How I Met Your Mother #2

Two 1/2 hour back to back episodes as the premier. Okay ! Better than 1/2 hr. Cobie had a good dance scene with Barney in the first ep. But my gosh, let her hair alone ! She had 3-4 hair styles in the two eps. and her original from past seasons is still the best. They don't need to try and "gild the lily".

Sep 19 2011 11:17 PM ET


'How I Met Your Mother' season 7 premiere: A shocking blast from the past. Do you like where this season is headed?
by Sandra Gonzalez

The creators of How I Met Your Mother, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, had promised that this season would once again make us care about Ted’s hunt for love. I honestly wasn’t sure how they were going to do it, considering I had been so invested in everyone except Ted for a few seasons. At the end of last season, I cared more about Barney and Robin; Barney and Nora; and Lily and Marshall than I had cared about Ted in years. It was a tough task ahead. Then I watched tonight’s two new episodes, and, by God, they did it. But before I tell you how, let’s rewind. [Spoilers ahead, y'all! Don't continue unless you've seen the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother.]

The first half hour took us to two weddings: Barney’s and Punchy’s. (In the grand tradition of Ted’s ADD storytelling, he flashed back to Barney’s wedding before flashing back within that flashback to Punchy’s wedding. Still aboard? Good.) For me, the stars of part 1 were Barney and Robin. Robin, for her “truth voice” and that scene where she helped Barney talk to Nora on the phone. And Barney, for his hilarious bad pick-up attempts. (My favorite was the vampire. I’m not sure why, but vampire NPH was completely adorable.) Also, that dance? I will be dancing that in the next EW talent show.* (*This doesn’t exist, but I wish it did.)

Moving on, the second episode found us in the aftermath of Marshall’s drinking binge (=hangover) and worried that a background check for his new job would lead his possible future employers to a video of naked, college-age Marshall as “Beercules.” In this episode, we also welcomed Martin Short to the cast. (He’ll be popping up again soon for a longer appearance.) Meanwhile, Barney confessed many of his schemes to Nora in an attempt to clear the air with her (but it only ended up pushing her away), and Ted attempted to choose between two girls to find a date to an architect ball. Barney’s persistence with Nora eventually paid off in the form of a second date, and it even inspired Ted to abandon the idea of “choosing” a girl. He instead said he’d look for someone who would instantly feel like the one and only choice. It was a sweet sentiment.

But the warm and fuzzies didn’t finish there. In the final minutes, we were thrown a curve ball. At the architect ball, where Robin was Ted’s date, Ted saw, through the parting crowd, pastry chef Victoria (Ashley Williams) from season 1. Yes, Victoria, who I absolutely loved! Frustratingly, the episode ended there. But I can’t wait until next week.

Drumroll, please?

So here are some questions to get the discussion started:
+ How do you feel about Victoria’s reappearance? (Me? I LOVE it!) You will recall that she was the FBI agent in Warehouse 13. Will she appear there again now that she will likely return to HIMYM ?

+ Did you see that Lenny Kravitz thing coming from a mile away?
+ Which was the better episode 1 highlight: The phone call or the dance? The dance for sure. Cobie can "shift gears" in Robin's persona so quickly, we're always pleasantly surprised.

+ Did you like the peeks of what we have to come, like Marshall at the casino, and the duck tie?
+ And what do you think of the direction the season is headed? Promising? Personally, I think this could be the best season yet.
+ Thank you for reminding me, Matt (in comments)! Was the end of first episode a huge clue about Barney’s bride? Why would the bride want to talk to Ted? She has to know him! Does this mean it’s Robin?

How I Met Your Mother TV News
Katie Holmes Is the ‘Slutty Pumpkin’ on ‘HIMYM’

by Tracy Phillips
Sep 23rd, 2011 | 10:25 AM | Comments 0

Fun news for fans of “How I Met Your Mother.”

The identity of the mysterious “slutty pumpkin” – from way back in Season 1 of the CBS sitcom – is finally going to be revealed.

But we can tell you now that CBS has announced that it’s none other than … Katie Holmes!

Holmes has been cast in the long-running role of the “slutty pumpkin” – a love interest for Ted’s character that he met at a Halloween party in the first season, and has since become … “legendary” … for being the one that got away.

The Halloween-themed episode with Holmes guest starring is set to air next month. In the meantime, could the casting coup mean that Mrs. Cruise is ”THE mother”? Let the speculation begin!

