How I Met Your Mother: Season 4

I feel like I was a bit harsh in my Season 3 recap, so I'll balance things out by doling out excessive praise this time around. Bear with me. To review, How I Met Your Mother is a CBS sitcom of the time-tested laugh track variety. It's about five friends, and chiefly, one's quest to find his future wife, the titular mother of his children. Now that I'm four seasons in and caught up to speed, I feel ready to capably summarize the characters, the driving force behind any good sitcom. Ted (played by Josh Radnor) is a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, but he's gotten into more than his fair share of one night stands and has enjoyed the bachelor life much more than his charismatic sulking would initially lead one to believe. He's also a man of habits and organization, preferring immaculate plans over winging it. One of his biggest flaws is his somewhat elitist nature. I guess it's fair to call him a cheerful cross between Ross from Friends and Seth Cohen of The OC. Marshall (played by Jason Segel) has been Ted's roommate and best friend since college. At times, this Minnesota big guy can be very dull and simplistic. One episode this season was all about his quest to find the best burger in New York. But upon closer inspection, Marshall may actually be the most intelligent and mature character on the show. He's a bit goofier and less naturally charming than Ted, but he's got exactly what Ted wants most: a loving relationship. Marshall has happily remained monogamous throughout the series. It was a little weird at first to see Segel in the role of an intelligent, young, married lawyer, as most of his previous roles have been dull, thuggish losers (Undeclared, Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up). At this point though, I can't picture Segel playing anyone but the Marshall type. Marshall is just as much a romantic as Ted, but in a subtle way that reminds you of a man with experience instead of a hapless buffoon. If you're familiar with Scrubs, think of him as the Turk to Ted's J.D. Marshall's soulmate (and recent wife) Lily is played by Alyson Hannigan, and really, there's no one better for the role. The character is quirky and cute, and in my opinion she sort of carried the first season of the show. She plays a motherly role for the group, but can also be pretty lost, confused, and immature (especially in more recent seasons). I like this. By the end of the first season, I was getting pretty annoyed with her character (as I believe I've already mentioned) and her cute little act. Only recently has she developed a bit of a mean streak and been grouchier and more caustic - you know, like any believable thirty year old kindergarten teacher would be. Lily can best be described as a beaming, perky pants-wearing woman at first, and a slightly less perky, slightly more grouchy married woman later on. Her doe eyes gradually get replaced more and more often by rolling eyes, and she's definitely become one of the less interesting characters now that others have finally started to grow. A perfect example is Robin (played by Cobie Smulders), a guarded woman who initially serves as Ted's (and later Barney's) love interest. At first glance, she seems cool and collected at all times. She's a bit of a tomboy too, smoking cigars and drinking scotch at one point. But as the seasons progress, her hardened exterior begins to chip away as more and more of her past is revealed, and eventually it becomes clear that she's hardly the confident, self-assured woman she comes off as initially. Think of her as an embarrassed and helpless girl with a nearly bulletproof facade of confidence and swagger. Finally, rounding out the crew is Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), the ladies' man. He's a sex-addict, a "bro" for life, and a wild card to boot. He has a seemingly infinite supply of money and he never goes anywhere without wearing a suit. He's kind of what you'd expect American Pie's Steve Stifler to be like in his early thirties if Stifler was wittier, sharper, and smarter in general. I wasn't fond of Harris' portrayal of Barney at first, as he's just a bit too naturally flamboyant and bouncy, so to speak, to nail your typical bedpost-notching, suit-wearing sleazy bro. But with time, Harris (along with the writers, of course) has made Barney into less and less of a myth and more and more of a man. He's flawed, imperfect, and actually a pretty sad guy. I'm a fan of where they've taken his character lately, although his budding relationship with Robin just seems sad and cliche. But then, cliches are cliches for a reason. They work. Take multi-camera sitcoms with laugh tracks, for example. All I've done is shit on them here in Back-Blogged, exposing (along with my inner douchebag) my preference for "new" and "smart" comedies that don't resort to old shticks to get laughs. Well, I've got some news for myself. Those "smart" comedies have become so in vogue that they're a dime a dozen now. The multi-camera on-set laugh track sitcom is a dying breed, and How I Met Your Mother is the lone bright spot and beacon of hope on a sinking ship. The thing is, whatever its format is, it's a good show with relatable characters and great writing. It might not be a "newer, smarter" comedy that gets by without canned laughter, but it's plenty smarter than half of those single camera comedies are. I guess the bottom line here is that How I Met Your Mother has been a treat to watch over the course of this winter break. Furthermore, now that I've made it up to Season 5 (the current season), I'm tempted to watch the dozen or so episodes I need to see in order to catch up. Would an even remotely shitty show make me consider doing that? Of course not.