How I Met Your Mother- 9/19

Cafe Society
1

I am not much on the laugh track, Multi-camera comedies.

But I gave this one a chance because it was created by my neighbor’s step-brother.* Hey, I watched Oliver Beane (which the guy wrote, and which I wrote off after a few episodes), so I wasn’t going to skip a show that was actually getting GOOD reviews. (He also worked on American Dad, which I enjoy).

But I liked this show enough to keep watching it.

Laugh tracks aren’t as noticeable if you are laughing yourself.

Sure there were a couple of times when the audience laughed and I didn’t (which is distracting if you have been dieting on single camera comedies like I have been), but overall it was a pretty funny show.

The show has a great cast. The main character, which is played by an actor I am not familiar with, does a good job of playing the “lonely guy.”

Allyson Hannigan (Grrrr…) and the loser guy from Freaks and Geeks play a newly engaged couple. I like both of them.

But the rest of the cast is ABSOLUTELY ECLIPSED by Doogie Howser. He plays a happy-to-Be-Single yuppie with a fetish for wearing suits (“Suit Up!” is destined to be a new catch phrase.)

Overall, there were some moments in the pilot that were a little cheesy, and this show doesn’t really break any new ground, but I cannot remember any pilot that was perfect.

Even at this level, I would watch this show, especially given that it is on Monday night.

The show is a pleasant diversion very much in the spirit of Friends or Will and Grace.

Not a landmark show, but good stuff.

[sub]* I don’t klnow the guy, so feel free to bash the show as you see fit. [/sub]

2

Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser MD) is in it, but I don’t know what part he plays
He did grow up nicely,tho

3

I mentioned him. He is the guy whole stole the show.

Suit up!

4

I was thinking that with the title “How I Met Your Mother” that this would be a single-episode sitcom, because after you learn how I met your mother that there won’t be anything else to watch for. The surprise at the end (no spoilers here) makes me think that this could run for awhile, but exactly how many episodes can they do with this?

5

I think they will just play it like a “four young friends in the city” show. All of the episodes probably won’t revolve around Ted’s goal of finding his wife.

I think the Bob Saget narration was a bit unnecessary.

6

"Did you know there is a Pop-Tart under your fridge?
“Dibs!”

:smiley:
Yep…this one goes into the rotation. Something to watch before *Las Vegas * comes on.

7

Do you mind spoiling with the tag? I’m interested in this show and may give it a shot if Kitchen Confidential doesn’t pan out…

8

The surprise was:And that’s how you met… your Aunt Robyn.

The show was OK at best, with the actors better than the material. That’s usually a good thing because it means that you can grow into them. The pilot had the usual pilot problems of trying too hard, but a long series of bad dating situations could grow old really quickly. Right now, it’s a big maybe.

9

Something felt really weird about that. And it kinda makes the rest of the show until a certain point pretty pointless doesn’t it?

But Doogie rocks.

10

My thoughts on the spoiler boxed above.

Aunt Robyn could be any of the following:

(a) The Sister of their mother.
(b) A woman who marries Ted’s brother
or
© A Woman who becomes a close friend of the family and is just called “Aunt” by his kids. Possibly, she marries Doogie in some far off future.

11

It is kind of sad that unless he has a huge, huge, huge breakout role in something, he’s always going to be known as “Doogie.”

“Suit up!” is a great catchphrase. As was “let’s play ‘have you met ted?’” The timing wasn’t quite on - but that’s what I expect for a pilot. I also wish I hadn’t known about the twist - not what it was, but that there was one. So, I kept looking for it. Would have been more fun if it had just come out of the blue.

Cute show.

12

To be fair, I thought the same thing about the premise of Dharma & Greg, but it stuck around awhile . . .

13

That one didn’t stick with me near as much as “This is TOTALLY going in my blog!!!” :smiley:

14

I also loved Doogie playing Laser Tag, possibly in a suit, while talking on his cell phone.

15

Just saw it today (DVR is a great thing). I liked it. Pilots are notoriously not that great (most of the time) for sitcoms that end up working. I laughed and enjoyed the characters and even the writing.

Though Doogie steals the show, easily. The cell phone / laser tag shot was priceless.

And while the Sagat narration doesn’t seem to add too much (instead of the guy in 2025, he could have just been “The Narrator” like Ron Howard in Arrested Development), but it could be important later. The surprise ending is one way to make that sort of thing work, but it could be used creatively in other ways as well.