Does anyone else have a TV show or movie that sounds like it should be perfect for pregnancy content on paper, but for whatever reason completely misses the mark and winds up to be a complete dud? 

For me, I've been thinking a lot about the season of American Horror Story that featured the alien pregnancies. It had all of the right pieces to be perfect fetish material. Teens on spring break from college find themselves suddenly pregnant, they all take pregnancy tests, rapid belly growth, and then they spend several episodes of the show with full term bellies. 

However the actual execution left a LOT to be desired. The actress playing the main character was absolutely gorgeous, but the rest of the cast wasn't anything special. (I know people are split on the mpreg aspect. While it doesn't do anything for me personally, it's presence doesn't offend me either) The acting wasn't great, and the script writing itself left a lot to be desired. All of the belly growth happened off screen, there was one brief bare belly scene for an ultrasound, but the rest of the series had them all dressed in these big baggy hospital gowns that hid their bellies more than it showed them off. They barely even referenced their pregnancies after they were established initially. 

For some reason I just keep thinking about these few episodes, and what I would have changed if I had been the director. What about you? Are there any pregnancy scenes that you can't get out of your head because of how you would have handled it differently?

(June 10, 2023, 1:59 pm)ntchndlr Does anyone else have a TV show or movie that sounds like it should be perfect for pregnancy content on paper, but for whatever reason completely misses the mark and winds up to be a complete dud? 

For me, I've been thinking a lot about the season of American Horror Story that featured the alien pregnancies. It had all of the right pieces to be perfect fetish material. Teens on spring break from college find themselves suddenly pregnant, they all take pregnancy tests, rapid belly growth, and then they spend several episodes of the show with full term bellies. 

However the actual execution left a LOT to be desired. The actress playing the main character was absolutely gorgeous, but the rest of the cast wasn't anything special. (I know people are split on the mpreg aspect. While it doesn't do anything for me personally, it's presence doesn't offend me either) The acting wasn't great, and the script writing itself left a lot to be desired. All of the belly growth happened off screen, there was one brief bare belly scene for an ultrasound, but the rest of the series had them all dressed in these big baggy hospital gowns that hid their bellies more than it showed them off. They barely even referenced their pregnancies after they were established initially. 

For some reason I just keep thinking about these few episodes, and what I would have changed if I had been the director. What about you? Are there any pregnancy scenes that you can't get out of your head because of how you would have handled it differently?

I would have had the pregnancies in Species II to be natural pushing births where the mothers survive the births and not bursting births that kill the mothers.

There are quite a few pregnancy movies that were a misses potential. Species II for one. The original Inside. Inseminoid (Horror Planet). And Progency.

The problem with AHS Death Valley is that writers insisted on splitting episodes between the past and present. Some of the issues could've been resolved if the past and present were separate episodes. You could've done more with the present cast's pregnancies and fleshed out their characters more if the present segments were full episodes.

Interestingly enough, the upcoming season of AHS is based on an unreleased book called Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine. The premise of Delicate Condition is about a woman's unusual pregnancy and search for answers. Not sure of AHS will do a better job with this plot than Death Valley (though that wouldn't be hard), but the show's problems has always been wasting interesting premises and failing to stick landings.

I thought Hellions was wasted potential. Movie needed more expansion scenes, less time spent on the MC running around scared, and a better plot execution.

Cherry Tree should've been entirely about the MC's pregnancy instead of it only being a thing for a few scenes. Also needed a bigger belly.

Snatchers should've kept the MC pregnant for longer and there should've been more pregnant characters (since the boyfriend was infected by an alien parasite/ entity and sleeping around).

Samourais had one good belly expansion scene at the start of the movie and did a speed run through the rapid pregnancy of the MC's girlfriend. I feel like the premise would've benefitted if her belly expansion happened throughout the course of the movie instead. Girlfriend should've had more scenes when she was actually pregnant (and in general, she barely did anything and the plot was about saving her from the curse).

There was an old horror movie where the villain, a dead serial killer, managed to come back from beyond the grave in an attempt to avenge himself on the detective who arrested him. In one scene he managed to impregnate the detective's daughter who went through a rapid pregnancy and survived an offscreen birth, though they never show her offspring. Movie should've been solely focused on that plotline.

Not exactly related to the thread, but considering what happened to Cordelia in Angel, I'm surprised we never got a rapid pregnancy plot in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

There are probably a few other shows and movies I haven't mentioned that missed the mark or wasted concepts.

