Monday's How I met your mother spoiler

digwriter · December 2011

I don't know if anyone watches HIMYM, but apparently the powers that be have decided to declare Robin instantly infertile based on a pregnancy blood test. Personally, as someone who has faced IF I was highly annoyed. After Lily's struggle to get pregnant and now Robin's IF, it seems like the producers of that show have some serious issues when it comes to female procreation. Secondly, there are a heck of a lot of tests that are generally done before someone is declared IF. Don't know what they're gearing up for with this plot device. Don't know that I like it regardless.

MrsMincks · December 2011

TBH, while usually shows get a little gimmicky with infertile woman/couples ("Friends" was okay at it, but still fell into a few of the usual formulaic traps), HIMYM tends to either do cliches really well or surprise the audience by subverting them. I'm hoping they'll go that route with this. It's one of the biggest life curveballs thrown at any of the characters yet - I think only Marshall's dad dying can really rival it - and I'm sure they've got a master plan. If there's one thing the show isn't it's sloppy, so hopefully they will handle it gracefully. It's a huge risk for a show to take, but at least they seem ready to let it play its course, at least. Not easy for a 22-minute show!

digwriter · December 2011

True; however flat out declaring infertility from a pregnancy test is really pushing it.

Rowenarg · December 2011

I agree, they missed the mark big time. I don't know much about IF but I'm pretty sure that you can't go to the doc for a pregnancy test and find out that you're infertile. I don't really think Lily struggled to get pregnant, it just took them the average amount of time.

I like what they did on Friends much better. Monica and Chandler found out about their IF after ttc for over a year and the show followed them through the decisions they made regarding IF and their decision to eventually adopt. I think HIMYM should have spent more than a half an episode on the subject of Robin's IF and she should have found out in a more realistic way. But they still might spend more time on it, we'll see.

MrsMincks · December 2011

digwriter:
True; however flat out declaring infertility from a pregnancy test is really pushing it.

Oh, definitely, and I don't disagree. Usually the show is pretty good about being at least semi-accurate/accurate if we make some allowances. I tend to chalk up stuff like that to "Future Ted pressed fast-forward on his story". Hopefully they weren't trying to claim that one pregnancy test did the trick.

futuresebss · December 2011

I agree! And how lame about the "imaginary" children she was talking to. I love this show, but I'm kind of ready for it to end already.

Also, on a side note, was anyone else realllly perplexed about Lily's bump and the whole timeline of her pregnancy? From what I could figure out, she found out the sex at like 12 weeks? Weird. They were saying how she conceived during the hurricane, which was in August.

LilyPotter218 · December 2011

I was just annoyed in general. As soon as she said "I know I'm pregnant I'm a week late" I knew she wasn't.

And they were too obvious (even after they found out she wasn't) when they kept referring to Barny as "your father". Even IF those were her real kids, there is no way that show would have offered up the daddy so soon. I was disappointed immediately just b/c I knew there was no way it wasn't some variation of a dream.

The IF thing was a joke. One blood draw meant to determine pregnancy would convince a Dr. someone is 100% infertile. Ummm no. Unless that test determined she didn't have a ute?

LilyPotter218 · December 2011

futuresebss:
I agree! And how lame about the "imaginary" children she was talking to. I love this show, but I'm kind of ready for it to end already.
Also, on a side note, was anyone else realllly perplexed about Lily's bump and the whole timeline of her pregnancy? From what I could figure out, she found out the sex at like 12 weeks? Weird. They were saying how she conceived during the hurricane, which was in August.

YES! They need to do some research. She also had this cute little round bump at Thanksgiving. Mine is not even cute and round yet. I still have cone-head bump going on.

I get it is a TV show and it is going to be off for theatrics, but all the BS they feed us about pregnancy and birth really annoy my pregnant self

tash_rn · December 2011

Rowenarg:

I agree, they missed the mark big time. I don't know much about IF but I'm pretty sure that you can't go to the doc for a pregnancy test and find out that you're infertile. I don't really think Lily struggled to get pregnant, it just took them the average amount of time.

This is what I was thinking. I'm sure they'll make it all work out. Plus, it's a sit-com, how realistic or serious can/should we really expect them to be? The purpose is to be entertained.

countrygrl5533 · December 2011

tash_rn:
This is what I was thinking. I'm sure they'll make it all work out. Plus, it's a sit-com, how realistic or serious can/should we really expect them to be? The purpose is to be entertained.

This. It's just a TV show. It isn't suppose to be realistic. Not a big deal to me.

digwriter · December 2011

LilyPotter218:
I was just annoyed in general. As soon as she said "I know I'm pregnant I'm a week late" I knew she wasn't.
And they were too obvious (even after they found out she wasn't) when they kept referring to Barny as "your father". Even IF those were her real kids, there is no way that show would have offered up the daddy so soon. I was disappointed immediately just b/c I knew there was no way it wasn't some variation of a dream.
The IF thing was a joke. One blood draw meant to determine pregnancy would convince a Dr. someone is 100% infertile. Ummm no. Unless that test determined she didn't have a ute?

I said something similar to DH. Either she has no ute or she's a man.

digwriter · December 2011

I think the difference between sitcoms of yesteryear and today's shows is that the audience is more informed. So unless I'm watching a show that's specifically slapstick, I tend to expect the storytelling to be a bit smarter. For me, the whole Robin's IF would have been better served by the doctor saying that she thought there might be a problem and requesting follow up, with the IF diagnosis during the follow up. Still not totally accurate, but slightly better.

satama · December 2011

I was already annoyed by the stupid "I am waiting to go to the doctor to see if I am pregnant thing", uh do they not sell pregnancy test anywhere near you? Give me a break. If you had a one night stand and were late, surely you would pee on a stick before calling your doctor and telling the possible father. The whole pregnancy test giving a diagnosis of IF was just one more stupid piece of writing IMO.

I think they just wanted to somehow rush us to that diagnosis for Robin so they could show the aftermath since they are probably trying to wrap up any loose ends at this point in the show since it is ending soon.

I also think they wanted a big dramatic "I am pregnant" cliffhanger moment for that episode before this one, but then staying true to Robin's character would have most likely led to an abortion and I don't think they wanted to go there.

med380 · December 2011

Yeah, DH and I kept commenting to each other how unrealistic this all was. I was also especially annoyed that they didn't have her take a home pregnancy test - does anyone really go to the doctor without testing first? That was the point where I figured she wasn't going to be pregnant.

Having said all that, I tend to pick apart every sitcom that features pregnancy/delivery (um...the Office episode where Pam breastfed the wrong baby?), since it is something very relevant to me right now. I do acknowledge that the general public does not care about these details as much as I do

adreajoy · December 2011

I know that the actual blood test/you can't be pregnant thing is unrealistic, but for a half hour slot, I thought they did a good job of conveying all of Robin's emotions. I really felt for her-- and the talking to her non-existant children was a neat spin that really made my heart twinge. I felt that she really was conflicted and looking back on her life and that's something we all do at some point, I'm sure. I liked this episode.