I had a sudden realization a few weeks ago: none of the comedies I watch are traditional two-camera sitcoms with laugh tracks. At first, I assumed this was with good reason - after all, cookie-cutter laugh track sitcoms are a dime a dozen, right? Aside from Friends and Seinfeld, has there been an iconic one since 1990? The topic came up in a conversation with a friend, and he agreed with me. "Yeah, there really aren't any good sitcoms like that on TV anymore," he said. Then he abruptly added, "Except for How I Met Your Mother." I was intrigued. I'd heard nothing about the show at all, good or bad, and only knew that Neil Patrick Harris was in it. Then, just days later, my girlfriend brought up - out of nowhere - that a friend of hers had told her to start watching How I Met Your Mother. What were the odds? The show's been on since 2005, and it took four years for me to hear anyone recommend it, and then it takes just days for me to hear a second recommendation. Then, days later, I saw that Amazon.com was offering Seasons 1-4 for just $60. I asked my girlfriend if she'd watch them with me if I bought them. She said yes. And so I bought them. And so far, I don't regret it. I guess almost any traditional sitcom is enjoyable once you get to "know" the characters, but this one really does seem to be the best one out there today. (Trust me; I know that's not saying much.) Here's the concept. In 2030, a man (Bob Saget) sits his kids down to begin telling them the story of how he met their mother. Within a few episodes, it becomes clear to us that we are never going to meet said mother until the series finale. (At least, that's the way things have built up so far.) The show is centered around Young Saget (his character's name is Ted, and the actor's name is something I don't feel like looking up) and his quest to meet the love of his life. Living with Ted are his best friends Marshall and Lily (played by a pair of recognizable actors in Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan), an engaged couple. Rounding out the crew are "bro" extraordinaire Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and newcomer Robin (another no-namer). The crux of the first season is Ted 's complicated relationship with Robin. First he wants her, then they're just friends, then she wants him, then friends again, and so on. The whole thing felt very "Ross and Rachel" (I hate that I can even use that term). Uninspired, but tried and tested. The problem is, at the end of the very first episode, when Ted is head over heels for Robin, older Ted (Saget) pulls a fast one and tells his kids that Robin is not in fact their mother. So this leaves us with two options. Either we know that Ted and Robin will never work out, or, the show tries to get smart with us and somehow in the end Robin is in fact the love of his life but somehow the kids aren't hers. I'm not a fan of either solution to this dilemma. Oh well. I'm hoping they make it work. Now, let me discuss Season 1 and where I stand with the show as a whole. The first two episodes were pretty good, but then things hit a big lull around the third one. This lasts a third of the season or so, but fortunately, the show picks back up and long-ranging story arcs start to develop. Plus, the Ted-Robin relationship - abruptly cut off before the third episode, as the transition from "smitten" to "just friends" is apparently an instant one - starts getting revisited. Meanwhile, the show also starts to focus a bit more on the other three main characters, and 2030 Ted's kids are rarely seen or heard from after the first few episodes. In general, it seems like the focus broadens in scope and the show becomes less true to its name - "how I met your mother" - and a lot more "some of the fun times my friends and I had back when I was single." And that switch in focus was probably for the better. After all, it would get pretty stale just to focus on Ted's love life over and over again. Now, in any sitcom, you need to have likable characters for an audience to connect and enjoy. This is where I think How I Met Your Mother is at its best. Not since Friends has a cast of twenty-somethings come off (to me, at least) as so likable. Ted is always swooning and lamenting his love life, but never in an annoying way. In fact, he's pretty charming and funny. Segel and Hannigan play exactly the type of characters you'd expect them each to play; Marshall is a mellow, well-to-do law student and Lily is all optimism and cuteness all the time. Actually, at times I started to get slightly annoyed by Hannigan's incessant squirrel-like chipperness, but she toned it down by the end of the season enough to make her character tolerable again. Robin is dark and puts up a facade of coldness and disinterest, but in a very typical fashion, her heart of gold shines through her hardened exterior from time to time. And that leaves Neil Patrick Harris's Barney, a wild card of sorts who lives life in the fast lane and has no regrets. He's definitely the selling point of the show, but I don't personally find him to be its best feature or anything. Actually, I think if there's one character they didn't cast perfectly, it's him. But then, he works fine in that role, so I can't complain. At any rate, so far it's a good show with likable characters. It almost lost me early on, but Season 1 rallied and finished strong. And that's more than I can say about this rambling, God-awful post I'm making after five in the morning. Or, as female hip-hop artist Riskay would say, five in the mo'n. That's it; I'm going to bed now.
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