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James Bon Jovi "Jimmy" Chance is the son of Burt and Virginia Chance, father of Hope Chance, husband of Sabrina Collins and great-grandson of Barbara June Thompson and one of the main characters in Raising Hope. He is portrayed by Lucas Neff.

Character Biography[]

Jimmy was born on September 19, 1988 to teenage parents Burt and Virginia Chance. He was believed to have been the result of an accidental pregnancy, but Burt later admitted to poking a hole in one of his condoms because he was afraid that Virginia would eventually leave him. While still an infant, Jimmy was given up for adoption to a seemingly perfect family, but only lived with them for three weeks before Burt and Virginia changed their minds.

Jimmy is generally a good-natured (albeit a bit naive) and caring young man but is far from the sharpest tool in the shed. He frequently makes malapropisms, has horrible spelling and grammar, and often takes a while to make logical steps.

He lives with his wife, Sabrina, and his daughter, Hope. Their economic status would be considered lower class (likely under the poverty level), as the family struggles financially to keep up with things like working household appliances, health insurance, and house maintenance.

Jimmy's parents meant well, but were very young when they raised him. This led them to employ unorthodox parenting practices such as poor hygiene (as in dropping food/kitchen utensils/pacifiers on the floor and continuing to use them) and continual lies to Jimmy throughout childhood and into his adulthood, to either keep him out of trouble or just to make him easier to handle. Such lies include that he's allergic to all fruit, an eel lives in his butt and will bite his hand off if he picks at his butt, and that the "internet tubes" don't yet reach to their part of town.

The Series[]

Season 1[]

In the Pilot, Jimmy goes out to get ice cream but has a one-night stand with Lucy Carlyle, a woman he picked up after she was supposedly being attacked. The next morning, he and his family are horrified to learn from a news broadcast that Lucy is actually a serial killer and the man he saved her from was going to be her latest victim. His mother promptly knocks Lucy out and the police arrest her. Eight months later, Jimmy later visits Lucy in prison, and discovers she is pregnant with his child. Lucy tells him that it's okay and she expects nothing from him, that she only wanted him to know. She has been sentenced to the death penalty but isn't concerned, because "there's no way they're going to kill the mother of a six-month-old child". Jimmy witness Lucy being given the electric chair six months after giving birth, and Jimmy receives custody of their daughter who eyes he shields during the execution. The baby is temporarily named Princess Beyonce. After enduring a gruesome reality of parents, he meets Sabrina Collins, a market cashier. With help from his parents, he overcomes his obstacles and renames his child Hope.

During Happy Halloween, he attends a party with Sabrina, after she was stood up by Wyatt and things went good until Wyatt returns. However, both Wyatt and Sabrina have him stay.

Season 2[]

In "Jimmy's Fake Girlfriend", there are signs that Sabrina might be interested in Jimmy. At the end of the episode, she breaks up with Wyatt, Jimmy professes his love for her, and the two share a passionate kiss. From then on they're in a relationship.

Thanks to his parents, Jimmy finally obtains his G.E.D. in the episode "Mrs. Smartypants".

In the episode "Inside Probe," it is revealed that Jimmy actually got married to Lucy while she was still in prison and pregnant. The end of the episode revealed that Lucy survived her execution, much to the horror of the Chances. She sues for custody of Hope and ends up winning, so Jimmy reluctantly decides to go with Lucy and Hope to Tibet in order to stay with his daughter.

However, Lucy is later run over by a bus, restoring the status quo of the show.

Season 3[]

At the beginning of season three, Jimmy and Sabrina get engaged. They get married in the episode "Modern Wedding". It's also revealed in the episode that Lucy is still alive and being kept in a catatonic state by her father. She finds out about Jimmy and Sabrina's wedding and tries to object, but Dale hits her over the head with the Ten Commandments.


Relationships[]

Sabrina Collins[]

After getting a job at Howdy's Market, Jimmy's romantic feelings for Sabrina begin to develop as they grow closer and closer. Unfortunately, Sabrina already has a long-distance boyfriend, which prevents Jimmy from asking her out. During the first season, Sabrina's feelings for him seem to be entirely platonic, with her calling him a friend and teasing him. However in "Happy Halloween", she kisses Jimmy while she is drunk, thinking he is Wyatt, and calls him an amazing kisser. In a flashback "Don't Vote for This Episode", it is revealed Sabrina liked Jimmy while he was a goth, something he is unaware of. At the beginning of season two, their relationship seems to blossom and they later start to date in "Jimmy's Fake Girlfriend" after Sabrina realizes she doesn't care for Wyatt anymore. At the beginning of season three, they are engaged to each other, and later, married.

Lucy Carlyle[]

Jimmy and Lucy meet in the first episode of season one, when Jimmy innocently "saves" Lucy from her boyfriend while out picking up bubblegum ice cream for his family. After he and Lucy have a one-night stand in his van, the entire Chance family meets her, and to Jimmy's delight, they all like her.

However, while Lucy is using their restroom, the family finds out from the news that she's a serial killer, and Virginia knocks her out cold with the television. Several months later, Jimmy finds out that Lucy is pregnant with their child, and soon gains custody of Hope when Lucy is executed in the electric chair. In "Inside Probe", it is revealed that Jimmy and Lucy were married while she was still in prison and had a jailhouse wedding, and at the end of the same episode it is revealed that Lucy somehow survived her execution and the murder charges were dropped as an effort to dissuade her from suing. After, she fights for custody of Hope (and wins), but is later hit by a bus in the process of chasing Sabrina down with a knife.

Shelley[]

Jimmy and Shelley made out along with some heavy petting, but never actually had a relationship together nor did they have sex, as Jimmy never called her back. When Shelley and Jimmy meet up years later, he was surprised to learn she was Sabrina's cousin when looking for daycare for Hope, she is excited to see him, therefore beginning a one-sided relationship between them in order to get free daycare. He later tells her that he doesn't have any feelings for her because he has a crush on Sabrina, and Shelley understands but offers to watch Hope for $60 a week. They then become good friends and later in-laws after he marries Sabrina.

Trivia[]

  • He ate a pack of Virginia's cigarettes when he was a few months old.
  • Jimmy's full name is James Bon Jovi Chance, an obvious homage to Bon Jovi.
  • Jimmy and the man seen chasing after Lucy in the pilot are the only survivors of Lucy's killing spree.
  • Some of the many lies Virginia are but not limited to:
    • Telling Jimmy not to pick his butt because there was eel in it, when really it was because it was disgusting.
    • Once told Jimmy as a child was that he was allergic to every fruit.
      • Although this is false, it turns out that he is allergic to star fruit.
    • Informing Jimmy they couldn't afford Internet, a lie he realizes with help from Sabrina.
  • He has been involved with two of Sabrina's relatives before they got together: he hooked up with her cousin made out with Sabrina's mom when he was in high school.
  • He went through a goth phase in his late teens, during which he wanted to be called 'Drakkar Noir'.
    • A flashback reveals he is indirectly responsible for Shelly's dead tooth.
    • It reveals he briefly lived in a grocery store.
  • Jimmy shares the same birthday as Maw Maw.
  • He plucks and eats his eyebrows when he gets nervous.
  • Jimmy is probably the least dumb one in the Chance family, as help from Sabrina has help him overcome his shortcomings.
  • As seen in Happy Halloween, he hates Halloween because of his father frequently scaring him, something he didn't know until he was informed.
  • In what is likely a production error, Jimmy’s drivers license erroneously states his name as “James Chase” in Killer Hope.
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