# Sitcoms: Creative ways of hiding actor's pregnancy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 12, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421 "2010-07-12T17:11:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/1 "2010-07-12T17:11:30Z")
On sitcoms, a lot of times actors will be pregnant when actors aren’t. I started thinking about funny ways that they’ve hidden it because I’ve been watching Frasier a lot lately. When Jane Leeves was pregnant, they explained her weight gain by saying that Daphne had an overeating disorder. Later, when she actually had the baby they sent the character away to a weight loss spa where in therapy she learned that she was putting on weight as a way of dealing with the fact that Niles was putting her on a pedestal.
It was definitely a change from “let’s film her from the waist up” or have the actor holding a paper bag in front of her stomach.
Any other good ones?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/2 "2010-07-12T18:00:49Z")
In **Cheers** , they hid Shelley Long’s pregnancy by keeping her behind the bar and, in one case, having her stuck in one of the ducts under the floor.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/3 "2010-07-12T18:32:31Z")
I think it was _Everybody Loves Raymond_ - I haven’t watched a modern sitcom in decades, so I’m not sure - where there was an episode where the pregnant actress spent most of the episode on the floor stuck under the sink or something, they cut a hole in the floor for her belly. She said it was the most awesome shoot she’d ever been on, because she hadn’t been able to lie down on her stomach for months.
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/4 "2010-07-12T18:44:16Z")
Hey, do you know the difference between peanut butter and jam?
And with that…we didn’t see Lily again for four weeks.
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### Author:  [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/5 "2010-07-12T18:45:48Z")
I remember seeing Will and Grace when Deborah messing was pregnant and essentially they had her in a sweat suit and everyone made fun of her weight.
It really didn’t work though because it was so obvious. All her weight was in her front belly and face, you know like how women look a lot of time when they’re pregnant.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/6 "2010-07-12T19:06:24Z")
That’s a good one for Everybody Loves Raymond. One more thing about the Frasier one that I liked–when Roz asks Niles how Daphne’s doing at the spa, at one point he says she’s lost 9 lbs 2 oz (or something–it was the weight of the baby Jane Leeves gave birth to).
Lisa Kudrow’s on Friends was also sort of creative. I mean, she was pregnant on the show, too, but carrying her brother’s triplets. That’s got to get some marks for creativity.
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### Author:  [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/7 "2010-07-12T19:12:24Z")
Not a sitcom but when Gillian Anderson got pregnant her character on The X Files was abducted by aliens.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/8 "2010-07-12T19:26:23Z")
I think what they did to Jane Leeves/Daphne was horrible. The worst possible way of dealing with it. The opposite of creative.
The best way to deal with it is to have someone come on at the beginning of an episode and say “Jane is pregnant in real life. She won’t be pregant on the show. We are happy for her and her family.”, etc. And then just do the show normally. Think of how much better that can turn out in cases like Katey Sagal on _MwC_.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/9 "2010-07-12T20:13:35Z")
But then someone years later would be here on the board complaining that “What a lame way to deal with it.”
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/10 "2010-07-12T20:16:42Z")
One of the funniest was on _The Nanny_. When the actress who played CC became pregnant her character (assistant to a Broadway producer named Maxwell Sheffield for those not familiar) went to see her boss to tell him the actress in their play was pregnant and they began to brainstorm ways to hide it. “You can have her carry in a box I suppose, or put her behind the chair… or carry around a sign…” and of course for each brainstorming the actress playing CC was doing just that.
I can’t remember what play they were producing but it’s a real play- let’s pretend it was _The Miracle Worker_. CC suggests working it into the plot and Maxwell says “No, we can’t have a pregnant Annie Sullivan, it spoils everything if that character is pregnant!” Finally they said something to the effect of “I guess we’ll just have to conceal it some way or other and hope the audience goes along with it”, which of course got a huge applause. Thereafter she’s usually seen behind a sofa or otherwise one of the usual ways of hiding it.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/11 "2010-07-12T20:23:50Z")
> [@ftg](#):
>
> I think what they did to Jane Leeves/Daphne was horrible. The worst possible way of dealing with it. The opposite of creative.
>
> The best way to deal with it is to have someone come on at the beginning of an episode and say “Jane is pregnant in real life. She won’t be pregant on the show. We are happy for her and her family.”, etc. And then just do the show normally. Think of how much better that can turn out in cases like Katey Sagal on _MwC_.
But wouldn’t having someone say that at the beginning of the episode be an uncreative way of dealing with it? Then you’re just telling the audience instead of making a joke or way around it.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/12 "2010-07-12T20:24:01Z")
> [@ftg](#):
>
> The worst possible way of dealing with it.
