Creators: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas
Starring: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris
Grade: A-
Ever since the years with Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier providing an onslaught of sitcom laughs and fun, many have said that the sitcom was dead. Although the state of sitcoms will probably never reach that peak from the late 90’s, CBS has made quite a splash with its two strong sitcoms: Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother. I will praise Two and a Half Men in another review, but for now let me talk about Your Mother (I’m sorry, I just had to).
How I Met Your Mother might be the most unconventional sitcom I have ever seen. Usually you have an incredibly simple premise: For example, a show about nothing, or a show about six friends who spend their days at a coffee house and their nights sleeping around. How I Met Your Mother plays off like the Memento of sitcoms… you don’t know anything about the characters, you don’t know what’s real or not, there are enough plot twists to spin your head, and it’s told in flashback, and even the flashbacks have flashbacks.
Its tagline reads: A love story in reverse. And that’s exactly what it is. It starts off in the year 2030 with two kids seated on the couch. The off-screen narrator is Ted (voiced by Bob Saget) and he’s telling his children the story about how he met their mother. He begins the story 25 years ago in the year 2005 and the adventure takes off.
How I Met Your Mother has everything that makes a good sitcom. It has likeable and unique characters: Ted (Josh Radnor) plays like the loveable loser Ross was in Friends, and then that makes Robin (Cobie Smulders) Ted’s Rachel. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) are the cutest couple on TV. And then the scene stealing, hilarious Barney (the always brilliant Neil Patrick Harris) is the icing on the cake. On top of the characters being, as Barney would put it… “legendary,” their on-screen chemistry is superb. You have no doubts that this fantastic five are actually friends in real life.
The final thing that makes a good sitcom is good writing, and this is where I feel How I Met Your Mother breaks the boundaries. In addition to the writing being witty, entertaining, and funny, there’s a level of depth that this show has over any other sitcom. There are layers of uncertainty that can either provide for a big laugh as well as drop your jaw to the floor. I didn’t believe it at first when I read how even in the first episode there’s a minor plot twist. I thought, “Plot twist? In a sitcom? How could that work?” But this show makes it work with ease because of its strong writing.
There have been a lot of comparisons from How I Met Your Mother to Friends. Heck, that’s how CBS marketed this show. They do share some similarities: The group of friends in a romantic-comedy genre, the New York City setting, the bar MacLaren’s is their Central Perk hangout, and just the fact that the characters live way above their allowed means. But even when the show looks, sounds, and feels like a Friends rip-off… it’s not. How I Met Your Mother is wildly entertaining in its own, original way. The narrating, foreshadowing, surprises, and cliffhangers are just some reasons why this show is for anyone.
If you haven’t given this show a chance yet, all I have to say to you is you better SUIT UP and watch How I Met Your Mother.
Posted by Rob Eng 
