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Post by topbilled on Apr 5, 2023 23:01:22 GMT
I was thinking about how Lucille Ball was the first one to play a pregnant woman on a sitcom. Of course, when they did a whole season's worth of episodes about this on I Love Lucy, she was actually expecting a baby in real life.
Some sitcoms do pregnancy storylines, even if the actress isn't actually pregnant.
These come to mind:
Didi Conn's character Denise was pregnant for a season on Benson. She gave birth in an elevator, with Robert Guillaume's character helping deliver the child.
Bebe Neuwirth's character Lilith was pregnant during the 10th season of Cheers. Interestingly, that child, all grown up now, will be a regular character on the upcoming reboot of Frasier.
Candice Bergen was pregnant for a whole season of Murphy Brown which drew criticism from then-VP Dan Quayle because she was unmarried. |
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Post by Mayo on Apr 6, 2023 1:16:18 GMT
Maude: Maude's Dilemma (1972) "Maude must make a difficult decision when she finds out she's pregnant at 47."
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Post by Mayo on Apr 6, 2023 2:00:11 GMT
Bewitched: And Then There Was Three(1966). Elizabeth Montgomery was really pregnant and came back from maternity leave to film this episode. Eve Arden guest stars as a nurse.
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Post by sepiatone on Apr 6, 2023 15:26:02 GMT
I mention this as originally, the show in question was actually intended to be aimed at an adult demographic(and kids quickly took it over), in spite of it being animated.... But me and my friends were also caught up with anticipation when WILMA FLINTSTONE was expecting. And one of the gang actually went and bought a bunch of pink bubblegum cigars and passed them out when Fred and Wilma's daughter PEBBLES was born!  Sepiatone |
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Post by topbilled on Apr 6, 2023 19:17:39 GMT
Thanks for mentioning the Pebbles storyline. Totally forgot about that one!
***
A few other sitcom examples:
Lori Loughlin's character was pregnant for a season on the original Full House. I think her character had twins.
And speaking of twins, Meredith Baxter Birney had twins in real-life during one of the early seasons of Family Ties. That pregnancy was written into the show, with her character Elyse giving birth to a boy named Andrew.
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Post by sepiatone on Apr 7, 2023 16:57:36 GMT
And let's not forget actress TINA COLE, as Katie Douglas(wife of Robbie Douglas on MY THREE SONS) being pregnant with triplets(in the eight season I think) and making it two guys on the show with three sons. Sepiatone |
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Post by Swithin on Jun 5, 2023 11:00:22 GMT
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman -- Mary's sister Cathy (played by Debralee Scott) is pregnant and is not sure which of her four lovers is the father. Several episodes focus on her pregnancy.
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Post by topbilled on Jun 5, 2023 14:16:08 GMT
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman -- Mary's sister Cathy (played by Debralee Scott) is pregnant and is not sure which of her four lovers is the father. Several episodes focus on her pregnancy. |
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Post by NoShear on Jun 5, 2023 16:16:16 GMT
I was thinking about how Lucille Ball was the first one to play a pregnant woman on a sitcom. Of course, when they did a whole season's worth of episodes about this on I Love Lucy, she was actually expecting a baby in real life.
Some sitcoms do pregnancy storylines, even if the actress isn't actually pregnant.
These come to mind:
Didi Conn's character Denise was pregnant for a season on Benson. She gave birth in an elevator, with Robert Guillaume's character helping deliver the child.
Bebe Neuwirth's character Lilith was pregnant during the 10th season of Cheers. Interestingly, that child, all grown up now, will be a regular character on the upcoming reboot of Frasier.
Candice Bergen was pregnant for a whole season of Murphy Brown which drew criticism from then-VP Dan Quayle because she was unmarried. How about the one where Rachel has a baby:  The episodes are ironic in retrospect as Jennifer Aniston failed to deliver a real one to the public. |
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Post by sepiatone on Jun 5, 2023 16:38:36 GMT
In a more recent vein, Sofia Vergara's character Gloria Pritchett became pregnant and had a son Joe in the fourth season of MODERN FAMILY. Have no idea if Ms. Vergara was actually pregnant at the time.
Sepiatone
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Post by marysara1 on Jun 5, 2023 19:05:21 GMT
I remember.an ep. of Petticoat Junction. The girls were asked to sing on T.V. but Betty Jo was expecting so they had balloons in front of them. So, the viewers' wouldn't know.
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Post by Guest on Jun 5, 2023 19:44:23 GMT
Father Knows Best: Princess begins wearing big heavy coats a lot starting with the episode Grandpa Retires. Elinor Donohue had gotten married in 1955 and was pregnant in real life. I remember reading this on the old TCM board a year or two ago. I had no idea!
Susan Richardson on Eight is Enough became pregnant and they wrote it into the show having her character quickly marry a baseball player. The actress later said that producers pressured her to lose weight after the baby and she claims to have used cocaine to drastically lose the weight. Sad story.
Pam on The Office. 1st baby, Pam gets pregnant before she and Jim are married. The second baby, the actress was really pregnant so they wrote it into the show. Comparing the two pregnancies, you can tell that the actress is really pregnant in the second go around. She just doesn't have a cute fake baby bump but her whole body is pregnant, if that makes sense.
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Post by BunnyWhit on Jun 7, 2023 6:33:13 GMT
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman -- Mary's sister Cathy (played by Debralee Scott) is pregnant and is not sure which of her four lovers is the father. Several episodes focus on her pregnancy.
Jody Dallas (Billy Crystal), Mary's gay son, sleeps with Carol David (Rebecca Balding) once....and then there's a baby on the way. |
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Post by BunnyWhit on Jun 7, 2023 7:22:55 GMT
M*A*S*H -- "What's Up, Doc?" (1972, S. 6, Ep. 19) -- Margaret thinks she's pregnant, and Hawkeye does surgery on Radar's rabbit so they can find out for sure.
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