Abstract
This essay examines how comedies that have aired after the January 2009 episode of Scrubs titled “My House” have handled the issue of postpartum depression (PPD). Specifically, this essay focuses on situational comedies where a baby was introduced and how the episodes airing afterwards tackled mom and baby post-birth. This essay builds on the work of Jocelyn Fenton Stitt and Laura Tropp to highlight how the PPD storyline is changing and bringing the seriousness of the issue into focus. The author critically examines episodes of Black-ish, Jane the Virgin, The Big Bang Theory, Girls, and Workin’ Moms through three communication lenses: attachment theory, family systems theory, and competing motherhood discourses. The analysis reveals that the shows’ writers moved beyond just the sad mommy or the bad mommy portrayal and instead drew the audience in by writing the nuances associated with PPD. According to the author, this change demonstrates that the use of PPD as a storyline device has defined it as an “everyone problem” and not just a celebrity or female problem.
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