The problem with hit television shows for the actors can be trying to live their lives around their TV schedule. And for actresses, that means trying to make sure their pregnancies don't intervene with shooting.
But CBS's How I Met Your Mother has taken the pregnancies of two of its main actresses (Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders) in stride. They worked around the burgeoning bellies - as most sitcoms do these days - and they played off of them.
In the past, TV shows have taken one of two tacks. They've completely hidden women's growing bellies by shooting from the chest up, making their characters do a lot more sitting or having them tote large handbags or stand behind counters - like Ugly Betty's Ana Ortiz. Or they've written pregnancy into the show - most famously when Lucille Ball was expecting her second child with co-star and husband Desi Arnaz, and suddenly their characters on I Love Lucy, the Ricardos, were expecting too. More recently, Without a Trace's Poppy Montgomery had a similar go as TV mom-to-be and pregnant chick, and the baby's daddy was the same onscreen and off.
The folks on How I Met Your Mother have taken another road entirely. They've made catching sight of the actresses' bellies a sight gag. When Hannigan's character took part in an eating contest, she lept up to show off her overextended tummy - supposedly from all that extra food . . . but not really. Other times, they've had her stand near a globe or rack of basketballs, the round shapes mimicking her real stomach.
The show's executive producer has said they figured they might as well play up the pregnancies for extra laughs, and it's been working.
I do tend to notice more when an actress seems to be spending a lot of time hiding behind baskets of fruit or sitting at a desk, even those whose pregnancies I missed hearing about in the news (or on Famecrawler!). It's a goofy game, but I love trying to catch the director out, see if they miss a second of covering the bump.
Do you notice or do most of your favorite stars do a pretty good job of keeping their pregnancy off camera?
Image: Chicago Tribune
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