What Should 'Nashville' Do About Hayden Panettiere's Real Life Pregnancy?
Ah, Nashville. We watch you for the great music and Connie Britton's luminescent skin, but we continue to tune in to see how you'll one-up yourself in terms of ridiculous plot lines. Seriously, what can you possibly add to a nighttime soap opera that's already featured a country star in a coma, a fake miscarriage made more convincing with pig's blood, and a murder-suicide carried out in order to prevent a sex tape from leaking? The only two possible answers here are a) a pregnancy of dubious paternity or b) the arrival of a heretofore unacknowledged evil twin.
Lucky for us, Hayden Panettiere is pregnant in real life, and her character, Juliette Barnes, had some drunk sex with evil Jeff Fordham (Oliver Hudson), the nasty record label exec who is most definitely not her boyfriend — how could she cheat on Avery (Jonathan Jackson)??? He became so likable! — so we're definitely getting a pregnancy this season; it's been confirmed that her pregnancy will be written into the series. We are thrilled for Hayden in real life, but also, way to give us the next amazing plot twist on the show, girlfriend!
This may be one of the rare instances when an actress's real-life pregnancy is perfectly timed. There was only so much standing behind a chair we could take from Olivia Pope on Scandal, you know? And Juliette is a performer — she's on stage in nearly every episode — so there will be no clever hiding behind pillows or carrying around enormous purses like on every other show ever. So with the perfect built-in who's-the-daddy plot, we're looking forward to all the new and interesting ways this pregnancy will manifest on the show. In case the producers were looking for some "outside the box" ideas, allow us to offer just a few suggestions before tonight's premiere:
We can't wait to see how it really plays out. Not much can shock us, but...wait a minute! What if Juliette gives birth to her own evil twin???
[Photo: Getty Images]