biggest buzzkill awards: babies on TV

I hate when I'm really into a show, and suddenly a character mentions that they're pregnant. I think it's weak writing and it's just so cliche and overdone and the baby eventually kills the show. I don't hate babies, but it's very rare for them to have an appropriate place on television. Here are 3 case studies of shows that were ruined by babies:

1. Friends

Think back to when this show was awesome. Then think back to when it started sucking. It was right after Rachel had the baby, wasn't it? The weirdest part of the whole thing was that the season featuring her pregnancy was really good, but after the birth episode... it just sucked. The pregnancy was made out to be this huge thing, and when the baby was born, you rarely saw it. They had that totally weak Rachel/Joey storyline, and the only mildly interesting thing that came out of that was the conflict between Joey and Ross. The only consolation prize that came from the baby years of Friends was that Paul Rudd was on the show. I'd have his baby any day.

2. That 70's Show

By all means, please allow yourself a few minutes to remember the epic moments of this show. It might've been when Eric pulled down Donna's pants when they were playing basketball. Or maybe it was their trip to Canada. Maybe even the time they said they were going to go streaking. Yeah, this show used to be awesome. Why did we stop watching it? Because Kelso got a girl pregnant, and we just didn't care after that. And we were right to stop caring, because soon after Ashton Kutcher and Topher Grace left the show, Donna was blonde, Lindsay Lohan was guest starring (and this was a copout because she was at the peak of her career at the time), and the show died slowly and painfully.

3. Rugrats
The strangest part about this case study is that the show was about babies. How could a baby kill a show about babies? Well, it's possible, and it did happen. Think back to this show when it was in its prime. How many babies were there? One less than five? Yep.

The Exception

You can hate on Sex and the City all you want, but one thing you can't say is that the baby killed this show. I have a few theories on how this worked: 1) the character who had the baby was the least popular character, so people didn't mind seeing her get punished for it. 2) the show is about sex, sex can sometimes lead to a pregnancy, so it seemed like a very obvious story line to have at some point. And 3) people didn't care as long as Kim Cattrall kept showing her boobs.

Awesome Show That Would Be Ruined By A Baby

How I Met Your Mother is easily one of the best sitcoms on TV right now, but a baby would totally jeopardize that. Unless they did it right, it would probably die the same death that Friends did; make a huge deal about the pregnancy, then have the baby, followed by a strange absence of said baby. I would stop watching then and there, and pray that the show would go to sitcom heaven.