There's a very visible baby bump on the set of "How I Met Your Mother," but no one's paying it much attention. In a flashback scene for an upcoming episode, the ever-present narrator's memory is lapsing and he can't recall whether Lily ( Alyson Hannigan) was pregnant during the moment he's recounting. As Lily spars with Barney ( Neil Patrick Harris), her burgeoning belly remains unmentioned, serving simply as a resting spot for a plate of Chinese food.Now in its sixth season, the show is toying with the idea of employing a device much belabored in sitcom land: the addition of a baby.
A due date is still unknown — and for some fans, that's OK. Much of the appeal of the CBS sitcom has centered on the interminable mystery of whom Ted Mosby ( Josh Radnor) will ultimately marry. But suspense can hold viewers' interest for only so long before it grows frustrating.
Baby talk has loomed over the series for a while, with longtime couple Lily and Marshall ( Jason Segel) flirting with parenthood much of this season. And in fact, hints of an upcoming pregnancy stretch as far back as fall 2009, when, in a flash forward, Ted tells his kids how his friends quit smoking: Lily stopped once she started trying to get pregnant and Marshall quit when his son was born. Even if the stork doesn't drop by this season, it's fated to happen eventually.
"I think we'd be super cute with a baby," Segel said during a set break. "We'd be like those people in the photos that come in picture frames."
Still, the show's producers are proceeding with caution.
"There's fear: Will it limit us? Will the show lose something?" admitted executive producer Craig Thomas. "However, the idea of opening up whole other stories is exciting."
TV historian Tim Brooks plays down the notion that adding a small child is a catalyst for a show's demise.
With 100-plus episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" under her belt, Hannigan said the timing is logical for TV's loving married couple.
"I love that this show has always dealt with them as a real couple. Real couples at this point in their lives are either having babies or talking about having babies."
Thomas acknowledged that they considered bringing in the baby storyline when Hannigan was pregnant in 2008. Hannigan, for one, is glad they opted against it.
"It was too soon," she said. "Just the vast amount of time we spend in MacLaren's [Pub]… it would really affect the baby. Oh, and the show."
Source: LA Times
This is a really interesting article I'm glad I accidentally came across!
ReplyDeleteI really hope Lily gets pregnant soon. I'm sort of tired of her and Marshall trying already. And I don't think a baby will kill HIMYM.
I guess it really is inevitable... I don't really need a baby on the show though.
ReplyDeleteFans need to stop being all Robin about this baby happening and just let it flow. HIMYM can get away with this stuff because it just feels like something they've planned since day one--so whether there's no baby or there is a baby, all I hope for is that it's funny.
ReplyDeleteIsn't there an episode called false positve?
ReplyDeleteYup. I think the twist may be that they think the pregnancy test was a false positive and believe it's negative, but then it turns out that Lily's really pregnant.
ReplyDeleteAlthough someone did speculate that Robin might get a false positive pregnancy test.
It's been meaning to happy for a while and I wouldn't stop watching because of it. It's about families and love with a story in reverse so why would people turn it off?
ReplyDeleteI thought that the false positive meant that Ted forgot if Lily was pregnant by the time he's telling a particular story and he says she was, just to remind later that she really wasn't, hence the false positive.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. That could be a possibility, too.
ReplyDeleteFalse positive generally refers to a result on a pregnancy test, though. Or other tests.
Hey, do you have other titles of the episodes?
ReplyDeleteNope, not yet! Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI'm betting there's a whole fertility issue storyline before the baby happens. I don't see it happening before the end of next season.
ReplyDelete