As she is rummaging through everybody's desks, Allison discovers that Mary Jo is trying to have a baby through a sperm bank. Having finally narrowed her prospects to three choices, Mary Jo asks her friends to help choose the father of her child. Meanwhile, Julia threatens a wealthy client, Lester Pittman, who is overdue in paying his bill, and Anthony declares war on a bird that has been defacing the Sugarbaker's van.
Although Julia and Carlene are supportive of Mary Jo's decision to have another child, Anthony and Allison both disapprove of Mary Jo's using a sperm bank. However, when the time to conceive arrives, everyone turns up at the doctor's office to support Mary Jo. After Lester Pittman fails to pay on time, Julia makes good on her threat to rip the draperies from the windows of his home.
When a home preganancy test reveals she is going to have a baby, Mary Jo questions her decision to have the child. After turning to Julia for support, Mary Jo regains confidence in her decision even though she learns that her pregnancy was a false alarm. Finally, Allison get Pittman to pay his bill, only to find that Julia has already cut up his drapes to make shopping bags and a van cover for Anthony.
Additional Comments:
The bird giving Anthony trouble is a mockingbird, which Carlene staunchly protects -- insisting that killing a mockingbird is bad luck.
Mary Jo's pregnancy is not a false alarm, but she loses the baby rather quickly.
This storyline is a follow-up to last season's Maybe Baby where Mary Jo decides she would like to have another child while she is still young enough.
Annie Potts was actually pregnant in real life, so plans for the season initially included Mary Jo being pregnant as well. However, the series' lead-in, Murphy Brown, was featuring a similar storyline with its lead character, so the idea was scrapped. Many speculated that the decision was a result of Vice President Dan Quayle's inane implication that Murphy Brown's pregnancy was contibuting to the downfall of our nation's values, but in truth, the storylines were simply too similar. As a result, Annie Potts spends much of the season wearing baggy clothes and hiding behind magazines in a attempt to disguise her pregnancy and misses the final few episodes.
Classic Scenes:
Carlene and Anthony escort Mary Jo to the sperm bank where she waits to be inseminated.
CARLENE: (to another woman in the waiting room) How'd you get pregnant?
PREGNANT WOMAN: Excuse me?
MARY JO: (whispers embarassed) Carlene! How do you think she got pregnant?
CARLENE: Well I don't know. I thought this was one of those doctors who just handled women who did it funny. I'm sorry, no offense.
Allison shows up shortly after.
ALLISON: I thought I'd find you here.
MARY JO: Well, hi. I thought you were with Julia.
ALLISON: She wouldn't listen to reason, and I did not spend six years at Wellsley training to be a repo-woman. I found your dipstick on your desk, so I spritzed a little Lysol and came down here. I thought you might need me.
MARY JO: Thank you. That was very sweet.
ALLISON: Well, y'know this could lead to some sort of bonding between us, even though I find what you're doing somewhat sordid and repulsive.
Mary Jo is scared after finding out her trips to the sperm bank to become inseminated actually took affect....
MARY JO: Oh, Julia. I just think I've been so cavalier. Six months ago I blurted out that I wanted a baby, and now I'm gonna have one. I'm so scared.
JULIA: Mary Jo, I'm gonna tell you something. Hayden and I were planning to have another child when he had his first heart attack. And after he recovered, he was all ready to try again. But knowing that his health was precarious, I decided I just couldn't face the possibility of having to bring up that child without him. I love Payne more than anything in the world, but oh how I wanted another child. I gave up that possibility out of fear. It was a deep disappointment to Hayden. And, Mary Jo, it is the only thing in my life that I will always regret.
MARY JO: I had no idea.
JULIA: Well, I'm telling you now. And what I'm telling you is don't let fear keep you from having this thing you know you want so much.
MARY JO: Will you promise me that every time I get wimpy you'll just slap me around? No, I mean it. I'm going to need you there with me every step of the way.
JULIA: Well, you've got me. You've got me. Of course I may have to arm wrestle Carlene to see who gets to cut the umbilical cord.
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