I do like this show and have been watching it more. I watched a lot of the cable reruns this summer.

There are some pretty good female comedians in current TV series...Julie Bowen just won an Emmy for her character of Claire on Modern Family, Jane Levy is looking good comedically speaking on Suburgatory, Whitney Cummings may prove to be the same (at least her show got picked up for another season), etc.

But the comedy queen of them all is still Cobie. It doesn't hurt that she has excellent writing, but whatever she's given she nails it. I'm saving this ep and watch it whenever I need a laugh;

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The big piece of chocolate cake in her left hand is a nice touch.

I like it but usually just watch the reruns!

I watch the reruns too. Two every week night on the CW. I've seen every one multiple times, especially the best ones, like when she came back from Argentina, when she told the gang to watch her 3 am news show and they had the TV on but ignored it with their own "problems" while she dealt with a heart attack with a guest, delivered a baby, etc. on the air.... :lol:

http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/blogs/2011/how-i-met-your-mother/himym-see-katie-holmes-dressed-as-the-slutty-pumpkin/?cmpid=FCST_tvnews

‘HIMYM’: See Katie Holmes Dressed as ‘The Slutty Pumpkin’

So in last night's ep after 10 years of searching Ted finally finds his 'slutty pumpkin' and she turns out to be Katie Holmes ! I wonder how much she got paid for that role ? :lol:

The funny thing was that in the script she and Ted discovered that they had no chemistry and called it quits very quickly. But in the scenes you could see that she and Josh Radnor who plays Ted, actually had no chemistry, regardless of what the script said. This was fascinating to me. Was Katie miscast ? No, they wouldn't want an actress who had real chemistry with Josh, such as Cobie did when she and Ted were "together" in earlier seasons but I wonder how the producers/writers, etc. would have known in advance that Katie and Josh would have no real chemistry. Obviously everything worked out for the "best" plot-wise, but was it genius casting or just a lucky coincidence ?

The Barney/Robin segments were actually funnier with Barney as 'part-Canadian', and Cobie with her front teeth blacked out and in a Vancouver Canucks uniform, (She's from Vancouver) and still hot...

Hmmm....someone else has similar observations.



Katie Holmes as the Naomi the Slutty Pumpkin on "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS)
‘
by Joel Keller
Nov 1st, 2011 | 10:27 AM | Comments 0

Over the last seven seasons, one of the biggest mysteries of “How I Met Your Mother” — besides who the mother is, of course — was the identity of the Slutty Pumpkin, whom Ted met at a Halloween party in season one (in a flashback to 2001, no less), and whose number he lost. Last night we got our answer: her name is Naomi, and she looks an awful like Katie Holmes. And, after seven years, there’s one question “HIMYM” fans are left with: Is that all there is?

Truth be told, waiting seven years to find out that Naomi is just another in the never-ending parade of Ted Mosby’s (Josh Radnor) strange one-episode “relationships” was a disappointment. If Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were going to do something as monumental to the show’s history as reveal the identity of the Slutty Pumpkin, they would at least have had the foresight to make her into a multi-episode love interest.

But in a season where it looks like Ted is revisiting his past in order to set himself up to meet the woman who will be part of his future, Naomi is just another letdown, albeit one that’s a decade in the making for him. Everything about dating Naomi is “off” to Ted; her love of the Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week,” the cuddling that crushes his windpipe, the uncomfortable kissing. As Ted finds out, Naomi felt it, too. But, after that decade of looking, both were so invested in making it work, they decided to ignore the signs. This could have been a plot out of any previous season, yet it played out as if it was a big event in the history of the show.

Holmes was just fine, by the way, as Naomi; she wasn’t asked to be hilarious, and she played the clueless parts of the role well. And the stunt casting of having Mrs. Tom Cruise on your show must have been tempting for Bays and Thomas. But she didn’t need to play the Slutty Pumpkin, and to pair a one-time guest shot with something that’s part of the show’s canon is a bit of a disheartening move.

Thankfully, the rest of the episode, where Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) struggles with the revelation that he’s a quarter Canadian, and Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) convincing Marshall (Jason Segel) to move to the suburbs via her muddled pregnancy brain, was much funnier. And we may have gotten a hint of a clue about the mother on the rooftop, when Barney pointed to a girl with what seemed to be a sexier version of Ted’s old “hanging chad” costume. But, then again, talking about “HIMYM” conspiracy theories has become an exercise in futility, and episodes like this one don’t encourage fans to keep up the chase.

