Ray Mickshaw/FOX Ryan Gosling is so in right now. We cannot remember a time when his face wasn't on every billboard in Los Angeles. And in no way are we complaining about that.
Emmy-nominated Martha Plimpton is also very keen on Mr. Gosling, because she's already demanding he be written onto Raising Hope. OK, she's not exactly demanding it, but she does have a role already picked out for him. Plus, we got Lucas Neff and Shannon Woodward to spill on the Chances' vacation to "the capital of family values."
And, oh yeah, someone is getting kidnapped in the season premiere…
You would think it would be little Hope who gets kidnapped, but she tends to be one of the smarter members of the Chance family. No, this time it's Burt (Garret Dillahunt) who finds himself man-napped.
"Were a family show, and we believe in family-ness, and families. And so we're having a kidnapping," Lucas reasons to us. "We're a family of bunglers, aren't we?" Better yet, those "bunglers" are headed to Las Vegas!
"We're going to take a vacation," Shannon says. "Modern Family goes to Hawaii, the Chance family goes to Vegas. I think it's typical. I feel like it was going to be that or Orlando." The Chance family at Disney? That episode practically writes itself. But Vegas will provide enough entertainment. "In the previous season Burt had a bit of a gambling addiction problem, so maybe that'll get worked in," Lucas tells us. Amy Sedaris is also making her reappearance on Raising Hope during that episode. "She's in the Vegas episode, and that's all we're allowed to say," Martha reveals.
But back to Ryan Gosling. "Don't you think Virginia should have an affair with Ryan Gosling?" she asks us. This did not sit well with her onscreen hubby. "That's the second time you've brought up Ryan Gosling!" Garret yelled. Don't worry, she's got legit reasons. "He's a very good actor, though. He'd be good on the show. He could play your younger brother," she says with a gesture to her pretend husband.
And do you guys remember Martha's Emmy nomination reaction statement? To refresh, it involved describing how her dog had explosive diarrhea when she found out. "It was kind of like a balance thing," she tells us. "It was like, 'Oh, I'm on top of the world. Oh, I've got to clean up all this poop.'"
Other things that are coming up for Raising Hope? Secrets revealed, flashbacks, and maybe 18 more seasons? "I'm putting all my eggs in this basket, and hopefully I can ride this one for awhile," says Lucas. "Let's shoot for 20 [seasons]. I want to get old, and bald, and fat and I want Hope to be in college."
Check out our full interviews with the cast below, if only to see Garret's impression of Martha's Emmy nom reaction, and to find out how Cloris Leachman's acting out a number two helped get Raising Hope a second season.