Fannish Friday 5

[semielliptical]

Five unfortunate uses of pregnancy as a plot device.

Comments

[rhi]

I don't think I have five, but that icon is so very much #1 of the fandoms I have that have done this....

[semielliptical]

I'm always happy when I have an icon that can answer the question!

[amalnahurriyeh]

CO-SIGN TIMES A MILLION

[shistavanenjedi]

I could come up with 4, though there is probably something out there that is just as awful.

http://shistavanenjedi.dreamwidth.org/103764.html

[ar]

I can't think of five, either, so here, just have my one, the one that proves I have Way Too Many Feelings about a mediocre sitcom from the late 90s:

Richard and Julia on Caroline in the City. The entire show went pretty much off the rails at the close of its final season, but of all people to give a kid, Richard Karinsky is one of the worst options. (Also a bad option? Del. And yet Stephie exists. SIGH, FOURTH SEASON, SIGH. But she wasn't a pregnancy plot, just a "also, you fathered a child twelve years ago" plot.) Richard's one of the strongest elements of the show; Malcolm Gets does a great job with his material and has pretty good chemistry with Lea Thompson. But he's fun because he's a curmudgeon, a pretentious Jewish atheist painter who hates kids, loves being an ass to Caroline's BFF, and doesn't pay his student loans. He's not fun because you put a tiny little baby next to him (and I say this as someone who loves putting tiny little babies next to characters).

The problem with introducing a baby to him is twofold: First, it warps his personality so quickly as to be an unbelievable change. I could believe him eventually warming a little to the idea of a kid, but they don't put in any of the work for that to happen. Second, the kid is there because he's a handy plot device, not because it's a good idea. Caroline and Richard were on the rocks because Caroline wants to have children and Richard doesn't. Give Richard a kid and prove that he won't break it, and suddenly they're back together again. Or, you know, would be, if the show hadn't been canceled. ILU, Caroline in the City, but you are so frustrating.

...Also, Stefano was an ugly little baby, I am sorry. Stefano Karinsky is admittedly a pretty bamf name, though.

[amadi]

If you have Way Too Many Feelings About A Mediocre Sitcom From the Late 90s so do I, because that was the second that came to mind.