The pregnancy plot is one of the worst plotlines on television, partly because it’s overused and partly because it’s just unnecessary drama.
Really though. If you were to set up a bingo board with common TV tropes or plots, the pregnancy plot would be the “Free Space.”
Most shows have one at some point or another. One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights, The Vampire Diaries, Once Upon a Time, Gilmore Girls… There are just too many to name.
But, before I go any further, let’s define what I mean when I say the “pregnancy plot,” shall we?
The preg•nan•cy plot noun. A device used in far too many television plots in which a pregnancy is introduced in order to drum up (arguably unnecessary) drama. The pregnancy is usually unwanted (or viewed negatively) and a catalyst for young characters to grow up. Said pregnancy can be real or fake, with the latter being a major tool of female manipulation. (See also: The “discovering a child that wasn’t previously known to exist” plot)
I think that about covers the bulk of it.
The first few times I witnessed the pregnancy plot on TV, I thought it was fine. Mediocre at best. Children and babies have never really interested me, so I didn’t really feel one way or another about characters on my favorite shows being pregnant. It was whatever.
But then, I started noticing that every single one of the shows I watch incorporates at least one pregnancy plotline during its run. Every. One.
Not only that, but the plotlines weren’t incorporated in positive ways such as “we’re having a baby and I’m so excited!” It was more like the plot was used to create unnecessary drama between a male and female character or some sort of love triangle.
Think about it. When was the last time a pregnancy popped up on one of your favorite shows? Was it unwanted, or did it come as a surprise? Was it used as a tool of manipulation?
More importantly, had you seen the plot before and/or did you know where it all was leading?
If TV shows were to use the pregnancy plot in a way that provides interesting and important social commentary (such as focus on a woman’s right to choose), I would be much more willing to accept and be interested in it. But that’s not generally what it’s used for.
More often than not, pregnancies are thrown into shows to create tension between a few characters. To test friendships and relationships. While that sounds like a great exercise in character development, the plot generally falls short of that goal.
How? Well, there’s the ever-popular false positive pregnancy test result or the hard decision to terminate the pregnancy, both of which end with the characters (more often than not) reverting back to their original selves. So, while the story’s furthered by the pregnancy plot (in terms of romantic relationships, generally), the characters’ personalities usually remain relatively unchanged.
You would think that after going through something as emotional as the thought of an impending pregnancy, characters’ personalities would change slightly. They’d become more responsible or take stock of their lives. Reflect a little and learn from the experience. But nope. That hardly ever happens.
If anything changes, it’s the relationship between the two characters involved. Even then, there are other events or situations that could be utilized to move a relationship along but a pregnancy is the easiest. After all, the pregnancy plot can do one of two things for relationships: strengthen them or dissolve them (and since drama is usually the point of the plot, its the latter that’s the most common outcome).
Another common type of pregnancy plot is one with a long break between the discovery of the pregnancy and the final result. TV shows utilize pregnancies as shock value for season or mid-season finales just to keep audiences buzzing and wanting to come back for more. Then, once the show returns, the baby is either born already or something cancelling the pregnancy scare occurs during the time gap.
By just showing the shock of the pregnancy reveal and of the aftermath, shows don’t have to get involved with all of the details of a pregnancy, logistical or otherwise. Sidelining the less shocking details allows shows to move quickly because their audience isn’t thinking too hard about what they’re not seeing. It’s an “out of sight, out of mind” sort of predicament, which helps shows keep a rapid storytelling pace.
Take Friday Night Lights, for example. Quite a few of the seasons ended with a pregnancy bombshell or announcement. The one in the first season was at least different from a lot of other pregnancies on TV just because it was Mrs. Tami Taylor who was pregnant, not a doe-eyed teen. And yet, the bulk of her pregnancy happened during the break between seasons, with Mrs. Taylor giving birth in the premiere of the second season. Sure, the show does tackle new mom problems, but it also makes it obvious that Tami’s pregnancy was a catalyst for Coach Taylor returning to Dillon.
Oh, and then in the second season finale, Jason Street finds out that a woman he had a one night stand with is pregnant. They have an interesting conversation about the woman’s choice vs. the fact that Jason may never have another opportunity to have a child, but it’s cut off by the end of the episode. It would have been really interesting to see more of that conflict but, instead, the following season premiere tells us what the couple decided and we just have to go with it, no questions asked. It’s incredibly irritating.
On the flip side of that, it’s also frustrating to watch a pregnancy plot unfold over nine months (in TV time) when it completely takes over the life of a woman. Yes, pregnancy changes a woman completely. However, on a show, the pregnancy defines the woman. So, while there is character growth, it’s only in terms of the pregnancy, from conception through birth.
After that? Well, a baby and all of the care that goes into raising one gets in the way of storytelling. It slows things down. Makes other dramatic tropes hard to do. So, a lot of times, shows will wrap up a pregnancy plot with a glorious new mother hospital scene and then do a soft reset on the character so that they’re ready for their next dramatic arc. How? With a quick mention of an adoption or by completely downplaying the responsibilities of being a parent. (That, or shows will just completely sideline the new parental character to keep them out of the way. How fun!)
Basically, what these drama-fueled pregnancy plots don’t take into account is the life and experience of the actual baby. The pregnancy is seen as a plot-driver or barrier, but never as something that leads to an actual child. A child whose life will be affected by all of the drama going on around its inception. If you think about it, it’s really strange how much the actual result of a pregnancy is removed from the pregnancy itself.
If pregnancies weren’t played for shock value, pseudo character development, or new mother glory shots so often, I wouldn’t groan loudly (or, more common lately, yell at my screen and then tweet about it) every time a TV show introduced one.
I want to see how my favorite characters react to the possibility of having a baby together. I’d be interested to see the planning and introspection that’s involved when a couple is expecting as well as the full follow through. But, at the same time, I’d like to see something else stretch the personalities of my favorite characters.
If done right, pregnancies on shows should completely change the characters and, for the most part, I don’t want that. Do I want my characters to grow? Yes. But do I want all of them to change drastically? No thank you. The ones who are well established, yes, but not all of them. Not like that.
The pregnancy plot works in One Tree Hill, for example, because Haley and Nathan’s characters are well-established by the time it’s introduced. We already got to know them, both as a couple and as individuals. Different plots and situations pushed them to slowly evolve and grow in a really meaningful and rich way. So much so that when it was time for the pregnancy plot, I was okay with it. I was ready to see these characters change in new ways. It was a shocking reveal, but it felt natural at the same time.
Above all though, the pregnancy plot is just too easy to write. It’s an easy excuse to keep two characters apart. It’s an easy way to drive a wedge between a couple or between friends. While it can sometimes be done well, it’s mostly just lazy writing.
I’d like to think that we’re in the renaissance of TV right now. There have never been more quality shows being produced than right now. So, with all of these talented people working on shows, I expect more creative kinds of drama. New twists on old plots (such as Jane the Virgin kicking off their show by taking on the pregnancy plot or a show seriously tackling diseases as the outcome of sex). Heck, I expect new plots altogether. I’d just really like to see other situations, instead of pregnancies, test the moral fiber and limits of my favorite characters and ships.
The pregnancy plot needs to die so that better storytelling and character development can occur. I’ll bury it myself if that means I never have to see it (or groan at it) ever again.