Thursday, December 19, 2013

How the "Pregnant Female Protagonist" is the New "Jumping the Shark"

My favorite cartoon that is still running (Archer) took a bad turn on it's season finale last year.  The main female character got pregnant.  The reason I don't like this isn't anything against women getting pregnant, but multifold.

First, a pregnant private sector TEC-9 toting spy should not be running around on dangerous missions while she's carrying.  Second, the whole Archer cast is without children and single.  They are able to not only take on dangerous missions, but with no child-rearing obligations, they can pursue equally dangerous and haphazard-prone social lives.  Third, I think it's a play to a female demographic that once again, like "The Replacement Killers," ruins an otherwise good action show.

But my primary reason for not liking Lana getting pregnant is that it telepaths to me that the show might be ending.

Allow me to explain.

Fast and Furious 5, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are running around Brazil trying to avoid a politician's hit squad.  In the middle of flight Paul Walker's girlfriend (the actress of which I have a Jennifer-Aniston-equse soft spot for) stops both of them in the middle of their escape and says,

"I'm pregnant."

Not that the F&F franchise was that great to begin with, but the F&F6 seeming so ludicrous, Paul Walker's unfortunately demise would not have been the only thing to mercifully end the series.

Another example - Control Alt Delete.  The comic.

I was an AVID fan.  It was hilarious, funny, cute, and entertaining.

Then the girlfriend of the hero got pregnant.  Things got emotional, and you know something, I checked out.  That was about 5 years ago and I haven't read the comic since.  I wanted to read a comic about nerdy tech geek humor, not a soap opera.

"Friends" anyone?  How many of those women got pregnant?  Fifi or Bibi?  Didn't Amy or Pipsi get pregnant too?  Sorry, I obviously didn't watch the show too much, but I do know that some women got pregnant and then the show ended.

The point I'm trying to make is that I think I have found a new replacement for when Fonzi jumped the shark.  It's when the female lead character gets pregnant.

Naturally I hope this is not the case with Archer, but if previous "leading females getting pregnant" is any kind of proxy, it usually means the show is about to come to an end.

Regardless, the people at Fox better make sure this isn't the last season of Archer.

And for god's sake, will somebody resurrect "Venture Brothers?"  That show had limitless potential.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

From the wiki: "Christopher McCulloch, otherwise known as Jackson Publick, announced on March 22, 2011, that the show had been renewed for seasons 5 and 6, with pre-production to have begun in June 2011.[2] Season five began airing on June 2, 2013.[3]"

I only watch episodes on Netflix, but I had sort of pinned my hopes on that tidbit.

The Civilizationalist said...

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I have a new blog with some ideas related to the Manosphere. I'd appreciate it if you could give some comments.
http://humancivilizations.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/the-benefits-of-socially-enforced-monogamy/
http://humancivilizations.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/redefining-patriarchy/

ScottH said...

The Venture Bros. are back in production:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Venture_Bros

http://www.venturefans.org/vbwiki/Venture_Bros._Episode_Guide

Can't wait to see them in Canada!

White Knight Leo #0368 said...

As for CAD-Comic, Lila and Ethan were engaged to be married when that happened. The bad part was when she miscarried; that sort of turned me off to the whole thing. The pregnancy wasn't a deal killer, cause the idea of Ethan the father raising a gamer child was kinda cool.

Anonymous said...

Mallory Archer's pregnant! At her age!

One would have thought Sterling Archer was a sufficient indication she's an unfit mother

Anonymous said...

Mallory Archer's pregnant! At her age!

One would have thought Sterling Archer was a sufficient indication she's an unfit mother

Adam Lawson said...

Oh, the stupid miscarriage. THAT'S what killed it for me. Totally destroyed any interest I had left in the comic. I was willing to swallow pregnant just to see where it went.

Unfortunately it went to a stupid over-dramatic and bad place. It was totally out of the character of the comic. It would have been like if in the middle of Casablanca, Rick whipped his dick out and did the helicopter.

(As unfortunate as that scene would have been, Casablanca would still be better than anything that's been in the movies in my lifetime. CAD holds no such place in the entertainment hierarchy.)

Anonymous said...

Go Team Venture!

Jones said...

You should watch "Danger 5" -- it's like a live-action Archer in many ways. You might still find a copy of it online somewhere. It may also be possible to find a DVD of it from "Astraya".

As far as the main heroine goes, Claire will never, ever get pregnant -- she's trying too hard to keep from being splatted by Colonel Chestbridge's "Sit-Down Gun" for failing to close her mouth ...

Anonymous said...

On a related note, You should try the British tv series Strike Back. Skip the first season and watch from season two onwards. Plenty of action, surprisingly decent plot, and cast is made up of physically fit men and women, who are not shy about nudity.

Anonymous said...

I'd cite Kill Bill, but the Bride got no mercy. The hit woman in Volume 2 gave her some, but that was for comic effect. Also, the Bride at least tried to exit the violence business on account of pregnancy.

Kill Bill has every thing wrong regarding men and women in fighting, but it wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and it was fun to watch.

wolfean said...

Turns out Lana became pregnant so she can continue to walk unwittingly down the same path as Mallory. It makes room for a whole new set of jokes for a revamped show. Win win.

Anonymous said...

"The writers got bored"?

Well, poor them!

(Faulkner and Hemingway got bored -- and stopped writing.)

So. Epitaph:

STERLING ARCHER
Born - Season 1
Died - Season 4
"The Writers Got Bored"

:/

Anonymous said...

Archer/Cyril had a baby with tranete(The Call Girl) and the show seems to be fine. Im assuming that Lana and SPOILER ALERT Archers baby will not be a very large part of the show.