Some people say it's like 'Friends' but it's not- How I met your Mother

[Reply #40 on:]

Seinfeld is fantastic and you should absolutely watch more of it before passing judgment.

As far as traditional sitcoms transcending the genre...Seinfeld was the definition of that.

[Reply #41 on:]

People always say that.. but I don't know what they mean. In what way was seinfeld substantially different from any sitcom that preceded it?

[Reply #42 on:]

Wow. I'm about 1/3 into Season 7. I came in expecting it to blow more than a dolphin, but it totally took me by surprise. It's still witty, funny, and it has lots of juicy plot.

[Reply #43 on:]

I think season 8 is better than season 7.

[Reply #44 on:]

I'm onto episode 17 of season 7 on Netflix. I'm hooked. I want to finish it soon so I can watch most of season 8 on CBS.com

[Reply #45 on:]

Season 8 is just retreading the same old stuff over and over and over. The show is tired and I'm glad they're producing this to be the final season even if there's a chance they'll drag it out after this.

[Reply #46 on:]

I think season 8 is better than season 7.

Though neither season has really impressed me overall, I think I prefer season seven just slightly. It has a handful of genuinely good episodes ("Symphony of Illumination" probably being my favorite), and far fewer downright cringe-worthy ones, than season eight has had so far.

Also, the Robin/Barney nonsense (of which I'm not a huge fan in the first place, disliking Barney as I do) in season seven was far more deftly-handled than it has been thus far in season eight. The most recent episode in particular is a great example of how goddamn idiotic their on-and-off thing is; it made me hate Robin a little, which sucks because she is usually my favorite character. The fact that Barney tends to make her worse, not better, does not seem to recommend him as a viable romantic partner--but I guess that does not matter to the writers, who believe the two of them to be soul mates, so whatever.[/angry shipper rant]

[Reply #47 on:]

Gorky, why the fuck are you watching this show if you don't like Barney?  That seems stupid.

[Reply #48 on:]

That's like watching Futurama without liking Bender.
Malcolm in the Middle without liking Malcolm.
Friends without liking Chandler.
The Simpsons without liking Homer or Bart.
South Park without liking Cartman.
Scrubs without liking Dr. Cox.
Two and a Half Men without liking Charlie Harper.
Once Upon a Time without liking Rumpelstiltskin
Doctor Horrible's Singalong Blog without liking Dr. Horrible
 
And the list goes on...

[Reply #49 on:]

I would say Captain Hammer for Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog, but yes.

[Reply #50 on:]

So wait: People aren't allowed to enjoy a TV show if they happen to be less-than-fond of one particular character? That's fairly stupid. I mean, we're talking about a sitcom here where the eponymous character is most fans' least favorite guy on the show--and yet no one says that all those Schmosby haters are wasting their time on the series.

I just don't see why it's a big deal to dislike one member of an ensemble cast. I like Marshall, Lily, Barney, Robin, and Ted to varying degrees (and, yes, Barney happens to be by far my least favorite character), but the group itself to which they belong winds up being so much greater than the sum of its parts that overall the show is still highly enjoyable to me. I ultimately watch the series for that group dynamic, that interplay between the characters.

So, while it's true that I'm more fond of episodes centering on, say, Marshall or Robin, that doesn't mean I have no appreciation for an episode like "Three Days of Snow," whose Ted-and-Barney-open-a-bar storyline is among my favorite things the show's ever done. Those two characters have great chemistry with one another--as does everyone else in the group--and that is what propels the occasionally so-so stories and engages me as a viewer. In short, even if I don't like a particular character in isolation, I still love seeing that character interact with other members of the group. 

And that's how I feel about Barney: I love seeing how his friends react to him, but I often lose interest when I am asked to care about him and his individual plight. My main issue with him, really, is that the show imagines him as its most nuanced character (and he could be, if he were written better; as it stands now, I think Robin is the most complex character), but I don't buy his long, slow Arc of Redemption or whatever you want to call it. Like, at all.

