# television shows that decided to add kids **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276 "2018-03-27T14:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/21 "2018-03-27T21:28:37Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The ones where they have a baby one season, the next season the kid is four or five already! There’s a name for this trope: SORAS, which stands for [Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera_rapid_aging_syndrome). So named, obviously enough, because it was a common practice on daytime soap operas which tended to feature characters becoming pregnant and having babies a lot more often than episodic prime time series. Of course nowadays most prime time shows have ongoing storylines, so they followed suit. Having adult or even teen characters undergo a pregnancy can be an exciting plot development. But after the kid is born, saddling said character with a baby often limits what she can or can’t do, and babies and little kids under about eight years old just can’t be relied on to behave on set. So babies are shuffled off to the background, being taken care of by a sitter or grandparent, only to emerge as kids who are just old enough to behave on set and even semi-plausibly deliver lines. Often times, babies get written into shows because the actress in question gets pregnant in real life, and its simply a lot easier to write the pregnancy in than to perpetually hide the actress. For example, in the third season of “Cheers”, BOTH Rhea Pearlman and Shelley Long got pregnant at the same time. While it was plausible that Pearlman’s character Carla would get “knocked up”, it didn’t seem likely that Long’s character Diane would get pregnant (and also, having BOTH regular female characters become pregnant at the same time would lead to repetitive stories.) So in-universe, Carla became pregnant and the show just carried on, but the producers had to constantly have Diane behind the bar (to hide her belly) or seated at a desk. It was apparently an enormous difficult to keep hiding Long baby belly hidden from view. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/22 "2018-03-27T21:37:02Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > And now there are two of them. They’re taking after their grandmother. Heard but not seen. [Foghorn Leghorn] I say that’s a joke son [/Foghorn Leghorn] ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/23 "2018-03-27T22:55:22Z")
\*\*\*Bewitched \*\*\*is pretty much the only show I remember to have handled small children well. They were lucky to find a little girl who could play Tabitha so well when she was tiny. (At first, they used different infants who could not be told apart.) Charlene Tilton got pregnant while working on _ **Dallas** _. She too had to be photographed while standing behind tall chairs, or just from the shoulders up. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/24 "2018-03-28T01:35:49Z")
What about when _Mork and Mindy_ added Johnathan Winters? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/25 "2018-03-28T04:42:52Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > My Three Sons is a great show! It’s on either MeTV or Antenna TV - don’t remember which early in the morning. I record it every day. I loved it when I was a kid and love it even more now. Ernie and Uncle Charlie have some great lines. > > But back to added kids…Dodie ruined the show. All added kids ruined the shows. Kind of like “jumping the shark”. It’s pretty much over when random kids get added. Of course, the show had already thrived for several years with an added kid (Ernie) after oldest brother Mike grew up and moved out. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/26 "2018-03-28T04:46:34Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Of course, the show had already thrived for several years with an added kid (Ernie) after oldest brother Mike grew up and moved out. Having Barbara have that young of a daughter was ridiculous, but I guess if a younger actress was cast, people would have thought Steve was robbing the cradle. The addition of Dodie was totally not needed IMO. She was gratingly annoying. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/27 "2018-03-28T13:30:42Z")
What about Blossom adding Kennedy? Her (yes, her) name says it all. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/28 "2018-03-28T14:56:42Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > What about Blossom adding Kennedy? Her (yes, her) name says it all. Kennedy is meant to be British but the American kid playing her’s attempt at a British accent sounds closer to Chinese! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/29 "2018-03-29T00:21:03Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Worf’s kid on Star Trek TNG was a whiny brat that didn’t want to be warrior. Klingons are warriors! sheesh > > Thankfully they shipped his butt off to Worf’s parents on earth. He didn’t stay there long, tho, coming back quite a bit on TNG, and ultimately aged up again to a whiny teenager who \*\*did \*\*want to be a warrior on DS9. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/30 "2018-03-29T01:01:13Z")
Does Dawn count on Buffy the Vampire Slayer? :-)) ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/31 "2018-03-29T12:08:40Z")
