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Andrew (Peter Cambor) and Lauren (Jennifer Westfeldt) have just found out they're going to have a baby, and they're having a hard time keeping it secret. Well the couple is about to learn that, when the secret gets out, the politics of parenthood can be just as demanding as raising a child.
Based on the semisatirical book by Risa Green, the ABC comedy series Notes From the Underbelly concerned a young married couple who'd never really wanted children but who found themselves expecting all the same. Husband Andrew (Peter Cambor) was a landscape architect, wife Lauren (Jennifer Westfeldt) was a school guidance counselor, and neither have given much though to raising a family. But once Lauren became pregnant, the couple was obliged to take a crash course in "the politics of parenthood", and also required to follow the time-honored rules of the situation (Rule Number One: Don't tell anyone that there's a bun in the oven for the first three months, even though the mommy-to-be is obviously expanding). Throughout the pregnancy, Andrew and Lauren were expected to solicit advice and listen politely to unsolicited advice, whether they liked or not; and above all, they had to learn how to reconstruct their lives, their jobs, their ambition, and their free time, no matter how much they'd rather have been doing something else. In contrast to Andrew and Lauren's pose of indifference, their expectant friends Julie (Melanie Paxson) and Eric (Sunkrish Bala) were so enthusiastic and effusive over their new baby that they bordered on the obnoxious. Others in the cast were Lauren's cynical best friend, divorce attorney Cooper (Rachael Harris), and Andrew's irresponsible buddy Danny (Michael Weaver). The episodes were narrated by Andrew, who was not above giving HIMSELF on-screen advice. Notes From the Underbelly was originally scheduled to debut in the fall of 2006 in tandem with Big Day, but both series were supplanted by Ugly Betty, with Underbelly not seeing the light of day until April 12, 2007. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide