# Dealing with pregnancies on tv series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310 "2019-12-03T13:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/21 "2019-12-03T15:09:13Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > On _Friends_, Lisa Kudrow’s character became a surrogate mother for her brother’s triplets. They did basically the same on Deep Space 9 when Nana Visitor got pregnant… Since Kira getting pregnant wouldn’t have fit, they had her taking on the gestation of the second O’Brien child, Kirayoshi, after an accident where Keiko was injured and unable to safely carry the child. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/22 "2019-12-03T15:23:04Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > As it happens I was not one of those holding that view. In fact I pressed the guy making that claim for an example and his response was “back in the 50’s and 60’s they’d just get a new actress to play the role. This happened all the time on soap operas like Guiding Light or As the World Turns. Actors were a dime a dozen.” When further pressed he couldn’t remember the specific characters as “it was a long time ago”. This lack of specific examples is one of the reasons why I wanted to start this thread. I’m not saying this never happened as I’m really not familiar with soap operas, but I’m not aware of a single instance where it did. I was gonna say that the only place I can imagine that happening was on soap operas, because, due to their long running nature, they did often replace actors for characters. Sometimes they wrote elaborate story lines into it, or at least wrote them out temporarily until they could replace the actress, but sometimes they just did it. I even remember one time I saw the classic “\_\_\_\_\_ will be played by \_\_\_\_\_” announcement. I can’t remember the character or actor, but I believe it was on Days of Our Lives. I’m unaware of any of the reasons why they got rid of actors, but, if any type of show would replace actors for being pregnant, it would be soap operas. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/23 "2019-12-03T15:24:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > On _Angel_, Charisma Carpenter’s character hid the pregnancy for a while, then was impregnated by a demon, then was in a coma, and then the actress was fired. Wow, I was not aware of the circumstances surrounding her departure from the show. I just did some reading up on this, though, and it appears Joss Whedon may very well have fired her for getting pregnant. Boy, his stock price just took a tumble. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/24 "2019-12-03T15:26:26Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > They did basically the same on Deep Space 9 when Nana Visitor got pregnant… Since Kira getting pregnant wouldn’t have fit, they had her taking on the gestation of the second O’Brien child, Kirayoshi, after an accident where Keiko was injured and unable to safely carry the child. Ira Steven Behr credits his wife with coming up with that idea. So I think they made Keiko pregnant, then as Nana began to show they had the transporter accident. Kira did miss a few shows (vacationing on Bajor) after the baby was born. I love the scene where Kira tells Bashir, “This is all your fault!” It was his baby, so nice little nod to their relationship. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/25 "2019-12-03T15:57:16Z")
Didn’t they put Jaime Presley in a ‘fat suit’ on the tv show ‘Mom’ when she was pregnant? Same thing for January Jones on ‘Mad Men’? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/26 "2019-12-03T16:13:00Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > When Jane Leeves became pregnant during Frasier, her character began overeating and putting on weight. When she gave birth, the character was sent to a health farm to lose the extra weight. At one point, Daphne was exercising and couldn’t get up from the floor; it took Frasier, Niles and the father to get her standing. Then Martin mumbles **It took three Cranes to lift her!** On, “The Mentalist,” Amanda Righetti was pregnant during the fourth (fifth?) season and was kept behind a desk for a spell–her character was the computer nerd and spent a lot of time desk-bound anyway. When her baby came, her character was sent off to advanced computer nerd school in LA until Righetti could return–4-ish weeks. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/27 "2019-12-03T16:20:27Z")
During third season “Cheers,” pregnant Shelley Long was mostly filmed either behind the bar or from the neck up. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/28 "2019-12-03T16:29:14Z")
When Katey Sagal (Peggy Bundy on _Married with Children_) became pregnant in real life, they filmed numerous episodes in which Peggy was pregnant, much to the consternation of Al. Then, when Sagal had a miscarriage, Peggy’s pregnancy was written off as a bad dream that Al had. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/29 "2019-12-03T16:53:16Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > At one point, Daphne was exercising and couldn’t get up from the floor; it took Frasier, Niles and the father to get her standing. Then Martin mumbles **It took three Cranes to lift her!** There was also a line where Daphne is away at fat camp and Niles said, “She’s already lost nine pounds four ounces!” (or whatever it was.) So I’m assuming that was the weight of the baby. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/30 "2019-12-03T16:54:18Z")
Roxann Dawson became pregnant while filming _Star Trek: Voyager_. They had her character, B’Elanna Torres, wear loose fitting clothing and standing behind consoles. Although in one episode, the crew was brainwashed by the Hirogen and kept prisoner in a WWII holodeck simulation in the episode “The Killing Game”. B’Elanna was made to believe she was pregnant in the simulation and had a holographic baby bump. Courtney Thorne-Smith became pregnant during the seventh season of _According To Jim_. The producers wrote her pregnancy into the show, but IIRC she took maternity leave. Although her character, Cheryl, wasn’t written out of the show, she spoke to her family via video chat from Florida. She returned next season and she and Jim were the proud parents of twin boys, to go along with their other three children. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/31 "2019-12-03T16:57:23Z")
