5 Best Pregnancy Storylines In Sitcom History, Ranked

Pregnancy storylines on TV don't always go over well with the fans. Very few "Gilmore Girl" viewers enjoyed what the show did with Lane Kim (Keiko Agena), for instance, nor were many "Modern Family" fans thrilled with the late-show pregnancy storyline for Haley (Sarah Hyland).

When it comes to a real-life actress on a show getting pregnant, most audiences would rather not have the writers try to incorporate it into her character. They'd rather the show strategically hide the actress' baby bump with conveniently placed objects and oversized clothing, rather than alter their character arc in response to a real-life development.

Some of the picks on this list, however, are great examples of a series expertly taking advantage of an actress' real-life pregnancy. Other examples here don't share that meta aspect, but they still handle pregnancy in a fun, surprising way that deepens the pregnant character's overall arc rather than undermine it. 

Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) finds out she's pregnant in the Season 5 finale of "The Office," "Company Picnic," just four episodes before her long-awaited wedding with Jim (John Krasinski). "I thought that was such a gutsy thing," Krasinski said in a behind-the-scenes interview. "It's such a real situation that a lot of people find themselves in." Throughout Season 6, the writers took full advantage of Pam's awkwardly-timed pregnancy; It leads to an incredibly painful wedding toast from Jim, a hilariously gross vomit-filled cold open, and one of the most chaotic delivery episodes of any sitcom.

"The Delivery: Part 1" has Pam go into labor, but she doesn't want to go to the hospital before midnight because her insurance won't let her stay an extra day if she does. "Part 2" takes place after she reluctantly goes to the hospital and gives birth, where she struggles to breastfeed her newborn child. It all makes for a refreshingly grounded depiction of pregnancy, with the show embracing the humor of every awkward aspect involved. 

Although this storyline was not a case of Fischer being pregnant in real life, it includes a fun meta joke where her real fiancé (Lee Kirk) plays Pam's male lactation consultant. Kirk recalled auditioning for the character, knowing that the whole cast and crew would prefer him to get the role. "If there was ever a layup in the audition world, I mean, this was like a six foot hoop," Kirk joked on the Office Ladies podcast. 

Rachel getting pregnant with Ross' baby seven seasons into "Friends" sounds like a classic case of a sitcom running out of steam, especially considering this was Ross' second accidental child on the show. Instead, it made for an excellent showcase of Rachel's growth. She started the series as a helpless rich girl, and now was balancing a rising career and a baby without expecting anyone's help. 

"The decision to have Rachel become pregnant has really energized the show and given us some exciting directions," executive producer David Crane told the News Journal heading into Season 8. The storyline not only showed a more mature side of Rachel, but helped deepen the character of Joey (Matt LeBlanc), who had been flanderized over the previous seasons. Fans may not have liked Joey and Rachel's romantic storyline, but having the notoriously shallow Joey develop real feelings for his pregnant roommate did at least give him some much-needed depth.

The most refreshing thing about Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) getting pregnant in "Sex and the City" is how honest the storyline is. Jenny Bicks, the writer of the episode where Miranda has to decide whether or not to keep the baby, told Huffpost in 2022 how important she thought it was to include that conversation. "You really can't do a show about 30-something women and not talk about abortion and the prevalence," Bicks said. "I think we were aware that we were doing something a little forbidden."

Sarah Jessica Parker, who played main star Carrie Bradshaw, told the New York Times that Miranda's pregnancy was part of the show's effort to add "some gravitas" to the series. She said about Carrie's three best friends, "They were intentional archetypes and will always remain so. But you have to go deeper. It makes Carrie much more substantial if her friends are more substantial."

Nixon was pregnant in real-life during this storyline, although it seems clear from Bicks' interview that Miranda's decision to keep her child would've happened either way. "We would always put the character first and Miranda would have that child," Bicks said. When Nixon was pregnant again during the show's final season, the writers opted not to write that into the show.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is a show where the main characters are almost never allowed to grow in meaningful ways, which makes Dee's pregnancy in Season 6 (inspired by Kaitlin Olson's real-life pregnancy) initially seem like a poor fit. 

Thankfully, "Always Sunny" finds a way to pull off the storyline without even an ounce of sentimentality. Dee is only giving birth as part of a $30k surrogacy agreement, and she spends most of the season annoyed that none of the other characters care about her pregnancy. By the finale, she's still refusing to tell the gang who the father is, just to force them to show a tiny bit of interest in her situation. 

Dennis' actor, Glenn Howerton, told the Daily Press that one of his favorite parts of Season 6 was "watching everyone sort of squirm and wonder who the father of this child is." In a standout episode, "Who Got Dee Pregnant?," Dee lies and tells the gang that one of them impregnated her at last year's Halloween party, causing a panic as they try to figure out who the dad is. You'd think this would be an easy mystery for them to solve, but the gang are such reckless alcoholics, all bets are off.

"I Love Lucy" was not the first sitcom to introduce an actress' pregnancy into the show — that honor would go to the largely forgotten hit show "Mary Kay and Johnny" from a few years earlier — but it was the first case of this stunt being widely watched. Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) went through her pregnancy in front of an audience of over 10 million weekly viewers, and the episode where she gave birth was watched by over 44 million. 

Making Lucy's pregnancy even more impressive was how strict TV censors were at the time. She couldn't even use the word "pregnancy" on the show, so the characters had to rely on euphemisms instead. The Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters prohibited anything sexually suggestive on the air, which included mentions of pregnancy, but Lucille Ball wasn't interested in doing the usual camera and costume tricks to disguise her baby bump. 

"If I turned up one week suddenly standing still behind some camouflage, it wouldn't be me. It'd be a fraud. I've got to move around," Ball told the Minneapolis Tribune in the break between seasons. "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" aired on January 19, 1953, the same day Ball had her scheduled caesarean section. The episode had a higher viewership than President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration the next week, and even outdid Queen Elizabeth's coronation five months later.