There was a kid’s show on Disney, Good Luck Charlie. The original youngest child, a toddler was a little girl named Charlie and each episode would end with the older sister wishing her luck as she grew up and experienced what the big sister was going through. Anyway, they decided to add another child to the family. Why? No idea, except maybe they thought Charlie was getting too old and they thought a baby would boost ratings. It was a cute show but didn’t need the addition of another kid. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/32 "2018-03-31T03:45:24Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Does Dawn count on Buffy the Vampire Slayer? :-)) Of course not. She was there from the very beginning, on the very first episode. Don’t you remember her being all annoying and whiny about having to move to Sunnydale??? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/33 "2018-04-03T02:09:17Z")
Worst: “Max Shulman’s Dobie Gillis” in its four season adding “Cousin Duncan”, a 15 year old left by Herbert T’s brother so he could pursue a country and western career. They had this 15 year old on for seven episodes while Zelda Gilroy and Chatsworth Osborne Jr were only in four. Professor Leander Pomfritt was eliminated. They felt that Dwayne Hickman at age 28, while playing a college student, was too old to always be the hapless loser chasing women so bring in a teenager to hang with Maynard and Dobie-with-a-b can be the wiser older influence. They tried that in the first season with Dobie’s older brother Davey (played by Darryl Hickman) and it didn’t work; Davey going to where Chuck Cunningham, Adam Cartwright and Mike Douglas end up. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/34 "2018-04-03T05:11:10Z")
Adam Cartwright and Mike Douglas both went “out East”. Reminds me of how \*Neighbours \*would send departing characters to Brisbane or Darwin. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/35 "2018-04-03T05:41:17Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I absolutely loved “Married with Children”, but they laid an egg when they added the child called “Seven” to the show. He bombed so bad that they wrote him out of the show by having an episode where Al woke up and realized the whole thing had been just a dream. IIRC, the actress who played the mom got pregnant, the pregnancy was written into the show, and then the “dream” thing happened when the real-life baby was stillborn. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/36 "2018-04-03T13:37:48Z")
No mention of Roseanne yet. Jerry was added when Roseanne got pregnant IRL, Andy was added when Laurie Metcalf got pregnant IRL, and Harris was added at the last show. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/37 "2018-04-03T14:59:22Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > IIRC, the actress who played the mom got pregnant, the pregnancy was written into the show, and then the “dream” thing happened when the real-life baby was stillborn. No, as described above - the “it was all a dream” thing happened in season 6, when Katey Sagal was actually pregnant, so they wrote her pregnancy into the show (and made Marcy pregnant too). When her child was stillborn, they wrote her out of a few episodes by sending her to Wanker county, and ended the pregnancy arc with Al’s dream. The next season opened with Peggy’s cousins abandoning Seven at their house. He quietly disappeared about half way through the season. Sagal actually had 2 children later in MWC’s run, but they kept her pregnancy off air on both of those, with camera tricks & more Wanker county episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/38 "2018-04-03T16:30:59Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Worst: “Max Shulman’s Dobie Gillis” in its four season adding “Cousin Duncan”, a 15 year old left by Herbert T’s brother so he could pursue a country and western career. They had this 15 year old on for seven episodes while Zelda Gilroy and Chatsworth Osborne Jr were only in four. Professor Leander Pomfritt was eliminated. They felt that Dwayne Hickman at age 28, while playing a college student, was too old to always be the hapless loser chasing women so bring in a teenager to hang with Maynard and Dobie-with-a-b can be the wiser older influence. They tried that in the first season with Dobie’s older brother Davey (played by Darryl Hickman) and it didn’t work; Davey going to where Chuck Cunningham, Adam Cartwright and Mike Douglas end up. > [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > Adam Cartwright and Mike Douglas both went “out East”. Reminds me of how \*Neighbours \*would send departing characters to Brisbane or Darwin. And Chuck Cunningham went to college. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/39 "2018-04-03T23:09:27Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Peg’s pregnancy was written off as a dream, but Seven just disappeared without a reason. This reminds me of McMillan and Wife – at one time Susan St. James is visibly _very_ pregnant and there is dialogue about the upcoming baby – but the next episode (which was a couple of months later as M&W was part of the rotating NBC Sunday Mystery Movie) SSJ was no longer pregnant and there was no mention of a baby! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/40 "2018-04-03T23:19:27Z")
It happened on _Bones_, that weird show (don’t ever watch while eating dinner) about the Asperger-y forensic anthropologist and her ex-FBI not-really-my-boyfriend-then-suddenly-my-husband guy. It was a pretty interesting program up until then. Also on _Law & Order:Special Victims Unit_, Olivia Benson adopted the baby of a drug addict, and the presence of that kid totally screwed up the dynamics of the program. Especially after Brooke Shields showed up as his borderline grandmother. Leave the kids out of it and just stick to the formula that has been working. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276.md?page=3)