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"Hope & Faith" (2003) More at IMDbPro »

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25 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
TGIF is back and with "Hope & Faith" it can be just as stupid as ever, 14 May 2004
Author: howTVshouldbe from star range: 1 - 4, expanded to 5 for classics

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

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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
great!, 2 February 2007
8/10
Author: Niek Kristeerius from Netherlands

first, when I didn't know what to expect, I thought this wouldn't be great. But after watching a few episodes I changed my mind. I love this! So many comedy's are made but lots of them are just not funny. This one is. At least to my opinion. I like the hysterical mood-swings of Kelly Ripa. Even though Kelly may be called overacting. And of Ted McKinley is of course very nice to see. And it's cool that he has a more important role than in Married witch Children. And Of Course Faith Ford has already proved herself in Murphy Brown. A perfect combination for a comedy-series. I just like this. And it's still running after almost four years so I guess I'm not the only one. I hope it will be on for a while. Hope and Faith rock!

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7 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Better than I expected, 20 January 2006
Author: climbergirl117 from United States

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.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
This degenerates American comedy, 23 May 2009
1/10
Author: hejsamester from Denmark

Writing and acting of this quality belongs inside Pandora's box. The jokes are as bad and clean as on Full House, and the setup for them is so fake it hurts watching. People might like the goofy Kelly Ripa as Faith Fairchild character, but honestly, it hurts to watch middle aged women act like stupid children in order to make them seem funny. Her sister, the responsible one, isn't any better. She exemplifies the type of woman, who've never realized who she is, and never achieved any of her dreams expect the one of a house, a husband and some children. What a sad example of role models.

Parring up a stupid and a boring person doesn't really make great comedy - it's just an easy way out for a lot of boring morales without impact and for a bit of lazy attempts at slapstick comedy. All seen before a long time ago.

America; you've brought some good comedy to the world, but when you make things like this, you really start lacking behind the European countries. Please don't export more of this, just keep it to yourselves.

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Ghastly..., 5 August 2005
Author: NickSoapdish from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Ugh, Hope and Faith. Kelly Ripa certainly is funny on Live with Regis and Kelly when she's just being herself, but when it comes to this honker of a sitcom, Kelly Ripa can't do scripted comedy to save her life.I have seen several episodes of Hope and Faith, and honestly, it just isn't funny, the characters are annoying; Faith (Ripa) is especially grating, and the jokes just don't work. The youngest daughter is probably the only character on this show more obnoxious than Faith (Ripa). (Although, the WifeSwap parody and the episode with the soap actors were mildly amusing).Personally, I don't like this show. But Overall, this show just isn't fun to watch, it just makes you cringe when you realize how bad it is. Kelly Ripa should just stick to doing daytime TV; daytime TV is where she has always shown her true talent.

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7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Great chemistry, 8 April 2005
Author: rjc739 from Philadelphia, United States

I make time to watch one thing on Fridays and that is Hope and Faith (and I'm a 40 yr old guy). I think it's real funny. The chemistry between Faith and Kelly is perfect. You couldn't find a better partner for Kelly. To add to that you have a third person who fits right in with the two: Ted. He is also great. I like him better now than I did 20 years ago. Kelly is funny as hell. I think she's one of the funniest women in TV today. Her character is perfect for her and she knows how to whine and complain and showoff like no one. Her timing is great. She worked for Charlie in his dentist's office and she was a scream! She botched everything and pursued one of the younger patient's father (while the patient had a mold stuck in his mouth!). Ha! The show started off without many sexual innuendos which was a real nice change but this season the shows are full of them and I think that's kind of a shame. It's even funnier that they have brought in Kelly's husband and Regis and jokes are made about their real-life relationships. Show is way better than Bonnie Hunt's show which went off the air (although I watched that, too, and I think Bonnie and their crew were real talented). I think it is the funniest show on Friday nights. Oh, the writing is great! Please don't go off the air!

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Goofiness at its Best !, 21 December 2008
Author: ahmed elshikh (ahmed_abd_elreheem@yahoo.com) from Egypt

You may say a lot of bad things concerning such a show : traditional, prototypes, overacting, goofy.. Whatever. Though, strangely it worked and with honors ! I feel big part of its real joy came from the funny 2 leads Faith Ford and Kelly Ripa. True that I don't know how they selected Ripa as number 85 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" ! But the thing that I know too well is that Ripa and Ford both 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 she had part in ? How Faith will do in the shop that she went to work at ?, and How Faith and Hope may do when they both locked up 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 supposed to be its faults, or maybe love it because those very faults !

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7 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Great!, 10 October 2005
Author: Rent_Angel (Renty_The_Raven) from London, England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Don't listen to what other people say about this show. They are just trying to bash a great idea. Maybe I'm just a sucker for some shows, but I love this one, basically because Kelly Ripa is really funny. I love how she twists her face into different expressions. Some really funny lines come into play, and I'm glad that the show has been renewed for a third season. The cast is really talented, and I really like how the bitchy daughter is always complaining and whining about how her mother ruins her life.

Basically Faith Fairfield (Ripa) moves into her sister's house (Faith Ford) after a washed up soap-opera career. Then, while in the house, she annoys the other family members with her rants of how she is going to make a comeback into TV and movies. But of course, her crazy plans always backfire, and her sister is left to "pick up the pieces".

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13 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
terrible pilot, great following episodes, 16 October 2003
Author: moviesfan11 (moviesfan11@yahoo.com) from DG, IL

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.

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6 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Gets better each week, 14 November 2003
Author: flippy-4 from Canada

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"

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