[This](http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-20115949/tylo-wins-5-million.html) may be a worse way of dealing with it.
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### Author:  [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/13 "2010-07-12T20:28:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> But then someone years later would be here on the board complaining that “What a lame way to deal with it.”
But it’s true. If someone, years later, said that was a horrible way to deal with it, they would be right. It’s much better to do something sneaky and tricky. Producers speaking directly to the audience to explain that the show makes no sense and that they’re not going to do anything to hide it is bad TV.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/14 "2010-07-12T20:39:14Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#):
>
> But it’s true. If someone, years later, said that was a horrible way to deal with it, they would be right. It’s much better to do something sneaky and tricky. Producers speaking directly to the audience to explain that the show makes no sense and that they’re not going to do anything to hide it is bad TV.
Yeah. Like if an actor can’t be on the show anymore for another reason, I don’t want the producers coming on telling us why. It’s going to affect the show so they should come up with some reason to get them off. Like on Beverly Hills 90210, the way they got rid of Brenda was sort of half assed, but it made more sense than saying, “Shannen Doherty was just a bitch. Make up a reason why Brenda isn’t here now.”
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/15 "2010-07-12T22:51:32Z")
> [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](#):
>
> Not a sitcom but when Gillian Anderson got pregnant her character on The X Files was abducted by aliens.
I thought of that too, there was a brief scene where she was shown being inflated by aliens, wasn’t there? 😕
Star Trek sort of hid someone’s pregnancy. In some bizarre contrivance, one character had to have another character’s baby beamed inside them, to allow its survival after the mother was injured :dubious:
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/16 "2010-07-12T23:50:26Z")
> [@Pushkin](#):
>
> I thought of that too, there was a brief scene where she was shown being inflated by aliens, wasn’t there? 😕
>
> Star Trek sort of hid someone’s pregnancy. In some bizarre contrivance, one character had to have another character’s baby beamed inside them, to allow its survival after the mother was injured :dubious:
Yep, Keiko O’Brien suffered an accident that and Dr Bashir saved both of them by transferring the fetus into Kira Nerys’s womb. Nana Visitor was pregnant in real life, but he producers didn’t want to saddle Maj. Kira with a baby.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/17 "2010-07-12T23:55:50Z")
One of my favorite treatments of this issue was in “Monk” - the actress playing Natalie Teeger was pregnant, and in most episodes they handled that the usual way, by minimizing her role for a few episodes, and having her behind big objects in other episodes, but once they did a really amusing bit - the character was placed in a situation where she needed to pretend to be pregnant, so the actress could just be herself.
Also in HIMYM, Allyson Hannigan showed off her baby bump a couple of times - each time, just after she had won a hot dog eating contest, and thus had a reason to have a large belly.
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/18 "2010-07-13T00:35:04Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> Also in HIMYM, Allyson Hannigan showed off her baby bump a couple of times - each time, just after she had won a hot dog eating contest, and thus had a reason to have a large belly.
I didn’t think that was more than once.
I also remember that they had Lily (Alyson) storm off upset after hearing Barney (NPH) tell a truly filthy joke, and the other guys laughed at it, or something like that. She wasn’t seen until two episodes later.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/19 "2010-07-13T00:37:40Z")
> [@chrisk](#):
>
> I didn’t think that was more than once.
Twice in one episode - once in a flashback to Lily’s original setting of the hot dog eating record, and once at the end of the episode, when Lily beat her own record (and updated her resume)
> [@](#):
>
> I also remember that they had Lily (Alyson) storm off upset after hearing Barney (NPH) tell a truly filthy joke, and the other guys laughed at it, or something like that. She wasn’t seen until two episodes later.
Or was it four episodes?
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### Author:  [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-creative-ways-of-hiding-actors-pregnancy/546421/20 "2010-07-13T01:05:26Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#):
>
> Lisa Kudrow’s on Friends was also sort of creative. I mean, she was pregnant on the show, too, but carrying her brother’s triplets. That’s got to get some marks for creativity.
I thought that one worked pretty well. It had already been established that her brother’s wife was much older (his former high school teacher), so it made sense that they’d have fertility problems. And Phoebe’s life was wacky enough that it would have been uncomfortable for her to be expecting to care for a child of her own, but at the same time wacky enough that it seemed in-character for her to be carrying her brother’s triplets.
When the actress who played Meris on _Frasier_ was pregnant, they hid it by having her remain off-camera. 😉
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