Last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother was yet another awesome chapter in an already stellar season — I nearly doubled over watching a muted Robin extinguish a fire, administer CPR and deliver a baby on live TV — but I do have one complaint for CBS: Why are you not even trying to cover up Colbie Smulders’ and Alyson Hannigan’s pregnancies? Seriously, I know it’s not easy (there are only so many tunics available in the L.A. area), but watching an obviously expecting Smulders sit down for a glass of wine with Josh Radnor’s Ted is more than a little unsettling and distracting.
So because I’m a giving person, I thought I’d introduce some plot points that could enable the actresses to easily hide their growing bellies (and these are truly off-the-top-of-my-head ideas, folks, so… you’re welcome). Idea #1: While Robin walks to work in the early morning hours, a thief snatches her purse, which not only contains her wallet, but also her beloved handgun. Deciding not to take any more chances, Robin opts to carry a giant bazooka to intimidate street thieves. ‘Cuz that’s how Canadians do it, eh? Idea #2: Marshall calls Lily to tell her his favorite burger joint wants to buy one of her paintings. Problem is, Lily forgets where it is, and walks the streets of New York carrying a ginormous painting (before inevitably asking Regis Philbin to lend a hand). Of course, that whole hot dog-eating contest thing worked fine, too.
Yeah, I know. These are terrible ideas (throw me a bone — it’s 9 am!). But I know you super fans out there could suggest some better ones. So tell me, PopWatchers, how should How I Met Your Mother‘s writers adjust their scripts to better mask Smulders’ and Hannigan’s pregnancies?
I like how the show alternately covers up and then exposes the gals’ pregnancies. The die-hard fans knows the gals are pregnant in life but not on the show (we can distinguish the difference). P.S.- I bet the wine isn’t real either
its meta-fiction!
Isn’t this the same magazine that complained in the Bulls Eye last week that the show was getting too ridiculous in trying to hide the pregnant bellies? Make up your mind!
I love this show, and while I agree that it’s vaguely distracting to see the occasional glimpses of expanding bellies, what else can you do? The actors are pregnant, the characters are not.
I did not notice they were pregnant.
Well, cop shows have a tendency to just ship pregnant actresses’ characters off to temporary assignments elsewhere – what my roommate and I have lovingly dubbed “pregnancy taskforces.” Life is doing this with Sarah Shahi right now.
I think the show plays with us, last week Lily always had something odd in front of her just her belly (like a globe which i found just hilarious!) i think they are leaving soon though for the rest of the season so i’m interested to see how they have them gone more then how they cover their bellies
I think it’s hilarious that they don’t try too hard to conceal it and it’s nice that they are letting them do a lot of sitting to rest. True fans are just glad Cobie and Allison weren’t sent away on “assignment”
My idea: Lily and Marshall decide to try to have a baby. Even though Lily is not yet pregnant, Ted can’t help but think about her as she will look when she is 6-8 months along. So, they don’t hide the pregnancy at all and just pretend it’s Ted’s fantacy.
This show has been so funny lately, I don’t even notice those pregnancies. I guess I’ve been too busy paying attention to, ya know, the plot.
Personally, I am a big fan of the “don’t stand up for an entire season” method that was utilized with Angela on the office. Or the always shoot from behind method from Frazier (which also utilized my other favorite method, the character is overeating and getting sent off to fat camp)
While I have noticed Alyson pregnant, I think that they’re doing a good job of hiding it. There comes a certain point when it’s nearly impossible to hide a pregnancy, and I think Aly’s at that point. As for Cobie, I haven’t been able to tell that she’s pregnant.
They should have an episode where they find old archival footage of Robin Sparkles doing a PSA about not becoming pregnant when you’re a teenager.
I think they’re doing the best job they can to hide the pregnancies. Alyson’s almost always sitting or has something in front of her, or is shot from the neck up. Cobie’s less farther along and honestly, I don’t even notice it – I think the approach of putting her in loose clothing (like her jammies!) works pretty well. The only problem is I was kinda distracted in the scene when Lily confessed to sabotaging all Ted’s relationships – like, Ted stood up because he was angry and Lily just sat there, it felt a little awkward and actually drew my attention to the pregnancy. But otherwise, they’ve been doing the best job they can.
I actually didn’t even notice they were pregnant yesterday!!
It doesn’t bother me that they don’t try very hard to cover the pregnancies. Last night was the first time I noticed Cobie’s belly, and I thought it was hilarious when they used a hot dog eating contest just to blatantly show Aly’s off. I think they’re doing a great job!