I loved what was done with the character in seasons three and four, and I didn't mind him with Robin at the start of season five; however, I think the problem is that, once the two of them broke up and he reverted to his old ways, I found it a hell of a lot harder to sympathize with (or hell, even believe) him in subsequent episodes where he's whining about being abandoned by his father and feeling dissatisfied with his life. I don't believe that his horn-dog antics are a product of his insecurities about love and his own sense of self-loathing, if only because the show plays them so hard for laughs one second and then expects me to get all teary-eyed about sad-face, woobie Barney the next second. I get emotional whiplash, and the whole thing just feels so forced.

The problem here, I'm willing to admit, is that I'm expecting a greater emotional depth of character here than anyone should rightfully ask of a sitcom. But I do think the writers are capable of writing Barney as a complex character without it coming across as cheap; just look at "Game Night" from the first season. Then compare it to episodes from more recent seasons where Barney goes to hook up with a random skank and realizes he can't do it because his Life is Such a Mess, and consider how much that line loses its impact when the show returns to it again and again without really allowing Barney to learn or grow from the experience. It's that lack of growth--that mere illusion of growth that the writers are lazily giving us--that really pisses me off about the character.

TL;DR: Gorky is taking this show way too seriously, so please don't pay her any mind.

[Reply #51 on:]

People should put their TL;DR at the top of the post.

[Reply #52 on:]

You can't tell it's going to be needlessly long-winded and boring the second you see I'm the one posting it? "Gorky" ought to imply "TL;DR."

[Reply #53 on:]

Malcolm in the Middle without liking Malcolm.

I adore Malcolm in the Middle and I don't like Malcolm - and I know a lot of people who feel the same way. Hal makes the show.

[Reply #54 on:]

I disagree.  Jesse is the most important character.

[Reply #55 on:]

Barney's dad is John Lithgow so that alone makes him pretty awesome. I get how people don't like Ted, but he reminds me so much of one of my friends but in girl form and it makes me laugh because he'll say things or react to things exactly how my friend would.

I'm liking this season more than last but neither 7 or 8 are that good. I am kind of sick of the back and forth with Barney and Robin, especially because at this point we all know the end point. This is definitely a show that defines "it's not about the destination but the journey", which is fine with me. But part of me wishes they would get to the point. I would like to meet Ted's wife and see how their relationship grows but that does mean that the initial story is over.

[Reply #56 on:]

My favourite is actually Ted, because I love the things people dislike about him.  I find Marshall Erikson to be annoying at times, Lily too bland.  And you often get the feeling they are trying to write Robin as a female version of Barney, which I feel backfires at times.  Because it makes her a strange love interest for Ted.

Barney - on the other hand - is a difficult character to give arcs and development, because he is mostly entertaining as a archetype, rather than an actual character.

Ted, however, could use some actual character development.  There is some, but it is incredibly slow (for the purposes of the show, I gather).  But I love all his less appealing traits, and I love the fact that the show does not make one character the absolute straight guy.  They all have quirks that make them incapable of behaving responsibly in certain situations.

[Reply #57 on:]

How I Met Your Mother Renewed for Season 9. Link: http://screenrant.com/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season-9-renewed/

Personally, I would've been happy with 8 being the final Season for the reasons of Barneys wedding and Ted meeting the mother being nearly confirmed for the Season finale, but I'm kind of glad to have 1 more Season of Mother to watch before it ends. I wonder how the creators will handle the rest of the Season now. Will they still have this Season end with Barney and Robin marrying and have Teds life and relationship with the Mother be explored for Season 9, or will they somehow extend the time between Barney and Robins marriage for an extra year with Ted doing some soul searching or just failing some more for laughs?

[Reply #58 on:]

I think a good way to round the show off would be to have Ted tell the story of Ted and Wife finding out they're pregnant - even though the show is about how he met their mother, there'd be nobody to tell if he didn't have the kids. If the show goes into 2014 that would make it about right, since the first child appears to exist in 2015. Or maybe they'll have an episode where it's 2030, and he's finally finished telling the story, except now it'll be 2039 because it took 9 years to tell.

That's something I've always enjoyed about this show, especially the couple of times I've watched it back from the beginning or seen older eps on TV - there seems to be a decent amount of continuity happening whether you're going backwards or forwards in time. Not all of it makes sense, but most of it does.

