Five Ways TV Shows Work Around Pregnant Stars

I talked about how Patricia Heaton was pregnant on Everybody Loves Raymond, twice actually. But she sure isn’t the first woman to be pregnant on a sitcom that refused to acknowledge the pregnancy on camera. Of course sometimes they do acknowledge, but that causes other headaches. Like when Lucille Ball was pregnant and couldn’t use the word, for reasons I’ll never understand.

So how do you keep the actress on the show when she is getting bigger and bigger? Well some shows have to resort interesting extremes. Others don’t do very much at all. Here’s a look :

Close Up’s and other Camera Tricks
This is an easy one, but editing and camera tricks help a lot. Pre-production helps to, like how a lot of Amy Poehler’s scenes were filmed in advance on Parks and Recreation. Or how they shortened the season of Sex and the City when Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant. There are close-up’s like the one’s I mention in my ELR reviews. You can tell by the tight shots of Debra that something is off.

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 4, Part 2)

 Season 4, Episode 6
The Sister

Plot Summary-Debra’s sister visits and announces she’s going to become a nun.

Nitpick of the episode-Why is Debra such a witch when Ray tries to talk to her about what is bothering her? Even Ray points out its ok for to psychoanalyze him up and down but god forbid he try to get to the root of her problem.

Best Line-“Ray and Robert, they have this, like, completely screwed up relationship, but at least they have each other, you know? I mean, they fight, they compete and they blame their lives on their parents. They’re real brothers!”…Debra

Episode Fun Fact –Debra’s sister appears for the one and only time

Deleted Scenes-Ray tells Debra what he warns for breakfast

Syndication Edit-Ray and Robert singing a song, this brief scene makes when Ray calls back to it in the next scene make more sense

Best Character-Marie, the scene where she comes over with the cake shaped like a cross is adorable

Worst Character-Debra, this was a tough call but I gotta pick her for that scene I mentioned in my nitpick where Ray is trying to be supporting but all she can do is scoff at him.

Final Thoughts-This episode works because the actress playing Jennifer is just great. She feels real and I totally buy her being Debra’s older sister. We barely heard of this character so don’t really care if she is being a nun, but the writing makes up for that. I also get what Debra’s problem is, by the time we get it out of her anyway. Debra doesn’t have a brother or sister she can count on which probably does suck sometimes. The one lame thing is how the family acts around Jennifer after announcing she’ll be a nun. Like they have to be all religious or something. The worst is Franks crazy question which is a bit out there even for him. Who wonders that? The scene between Debra and Jennifer is just great. The only annoying thing I guess is that the only thing Robert contributes is more crying about he second rate status in the family.

Grade-A-

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 4, Part 1)

Welcome to season 4, which is the best season of the show in my opinion. All the characters are clicking and pretty much every episode is a classic!





Season 4, Episode 1
Boob Job

Plot Summary-Debra gets insecure when Ray suggests he’d like it if she got a boob job

Nitpick of the episode-who has a parents night in a parents home? Isn’t that usually in school?

Best Line–“Marie did it the natural way. Pound cake!”…Frank

Episode Fun Fact –The funny thing is that Patricia Heaton really did have a boob job over the hiatus.

Deleted Scenes-Frank won’t let kids watch tv (this is an alternate opening)

Syndication Edit-Ray yelling up the stairs to Debra

Best Character-Frank, in this episode when he sees Debra with the boob job he is clearly aroused but it’s underplayed unlike later episodes

Worst Character-Debra, setting Ray up like that was awful. The fact that Ray even said his initial comment about Debra getting a boob job is because she asked. Granted he should have just said no but she’s the one who read into it. Talk about going the extra mile for an argument and prove a point that didn’t need to be proven.

Final Thoughts-I would win this one, hands down! If my wife told me she had surgery without talking to me I promise I would not be staring at her with my tongue hanging out! This is going to come up again but here we go with the “its ok for women to look at men but men can’t look at women” double standard. And why do women expect men to stop looking after they’re married, they’re not dead! But I think I’ll save that rant for another episode. While it’s true Ray asks like a horny idiot when he sees Debra she did go out of her way to trick him. And I agree with him 100% when they finally do get to the argument.

Grade-B-

10 Great NBC Shows The 90th Anniversary Special Forgot

 

So NBC aired a special Sunday night. Celebrating the 90th anniversary of NBC (including radio). The Paley Center sucks, I always hate their specials. This one was, not as bad. They did manage to hit almost everything they should have. But as you may guess there was no way to get everything in there, and there were some glaring omissions.








It may have been better if they did it by era rather than genre. Lots of stuff from the old days were overlooked (car 52, Flipper, I Spy) and the 70’s was kind of blended with the 80’s shortchanging both. I can understand why mentioning Disney would be awkward but that was a fixture on NBC for a long time. And If you’re wondering, yes they did mention The Cosby Show but it was understated. They hardly showed any clips or mentioned the impact the show had on NBC. And not one image appeared in the ads for the special, even though The Cosby Show put that network on the map. But I’ll take what I got, better than nothing.


