"If ye water turns
blue, a baby for you! If purple ye see, no baby thar be! If
ye test should fail, to a doctor set sail!"
- From "Barnacle Bill's Home Pregnancy Test"
The Simpsons,
Episode 47, "I Married Marge," December 26,1991.
Marge Simpson was not pregnant, but as she took her home pregnancy
test she joined dozens of other television women for whom peeing
on a stick is a common plot point. How far television has come
since Hot Lips’ pregnancy scare forced her M*A*S*H
comrades to threaten the life of Radar’s rabbit! In today’s
television-world, it is a rite of spring to take a pregnancy
test in May, and force America to wait for the season premiere
the next fall to learn the results rather than the three minutes
it would take in real life. But the test is usually portrayed
as simple, no dead rabbits necessary.
Perhaps the most culturally significant pregnancy test on television
came in May and September of 1991 when Murphy Brown’s
20 tests turned up positive (Episodes 75 & 76, “Uh-Oh”).
A year later, when she delivered baby Avery, a national discussion,
prompted by Vice President Dan Quayle’s remarks, ensued
about single motherhood. However, most television home pregnancy
tests reveal more about the characters’ dalliances than
national controversies.
Though certainly most characters do not discuss the science
behind the home pregnancy test, its very presence on so many
different kinds of television shows and movies geared at different
audiences hints at its cultural relevance. The pregnancy test
is an example of a home healthcare product that is familiar
to millions of people. And here’s a hint: If you don’t
want people to know you have taken a pregnancy test, don’t
leave the kit in the trashcan.
Here are some examples of the pregnancy test in television shows
of the past decades. Dates listed are original air dates.
- Margaret (“Hot Lips”) thinks she might be
pregnant, but the only rabbit available for the test is
Radar’s pet, Fluffy. Hawkeye promises not to kill
the rabbit while performing the test. (M*A*S*H,
Episode 142, “What’s Up, Doc?” January
30, 1978
- Blanche is worried she might be pregnant so she takes
a home pregnancy test, but it turns out that she's going
through menopause. (The Golden Girls, Episode 26,
“End of the Curse,” September 27, 1986)
- Teenager Christine "Spike" Nelson, suspects
she may be pregnant after losing her virginity at a friend's
party. She buys a home pregnancy test, which her mother
catches her trying to hide. (DeGrassi Junior High,
Episode 11, "It's Late" March 29, 1987)
- Roseanne thinks she might be pregnant. (Roseanne,
Episode 48, “The Test,” September 18, 1990)
- Murphy takes test after test after test even though each
one clearly shows she is pregnant. (Murphy Brown,
Episode 75 & 76, “Uh Oh,” May 20 and September
16, 1991)
- Brenda takes a test after she sleeps with Dylan, and her
parents find it in the trash. She’s not pregnant.
(Beverly Hills, 90210, Episode 23, “Beach
Blanket Brandon,” July 11, 1991)
- Marge takes a pregnancy test while Bart and Lisa discuss
having another sibling. (The Simpsons, Episode
47, “I Married Marge,” December 26,1991)
- Patty takes a pregnancy test and discovers she is not
pregnant; Graham is dissapointed as he had wanted a son
to follow his two daughters. (My So-Called Life,
Episode 7, "Why Jordan Can't Read," October 6,
1994)
- Sylvia takes a second pregnancy test and tells Andy at
work. She asks him not to tell everybody, but he does. (NYPD
Blue, Episode 46, “Torah!” October 31,
1995)
- Jill and Bailey wait nervously for the pregnancy test
results as Bailey pledges never to have sex again. They
are relieved to see the negative result. (Party of Five,
Episode 22, "The Ides of March," March 15, 1995)
- Jamie takes a pregnancy test which comes up positive,
leading to a reconciliation with her estranged husband Paul.
(Mad About You, Episode 95, "The Finale III," May
19, 1996)
- Paige takes a pregnancy test as she, Ellen, and Audrey
contemplate their lives. (Ellen, Episode 71, “The
Pregnancy Test,” November 20, 1996)
- Phoebe’s brother and his girlfriend bring over a
pregnancy test so she can see if the implantation worked
and she is on her way to being a surrogate mother. (Friends,
Episode 85, “The One with the Embryos,” January
15, 1998)
- Carrie has a late period, but isn’t sure whether
she wants the pregnancy test to be positive or negative.
(Sex and the City, “The Baby Shower,”
August 9, 1998)
- Apu and Manjula take two home pregnancy tests with readouts
resembling a slot machine. The first test reads: baby, baby,
lemon. The next time, a pirate shows up instead of a lemon.
