# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/61 "2018-05-03T19:06:47Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Peg’s pregnancy was written off as a dream, but Seven just disappeared without a reason. You’re right. [**From Wikia’s Fandom:**](http://marriedwithchildren.wikia.com/wiki/Seven) > [@](#): > > He appeared on the seventh season of Married with Children in a handful of episodes, then disappeared without any explanation other than a quick mention by the D’Arcys that he showed up in their house and won’t leave. They claim they want to rename him, and possibly begin taking care of him, but that’s the last time he is referred to. > > He was an extremely unpopular character with the fans. However, in season eight, in the episode “Kelly Knows Something”, Kelly is studying for a trivia show. As she learns new information, you visually see her forgetting other things. One thing that “pops out of her head” is an image of Seven. There is a scene where a carton of milk is held up at the Bundy’s breakfast table and a picture of Seven is shown on the carton under the heading “Missing” but the Bundys don’t seem to notice, or care. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/62 "2018-05-03T19:20:18Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The ones where they have a baby one season, the next season the kid is four or five already! - The Thumdermans\* handled this by having super-growth being one of the baby’s powers. Yes, the Cub is watching a lot of Nickledeon shows. Why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/63 "2018-05-03T19:55:31Z")
> [@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. To be fair, Ernie was an added kid too! The original 3 sons were Mike, Robbie and Chip. Ernie had appeared in a couple episodes the prior season as Chip’s friend. When oldest brother Mike left the show, they needed a third son, so they came up with the premise that Ernie was a foster child living with neighbors, the neighbors had to move or something, and Steve and family adopted Ernie instead because they already knew and loved him. I remember the social services people wouldn’t place Ernie with them at first because there was no mother in the home, until it was pointed out that Bub (or Uncle Charlie by then?) acted as the mother figure. I know all this thanks to Nick at Night - The Mike-to-Ernie switch happened before I was old enough to watch the show when it was on broadcast. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/64 "2018-05-03T20:01:19Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Family Ties pulled this one. Not that they didn’t have other crimes under their belt (they were the king of clip shows :rolleyes: ), but this one was so blatant. Baby one season, four-year-old the next. Blammo. > [@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. Both characters, Andy Keaton and Alexander Rozhenko, were played by the same actor, Brian Bonsall. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/65 "2018-05-03T20:04:11Z")
The Cosby Show added an older child (Sabrina le Beauf), who wasn’t mentioned at all until well into the first season. We always wondered if it was a last-minute decision to cover their tails because Cosby said “we have 5 kids” when clearly they were only showing 4. I suspect they planned it all along, though it seemed clumsy. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/66 "2018-05-03T20:16:35Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > The Cosby Show added an older child (Sabrina le Beauf), who wasn’t mentioned at all until well into the first season. > > We always wondered if it was a last-minute decision to cover their tails because Cosby said “we have 5 kids” when clearly they were only showing 4. > > I suspect they planned it all along, though it seemed clumsy. Actually, in the pilot episode, Clair asked, “Why did we have four children?” and Cliff responded, “Because we didn’t want five.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/67 "2018-05-03T21:29:52Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > The most (only) interesting thing about Seven was that his parents were Bobcat Goldthwait and Linda Blair. … blinks slowly… That’s an, uh, an interesting pairing. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/68 "2018-05-04T01:31:26Z")
> [@Tread](#): > > Since this is a plot device that has been around for years, and brought us many annoying kids, and many shark jumps, here is my question… > Is there any instances of the new kid on a show, actually working? IMHO…yes and no. Dawn on _Buffy The Vampire Slayer_ seemed to be intentionally spoofing the usual tropes (e.g. She Was Always There From The Beginning, even though she actually wasn’t), at least when the story arc revolved around her being this extradimensional object given human form to hide her from the Big Bad. But once that arc was done, the writers didn’t seem to know what to do with her, and so they fell right into the standard Cousin Oliver traps. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/69 "2018-05-04T01:38:16Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > 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. In an extreme case, Diane was shown in face only, looking up from a floor heating duct. I forget how she got there; it’s probably a plot they’d prefer to forget. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/70 "2018-05-04T01:40:09Z")
Barbara was way too old for the sixties to have a daughter Dodie’s age. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2018, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/71 "2018-05-04T02:19:39Z")
> [@Tread](#): > > Since this is a plot device that has been around for years, and brought us many annoying kids, and many shark jumps, here is my question… > Is there any instances of the new kid on a show, actually working? Quite a few. The afore mentioned My Three Sons thrived after the addition of Ernie. I Love Lucy did fine, as did The Dick Van Dyke show. Bewitched did well after adding a child, then after adding a second one. There’s probably more that I don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/72 "2018-05-04T02:49:37Z")
