FoxPhile

I like this discussion. Thanks for making the thread.

As a woman who decided not to have children, for a lot of reasons, I really hope that Bernadette and Howard don't have kids. I know Howard wants them, but sometimes the compromise is for the person who wants kids to agree not to have them. Unfortunately, having kids is not typically something that one can compromise halfway on. You either have them and raise them, or you don't. And even if they adopt and Howard becomes a house-husband, Bernadette will still be a mother, and still have to live with the kids and participate on some level with raising them. If that's not something she wants, or feels she can do, then she shouldn't.

On some level, L/P seem the logical choice for the first kids, since they have the longest running relationship and the most active sex life. Unfortunately, they are also something of the cliche choice, particularly if Penny gets pregnant before they get married or before she asks him to marry her. I really hope the show doesn't go that way, although I wouldn't mind seeing a Lenny baby - or at least knowing one is on the way - before the series finale.

I like the idea of Raj being the first daddy. It has a certain symmetry to it if he's the last to get a girlfriend, but the first to have children. And his parents will be a hoot if that happens. Of course, things on that front will have to develop VERY quickly.

And I absolutely, positively WANT news of a Shamy baby before the final curtain. In fact, I want the Shamy baby to be conceived out of wedlock and I want to see Mary Cooper charging to Pasadena with a shotgun! Sheldon has discussed gifting humanity with his progeny and it was only the threat of Mary's reaction to a test-tube grandchild that put his idea on hold. I would love to see him react to Amy showing him a little blue plus sign. After all, Jim Parsons can do an amazing on-stage faint.

Musickat18

I actually really like the idea of Raj being the first parent on the show.

moyrani

Nicole is double posting?!



Thanks for the new thread.

As long as BBT is a broad comedy, I don't think that any of the couples should be having babies even if any of the couples were ready for them, which they are not at this point. IMO, children worked in shows such as Friends and HIMYM because they are more in the vein of romantic comedies. Even though BBT is often accused of turning into a rom-com, it still is unsubtle and outrageous at its base. Granted, this season the writers are turning up the tenderness, but those moments are still few and far between. I think that BBT will continue to be mostly broad during the remaining of its run. Next season's stories and direction will probably be determinant in whether they can make it work, or if they're even "going there" before the last half of the last season (I'm pretty sure that the "our babies will be smart and beautiful" line from the pilot will bring the show full circle at least at the very end).

FoxPhile

Yes - it's the end of the world as we know it.

Exactly!

koops

LOL when I saw Lio created this thread I was a bit surprised to be honest. I'm glad this was opened though because it's an interesting topic that has come up on the other forum but it can't be discussed on there without it turning it into a S1-3 fans vs TBBT fans war. So I'm glad I can discuss it here where people are more civilized

I am not a fan of kids at all, so the main reason why I would *not* want the show to continue beyond year 10 is precisely because it would be inevitable to bring in some kids at some point. And I just don't think the premise of the show is really about having and raising kids, I think the point has always been to grow these boys (and Penny) up to that point and then leave them be. I'm not saying I don't think they would be good parents or that X and Y shouldn't have kids, I just don't see it fitting in the show. I wouldn't be totally against a pregnancy being written into the last season or revealed at the end of the last season though.

If we are speaking generally about TBBT kids, I have to admit I like the idea of the Next Generation (especially since there's so many ST: TNG references, guests and references in the show that it kind of seems fitting), but I also agree that there would be a certain cliche' to having all the couples have kids.

I think the writers put themselves in a particularly delicate position with Howard and Bernadette in particular, because they're the ones who married first and at the same time seem to have polar opposite views about children. I think the only way I could see it work out is if Howard becomes a stay-at-home dad, but if that were to happen ON the show, I bet you'd have a lot of people outraged that they "ruined Howard", since there seems to be a certain faction of the fandom that loved sleazy Howard and wanted him to chase after girls into retirement. I do like the idea of the stay-at-home dad though, it would be something novel for a sitcom and it would fit with the idea that she seems to be the breadwinner in the house. It's a nice change for television.