As long as Cobie is on the show we ain't goin' anywhere.

As a comedic pair that can go beyond comedy, there aren't any better on TV.

Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris on "HIMYM" (Fox/CBS)
‘HIMYM’: Barney-Robin Relationship Gets Emotional
by Joel Keller
Nov 15th, 2011 | 12:19 PM | Comments 0

Monday night’s episode of “How I Met Your Mother” was a textbook illustration of how television writers can revive a long-simmering — and, some would say, tired — romantic story just by changing the emotional stakes.

When Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) hooked up at the end of last week’s episode, you could feel the eyes rolling of any “HIMYM” fan that’s not a hard-core ’shipper. “This again?” is what they thought. Sure, NPH and Smulders have done a good job conveying how the characters feel for each other, even though their previous relationship flamed out in a fury of complacency. But, even with those emotions present, revisiting that relationship had a been there, done that feel that gave fans pause.

That all changed in the last moments of last night’s episode. Barney and Robin decided to tell their respective significant others that they cheated; Barney went through with it with Nora (Nazanin Boniadi), but Robin couldn’t do it with the oh-so-nice Kevin (Kal Penn). The moment at MacLaren’s where Barney, who did what he felt was the most mature thing he’s ever done in his life, realizes that Robin didn’t follow suit, was a punch-in-the-gut moment that had you intrigued in their relationship all over again, mainly because everyone has experienced such non-reciprocated feelings in their lives.

Harris and Smulders played the moment well; Harris had the bewildered, hurt look that anyone would have at that moment, and Smulders gave him that knowing but hurtful, “It’s just not our time” head shake that gave anyone who saw it that familiar moment of pain. Now, the stakes are real, with Barney realizing that hanging out with Robin is going to be too painful for him to bear. How this plays out in the coming weeks will be very interesting to watch.

Of course, we have to accept this emotional reality with the knowledge that Robin’s relationship with Kevin isn’t real and hasn’t been very believable (nothing against Penn, but seeing him as a romantic interloper is difficult (I agree I don't know why they thought he would make a good relationship with Robin. They just don't have the chemistry or resonate as a likely couple)… maybe we still see him as Kumar). But, at the very least, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have given us a reason to care about Barney and Robin again, and that’s quite a feat for a show that’s gone to this well a number of times over the last few years. Obviously they see Cobie''s and Neil's talent at keeping it going and are smart enough to exploit it once again. You have to wonder if Cobie and her real husband, Taryn Killam, could do as well if cast together, which we are all still waiting to see.

Oh-oh....I'm not sure how this is going to work out. Keller thinks Barney is the father, but that might be too "easy" plot-wise. I wouldn't be surprised if it's someone else, possibly Ted but could be someone not even in present episodes. Cobie is doing a good job with Robin going postal in various scenes this season as in the above pics and in this latest one when she was in Lily and Marshall's grandmothers house.......I just thought of something.....if they could get Taram Killam (is that an Irish name ?) her real husband to show up as her baby's father that would be a funny "inside" joke. The problem would be...who is he, where has he been all this time, how did they meet, etc. Also he couldn't stick around indefinitly because it would conflict with his SNL gig. .......but I should be a writer... :lol:



How I Met Your Mother

Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris in "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS) ‘HIMYM’: A Shocking Surprise Ending for Robin and Barney
by Joel Keller
Nov 22nd, 2011 | 11:30 AM | Comments 0
If you didn’t watch “How I Met Your Mother” last night, stop reading right now. Last night’s episode had such a bombshell of a surprise twist ending, that we’d rather let you watch it and come back.

It was a pretty big shocker, right? At the very end of the episode, Robin (Cobie Smulders) tells Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) that she’s pregnant. Of course, what we don’t yet know is whether the bun in Robin’s oven is Barney’s or Kevin’s. Maybe that’s something we’ll find out in the next episode.

But, let’s be honest with each other: the chances of it being Barney’s are about 100 percent. He’s the cast member, Kal Penn’s the guest star. And we know that Barney a) wants kids — he was the more willing partner in the bro-parents arrangement he made with Ted (Josh Radnor), and b) he’s shown getting married in the spring of 2012. Oh, and there’s a c): When Barney asks Robin, “Are we still friends” after last week’s heartbreaking misconnection, Robin says, “Hope so.” So let’s just get the idea in our heads right now that Barney’s the father.

