“Baby Monitor” is quite possibly the most (only?) meta episode of Raising Hope so far.
Not only does the episode feature guest stars Jaime Pressly and Ethan Suplee (from Greg Garcia’s previous hit show, My Name Is Earl), but the A-plot centers around the voyeuristic enjoyment of watching/listening in on other people’s lives. Inevitably, many of the jokes are little tongue-in-cheek jabs at the nature of television, often breaking the fourth wall or at least threatening to do so.
Here’s a sample of the metahumor, right at the start of the show. Burt (Garret Dillahunt) reacts in surprise upon hearing another couple’s voices on Hope’s baby monitor. Virginia (Martha Plimpton) is nonplussed, saying “I saw this on Modern Family and countless other sitcoms.”
Modern Family, indeed.