Sadly a few other shows weren’t so lucky. I understand not mentioning some shows like TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes (which I loved as a kid), Amen, Empty Nest, Caroline in the City, Dear John, Blossom…but they do mention 227? Yeah that got a nod! Don’t get me wrong that show was OK and I liked it, but…. what? And again I get it, even in three hours you can’t cover everything. They didn’t even get into movies and mini-series! Not to mention daytime. But there were some omissions I just can’t ignore.





So here are a ten great shows that were ignored and deserved at least a passing mention in my opinion :




A Different World

Probably the biggest oversight considered how groundbreaking it was. Yeah an African American cast was old news but the issues they covered weren’t. This was one of, if not THE, first sitcom to tackle AIDS. Hope it wasn’t overlooked because of the Cosby connection, because that’s not fair.

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 3, Part 4)

 




Got a couple extra episodes to wrap up Season 3…




Season 3, Episode 19
Big Shots

Plot Summary-Ray takes Robert to the baseball hall of fame

Nitpick of the episode- What was Ray’s problem here? Why didn’t he just get in the damn line?

Best Line-“How often do I get to see the ray doesn’t get everything show?”…Robert

Episode Fun Fact –the real 1969 Mets appear, as a Red Sox fan it means nothing to me  J

Deleted Scenes-Ray and Robert in the car on the way to the Hall of Fame (too bad they deleted it we needed more of ray and Robert in the car)

Syndication Edit-top of the teaser, Ray watching boxing with frank

Best Character-Robert, because it can’t be Marie, Frank, or Debra who barely get a line

Worst Character-Ray, not only does he spoil the day for Robert but he acts like a big baby about it later. It’s established that he’s a famous name but that doesn’t mean he’s the big shot he acts like here

Final Thoughts-I said in the other article we would get through all the Debra-less episodes in one shot.. I forgot one extra, though this isn’t the worst by far. Like the Marie and Frank episode it’s mostly about Robert and Ray and like that one the two alone gets old. Though not as bad as “franks tribute” did. Maybe the scene in the hall of fame would have work d better if the guard was a jerk, rather than a patient guy who gave Ray every to chance to comply. The diner scene is good but the stuff with ray and Robert in the car drags on forever. I could pick on the cop who pulls the two over later but having gotten a speeding ticket once in that part of the state I can say, yeah the cops are jerks there.

Grade-C+



Ok I promised better episodes this time, so lets talk better:

Top 6 Favorite Sitcom Suck-Up’s

 

In sitcoms, you can’t really have villains. So antagonists take other forms. They can be bullies who like to inflict harm on our main characters (see Newman on Seinfeld, or Louie on Taxi) or they can be rivals who are always bickering but deep down care for each other (Alex and Malory on Family Ties, Will and Carlton on Fresh Prince, Carl and Urkel on Family Matters, Sheldon and…everyone on Big Bang). Or they are just obnoxious people who have no respect for things like privacy, but damn it we love them anyway (Schneider on One Day at a Time, Charlie on Empty Nest, Lenny and Squiggy).




But often these characters are sniveling suck-up’s. They are constantly kissing up to the boss (or whoever the authority figure is) and doing whatever they can to advance their goals, usually at the expense of our main character who of course comes out on top in the end. Usually making our suck up’s suffer at the same time. They are selfish, self-absorbed…and we love them!
Only one rule, these have to all be supporting characters. Lead characters who snivel and bow to the boss are a different category.




#6. Dan Fielding in Night Court

I have this one high because Dan is better known for being a lecherous greedy person. But he was a suck-up. Ok maybe not so much with Harry, but he would suck up to whomever he had to if it meant advancing his career, getting something he wanted, or even sleeping with a hot girl. But unlike others on this list, Dan does have a line he wont cross and we see that he is a good person, deep down.  John Larroquette was perfect and we loved to see Dan suffer for his selfish deeds.

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 3, Part 3)

And we start the Debra-less episodes. I don’t blame Patricia Heaton of course, but fact is her absences hurt the show. Thank goodness the show survived, but before it would we need to slog through the next six episodes. The good news is that these were all on one disc, which mean we can get this over with in one article. So yeah don’t be surprised if there isn’t much high praise in this one folks.





Season 3, Episode 13
Ping Pong

Plot Summary-Ray is determined to beat his father at ping pong

Nitpick of the episode- So Ray found out that Frank lied to him about the ball back in season one and in an episode of Cosby found out he lied to him about his old high school days. Why does the whole ping pong lie bother him so much? Why Ray really that proud that he beat his father?

Best Line-“Zero serving zero. Ray can kiss my rearo”…Frank

Episode Fun Fact –If you get the DVD there is a blooper from this episode where we see just how pregnant Patricia Heaton was at this time. No wonder she had to be covered in a blanket.

Deleted Scenes-none

Syndication Edit-teaser, Ray is happy to be traveling (I love the huge blanket Debra is wearing!)

Best Character-Frank, Peter Boyle once again takes something that would make another person a jerk and actually makes it charming.


Worst Character-Ray, suck it up you’re an adult now

Final Thoughts-I’ll probably says this a lot this time, but I’m not sure how to feel about this episode. It feels like the same idea from “The Ball”, only with ping pong this time. Sometimes I think Marie and Frank’s basement is a magic one with all the things that appear and disappear. In this episode a ping pong table that wasn’t there before and will never be there again. The episode isn’t god awful but it also isn’t the best either.

Grade-C