On The Nanny, they made fun of Seinfeld hiding Julia Louis Dryfess’s pregnancy by putting Elaine in huge coats and carrying huge purses, all the while putting Lauren Lane’s character C.C. in huge coats, carrying a big purse, holding a huge houseplant and displaying a sign for the real Broadway show BABY to supposedly “hide” her pregnancy. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/32 "2019-12-03T17:09:56Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > As it happens I was not one of those holding that view. In fact I pressed the guy making that claim for an example and his response was “back in the 50’s and 60’s they’d just get a new actress to play the role. This happened all the time on soap operas like Guiding Light or As the World Turns. Actors were a dime a dozen.” When further pressed he couldn’t remember the specific characters as “it was a long time ago”. This lack of specific examples is one of the reasons why I wanted to start this thread. I’m not saying this never happened as I’m really not familiar with soap operas, but I’m not aware of a single instance where it did. I remember there was some controversy when actress Hunter Tylo was cast on _Melrose Place_, but was fired before filming any episodes after she became pregnant, with Aaron Spelling arguing that she now wouldn’t be able to play the sexy role they had hired her for. As I recall, there was a lawsuit about it, but I don’t know the result. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/33 "2019-12-03T17:13:39Z")
Good grief! Does no one remember [Lucille Ball](https://tv.avclub.com/more-than-60-years-ago-a-pregnant-lucille-ball-couldn-1798239435) in 1952? And the article linked to mentions _Mary Kaye and Johnny_ – whoever they were – four years earlier. They couldn’t say “pregnant” on the air but her delicate condition was not hidden at all. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/34 "2019-12-03T17:58:49Z")
When Kerry Washington became pregnant during _Scandal_, they hid it by using camera angles that didn’t show her baby bump. It’s not necessarily enlightenment that pregnancies are written it; some shows wouldn’t work with a pregnancy story line. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/35 "2019-12-03T18:02:10Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Good grief! Does no one remember [Lucille Ball](https://tv.avclub.com/more-than-60-years-ago-a-pregnant-lucille-ball-couldn-1798239435) in 1952? And the article linked to mentions [I\*\*]Mary Kaye and Johnny\* – whoever they were \*\*-- four years earlier. They couldn’t say “pregnant” on the air but her delicate condition was not hidden at all. My bold. They have their own wiki page. Incidentally, first show to have a married couple sharing a bed. The second, according to legend, was The Flintstones. j ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/36 "2019-12-03T18:35:10Z")
Sorry - forgot the link to [Mary Kay and Johnny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_and_Johnny) _and_ missed the edit. j ---
**Author:** ![moojja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@moojja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moojja)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/37 "2019-12-03T18:39:18Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Wow, I was not aware of the circumstances surrounding her departure from the show. I just did some reading up on this, though, and it appears Joss Whedon may very well have fired her for getting pregnant. Boy, his stock price just took a tumble. Yes, that’s the first example that came to mind, when I saw OP’s post. The thing is unless there’s some industry insider here, we won’t know about the actresses that was fired due to pregnancy. Because the shows won’t admit it. They can always give some other reasons. In the case of Charisma Carpenter, she was asked to delay trying for a baby for several seasons. It’s all just rumors, but supposedly Sasha Alexander’s contract was not renewed for NCIS Season 2, because she expressed a desire to start planning for kids. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/38 "2019-12-03T19:36:38Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I remember there was some controversy when actress Hunter Tylo was cast on _Melrose Place_, but was fired before filming any episodes after she became pregnant, with Aaron Spelling arguing that she now wouldn’t be able to play the sexy role they had hired her for. As I recall, there was a lawsuit about it, but I don’t know the result. Tylo won the lawsuit. She was awarded $4,894,601. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/39 "2019-12-03T19:43:52Z")
When Tina Fey and Amy Poehler got pregnant, since they were writers and producers as well as actors on their shows (_30 Rock_ and _Parks & Recreation_), the shows ended their seasons early/started them late. IIRC, the premiere of P&R had to be pushed back because of Poehler’s pregnancy. Another one I can think of: _Kate & Allie_ - when Susan St. James was pregnant, they had her character break her leg (she fell down a staircase after tripping over a sewing machine Allie had hidden there) and showed her in bed most of the time recovering, then they had a flashback episode to when both Kate and Allie were pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310/40 "2019-12-03T19:48:27Z")
I think the shows should run this before every show. The actress should say: “I’m pregnant but the actors are going to ignore this. So are you! None of this stupid hiding it wth pillows or camera angles or huge clothes. If you don’t like it, tough!! So enjoy the show.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealing-with-pregnancies-on-tv-series/844310.md?page=3)