It’s surely a good way for the Barney-Robin dance to get settled once and for all. But is this a seventh-season reach by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas? Perhaps. Really, at this point, there aren’t too many more directions the pair can take this gang of now-thirtysomethings. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) are going to be parents and are already contemplating moving to the suburbs, and both Robin and Barney are looking to settle down. The only thing really left to settle is who the Mother is, and we know we won’t see that for awhile.

Watch the latest episode of “HIMYM”:

So now we get to see how Robin, who seems to be having a meltdown before our very eyes this year, and Barney, who is confused as ever about how he wants to live the rest of his life, deal with this event. They will almost assuredly get back together, but the road to that end point may be curvy and bumpy, filled with all the “pregnancy brain” stuff that Robin warned Lily about. We’re just not sure whether that’s going to be fun to watch at this point.

The Lily-Marshall plot worked better than the Ted-Barney bro-parent plot; the visual gag of how small their apartment seemed in comparison to Lily’s grandparents’ house was inspired… and probably closer to how that apartment would look in real life. We especially liked Robin knocking over every lamp in the apartment, just by gesturing (”Haven’t you people heard of overhead lighting?” she screamed). :lol: We especially liked the first “fact” about Long Island — “Brooklyn’s f–t trail.” Not sure if the Eriksen-Aldrins will move to Long Island — the distance would kind of kill the show’s urban dynamic — but at least the decision is a realistic one. Bro-parenting was more of a creepy concept than anything else.

But all that faded away when Robin said she was preggers. At this point, “HIMYM” is going to go in a fun new direction, or it’s officially jumped the embryo. We’ll see soon which of those choices is true.

So Robin's pregnancy was a false alarm. That's one way to get around a problematic plot line in the future, but then she discovers that she can never have kids and that was rather sad , especially the ending scenes. Only Cobie, among those cast members, could pull off such a dichotomy of emotions, comedy to sadness and make it seem real. She has a little daughter in real life. I wonder how that affected her performance ?

‘HIMYM’ Star Alyson Hannigan is Pregnant

by Joel Keller | December 16, 2011 at 5:26 PM | Celebrity News, How I Met Your Mother


Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan in "How I Met Your Mother" (FOX/CBS)



Don’t you just love it when fiction and real life coincide? Alyson Hannigan‘s character of Lily Aldrin on “How I Met Your Mother” has been pregnant since the end of last season, and now Hannigan is, as well.

Us Weekly got a picture of Hannigan walking around sporting a baby bump, and the proverbial “source close to the star” confirmed it, saying she’s thrilled to be expecting her second child with husband Alexis Denisof.

Luckily, this time around, the writers of “HIMYM” aren’t going to have to play “hide the bump” like they did a few years ago with both Hannigan and Cobie Smulders; it was getting to the point where it became a running joke on the show. And we’re heartened that Hannigan decided to use the “Jenna Elfman method” of acting, figuring if she was going to be pregnant on the show, she might as well be pregnant in real life.

But does that mean that Lily and Marshall (Jason Segel) are going to suffer through the longest gestation period ever? We don’t know how many months along Hannigan is, but we’d imagine she’s due in the spring, right as “HIMYM” is close to wrapping up its season. We’re guessing Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have figured all this out, slow down the timeline and explain why Lil spent the show’s entire 7th season preggers. At least we hope they’ve figured it out.

Very happy for all the happy pregnant people, real or fictional and their supportive partners.

These two guys are the most genius comedy writers on TV. Compare the scripts objectively for HIMYM with anything else running today...


‘HIMYM’: Expect Ted and Robin to Get ‘Complicated’ in February

by Joel Keller | January 12, 2012 at 4:09 AM | How I Met Your Mother, Interviews
Carter Bays and Craig Thomas of "HIMYM" at the Winter 2012 TCA press tour (CBS)


The creators of “How I Met Your Mother,” Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, appeared in front of the nation’s critics with two of their stars, Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel, on Wednesday morning. During the panel, they talked about how the February sweeps period is going to be a big reassessment period for Ted (Josh Radnor), whose journey to meet the title mother we’ve seen over the last seven years.

But during a lunch with a group of critics later that day, the pair dove a bit deeper into how much reassessment Ted is going to do. Part of it will show Ted reexamining his relationship with his roommate / ex-girlfriend Robin (Cobie Smulders), something that was prophesied earlier this season by one of Ted’s other great loves, Victoria (Ashley Williams).

