WeBuiltThePyramids

Just going back and moving a post in which I said almost nothing to this thread so poor Lio doesn't have to be the one that is said to have opened it. And because it was bothering me that I did the merging wrong.

Lionne

Yes, and Nicole would die if there were no Lenny babies.

WeBuiltThePyramids

It's hard to have kids on a set and keep it fresh and realistic, although Friends managed to do it and the 'disappearing baby' thing only happened in the last couple of episodes. I think that's why they had Bernadette be so against kids, and then Shamy is Shamy and won't be doing anything that would bring about the potential for kids anytime soon, so if they bring a baby storyline into the show, they've got one couple that can be for, as opposed to three. Friends, Phoebe was single until near the end (decided to try for kids in the series finale) and Chandler and Monica couldn't (and didn't get their babies until the last ep) and that left Ross and Rachel. So Shamy could get pregnant or decide to try or something in the last episode, and Howard and Bernadette are likely to be childless and I'm not ruling out childless Shamy either, or H/B changing their minds in the last episodes, so they already have a built in preventative thing when it comes to keeping infants out of the picture for actual shooting. And if Leonard and Penny get pregnant, that's gonna be when they see the show as only having one or two years left. But I don't see them hitting series finale with none of the main seven having a kid - mostly because of Chuck saying when H/B got engaged that these people were growing up and 'it's be weird if they didn't start getting married'. So off that logic, and that the writers have kids themselves, I think, like you said, at a certain point, someone has to have a baby, but the show has made it so we won't think it's weird if everyone doesn't start having them, if that makes sense.

EDIT:
This is truth.

Lionne

All of this is true, but we're so far out from babies that who knows what will happen. Howard and Bernadette would be the ones who i would expect to get pregnant first, but we knows how Bernadette feels about her career and about the idea of having kids, so they'll probably have a solid year or two of being married and working out those issues (such as the finances) before the issue of kids will come up.

Working with kids on the set is hard, and I agree that Friends always handled it very well, but I don't get the feeling that any of this cast want to work with them. (I've actually heard Jim say that he does not; Jim does not seem to be very fond of children.)

So much to get through before this even becomes a question, but who knows where things will be by season 10.

And I don't know why, but I feel positive that this show will go for 10. Like someone said, they were late-bloomers. They also didn't bring some of these relationships around solidly until season 5, so they are still very fresh and have a lot of room for growth and exploration. And in the meantime, when they don't have to focus on the relationships, because there's plenty to be said in this word about nerd culture and such, which I always love just as much.

lancer1993

While I agree Howard and Bernadette are the logical ones to have a baby since when has logic played a part in TV. I'm thinking IF the go down the baby path it could be Penny/Leonard, maybe pushing them towards marriage or at least living together. Another possibility it Raj and his new love interest. There is also an outside change with Sheldon and Amy which would be interesting IMO. Amy would make a good mom, and Sheldon having to deal with that would be fun to watch.

But all of this might be at least another season away IMO. Outside of Penny getting her acting break or finally proposing to Leonard I don't see any huge changes at the end of this season.

WeBuiltThePyramids

I rarely hope you're wrong, but this is one of those times. I don't have very strong opinions related to H/B often, but one thing I know %100 that I do not want is for them to have kids. I like how she's representative of the women out there who don't want them, and how it's partly because of her career and partly because of her personal feelings toward children. Society just assumes that married couples will have kids, and they assume that women want children, and even though I fall very much into that stereotype, Bernadette doesn't, and I really want her to keep representing those women and not just have her have a baby just because she's married. We know Jim doesn't like kids, and we wouldn't expect him and Todd to adopt if they got married, so I don't think Howard and Bernadette need to be the ones to get pregnant just because they are married/got married first, etc. As much as I want a Leonard and Penny baby, I actually had to sit and think about what I'd rather have - H/B and L/P have kids or no one has kids at all. (Which you guys all know is really saying something.) I just really have a lot of negative feelings whenever I think about Bernadette getting pregnant.

smoguntia

Doesn't Jim like kids in general or doesn't he just like to work/shoot with them?

Paycheckgurl

The thing is though, Howard wants kids and it'd be really unfair to him if he never had any because Bernadette refuses to compromise. If both of them were in agreement than I'd agree with you, but well... Now that said, I think Leonard and Penny would have a kid first simply because Howard and Bernadette can't get ALL the storylines and Leonard Penny are supposed to be the main characters. Now could I see Bernadette warming up to the idea of kids after an episode or two of playing auntie (or at least to the point she wants to adopt) and there's comedic mileage to had from it or I could see her with kids in a flash foward in the finale.

WeBuiltThePyramids

I was always under the impression that he really doesn't like them in general. Like of course he loves the kids in his family, but I'm almost positive I've read he doesn't want his own.

EDIT: Yeah, I could see Bernadette warming to them after being an Aunt. (But on the whole Howard wants them so it's not fair to him...if Bernadette doesn't want them, and doesn't warm to them, why does she have to be the one to give?) Maybe they can adopt an older child-and by older I mean out of infancy.

Musickat18

I would agree with you, except that they decided to have Howard want children. If Howard didn't care, I would be perfectly fine with the idea of them never having kids. And they already mentioned the compromise in which they have kids and Howard becomes a stay-at-home dad.

I think that Lenny are the most likely couple to have a children within the course of the show (meaning either having the baby in the finale, or finding out she's pregnant). While I don't rule out Shamy having a baby, I don't think it's within the 10 season. I think 10 seasons would end with them getting married.


ETA:
Or, I could have finished reading and just said "What Paycheckgurl said."

WeBuiltThePyramids

The compromise thing is true-although Bernadette also expressed a disliking for what pregnancy does to the body, which is why I'm leaning toward them adopting if they ever do decide to be parents. On Howard wanting children, like I said before, if one wants kids and the other doesn't, it's just as unfair to expect Bernie to have kids because Howard wants them as it is to expect that Howard should automatically be okay with not having them because Bernie doesn't want them.

This might be getting off topic...(actually, scratch that, it is ) I'm going to make some sort of thread for this discussion (we have a "pick Penny's mate" thread, so I think we can justify having a thread for this too.) and I'll merge these posts over to that one.

WeBuiltThePyramids

I figured if we have a "Penny Debate: Pick Her Mate" thread, we can have a thread for this since there's probably some good conversation to be had. So here we go! I'm merging the posts from the news thread here, like we did when we made a thread for the unaired pilot.

EDIT: Apparently with the order of posts, Lio is the author of this thread.

Musickat18

I was going to say "Wow, Lio started a thread and she's not even here!"

Thanks for the thread NicLio!

ETA:
Nicole, I do agree that adoption is the way for H/B. I think it's the best compromise because Howard gets his children, and can stay at home, and Bernadette gets to keep her job and her body.

Captain Riterra Smith

All three couples need to have kids for my headcanon to come true. In 12 or 13 years The Next Generation competes in a science fair and their parents have a spirited debate over who deserves to win.

WeBuiltThePyramids

NicLio, I like it!

Okay, everyone, keep discussing! We can also talk about how a pregnancy or baby might move forward relationships that it's not involved in, i.e., Penny being pregnant might change Bernie's mind, babysitting might change Howard's mind () or Bernadette getting pregnant accidentally might move L/P into wanting a kid, etc. (And we can involve Shamy too, just realized none of my examples include them.)

EDIT: CRS, YES. I need this to happen now. Okay, Bernie can start wanting kids providing L/P and Shamy have kids too.