As for stuff going on over the previous page, I never thought to compare this show to Friends. It has its own thing going on. Having been watching repeats of Friends every morning lately I don't really see what's so great about it. I can sit there and enjoy it as a bit of mindless entertainment but that's about it. Maybe because I've never seen it in order from the beginning and whenever I do see an episode it's one I've already seen. HIMYM is more enjoyable to me for whatever reason, and I don't mind watching repeats of it.

Also, as much as I don't particularly like laugh-tracks, I don't really notice it when I'm enthralled in an episode of HIMYM. I notice it more in Big Bang Theory to be honest, perhaps I just find their jokes to be lamer. Even though HIMYM has its fair share of lame jokes, they make more sense in the context of the show. Big Bang seems like it was meant to be for a smarter audience, and then to have the same old silly jokes that any other sitcom could do just kind of ruins it a little, so when I hear the laugh track my mind actually points it out and says "it wasn't that funny". Not that I haven't had that happen while watching HIMYM, just...less often.

Also Josh mentioned something about the lack of an emotional connection/drama on the previous page. I have to disagree, there have been a few moments that have made me tear up before. That's probably not saying too much for me, although it has been a good 10 years since I cried at the death of Mufasa while watching the Lion King...
Anyway, I find that the way the characters have been written and acted over the years makes me feel for them as if they were real people with friends and credit cards and keys. Since it's a sitcom I don't expect there to be too many overly emotional moments, but when they do have them I think they pull it off brilliantly. The first thing that comes to mind from earlier seasons was the "pause/unpause" thing Marshal and Lily did which started off as amusing and then turned serious and they split up, I remember not expecting it to be that dramatic the first time I watched that episode, and after a whole season of them seeming like the perfect couple it was like WHUT. And then it took some time before everything was 'fixed'. And then more recently you have Marshal's father dying, and Robin not being able to have kids, which were stand out episodes to me. I can't say I have ever watched, say, an episode of Seinfeld, and felt anything for the characters. They seem more annoying than anything else. I know it's meant to be some kind of landmark for sitcoms and everyone loves it, and I don't hate it or anything, but I really don't care about any of the characters. They seem kind of nasty and self-centred constantly, with no redeeming qualities. Which I guess it what makes it more like real life and perhaps that's what people like about it.

[Reply #59 on:]

I think a good way to round the show off would be to have Ted tell the story of Ted and Wife finding out they're pregnant - even though the show is about how he met their mother, there'd be nobody to tell if he didn't have the kids. If the show goes into 2014 that would make it about right, since the first child appears to exist in 2015. Or maybe they'll have an episode where it's 2030, and he's finally finished telling the story, except now it'll be 2039 because it took 9 years to tell.

It is still 2030.  Hence why the kids hasn't said anything since season 2; because the actors have aged.  But according to the show creators, they've already filmed the scenes with the kids and the mother.

And if not; then I am not sure at all how they are going to pull that one off.

[Reply #60 on:]

J.R. dream sequence.

[Reply #61 on:]

That's something I've always enjoyed about this show, especially the couple of times I've watched it back from the beginning or seen older eps on TV - there seems to be a decent amount of continuity happening whether you're going backwards or forwards in time. Not all of it makes sense, but most of it does.

As for stuff going on over the previous page, I never thought to compare this show to Friends. It has its own thing going on. Having been watching repeats of Friends every morning lately I don't really see what's so great about it. I can sit there and enjoy it as a bit of mindless entertainment but that's about it. Maybe because I've never seen it in order from the beginning and whenever I do see an episode it's one I've already seen. HIMYM is more enjoyable to me for whatever reason, and I don't mind watching repeats of it.

I think the main comparison that can be made between How I Met Your Mother and Friends is that both shows are about a passel of pasty white folks in New York City; if you really wanted to dig, you could draw deeper comparisons between Barney and Joey (womanizers with hearts of gold...though that in itself is a trope that existed before either of those characters) and Ted and Ross (dweeby guys who can't shake their feelings for the Perfect Woman (Robin and Rachel, respectively), and then lose that woman to their best friends (albeit, it was only temporary in Ross's case, and appears not to be in poor Ted's)).