“Victoria was a fortune teller in that episode,” said Thomas. “There’s going to be some fireworks involved with Ted’s undealt-with remaining feelings for Robin. And in February sweeps we return to that in an interesting way.” He went on to say that “stome stuff happens which makes Ted and Robin question their living arrangement and if how it’s been with them as friends and if it’s actually way weirder than we’re letting on… which it would be.”

Namely, the two go back to a statement that they made when they broke up way back in season two. “They ask themselves the question ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’,” said Bays “And Robin thought she was going to be living in Russia or Afghanistan or whatever. And now it’s five years later and we’ve made it to that spot and it’s interesting exploring why is it that Robin is still in this apartment, exactly where she was when ted asked that question.”

During the wide-ranging conversation, the pair discussed a number of issues, including the fact that fans will actually see who Barney is marrying in the future wedding we see everyone participating in early in the season, the one where Ted supposedly meets the love of his life.

“We’re going to go back to that wedding day and learn more about it, who Barney’s marrying, and I don’t want to say what else,” said Thomas. “That’s a huge thing we’re going to learn by going back to that future wedding day. but I can’t say whether we’re going to meet the mother or not for obvious reasons.”

Watch the latest episode:

Some other revelations:

The pair knew the Robin pregnancy fake-out episode would tick some people off, but it was worth doing. “We wanted very much to tell her story from her shoes at the time,” said Thomas. She wasn’t sharing what was going on with her friends at the time. Clearly it’s something that Ted (as an middle-aged adult) found out later. So we wanted to do an episode from purely her limited and somewhat unreliable perspective. Some people loved it some people didn’t.” I didn't.

Marshall and Lily won’t be staying in Long Island for long, which will be a disappointment to Thomas’ family, who live out there. “I said, yeah…. We’re going to talk a little smack about Long Island and they won’t be there forever. It’s pretty fun, the shifts that happen where Marshall and Lily end up and it sets up the next season.”

Monday’s 150th episode has a few iterations of the opening titles. “You see them a couple of times and they’re weird,” said Thomas.

Kevin (Kal Penn) and Robin aren’t over yet, despite the presence of Ted and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). Barney and Robin will always have the potential to come together, though. “They’re so in love; they’re kind of a clearinghouse for all our romantic dysfunctions,” said Bays. “They’re doomed as a relationship in some ways because they’re so messed up. But part of the show is them taking themselves apart and rebuilding themselves. They’re learning how to move past everything that’s screwed them up in the past to make this work for real.” I don't think Kal Penn makes a good boyfriend for Robin. Of course her fans are very protective of her and will mess up anyone who doesn't treat her right.

Adds Thomas: “We will watch them move in diff directions for a little while. but those two characters and those two actors have such huge crazy chemistry I can’t say we’re done exploring. they inform each other’s lives in enormous ways and we’ll see more of that. Before the series is done we’ll have to address it more.”

Casting the Mother is going to be extremely difficult. Everyone’s contracted through the eighth season, and the guys have a skeleton of a storyline to follow. But they know that when it comes time to figure out who to cast as Ted’s “the one,” it’ll be tough. “We’re always brainstorming,”said Thomas. “Either (it’ll be) a crazy big name or someone you’ve absolutely never heard of. It”s a running debate and it’s getting more and more important that we answer that debate the further we get into the show. we’re getting there.”

When to bring in the Mother is also a big decision they need to make. “We get asked that question a lot and we never have a good answer,” said Thomas. “There’s clearly two choices: one you meet her and there’s a series that continues and the another where it’s the end. It’ll be one of those.”

The most anticipated guest appearance amongst the ‘HIMYM’ staff? Weird Al. Even fellow guest Chris Elliott, playing Lily’s dad, wanted to meet him. “I felt everyone was going up to him and saying: thank you for making my life a little better,” said Thomas.

You’ll see the return of a doppelganger on Monday night. Hannigan shot a “weird” scene as Stripper Lily right before the crew went on holiday break. Any later, she would have had too much of a belly bump to do it.

Victoria would have been the Mother if the show didn’t get a second season. “Twelve episodes into season one, if we didn’t get the back 9 Victoria would be the mother,” said bays. “But we had a whole story planned for her. Naivete got us through a lot (of the first season). We always had a long term plan for the show.”

