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Do you think having a character on a TV show have a baby tends to ruin the show?
Story lines have to change, too many plot stories revolve around the infant and tired parents, no sex, etc. I am worried that this is going to happen to The Office, which is one of my favorite shows.
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October 19, 2009 12:44 PM
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Oh yeah. I'm a parent, and even I don't want to see any baby/toddler jokes brought into my favorite shows. Spit up, breast pumps, and exhaustion jokes have been so overdone that it's tedious to watch.
In the case of The Office, I think we can guess some of the punchlines already:
-The whole cast (Oscar and new receptionist excluded, maybe) will be well-meaning toward the baby, but act completely inappropriately. Dwight will get them a disgusting/dangerous gift. Michael will try to rename the baby.
-Pam will have unfortunate breast feeding situations: Leaking breast milk on her shirt (which Dwight will turn into a livestock milking lecture). She'll bring breast milk for her coffee instead of creamer accidentally. Undoubtedly, Dwight WILL drink breast milk at some point. Or at least Michael will. Michael will bare his breasts in solidarity with her. You get the idea...
-Jim will suffer under paranoia of all sorts: Does the baby look like him? Is he being safety conscious enough?
It will be predictable and played out already on other shows. And really, are babies that cute or funny? HECK NO! Some of the most famous baby or kid introductions on the show were the most ANNOYING additions.
For Example:
``````````````````````
"The Cosby Show"
"Full House"
"Friends" (Phoebe was the rare exception, Rachel was tiresome)
"Mad About You"
"The Nanny" (yes, I watched it)
In case there's any doubt about if the writers will go there, just watch this clip from perhaps the ultimate example of a funny show gone bad after baby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suaa-8MKyQQ
In the case of The Office, I think we can guess some of the punchlines already:
-The whole cast (Oscar and new receptionist excluded, maybe) will be well-meaning toward the baby, but act completely inappropriately. Dwight will get them a disgusting/dangerous gift. Michael will try to rename the baby.
-Pam will have unfortunate breast feeding situations: Leaking breast milk on her shirt (which Dwight will turn into a livestock milking lecture). She'll bring breast milk for her coffee instead of creamer accidentally. Undoubtedly, Dwight WILL drink breast milk at some point. Or at least Michael will. Michael will bare his breasts in solidarity with her. You get the idea...
-Jim will suffer under paranoia of all sorts: Does the baby look like him? Is he being safety conscious enough?
It will be predictable and played out already on other shows. And really, are babies that cute or funny? HECK NO! Some of the most famous baby or kid introductions on the show were the most ANNOYING additions.
For Example:
``````````````````````
"The Cosby Show"
"Full House"
"Friends" (Phoebe was the rare exception, Rachel was tiresome)
"Mad About You"
"The Nanny" (yes, I watched it)
In case there's any doubt about if the writers will go there, just watch this clip from perhaps the ultimate example of a funny show gone bad after baby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suaa-8MKyQQ
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October 19, 2009 12:22 PM
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In general, yes, a plot change like that is a great indication that the writers are running out of interesting material. The first time I saw this, was with 'Mork and Mindy', the show I pretty much grew up with. I loved that show, until Mork and Mindy got married in the final season. They tried some pretty far-out ideas, like Mork becoming pregnant, laying an egg, and resulting in their 'child' being already aged, and aging backwards.
All of this were desperate attempts to save the series, but for me it totally alienated me form the series, and it was canceled at the end of that season.
The only show I know that actually managed to pull this off correctly is the excellent show 'Friends', where Rachel becomes pregnant. In this case, the pregnancy is perfectly integrated in the type of humor that is typical of the show, and it never occurred to me as awkward.
So I think it can actually be pulled off, but the plot twist is very dangerous. As for The Office, That show has some excellent story writers, and pregnancy at work can generate some really great situations. Let's hope they can pull it off too!
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All of this were desperate attempts to save the series, but for me it totally alienated me form the series, and it was canceled at the end of that season.
The only show I know that actually managed to pull this off correctly is the excellent show 'Friends', where Rachel becomes pregnant. In this case, the pregnancy is perfectly integrated in the type of humor that is typical of the show, and it never occurred to me as awkward.
So I think it can actually be pulled off, but the plot twist is very dangerous. As for The Office, That show has some excellent story writers, and pregnancy at work can generate some really great situations. Let's hope they can pull it off too!
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October 20, 2009 10:51 AM
I agree that writers seem to be running out of story lines when they add babies to the show. The odd thing is, after the baby arrives you almost never see it or hear it referred to by the rest of the family, and by the next season it's six years old but no one else in the family has aged. That's pretty silly.
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October 19, 2009 04:55 PM
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I think it depends, I doubt it will effect the Office. On the show half of the staff has kids, but you don't see them because the show revolves around their work at the Office. It won't effect the show at all. Also, the show Dexter has a baby in it now, and it's still as good, so it depends on the show.
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October 19, 2009 07:28 PM
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I Don't think that its the addition of a baby to the show that causes it to jump the shark, but its more the other way around.
When a show starts to run out of steam the creative team starts to panic. "What can we do now?" at which point one of the ideas is to make one of the characters (usually a woman unless they are REALLY out of ideas) pregnant. Other ideas include inventing a little green alien only one cast member can see, sending the main characters to prison, or getting the characters in the sitcom to write a sitcom about themselves...
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When a show starts to run out of steam the creative team starts to panic. "What can we do now?" at which point one of the ideas is to make one of the characters (usually a woman unless they are REALLY out of ideas) pregnant. Other ideas include inventing a little green alien only one cast member can see, sending the main characters to prison, or getting the characters in the sitcom to write a sitcom about themselves...
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