72 posts it took to mention William, Mulder and Scully’s kid from The X-Files? Loyal viewers of the show knew there was no WAY the writers (all young and male, seemingly) could successfully write a baby into a show about rogue FBI agents fighting an oncoming alien invasion, and their fears were richly realized. Chris Carter’s complete cluelessness in how to handle William continued to the very end when the confused writers, at a loss in coming up with a way to resolve the dilemma in an emotionally satisfying way, just decided to ship him off to some unsuspecting farmers in Montana. Good job, everyone. Good fucking job. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/73 "2018-05-04T19:52:33Z")
> [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > Barbara was way too old for the sixties to have a daughter Dodie’s age. Huh? Beverly Garland (Barbara) was born in October 1926 and Dawn Lyn (Dodie) was born in January 1963. Dodie was supposed to be 5 since they joined the show in the fall of 1969. Not sure about Barbara’s age but it is probably close to Garland’s real age. My mother was 36 when she gave birth to her last child and when I was 17, one of my classmates, who already had a 19 year old sister, got a baby sister when his parents had another child. Worst child addition ever has to be the 10 year old daughter Maddie of Ally McBeal in season 5 because of a mix up with the eggs she stored at a coinic. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/74 "2018-05-04T20:56:01Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Quite a few. The afore mentioned My Three Sons thrived after the addition of Ernie. I Love Lucy did fine, as did The Dick Van Dyke show. Bewitched did well after adding a child, then after adding a second one. There’s probably more that I don’t remember. _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ never added a kid, Richie was there from the beginning. There was an episode showing his birth, but that was a flashback. For all the hatred that Scrappy Doo gets, and it is deserved, as [Mark Evanier](https://www.newsfromme.com/writings/scrappy-days/), who wrote the first Scrappy episode, points out, Scrappy accomplished what he was intended to accomplish. Namely, he got _Scooby Doo_ renewed for a few more seasons, after it had been on the verge of cancellation. In that sense, he “worked.” ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/75 "2018-05-11T07:31:02Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Quite a few. The afore mentioned My Three Sons thrived after the addition of Ernie. I Love Lucy did fine, as did The Dick Van Dyke show. Bewitched did well after adding a child, then after adding a second one. There’s probably more that I don’t remember. Arguably “I Love Lucy” added a child in name only - Little Ricky appeared in very, very few episodes and was rarely a major plot element. In the case of Bewitched: adding a child was more of an expect-able thing, given that the show featured a young, newly-married couple - i.e. kids happen. They were added fairly reasonably, not jump-the-shark’ed in like Seven or Cousin Oliver. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/76 "2018-05-11T14:13:38Z")
> [@Tread](#): > > Since this is a plot device that has been around for years, and brought us many annoying kids, and many shark jumps, here is my question… > Is there any instances of the new kid on a show, actually working? Assuming you can call a 20 year old a new kid, adding Ronnie Burns to the “George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” helped, or at least didn’t hurt. Ronnie had appeared a few times before (as did his sister Sandra, both were adopted children by George and Gracie) sometims as himself, other times as different characters. But in season 6 which had the Burns and their friends the Mortons living in a hotel in New York City, Ronnie joined the cast full time as as aspiring serious actor embarrassed by his father’s vaudeville routines (Sandra did not like acting and only appeared in a few bit roles). The following year everyone moved back to Beverly Hills and Ronnie was now a girl chasing college student. The wiki bio on Ronnie says his addition was popular with younger viewers. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/77 "2018-05-11T14:16:24Z")
I couldn’t stand Brian Bonsall (“Bonsall the Tonsil”). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/78 "2018-05-11T14:39:05Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ never added a kid, Richie was there from the beginning. There was an episode showing his birth, but that was a flashback… Not to mention the flashback episode dealing with Richie’s middle name, Rosebud (acronym for Robert Oscar Sam Edward Benjamin Ulysses David. I’m so ashamed of myself for remembering that). As with Little Ricky on I Love Lucy, it’s interesting to note that in both cases, the child was not onscreen all that much. Relatively few episodes had them as major players. The kids were definitely not central to the show, unlike many others of the era. I wonder if there’s a correlation between those child actors doing better in life than actors who were stars of their respective shows (Father Knows Best, Diff’rent Strokes, and so on). /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Shearer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/57b2e6/32.png) [@Shearer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shearer)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/79 "2018-05-11T16:20:58Z")
Only Fools and Horses went downhill when they added wives and kids ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276/80 "2018-05-11T19:16:40Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The ones where they have a baby one season, the next season the kid is four or five already! > [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Family Ties pulled this one. Not that they didn’t have other crimes under their belt (they were the king of clip shows :rolleyes: ), but this one was so blatant. Baby one season, four-year-old the next. Blammo. Unless the story doesn’t work with the child being older, there’s no reason they shouldn’t do this. A sitcom isn’t an attempt to realistically portray fake lives in documentary form. There’s no good reason they should subject this to continuity rules. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-shows-that-decided-to-add-kids/811276.md?page=5)