‘HIMYM’ Celebrates 150th Episode With Marshall and Lily’s Big Move

by Joel Keller | January 17, 2012 at 12:41 PM | How I Met Your Mother


The gang discuss Marshall and Lily's move on "HIMYM" (CBS)

Most shows don’t make a big deal out of reaching their 150th episode; you usually don’t see much in the way of special events until a show is lucky enough to reach the 200 mark. “How I Met Your Mother” is no exception; Carter Bays and Craig Thomas told us last week that the 150th would be more about fun and transition than anything else, and the gang at MacLaren’s did give us a lot of fun last night.

One problem: They weren’t all at MacLaren’s. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) moved out to their seemingly ideal new family home in Long Island, leaving Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Ted (Josh Radnor) to contemplate life without them.

Everyone in their thirties goes through this; friends move to the ‘burbs, start families, and get involved in their own thing. Of course, without Lily there as a hectoring presence, the group feels rudderless, as we see from some funny takes on the opening credits: “How I Met Your Barney,” where Barn forces his remaining friends — and Kevin (Kal Penn) — to go to a strip club, and a more Russian-esque “HIMYM” opening, where the gang hangs out with Lily’s stripper doppelganger and her boyfriend. In both instances, the gang don’t look nearly as happy as they do in the original.

Meanwhile, back on Long Island (Barney’s aggrieved reaction to the move: “You can get spray tans here!”), Lily’s dad Mickey (Chris Elliott), who hasn’t left the house since finding out Lily was preggers, tries to keep himself there by not revealing to Marshall the quirks of his parents’ old house, which he knows like the back of his hand. This was Elliott at his creepy finest, guiding Marshall through the dark to the basement fuse box via a conveniently-placed intercom. An infra-red camera trained on Segel’s head made things even more horror-movie spine-tingling.

In the city, the rudderless gang continued on their misadventures, which got increasingly dangerous. The funniest part about that plot was the game of relationship chicken that Kevin and Robin were playing, agreeing to anything in order to not look like a stick in the mud to the other. Too bad Kevin lost those high-fives, but he’s got to realize that kissing Robin is much better. We still don’t buy the Kevin-Robin thing (welcome to the club) — the romantic chemistry between Penn and Smulders feels forced at best – but at least Penn is holding his own from a comedic standpoint with the a group that’s been playing off each other for seven years.

Robin/Cobie could have any man she wanted with a snap of her fingers so what is it about Kevin that keeps him around ? That's what her fans want to know...

Seeing Ted guzzle vodka, saying things like “I won all your chippies!” to the rogues’ gallery at the underground poker game, and then lament how lonely he was lent the story some needed laughs. Otherwise, it would have just looked pathetic. And, even though Bays and Thomas told us that Marshall and Lily won’t be staying out on Strong Island very long, we’re heartened to know that the gang used their keys and found a way to recreate the MacLaren’s booth in the Eriksen/Aldrin family kitchen. Maybe we should give some of our friends a call and get together for some pancakes…

‘How I Met Your Mother’ Enjoying Best Year Ever

by Associated Press | February 2, 2012 at 9:18 AM | How I Met Your Mother

The cast of How I Met Your Mother (Cliff Lipson/CBS)

By DAVID BAUDER

LOS ANGELES — The mysteries that surround the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” extend to co-creator Craig Thomas‘ office on the Fox studio lot.

A white board on the wall that outlines the seventh season’s episodes ends with Barney’s wedding in the May finale. “___ is the bride,” the board says.

You never know who’s going to walk in, and Thomas and partner Carter Bays hold tight to their secrets. That will be a pivotal episode: Not only will the ultimate bachelor come off the market, but the show has revealed it’s also the day that Ted meets his future bride – the mother that is the conceit upon which the entire show is built.

That doesn’t necessarily mean viewers will meet the mother in that episode, however. Stay tuned.

This has been a big year for the comedy that launches CBS’ Monday nights. Ratings are the best they’ve ever been, up 19 percent over last season, and it has the youngest average audience on the network’s prime-time schedule.

“There’s almost no scientific explanation and we couldn’t have counted on that,” Thomas said. Hey bozo ! You're "scientific explanation" is that Cobie is in it !

Time may make viewers more invested in the lives of Ted (Josh Radnor), horndog buddy Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), Ted and Barney’s ex Robin (Cobie Smulders) and the married couple Marshall and Lily (Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan).