Penny and Leonard will DEFINITELY have kids at some point. It has to come full circle with the whole "Our babies will be smart and beautiful" thing. I have absolutely no doubt they will. And I think Leonard will be an awesome father. If anyone were to have a baby while the show is on the air, I think it'd be them.

Shamy are a whole complicated business (when aren't they, lol). I do think they could very well have kids in the future, their relationship also started out with a reference to kids, although it was "superior benign overlords" rather than "smart and beautiful babies' - but I always found the similarities between the start of Shamy and the start of Lenny in those lines quite interesting. The thing with them is that they're both way way to childlike themselves still that I think they have a lot of growing up to do before they're anywhere near ready. I don't know if they will reach that maturity by the end of the series if we're assuming 10. If they keep up at this pace it'd be like watching a pre-teen pregnancy. But they could be the pregnancy reveal in the final episode, even just to see Jim faint one more time.

Raj is so up in the air. I don't think his relationship, whatever it will be, is going to be long enough by the end of the show for him to have kids, even if it's beyond 10.

bigbangsheldon

i honestly tend to think HB will be the first to have babies, even though i would like LP more

that would be so cute

WeBuiltThePyramids

That wouldn't have happened if the posts all merged like I thought they would.

I agree with you completely on Howard and Bernadette. I do not want them having children for those reasons. I could tolerate them adopting more than her actually being pregnant, but for the reasons you said, I still don't know if she'd agree to it unless it was a kid that she already knew and loved - like taking in a family member's child or something, but that's more of a storyline you see in dramas.

In terms of L/P, I'm almost certain that if they aren't parents by the series finale, that last episode will show they will be. I'm actually thinking they might actually have a baby during the show's run, but I don't see her even getting pregnant until at least season eight, possibly nine. One thing I do know about them, though, is since they've brought up marriage, and how marriage was brought up, I do not want her to get pregnant before they get engaged. If it happens before the wedding, fine, but I need them to be engaged first, mostly because she's going to propose to him, so...if they get pregnant and then she proposes, she might look needy or people might say she feels trapped, but if they were already engaged or married, that wouldn't come across. I don't care if they get pregnant by accident or on purpose, but I want it to be at least post-engagement.

And on this:

I agree, especially on the bolded part. But yeah, I think the series will end with Shamy wedding (four years from S6 would be in S10, after all) or something like that, and as the show started with Leonard and Penny and the 100th was about them too, I think they'll have something to do with the finale, maybe Penny will give birth then, but that would be a hectic finale unless it was an hour long. But as I don't see L/P breaking up again, they can't exactly get back together in the finale if they stay together. So they might get a baby in the end to bring it full circle from the pilot, as has been said, and possibly a Shamy wedding, with (in my ideal world) something to be said that would imply that a Shamy baby will exist. And again, in my ideal world, Howard and Bernadette are childless.

koops

I could dig this scenario. They could have Shamy go off to the wedding night and have Sheldon make a remark about how traditionally this was meant to be to start off procreation as a hint. Or he says that and Amy reveals she's pregnant already. Although knowing Sheldon I doubt they'd have a surprise child, it'd probably be planned far in advance.

WeBuiltThePyramids

I would definitely love it if it went down like that. Or even if they have sex for the first time after Penny is pregnant (I'm assuming the writers aren't planning on either until S8 at the earliest, so I may be way off on that) and they could have a conversation about how they do it "better" than L/P because it won't take them five years to get pregnant, or something like that. (Basing that off of their willingness to have a child back in S4, albeit not the traditional way.)

Musickat18

Out of all the things that could possibly be considered OOC for Sheldon, I'd have to say a surprise baby would take the cake. I know things happen, but I'm pretty sure that any child would be rigorously planned, and that every sort of precaution would be taken to prevent an unplanned baby.

WeBuiltThePyramids

Yeah, definitely. Although anyone who watches Friends knows that protection does not always work. But I definitely think that a Shamy baby would be %100 planned.

Musickat18

I was thinking they'd probably add in Birth control pills or patch or something on top of the added protection.

WeBuiltThePyramids

Now I'm just thinking of "not with a thousand condoms, Howard."

Musickat18

Captain Riterra Smith

I don't care how little or how much they are planned. Don't care how long it takes or what compromises must be made. I just want my science fair.