‘Labor Of Love’ Reality Series About Women’s Quest To Have A Child In Works At Fox

EXCLUSIVE: Fox is eyeing a return to provocative reality fare with Labor Of Love, a new unscripted series project that would follow professional women in their 30s or 40s who decide to have a baby.

Labor Of Love, now in early stages of development, hails from Howard Owens and Ben Silverman’s Propagate Content and Project Runway executive producer Desiree Gruber. Alex Duda, former executive producer of Steve Harvey and The Tyra Banks Show and creator of Jerseylicious, has been tapped as showrunner.

“It’s a show about empowering a woman who can pursue a decision to have a child to help complete a lifelong dream,” said Gruber, who produces via her Full Picture banner.

The topic of having kids inevitably comes up in conversation among women in their 30s or 40s. In contemporary American society, many have put off having children to focus on a career. Labor Of Love is a show about those who have reached a point when they’ve made a decision — it’s now or never. From there, the women would either opt to go for one last chance to connect and find a partner to enter into this commitment with, or pursue the idea of having kids alone, which would involve using a sperm donor. It hasn’t been determined yet whether the show would chronicle the experiences of one or multiple women as they pursue motherhood.

Gruber noted how women’s dreams have evolved over time from the one-time ideal of having a good job, a big house, a nice relationship and kids. “Often having a family is part of the dream, along with a good job and a big house,” she said. “But for more and more women, it’s a good job and a big house and not the other two. Settling down and having kids are a natural progression.”

For those who have completed only the first two of the four-step dream and are looking to go further, “maybe it’s both the happy relation and some kids,” or just kids, Gruber said. “This is something that should be explored deeper, and this show would explore the journey of a woman who wants to have it all.”