Oh Baby
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This article is about the television series. For the Bill Cosby album, see Oh, Baby (album).
Oh Baby was an American situation comedy series that ran on Lifetime from August 26, 1998 to March 4, 2000. It also ran from 1999 to 2003 on Canada's W Network. The series was produced by Mandalay Television for Columbia TriStar Television (now Sony Pictures Television).
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[edit] The premise
The series followed Tracy Calloway, a single working woman who decided to have a child through artificial insermenation, a decision that was spurred by an increase in working mothers at her workplace. Using a fourth wall technique, she would tell the audience watching how she would share the joy and sorrows of being a single mother, alongside showing videos of her and her family and friends in her life.
As Tracy successfully goes through with the process, she eventually finds support in Dr. Charlotte St. John, her best friend—who also works at Tracy's company as a psychiatrist and can dole out advice on how to be a single mother (she was twice divorced and had two children with different fathers)—and in her brother Ernie, an aspiring painter who wants out of his marriage and to move to Europe.
However, the only person who initially had mixed feelings about Tracy's decision was her mother, Celia. At first, Celia thought that Tracy had made the biggest mistake of her life by going through with the procedure, but eventually Celia came around to accept it. But despite that, Tracy knows her mother's reputation for trying to control her and Ernie's life, which indeed did play out through her pregnancy, with hilarious results.
Tracy's pregnacy also gave her other situations that also met with hilarious results, like constant and uncontrollable water bursts, and learning to breast-feed (her lactating breast was accidentely exposed at a restaurant). Tracy also played matchmaker for Charlotte, by hooking her up with her gynecologist Dr. Doug Bryan, leading to an on-again-off-again romance between the two.
By the end of the first season, Tracy gave birth to a son, but it was through a viewers' contest sponsored by Lifetime that allowed fans to pick the baby's name. In August 1999, Daniel would be the choice picked by viewers.
It was also during the second season that Tracy found herself trying to balance a life as a working mother, as well as bearing Celia's constant interferrence, with disastrous results. That friction would eventually also cost Tracy her job (as soon as she was let go, by the way, her fellow co-workers snatched everything off her cubicle).
After that scenario, she and Charlotte decided to go into business for themselves by launching an internet business call TrustMom.com (whose logo was a picture of Celia - over Tracy's objections!), where mothers could order stuff online.
Even though the show was a favorite with viewers, it wasn't be enough to convince Lifetime to order more episodes, and was cancelled after 44 shows.
[edit] Trivia
- Oh Baby was based on the real life experience of the show's executive producer Susan Beavers.
- The show's theme song was performed by Jimmy Beavers, Susan's brother.
[edit] Cast
- Cynthia Stevenson(Tracy Callaway)
- Joanna Gleason(Charlotte St. John)
- Jessica Walter(Celia Callaway)
- Matt Champagne(Ernie Callaway)
- Doug Ballard(Dr. Doug Bryan)
- Jack Coleman(Rick)
- Patrick Kerr(Brad)
- Don McManus(Don Lewis)
