Having Babies on TV

[PennLady]

Just read this on the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/arts/television/harrowing-births-on-prime-time-tv.html?hpw

This just strengthens my desire to write a story about a relatively normal pregnancy without the melodramatic stuff that happens on TV. I'll add it to the queue. I hope it's not so far back I don't see it.

 

[sr71plt]

Evidently you don't understand what makes people watch TV.

 

[PennLady]

Evidently you don't understand what makes people watch TV.

Oh, I do. It just bugs me. I guess I like to go against the current.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I always felt the same about bomb diffusals. Bomb makers on TV and movies always make the most complicated devices with all sorts of booby traps and safeguards, when the reality of the matter is usually just a detonator stuck in an explosive. Disconnect the detonator from the explosive and it is (mostly) harmless. But will writers ever write that? Nope. It has to be complicated and "dramatic".

 

[3113]

They missed the most harrowing birth of all--but then, it wasn't on Prime Time. On Boardwalk Empire, which takes place in 1921, we've watched this knocked up showgirl get larger and heavier and more unhappy with herself and the pregnancy with every passing week--of course, this was before the time when women went out and about while pregnant in cute pregnancy yoga clothes. This was when they got stuck in apartments with no television, no air conditioning, etc.

When she finally does go into labor, she's all on her own and the only drama is the drama of giving birth in a bedroom with no doctor or anesthetic. She has a perfectly normal time of it, and really, it's impressive that nothing more is needed to give her ordeal tension. If you ever want to make sure your teenage daughter uses protection, let her see this episode of this woman in labor for some twenty-four hours, dealing with the pain, etc. all alone. I'm so glad for at least one show that took the soft-pretty-miracle aspect out of giving birth and made it come across as the bitch-of-a-time reality that it usually is--even when it goes without a hitch.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

I was only a paragraph or two into the story and I already knew the answer to Neil Genzlinger’s problem. He has the wrong make of television set.

Like him, I have little desire to watch anyone’s child bearing difficulties. Not even fictional people or fictional problems. Certainly not close up and personal on my television screen.

Luckily, I own a wide screen Samsung, and those cleaver Japanese have outfitted it with an amazing device which defeats all annoying television programs – and there are quite a lot of them – that I might otherwise complain about.

That amazing device allows me to change the channel and watch something else. When every one of the 78 channels I can get is funneling crap, the second amazing device comes into play — the off switch.

I fear, however, that suggesting to Neil that he should get himself a Samsung, or some other advance receiver which has these amazing features, would not reconcile him. Neil, you see, is an angry reporter, ranting balefully against the gods of television about a trend in programming which he has discovered to exist, and he takes it all extremely personally. He does not want to switch to alternate programming. He does not want to turn off his set and read a good book. He is not even willing to switch over to DVD and watch bad porn.

If he did, he would have to find a new hook for his reporting assignment, and then he might have to make insightful remarks which are well above his pay grade.

And no, I don't want to write a story about someone giving birth. Or even about a reporter writing about someone giving birth. If I write anything tonight, it will be about Neil Genzlinger's head exploding.

 

[estragon]

Did two childbirth stories. Won't write any more. Been there, done that.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I remember Lucy Ricardo's pregnancy on TV in the fifties. Of course, back then they wouldn't have dared show the birth, but the did show everything leading up to it. At the time, since she and her husband slept in different beds, it was quite daring.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Just read this on the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/arts/television/harrowing-births-on-prime-time-tv.html?hpw

This just strengthens my desire to write a story about a relatively normal pregnancy without the melodramatic stuff that happens on TV. I'll add it to the queue. I hope it's not so far back I don't see it.

This has now become SPAM

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

No, this thread started out as Spam.

We all have elevated it to Spumoni.

 

[Sugary_Comfort]

How is it spam? Aside from it not fitting in with the overall theme of the board, but there have been loads of those on here.

 

[Boxlicker101]

How is it spam? Aside from it not fitting in with the overall theme of the board, but there have been loads of those on here.

When I said that, the link only led to a place to sign up for the NY Times, which would be considered SPAM, at least by me. Since then, the news item has become available again.

 

[Sugary_Comfort]

When I said that, the link only led to a place to sign up for the NY Times, which would be considered SPAM, at least by me. Since then, the news item has become available again.

Ooooh, ok.

 

[lovecraft68]

With the exception of The Red sox and Football I have not watched television in 4 years. This confirms I am missing nothing at all.

 

[PennLady]

When I said that, the link only led to a place to sign up for the NY Times, which would be considered SPAM, at least by me. Since then, the news item has become available again.

Sorry, I should have pointed out that at the NY Times you need an account. You can register for free there, but sometimes you don't need to be registered to read a link that someone else shares. I've done it before. My apologies; next time I'll include a caveat.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

When I saw this thread, I thought you were talking about this woman :

http://www.opwn.salon.com/2011/10/10/should_childbirth_be_performance_art/singleton/

who planned a birth as "performance art."

No, really. I'm not kidding.

She actually did it, too:

http://www.salon.com/2011/10/26/nyc_performance_artist_gives_birth_in_art_gallery/


As an aside, when I was pregnant, it was suggested that I stop watching TV or movies that featured births, and do some serious meditation to clear any fear I had from the media.

 

[estragon]

Fortunately none of this has stopped women from giving birth. I am informed that I might be receiving an announcement along those lines from a family member at some time in the not-too-distant future.

 

[PennLady]

As an aside, when I was pregnant, it was suggested that I stop watching TV or movies that featured births, and do some serious meditation to clear any fear I had from the media.

When I was pregnant with my son, my water started leaking about two months prior to my due date, around week 30. They expected I'd go into labor and have the baby within 7-10 days; I ended up there on modified bed rest for four weeks. I had a roommate, and luckily we got along. At any rate, every show we watched seemed to feature a baby in trouble, a pregnant woman in trouble, or some combination of both. We watched a lot of DVDs.

 

[SydneyBlake]

With the exception of The Red sox and Football I have not watched television in 4 years. This confirms I am missing nothing at all.

Then you watch more tv than I do. I hate the commercials.

 

[PennLady]

Then you watch more tv than I do. I hate the commercials.

We watch almost everything except sports on DVR, even shows on HBO that don't have commercials.

 

[The_Fool]

I no longer have an interest in having babies.

 

[Handley_Page]

When I saw this thread, I thought you were talking about this woman :

http://www.opwn.salon.com/2011/10/10/should_childbirth_be_performance_art/singleton/

who planned a birth as "performance art."

No, really. I'm not kidding.

She actually did it, too:

http://www.salon.com/2011/10/26/nyc_performance_artist_gives_birth_in_art_gallery/

As an aside, when I was pregnant, it was suggested that I stop watching TV or movies that featured births, and do some serious meditation to clear any fear I had from the media.

Effin' publicity -seeking twerps.

 

[teitel]

OMG!http://www.lzxin.info/g.php

 

[SydneyBlake]

We watch almost everything except sports on DVR, even shows on HBO that don't have commercials.

I don't think we have a DVR. LOL. We do watch On Demand sometimes. Well, the kids do. I'd rather write or read. Okay, the truth is that I lost interest in holding the remote, and I hate the way DH drives, so I do other things that won't fall victim to his changing the channel right when I get interested. LOL. And I do hate commercials.

 

[SydneyBlake]

I no longer have an interest in having babies.

Truer words have never been spoken...but pretending to try is still fun.