Info:
Premiere Date: Monday, September 19, 2005 (20th Century Fox Television)
Network: CBS
Time: Mondays at 8:30 p.m. E/P
Cast: (in Alphabetical Order)
Lyndsy Fonseca, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan,
Josh Radnor, Bob Saget (VOICE ONLY), Jason Segel,
Cobie Smulders, David Henrie
Synopsis (Introduction, Cast Details):
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (Monday, 8:30 PM) is a comedy
about Ted (Josh Radnor) and how he fell in love. It
all started when Ted's best friend, Marshall (Jason
Segel, "Freaks and Geeks"), drops the bombshell that
he's going to propose to his long-time girlfriend,
Lily (Alyson Hannigan, "American Pie"), a kindergarten
teacher. At that moment, Ted realizes that he had
better get a move on if he hopes to find true love,
too. Helping him in his quest is Barney (Neil Patrick
Harris, "Doogie Howser, M.D."), a friend with endless,
sometimes outrageous, opinions, a penchant for suits
and a fool-proof way to meet women. When Ted meets
Robin (Cobie Smulders, "Veritas: The Quest"), he's
sure it's love at first sight, but destiny may have
something else in store. With voice-over by Bob Saget
("Full House"), the show is told through flashbacks
from the future.
The “flashbacks” concept is one of the more original
methods of storytelling to be used in a sitcom in
awhile. The series has received a lot of positive
buzz, and looks to be one of CBS’ “blue chip”
prospects going into the new season.
Pilot Plot:
It’s 2035. Ted, voiced in 2035 by Bob Saget, is
talking to his kids and starts to begin to tell the
story of how he met their mother. Flash back to
2005, when Ted's best friend Marshall proposes to his
girlfriend, Lily. This kick starts Ted into
“must…find…woman” mode, and off he goes attempting to
find true love or the closest thing to in a sitcom.
Ted soon meets Robin in a neighborhood bar, and
immediately scores a first date and a drink in the
face (it’ll make all the sense in the world when you
watch the episode yourselves). It’s at the bar that
we also meet Ted’s friend Barney a guy who thought
he seems to be a fountain of advice on women, is
amazingly single.
The next night, he gets back from the date a bit
early, leading to a flashback-within-a-flashback of
the date. At the first date, dinner at a
restaurant…well, olives, dogs, and a portion of smurf
anatomy come up in the conversation. Surprisingly,
the conversation only made Robin more attracted. They
get back to her place…and a news van shows up. You
see, Robin’s a reporter and there’s a guy about to
jump off a bridge, so the night ends, right after what
the first instance of the missed signal (and allow me
to interject by saying that I hate “signals”). Later,
back at the bar, the gang is watching the news where
Robin is reporting from the bridge…where the man did
not jump. For some reason, Ted decides to go and get
that kiss he chickened out on earlier. This leads to
the main climax of the show, which I’ll leave you to
watch for yourselves. And when the show goes back to
the future (sans DeLorean) for the final time in the
episode, be SURE to pay attention to what Old Ted (Bob
Saget) says it’s guaranteed to be a surprise.
Analysis:
I never realized Neil Patrick Harris was so damned
funny. His character, Barney, is quite possibly the
funniest new sitcom character to debut on television
in ages. The flashback style of the show works
amazingly well Bob Saget the Narrator seems to be
about halfway between his Danny Tanner self and his
comic persona (for those of you don’t know, there was
a time before Full House, and now after Full House,
where Bob Saget was considered one of the raunchiest
and most vulgar comedians around), which works
amazingly well. The couple of “flashback within a
flashback” occurrence works, as you easily forget the
show is set as a flashback itself. The Barney,
Ally, and Mitchell characters provide excellent comic
relief in the pilot, while the main plot focuses on
the SLIGHLY (not much) more serious relationship
between Ted and Robin. Bob Saget makes a good
narrator, talking at the right times, while letting
the flashbacks drive the show. The two kids
basically just serve as communicating props during the
scenes set in the 2030s hopefully there will be at
least a minor use for them in future episodes.
Conclusion:
I’ve seen four comedy pilots from the 2005-06 season
so far, and all have been great but this may be the
crčme de la crčme. This is one of the funniest
sitcoms I’ve seen in a LONG, LONG time. Neil
Patrick Harris’ character blew me away. The rest of
the characters were great too. Mondays, 8:30 PM,
CBS, be there I can almost guarantee you’ll like
this show…when I first read the premise, I thought it
would be mediocre at best, but this truly is one of
the best and funniest new sitcoms I’ve seen in ages.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Watchability: 5/5
Funniness: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher on 09/16/2005.
Related Links:
CBS.com Official Site
TV.com
epguides.com
Internet Movie Database
Sitcoms Online Message Board
Sitcoms Online Photo Gallery