(June 10, 2023, 2:50 pm)awakenedhero Snatchers should've kept the MC pregnant for longer and there should've been more pregnant characters (since the boyfriend was infected by an alien parasite/ entity and sleeping around).

Oh yeah, I forgot about Snatchers. Definitely another one that had a lot more untapped potential. The fact that the main character was the only one who ended up pregnant is such a waste.

Slither also comes to mind. Instead of having the lady go from skinny to 'big pregnant blob who explodes', they should've showed her growing towards that point. Alternatively, they could've had her explode and have another one of the female characters get impregnated. The plotline for the impregnated character would be showing the stages of growth leading up to that final 'big pregnant blob who explodes' stage and maybe trying to save them/ slow down their pregnancy.

(June 10, 2023, 3:13 pm)awakenedhero Slither also comes to mind. Instead of having the lady go from skinny to 'big pregnant blob who explodes', they should've showed her growing towards that point. Alternatively, they could've had her explode and have another one of the female characters get impregnated. The plotline for the impregnated character would be showing the stages of growth leading up to that final 'big pregnant blob who explodes' stage and maybe trying to save them/ slow down their pregnancy.

There is a dimly lit scene that shows Brenda somewhere between normal and blob.  Attached image is a press photo, better lit than in the movie, but still.

I think your second idea would've worked better, since the shock value of seeing her as a huge blob doesn't work as well if you can see her transformation.

I'm going to go with Notes from the Underbelly. For a sitcom completely centered on the subject of pregnancy, I feel like it kind of underdelivered. Doesn't help that it got canceled early.

About AHS Death Valley I totally agree. Just the fact to don't show anything of the rapid pregnancies, the expansions etc, is frustrating.
And also yes in Snatcher there should've been more pregnancies, and for the MC they should have made a scene while she was sleeping, between when she do the test at night and realize her pregnancy in the morning, which shows her flat belly starting to expand.

I also would have loved to see a bit of Bailee Madison's bare belly in Pretty Little Liars Original Sins, they missed so many opportunities for that

(June 10, 2023, 2:50 pm)awakenedhero The problem with AHS Death Valley is that writers insisted on splitting episodes between the past and present. Some of the issues could've been resolved if the past and present were separate episodes. You could've done more with the present cast's pregnancies and fleshed out their characters more if the present segments were full episodes.

Interestingly enough, the upcoming season of AHS is based on an unreleased book called Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine. The premise of Delicate Condition is about a woman's unusual pregnancy and search for answers. Not sure of AHS will do a better job with this plot than Death Valley (though that wouldn't be hard), but the show's problems has always been wasting interesting premises and failing to stick landings.

I thought Hellions was wasted potential. Movie needed more expansion scenes, less time spent on the MC running around scared, and a better plot execution.

Cherry Tree should've been entirely about the MC's pregnancy instead of it only being a thing for a few scenes. Also needed a bigger belly.

Snatchers should've kept the MC pregnant for longer and there should've been more pregnant characters (since the boyfriend was infected by an alien parasite/ entity and sleeping around).

Samourais had one good belly expansion scene at the start of the movie and did a speed run through the rapid pregnancy of the MC's girlfriend.  I feel like the premise would've benefitted if her belly expansion happened throughout the course of the movie instead. Girlfriend should've had more scenes when she was actually pregnant (and in general, she barely did anything and the plot was about saving her from the curse).

There was an old horror movie where the villain, a dead serial killer, managed to come back from beyond the grave in an attempt to avenge himself on the detective who arrested him. In one scene he managed to impregnate the detective's daughter who went through a rapid pregnancy and survived an offscreen birth, though they never show her offspring.  Movie should've been solely focused on that plotline.

Not exactly related to the thread, but considering what happened to Cordelia in Angel, I'm surprised we never got a rapid pregnancy plot in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

There are probably a few other shows and movies I haven't mentioned that missed the mark or wasted concepts.

Snatchers had potential. The pregnant girl's belly looked good. But the pregnancy was too short lived and was over too quickly.

"There was an old horror movie where the villain, a dead serial killer, managed to come back from beyond the grave in an attempt to avenge himself on the detective who arrested him. In one scene he managed to impregnate the detective's daughter who went through a rapid pregnancy and survived an offscreen birth, though they never show her offspring. Movie should've been solely focused on that plotline."

That's House III. A pretty bad 80s horror movie and the pregnancy looked bad and was silly.