Another likely contributor is the boomerang effect of syndication making more people familiar with the series. “How I Met Your Mother,” which just filmed its 150th episode, has been seen outside of prime time on local broadcast stations the past few years. Last year it was also on Lifetime, the cable network targeted at women, and this fall added FX, which is popular with young men.

The FX showings began with a Labor Day marathon and a clever ad campaign that pictured the cast and suggested: “Isn’t it time you made some new friends?” “How I Met Your Mother” hit the syndication market at the time there was a relative paucity of new comedies and reruns of “Friends” were getting tired from overuse.

Watch the Latest Episode of “How I Met Your Mother”:

“How I Met Your Mother” is the closest TV has to a modern-day “Friends.” It started at a time, in 2005, when networks were desperate to replace that beloved NBC series and, frankly, the namesake gimmick distinguished it from other wannabes. The series opened with kids on a couch impatiently listening to narrator Bob Saget, as Ted circa 2030, explains how their parents met.

That first episode began with Ted establishing a romantic connection with Robin, ending with the kicker of Saget explaining, “that’s how I met your Aunt Robin.”

During an initial meeting with TV critics before the premiere, Thomas and Bays were taken aback by anger they faced about that pilot’s twist. Were they really expecting to learn the mother in the first episode? Then they realized: People cared about the characters they created.

They don’t regret the structure, even if “who’s the mother?” is no doubt the cocktail party question they’d least like to hear by now.

“I always thought the frustration about it was a little misplaced,” Radnor said. “There’s so much to enjoy beyond the central conceit of the show that I always felt like, `Relax.’ If he meets the mother, the series is done, so if you like the series you should be waiting. Enjoy the wait. Maybe this whole series is some grand lesson in patience for people. It certainly is for Ted.”

Many fans believe the mother should be revealed on the final episode. Others would like to see the future parents go through their first year of dating. This much Thomas will say: It will be one of those two possibilities.

That’s why Thomas and Bays have some important meetings ahead of them this spring. The actors are signed through the end of next season (May 2013), so the producers will need to know soon if the series is stretching beyond that.

Revealing when Ted would meet his future wife turned out to be liberating.

“It’s kind of a momentous thing to say,” Thomas said, “because it retired one of the tricks on this show that we had milked for half a decade, which was that any girl that Ted bumped into anywhere could be the mother. Last year we said we’d done that enough.”

The device the creators set up, where viewers know in the back of their minds there’s a happy ending, helps ground the show, he said. It’s comforting to know things turn out OK, and that knowledge enables writers to show the harder chapters in their lives.

“How I Met Your Mother” was born of the creators’ own experiences. They moved out to Hollywood together to try and make it as they approached age 30, after having worked as writers for David Letterman. They missed New York, and were reflective of the times they had gone through in their 20s.

The show’s set is a congenial one, with a calm warmth that flows through veteran director Pamela Fryman. Cast members have busy separate professional lives. Segel is a genuine movie star (“The Muppets” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall“), Harris is a go-to awards show host and Radnor just directed his second film (“Liberal Arts“) to open at Sundance. And Cobie plays Maria Hill in The Avengers, as well as a pretty good left field, and otherwise just stands around looking hot !

Jacoba Fransisca Maria Smulders Voted #9 on the 2011 Maxim list of Hot 100 Women.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=XWpru5Psu4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3vZsta0TBU




“It’s really a well-oiled machine here,” Segel said. “You just come and do it and hang out with your friends. It kind of feels like going to summer camp every day.”

The actors say they’ve been kept interested by how the show has explored storylines beyond sitcom wisecracks. Robin learned recently that she was unable to conceive and bear children. Lily is pregnant and the couple bought a house on Long Island, while Marshall experienced the death of his father.

The death of Marshall’s father was one of the creators’ secrets. The news wasn’t distributed ahead of time, because some stolen scripts had found their way to the Internet before the episode aired. Segel learned as Marshall did, when Lily told him with cameras rolling.

When the episode aired, Thomas’ wife, who had recently lost her mother, complimented him on writing Marshall’s shocked reaction of “I’m not ready for this.” He had to tell her that it was ad-libbed, not written. One take. Segel said it made for a better performance.

Harris said he occasionally goes online the Tuesday after a show to see what fans had written and often marvels at in-depth analysis of the characters. People seem to care about the show, he said, “and that’s awesome.”

“When this chapter is done we’ll all look back and marvel at it probably being the best job we’ve ever had,” he said.

The was quite the latest episode ! So Kevin dumps Robin not just because she can't have kids, but because she doesn't want kids, so no adopting.