They are sad until they realize that pirates are wild and
Manjula is pregnant. They end up having octuplets. (The
Simpsons, “Eight Misbehavin',” November
21, 1999)
- Lily hides her pregnancy test kit from Grace, Carla, and
Zoe, but Judy finds it. She takes the test later with Rick,
after discussing what they want the results to be. (Once
and Again, Episode 208, “Life Out of Balance,”
January 10, 2001)
- Joey takes a pregnancy test and is relieved to find she
has not followed in her sister's footsteps by getting pregnant
in high schol. (Dawson's Creek, Episode 19, "Late,"
April 25, 2001)
- Jerome finds a pregnancy test in the bathroom, but isn’t
sure if it was taken by Niecy, Alicia, or Brenda. We never
find out, as the show was subsequently cancelled. (Moesha,
Episode 127, “Paying the Piper,” May 14, 2001)
- Rachel and Phoebe find the test in the trash. Phoebe assumes
it’s Monica’s, but really it’s Rachel’s.
(Friends, Episode 170, “The One with Chandler
and Monica’s Wedding," May 17, 2001)
- Rachel takes another pregnancy test and shows the positive
result to Monica and Phoebe. (Friends, Episode
171, "The One After 'I Do'," September 27, 2001)
- Felicity takes a pregnancy test which comes out positive.
She tells Noel and Ben that she might be pregnant and that
Noel might be the father. However, a blood test shows that
she is not, in fact, pregnant. (Felicity, Episode
66, "Miss Conception," October 31, 2001)
- Teri is in the safe house and decides to take the pregnancy
test. Kimberly sees the box in the trash can. (24,
Episode 15, “2-3pm” March 12, 2002)
- Grace takes a pregnancy test to see if the artificial
insemination worked while Will, Karen, and Jack stand watch
outside the bathroom door. (Will & Grace, Episode
100, “Bacon and Eggs,” October 3, 2002)
- Lucy thinks she might be pregnant so she and her sister
Mary go buy a test. (7th Heaven, Episode 154, “Life
and Death (2),” May 19, 2003)
- Paul finds a home pregnancy test and worries it might
be from one of his daughters. (8 Simple Rules for Dating
my Teenage Daughter, Episode 28, “Sort of an
Officer and a Gentleman,” May 20, 2003)
- Niles and Daphne are trying to get pregnant. She takes
what she thinks is an ovulation test, but soon realizes
she is holding a positive pregnancy test. (Frasier,
Episode 241, “No Sex Please, We’re Skittish,”
September 23, 2003)
- Helen doesn't know what to think when she gets the results
from her home pregnancy test. Confusion results when Luke
finds the test kit in the trash and thinks it must have
been Joan's. (Joan of Arcadia, Episode 10, "Drive,
He Said," December 5, 2003)
- Tina surprises Bette with the news that they're going
to have a baby by setting the dinner table for three and
putting the positive pregnancy test at the third setting.
(The L Word, Episode 4, "Lies, Lies, Lies,
" February 8, 2004)
- Brooke takes a pregnancy test and thinks she is pregnant
with her ex-boyfriend Lucas's baby. It later turns out to
have been a false positive. (One Tree Hill, Episode
19, "How Can You Be Sure?" April 20, 2004.)
- Theresa takes a home pregnancy test alone. Later, she
confides in Marissa that she is pregnant, and that she doesn't
know if the father is abusive fiance Eddie or ex-boyfriend
Ryan. (The O.C., Episode 26, "The Strip,"
April 28, 2004.)
- Charlie talks an acquaintence through taking a home pregnancy
test and explains that it's the stick that changes
color. (Two and a Half Men, Episode 24, "Can
You Feel My Finger?" May 24, 2004.)
- Val takes a pregnancy test at the airport, but on the
way home Rick throws it out of the taxicab window so he
can propose to her before learning the result. (What
I Like About You, Episode 45, "Europe Was So Much
More Fun," September 17, 2004)
- Michael takes unusual measures to find out if Maggie is
really pregnant, planting people in the bathroom to steal
a sample of her urine for the test. Unfortunately, they
test the wrong woman's urine. (Arrested Development,
Episode 34, "My Hand to God," March 6, 2005)
- Cristina, who is having an affair with her boss, thinks
she has the flu but finally takes a pregnancy test. (Grey's
Anatomy, Episode 7, "The Self Destruct Button,"
May 8, 2005)
This is certainly not a complete list. If you have other
examples, email the Office
of NIH History.
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Rachel stares at her positive pregnancy
test as her friend Monica looks on, (Friends, 2001).
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