Real life pregnancies that were (or were not) incorporated into the story.

[carolineg]

I have to agree with your take on L&L.  Laura having another kid did not seem like the plan for their return.  Luke was still involved in the mob/action adventure stuff with Sonny/Frank Smith and Lucky was old enough to do his own thing, so it does seem to have changed the trajectory of Laura's story.  It did lead to the re-introduction of the Cassadines and Nik, which I did think was great, but GF's extended maternity leave and then 'weight' issues did not help her with TPTB.  I felt like Laura spent long periods of time moodily hanging out with Stefan and an inexplicably dark haired young Lulu on Spoon Island after she and Luke broke up.  It's weird because Genie is the same age as MB and a half a dozen years older than Rena Sofer and Vanessa Marcil, but she felt like an entire different generation at the time.

Edited November 12, 2021 by carolineg

[Vee]

I saw some of those Jones episodes of OLTL on YT. How long did she play Viki, how long was the maternity leave?

[applcin]

It was pretty long, about 5-6 months, I think. I remember Viki was still living in the carriage house then and Tina's father at the time, Ted Clayton, was in the picture.

Edited November 12, 2021 by applcin

[amybrickwallace]

Genie's first pregnancy was written into GH, but her second one wasn't. 

[applcin]

I was never a big fan of the return of the Cassadines but that's another story. 

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I think Genie at the time she was becoming hugely popular was essentially the same age as Laura, 17-18-19 and she'd already had some serious adult storylines. Plus she was paired with men who were older than her--Kin Shriner was in his mid-20s and TG was in his early 30s. I think Vanessa was a few years older than Brenda. She was in her 20s playing a high-school student. Between that, some of Brenda's storylines and attributes, and her being on the petite side, she came off younger. I mean, they had her attending high school with Robin and Kimberly McCullough is 10 years younger than VM. 

[carolineg]

Vanessa is older than Brenda by a good 5 to 6 years depending on her SORASing because she was aged up to 21 before her peers.  VM did look almost 10 years older than Robin, but I think the show always spun that as Brenda looking very mature.  She was married and had major entanglements with Sonny before Robin even graduated HS lol

Genie did read older when she returned.  And it's almost like a Julie on Days situation where storylines dated her prematurely.  Laura had been around so long you just assumed she was much older than Brenda/Lois

 

[dragonflies]

When Alicia Minshew was pregnant in real life, they didn't write in her pregnancy on AMC, but you could tell she was prego, they didn't really try to hide it lol

[Frank2803]

Meridith Baxter on Family Ties

That's why they added a 4th Keaton child 

[Forever8]

Wasn't Liz Keifer pregnant IRL when Blake was pregnant with the twins and Clarissa on Guiding Light?

On Loving when Amelia Heinle was pregnant, they wrote in that Steffi was pregnant by Cooper aka Michael Weatherly her real-life husband at the time. 

When Mishael Morgan was pregnant the first time on Y&R. They tried to cover her midsection but it did it in a way that someone with impaired vision could see she was with child. And when she was pregnant again, they wrote in Hilary being pregnant. Though we all know what happened there. 

 

 

 

 

[amybrickwallace]

Liz Hubbard was pregnant with her son in 1971, but TD did not write her condition into the show. They went the objects hiding her route, but her condition was obvious.

[I Am A Swede]

I wonder if Bill Bell (who was still writing the show at that time) had planned for Brooke to become pregnant so soon into her relationship with Eric or if he changed the story when KKL became pregnant in real life.