a really good community of people on set. Certainly, everybody in the crew and cast really adores these two little girls. We look out for them [and] they’re a lot of fun to work with. So, I only have good things to say.”

It is perhaps that natural joy of working with such fun co-stars that gives Lucas the inspiration he needs in portraying Jimmy. For he noted that Jimmy’s sole motivation is his love for his daughter. Lucas noted, “He loves his daughter. I think that’s ultimately the motivation of a lot of this show is love. It expresses itself in a lot of weird, unique ways in this family, but at the end of the day, the reasons they do the things they do for each other is out of love. The reason Jimmy gets a job and wants to get all these nice things for Hope, and he fixes up the house, and he tries to get his parents to change their behavior is because he loves his daughter so much. He wants the best for her. I’ll retroactively say his motivation is one word — and that it’s love.”

Outside of Jimmy’s family, the other important girl in Jimmy’s life is Sabrina, the grocery store clerk who has caught his eye. Alas for fans wondering if and when a relationship will develop between Jimmy and Sabrina, Lucas is the first to admit that he does not have any idea what lies in store for Jimmy and Sabrina. He laughingly said, “You have to ask Greg that — the writers are in charge of that!” And Greg would only coyly say, “I don’t like to think that far ahead. I like to be as surprised as the rest of you guys!”

Then speculating on what may lie ahead for Jimmy, Lucas shared that, as the Chance family becomes more in tune with the modern technology like cell phones and the Internet, it will hopefully expand Jimmy’s universe so that he will have future interaction with other single fathers. He explained, “Jimmy’s in the process of really discovering those options. Sabrina is a helpful catalyst in introducing him into other alternatives and more recent developments in networks for fathers. I think that’s sort of true for a lot of people in the real world. Sometimes, it’s a very traditional, interpersonal relationship like Jimmy and Sabrina have where it is just people in the local community. They can introduce you to alternative support systems and networks for people who are in similar situations. That can be through the Internet. That can also just be through meeting someone who is also a member of the community . . . [but] he’s certainly starting to discover the usefulness of social media.”

Greg also added, “We’re still finding different avenues we’re going to go down. We’re going to — even though he has this crush on Sabrina — it looks like it’s a little bit of a going to be a long haul for him. So, we actually are not going to just have him sitting around. We’re going to have him dip his toe into the dating world a little bit and see what we get out of that.” He further shared, “Actually, for stories, it’s been fun to actually go down different avenues because we’re not necessarily just going to always do a story about raising a baby. We’re expanding their world and getting them more and more friends. . . I think the nicest thing that we’ve found is there’s a lot of different places to go for stories. You have to remind yourself: say [Jimmy] didn’t get this woman pregnant and get a baby, we still could have done this series about this family quite easily. There are some very interesting characters. They have their own struggles. They have a lot of different dynamics. . . . So far, there’s been a lot of good stuff we’ve found.”

Upon further reflection Greg noted, “It’s a fun show. We’re having a lot of fun doing it. The cast is amazing. We got blessed with such a great cast. The combination of that and the writers we have here—it has been a lot of fun to watch the stuff that we’re doing.” He said, “I think people are responding to the characters. I mean, that’s what’s going to keep you going from week to week and get people to keep watching this show is that this is a world that you want to visit once a week. You want to see these people. So far, I think the combination of humor and heart has people watching. Hopefully, that continues to grow.”

Greg also fervently hopes the fans are enjoying the show as much as they are making it and that they return after the extended hiatus. He said, “Hopefully, people come back and are still interested in watching, and they keep telling their friends and more and more people keep watching because it’s always nice. The more people that watch a show, the better you feel about making it.”

Plus, it is not just a job for Greg, Lucas and everyone else on the show. For them it is a labor of love. It is a dream job and they love every minute of it. Greg revealed, “It’s a lot of fun working together. We do have a great time. Everybody here, the cast, the crew, the writers—it’s a big family [and] everybody has a whole lot of fun.”

To which Lucas happily chimed-in, “It’s just a blast! I’m having a great time.”

And on that high-note of enthusiasm and mutual love, be sure to tune in for an all-new zany episode of Raising Hope when it returns on Tuesday, February 8th at 9/8c on Fox.