It's for the best, we didn't think Kevin was a good fit for her anyway, and then Ted steps up right at the end and says he loves her ! This meets with our approval. They were an item in earlier seasons but neither expressed such affection at that time, and of course she took up with Barney which everyone knew wouldn't last. And she's had minor flings with co-workers who moved away or were just plain weird such as "Sandy Rivers" (Alyson Hannigan's real husband) and she gets very nervous when anyone expresses too much attraction to her so I don't know how Ted's 'news' is going to go over but she'd better settle down one of these days. A big problem though is that she can't be the 'mother' in the title because past episodes have ruled that out because of the plot lines so Ted's advances will have to fail sometime down the line....if not right away.

But again we see Cobie's comedic and general acting genius, going from a comedic persona to a very serious and emotional persona all in one episode. None of the rest of the cast are even given such lines and scenes, if they are quasi-serious there are always comedic undertones lurking.

'How I Met Your Mother' Season 8 Teasers: The 'Huge and Crazy' Premiere, a Month of Breakups and Who Will Play the Mother
Monday, July 30, 2012

Jenn Lee
Staff Writer, BuddyTV

According to CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler at the Television Critics Association press tour, the network is "optimistic" about extending How I Met Your Mother to season 9, something fans seem to be divided on (seriously, how much longer do we have to wait to meet the mother?) So we've gone from "preliminary talks" to "optimistic," which I guess is progress. Thankfully, HIMYM co-creator and executive producer Craig Thomas offered a wealth of information on the upcoming season and series end (whenever it may be) to hold us over until negotiations are officially settled.

On Season 8's "Jaw-Dropping" Premiere
In an interview with TV Guide, Thomas teased the season 8 premiere will end in a true "'gasp' moment." This moment will be "a flash-forward to Barney and Robin's wedding day where we go further into that day than we ever have before and we show you more information than we ever have before." This is certainly an exciting piece of news for fans, who have seem glimpses of that fateful day in the past two season finales. Though the co-creator couldn't explicitly say if that moment involves the mother, he hinted that it's possible. "There may be some yellow* involved," Thomas told Vulture. Other details include the episode's title ("Farhampton," the town where Barney and Robin get married) and the set, which is "the biggest and coolest" the show has ever built.

*Yellow has come to symbolize the mother, as we've been led to believe Ted and the mother first meet when she's carrying a yellow umbrella

On the Current Status of Season 8's Trajectory
While the creators have said they need foreknowledge of the season 9 status in order to continue working on season 8 (they're on the edge of their seats, just like the rest of us), they've clearly needed to start work in the mean time (season 8 premieres September 24). Thomas confirmed they've plotted out the stories of the first six episodes and a good chunk of the six episodes after that. But somewhere near that halfway point, "there really are two roads diverging," or, to put it more bluntly, "a moment where you have to activate the launch sequence on what's the end of the series."

On the Whole Plan A, Plan B Deal
Thomas has said the whole business of a possible season 9 would understandably result in one of two major paths the show could take, and while we've speculated on the idea of that meaning courtship or no courtship with the mother, Thomas says that's not the case. "We know exactly how it's gonna end," said the man with the plan(s). "There's Plan A and Plan B, but it doesn't affect the very end... it affects how we get to the end and the exact sequence that approaches the end." In my mind, this "end" is basically Ted meeting the mother (so this could mean no getting to know the mother episodes). Whatever it means, Thomas asserts they've known the end game for a long time: "The end has always been the end."

On "Breakup Month"
This October has been referred to as "Breakup Month," because according to Thomas, "it's basically a relationship slasher movie." Though Thomas couldn't share the exact sequence of the breakups, we can assume these include Barney and Quinn, Robin and returning guest star Michael Trucco and Ted and Victoria. "You're gonna see exactly how the relationships implode in a span of four weeks," said Thomas. Specifically, "how the last couple breaks up is important and leads to something big for all of the characters." So a shocking flash-forward to Barney and Robin's wedding, and then a slew of breakups--season 8 is certainly shaping up to be a doozy.

On Who Will Play the Mother
Thomas said he couldn't reveal whether they've cast the mother role yet, but he did say they'll want to keep it a surprise until the big reveal on the show. When asked whether he thought he could actually keep this huge secret under wraps, he merely said, "I do." That will be one tough secret to keep--hopefully it will be someone we will instantly love without ever having met on the show.