But yeah, Friends is a show that has not aged well, whereas I think HIMYM will still be entertaining to me ten or twenty years from now. With the latter, a certain care has gone into how the overarching story pans out, and there's a sort of reverence for continuity (in most instances) that I find really appealing, and there's a creativity going on with the way the stories themselves are told (what with embedded flashbacks and flashforwards and the like). I think it's a more artful show, if such a term can be applied to a sitcom. 

Also Josh mentioned something about the lack of an emotional connection/drama on the previous page. I have to disagree, there have been a few moments that have made me tear up before. [...] Robin not being able to have kids

I love that Robin episode; I think that's probably my go-to episode when I think of moments on the show that have really surprised me with their depth or sensitivity or what have you. Robin in general is a character who impresses me with her complexity (at least for the most part; there has been some character derailment in recent seasons); she is the one I relate to the most and therefore the one I feel the most strongly about--but I certainly care about every character to some degree. The show does a good job of making everyone seem sympathetic (even when it comes off as forced, which I think has been the case with some latter-season Barney episodes).

I can't say I have ever watched, say, an episode of Seinfeld, and felt anything for the characters. They seem more annoying than anything else. I know it's meant to be some kind of landmark for sitcoms and everyone loves it, and I don't hate it or anything, but I really don't care about any of the characters. They seem kind of nasty and self-centred constantly, with no redeeming qualities.

Hey, I've never liked Seinfeld, either. However, after having watched Curb Your Enthusiasm in its entirety, and being told that it shares much in common (including, obviously, a creator) with Seinfeld, I am convinced that my hatred of Jerry Seinfeld as an actor is what makes the former show so unappealing to me.

That said, I agree that generally I won't watch a show if I cannot muster sympathy for any of its characters. When I tell my little brother that, though, he mocks me relentlessly--so maybe it's just a girl thing, to want to emotionally invest in something.

[Reply #62 on:]

Ninth Season to be the last.

Makes sense seeing as Ted has a baby in 2015.

[Reply #63 on:]

I might have just found out who the mother is in How I Meet Your Mother.


Ok just a theory here but there was an episode where future Ted tells kids that there mother was a stripper named Tracy.  Which was a lie.

The newest episode Holy Confetti stated that the mother is a bassist in a band.

The episode where Robin dates a guy with a kid called Little Boys.  Well during the show Ted and Barney make a bet to sleep with a blonde named Stacy, who happens to be a bassist.  Ted can't hook up with Stacy because he thinks that Barney already has and then Barney can't do it the because he sees Ted when he tries.

So its possible that Stacy the bassist from Little boys is the mother.  The kids were fooled by the name Tracy but Tracy and Stacy are similar enough to fool his kids because surely the know they name of their mother.

[Reply #64 on:]

Eh, I'm convinced the Mother is literally a giant ankle carrying a bass and a yellow umbrella--not unlike the leg lamp from A Christmas Story, but with a few extra accessories.

[Reply #65 on:]

Well, if I turn out to be right I have some proof before the reveal.

[Reply #66 on:]

I just had a feeling that Ted would just say "Kids, That's how I met your mother" when he gets to that part of the story.

[Reply #67 on:]

Yeah, it would be kind of forced for Future Ted to deliberately trick his kids into thinking that some random broad their daddy met briefly eight or nine years prior was not their mother by downplaying their initial interaction. I am convinced that the Mother will be someone we've never seen before (besides her ankle and her umbrella, that is); to pick a random one-off character from the earlier years of the series and make her the mother would just be cheap, in my opinion, and would really highlight the stupidity and contrived nature of the whole show's framing device. (That said, if it can't be Robin, then I wish that the writers had just gone with their original plan of making Victoria the mother. Alas...)

Anyway, on another note: I know I've mentioned before that I'm no fan of Barney and Robin, so I found item six on this list kind of amusing.

[Reply #68 on:]

The newest episode Holy Confetti stated that the mother is a bassist in a band.

Actually, a lot of episodes have confirmed she is a bassist.

[Reply #69 on:]

The recent Canadian episode was hilarious. Mentions of Tim's, Much music, and my very own....HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA! I freaked, to say the least.

[Reply #70 on:]

This weeks episode is easily my least favorite episode of the Robin Sparkle episodes, but still, it was pretty funny. Loved the P.S. I Love You song and how it apparently started Grunge in the world.

