A Family is Born
Nurse: So you're his wife?
Prudence: Oh no, I'm his wife.
Lizzy: Yeah, I'm his lesbian best friend.
Prudence: She's having his baby.
Lizzy: We all live together.
Prudence: Oh no, I'm his wife.
Lizzy: Yeah, I'm his lesbian best friend.
Prudence: She's having his baby.
Lizzy: We all live together.
— Liz and Prudence summing up the series.
One Big Happy was an NBC sitcom produced by Ellen Degeneres, which began airing in March 2015.
Luke (Nick Zano) and Lizzy (Elisha Cuthbert) have been best friends since childhood. They went to prom together, they live together, and Luke knew Lizzy was gay before she did. Now that they're thirty and single, they've decided to make good on a pact they made years ago to make and raise a baby together. Unfortunately, they haven't been very successful conceiving and Lizzy is ready to throw in the towel...
Enter Prudence (Kelly Brook), a young British girl who's spending her last few days in America having fun before being deported. Luke meets her at a bar and they hit it off immediately, falling in love within the day and getting married in Las Vegas so that Prudence can stay in America. Just in time for Lizzy to announce that she's finally pregnant. Thus begins the story of a man, his wife, and his pregnant lesbian best friend all living together and trying to be some kind of family.
The series lasted for one truncated six-episode season before being cancelled by NBC.
This show has no relation to the comic strip of the same name.
Contains examples of:
- All Lesbians Want Kids: Played with. Lizzy plays it straight, obviously. Her ex Erica is surprised at first, but warms up to it in an attempt to get Lizzy to come back to her. Kate doesn't mind the kid part, but still can't date Lizzy because she's her nurse and that'd violate protocol.
- Ambiguously Gay: Kate when the group first meets her. They decides to play "Gay or Nay" to determine whether Lizzy should pursue her or not.
- Best Woman: After Luke and Prudence's marriage turns out to be invalid, Lizzy offers to plan a proper wedding with her as Luke's best man.
- Boob-Based Gag: Prudence was once accused of smuggling melons.
- Citizenship Marriage: Luke marries Prudence partially because she was about to be deported. When Luke has to remarry again and can't make it on time, Lizzy ends up marrying Prudence instead.
- Creepy Doll: Prudence has a pair of creepy marionettes that she used to entertain children with at a hospital. Marionettes just happen to be Luke's fear. She hangs the puppets above their bed.
- Deadpan Snarker: Lizzy's sister Leila.
- Distracted by the Sexy: During her with MsFanservice Prudence, Lizzy finds difficult to concentrate on talking to her.
- Double Entendre: Prudence finds her grandma's cock (rooster statue) in her belongings. Lizzy begs Luke to get her to stop, and he refuses.
- Friend Versus Lover: The source of the main conflict in the show. Luke is in love with Prudence, but has known Lizzy for his entire life. Neither of them really want to share them, and when they start fighting over him his response is usually to Take a Third Option and run.
- Gay Best Friend: Lizzy to Luke.
- Genki Girl: Prudence is very energetic and spontaneous.
- Home Nudist: Prudence qualifies for walking around Luke and Lizzy's kitchen stark naked without a care in the world.
- Ironic Name: Prudence is anything but prudent.
- I Will Wait for You: A variant. Kate and Lizzy go on a date before finding out that the latter is the former's nurse, which means that they'd be violating protocol if they continued. Kate suggests that she'll try to wait for Lizzy's pregnancy to finish so that they can try going out again.
- "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal: Lizzy after Luke gets hurt trying to prove to Prudence how adventurous he is.Lizzy: If Prudence jumped off a bridge, would you do it?
Luke: We're actually doing that next week. - Lesbian Jock: Subverted. When playing "Gay or Nay" to determine Kate's sexuality, the group ask her if she ever played sports. She played soccer in high school ("Yay!") but wasn't very good ("Nay.") but likes tennis (which throws them for a loop).
- Lipstick Lesbian: Lizzy, who barely shows any stereotypical lesbian traits. Though considering the show is produced by Ellen Degeneres, she's closer to a "chapstick" lesbian.
- Love at First Sight: Luke and Prudence, who were able to get married within a day, seemingly without any problems.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Prudence is a textbook example.
- Ms. Fanservice: Prudence, who often wears skimpy clothing - or none at all!
- Naked First Impression: Lizzy finds out that Prudence slept with Luke when she appears in her kitchen stark naked.
- Naked People Are Funny: Lizzy finding Prudence naked in her kitchen is Played for Laughs.
- Nervous Wreck: Lizzy is quite high-strung and is prone to panicking if things don't go according to her expectations.
- Noodle Incident: Prudence has had an adventure-filled life, but not without consequence. She's no longer allowed inside a Catholic Church, for example.
- No Sense of Personal Space: This is Prudence in spades. Her main way of trying to build a relationship with Lizzy is by awkwardly tug-hugging her at every opportunity.
- Oops! I Forgot I Was Married: Prudence was married in England to a shifty guy named Martin. They got a divorce, but Martin never signed the paperwork, so they are still technically married.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Luke and Lizzy, who both figured it'd be a while before they actually found somebody and decide to have a baby together.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: Lizzy to Prudence, which makes Prudence question whether she really is a lesbian.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Prudence is very comfortable with her body, and struts around naked in her new lover's kitchen. Even when Lizzy catches she's completely unashamed and carries on their conversation like nothing's wrong.
- Short-Runners: Only lasted six episodes.
- Tempting Fate: When Lizzy is complaining to Leisha that it feels like Luke is changing because of Prudence, Leisha consoles her by saying that Luke isn't a completely different person. Enter Luke wearing a body-chute for base-jumping.Lizzy: Oh my god, who are you?
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Luke's fear of puppets.
