E! Online talked to Garret, Lucas Neff and Shannon Woodward about tonight’s episode, “It’s a Hopeful Life.” The clip is embedded below (can’t turn off autoplay, sorry), along with a couple of sneak peeks, and here is the synopsis:

In a nod to the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the Chances go to the movies and are surprised when they discover that the film they’re watching is strikingly similar to their own family life. Meanwhile, Jimmy is transported into a cinematic dreamlike state and experiences the world as though he never met Hope’s serial killer mom Lucy (guest star Bijou Phillips). But when he returns to reality, he soon realizes that life without Hope would not be nearly as sweet.

The episode airs at 9:30 pm.
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L.A. Times has an article on actors who have been successful in making the move from drama to comedy (or the other way around) in recent years. They talked to Garret among other people.

Snippets:

Actor Garret Dillahunt is solemn as he reflects on his acting career, picking at the knee of his jeans as he composes his thoughts on his road from “Deadwood,” where he played a throat-slashing geologist who preyed on prostitutes to his turn as the boorish patriarch on the Fox comedy “Raising Hope.” And yet his seriousness is offset by the fact that, minutes earlier, he goofily strolled into the dressing room on the Chatsworth set of “Raising Hope”–for the interview–on a scooter.

It’s the sort of light-switch shift that has worked in the 46-year-old actor’s advantage in moving from comedy to drama and back again.

“It’s just what I wanted to do,” Dillahunt said. “A good thing about doing this for a while is that it becomes your thing–you get a reputation for being versatile. I like the thought that people might think of me for a wide roster of roles. Even if it’s a mistake, I like having the shot.” – L.A. Times Blogs

For some actors, such as Garret Dillahunt, the boorish patriarch on Fox’s “Raising Hope,” the move from drama to comedy was strategic. Before his sitcom, Dillahunt earned a name for playing bad guys including a blood-chilling part in HBO’s critically acclaimed “Deadwood” as an erudite and throat-slashing geologist who preyed on prostitutes.

“People constantly want to put you in a box,” he said on the set of the Fox sitcom. “You play psychopaths on ‘Deadwood’ for a while and people are like, ‘You can’t do comedy, you’re the drama guy.’ And you know, some people like doing the same thing — and maybe it makes them easier to market. But for me, what keeps me interested and awake is change in this business. It’s what I thought we are supposed to do as actors.” (…)

“We’re kind of gamblers, in a way,” Dillahunt said. “It can be a colossal failure when we try something new. But actors hate being told they can’t do something. It’s all about the risk.” – L.A. Times

^ Photos are from the two upcoming episodes of Raising Hope, The Men of New Natesville (Dec. 6) and It’s a Hopeful Life (Dec. 13).

And here are the sneak peeks from tonight’s episode, “Bro-gurt” — Patton Oswalt guest stars, among other people:

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