Still, I liked the Ted story more instead of the Robin Sparkle plot. Apparently the Dopler-Dahmer girl is going to be the last mistake before Ted actually meets the mother, which makes me wonder what Season 9 is going to be like since it's pretty much confirmed Ted's going to meet the mother at the end of this Season. I'm guessing they could get away with just not showing us the Mother's face until their eventual wedding, but still, Season 9 is going to be different than the other Seasons with the Mothers reveal now.

[Reply #71 on:]

They'll probably try to delete the children's memories to distract the audience, and introduce a new hallucinatory character who becomes friends with Tedward Mosby and is able to appear and disappear at will, usually suspiciously while everyone is busy eating sandwiches.

[Reply #72 on:]

This weeks episode is easily my least favorite episode of the Robin Sparkle episodes, but still, it was pretty funny. Loved the P.S. I Love You song and how it apparently started Grunge in the world.

Still, I liked the Ted story more instead of the Robin Sparkle plot. Apparently the Dopler-Dahmer girl is going to be the last mistake before Ted actually meets the mother, which makes me wonder what Season 9 is going to be like since it's pretty much confirmed Ted's going to meet the mother at the end of this Season. I'm guessing they could get away with just not showing us the Mother's face until their eventual wedding, but still, Season 9 is going to be different than the other Seasons with the Mothers reveal now.

You mean grunge in Canada. 

[Reply #73 on:]

By the premise, I thought I would hate Time Travelers, but it's actually my favorite episode of the Season after The Final Page episodes. The Marshall and Robin plot was pretty funny for a time consumer and the interactions between Ted and Barney's future selves had a lot of funny lines in them, especially the ending song. And the final scenes with Ted by himself was some of the most emotion I've seen on the show. It looked really sad to see Ted just sitting by himself in the bar, him thinking every relationship he'll ever be in will end in failure, knowing that he's going back to the same things and looking at his past and future everyday, and his future self talking to the mother was really well performed and showed that he was finally ready to find the one.

So in 43 days, we're supposed to finally see Ted meet the mother, which when added to the episodes timeline, is on the same day Something Old airs, the first part of the 2 part Season finale where Barney's wedding is supposed to happen. Before these episodes, we're supposed to see Romeward Bound where Lily decides on her Art career and The Bro Mitzvah.

Show spoiler

next slap from Marshall

Can't wait for it.

[Reply #74 on:]

The end of this week's episode was so heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. I want it to be 45 days later too!

[Reply #75 on:]

I had a love-hate reaction to that ending. I loved how sweet it was (it was in a vein similar to the teary conversation Ted had with Stella in "As Fast As She Can," which is one of my all-time favorite moments), but at this point in the series it just feels so empty and manipulative and forced. I get that Ted's desperation to meet his wife has reached its apex, so it makes sense for these almost-encounters with the Mother to become more emotionally-charged and weepy and whatever, but still. They leave me a little cold simply because we have seen so many moments like them in the past eight years--and nothing has come of them.

At least now there's finally a clock on this whole meeting-the-Mother thing, so I must admit that I'm looking forward to the season finale. Hopefully they don't completely screw us over with it.

[Reply #76 on:]

Gee, can't you just skip ahead to the part where you meet mum?

[Reply #77 on:]

Merry Christmas everyone. They showed us the mother finally. It's...some girl from 30 Rock?



Also, the creators have confirmed that Season 9 will feature coverage of the entire 56 hour long weekend wedding of Barney and Robin, with every episode having flashbacks and flashforwards in it as every character meets the mother before Ted does. Season 9 will also feature the 200th episode (episode 16 of Season 9) and the creators will make sure that you can tell a Season 9 episode apart from the rest of the series.

http://www.mstarz.com/articles/13382/20130524/how-i-met-your-mother-spoilers-executive-producer-carter-bays-talks-season-9-format-reveals-time-jumps.htm

[Reply #78 on:]

22 episodes covering the same 56 hours (well, plus the flashbacks and stuff)?  That's interesting.  I hope they won't just use it as an excuse constantly for some completely unrelated stories.  But I guess they have to, because some of the episodes has to be like that.

[Reply #79 on:]

I haven't been keeping up with this for a long time now. Is it worth marathoning to play catch-up?