# How I Met Your Mother - Season Premiere **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996 "2012-09-27T11:54:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/61 "2013-01-22T13:53:10Z")
My curiosity piqued by this episode, I looked up Josh Radnor’s age and was surprised to find out that he will be turning 39 this year. I thought he was younger. Do we know for sure how old Ted is? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/62 "2013-01-22T13:56:50Z")
Even fictional characters have Wikipedia biographies, and [Ted Mosby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Mosby)’s says he was born in 1978, so he’s 34 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/63 "2013-01-22T18:30:40Z")
Wow, Robyn’s call-out of “Barney’s sister was giving me the stink eye about the family diamond” had me ecstatic about her being the mother so to have Carly show up two minutes later was the best twist in quite some time from this show. I think the mother will be some amazing twist in order to outdo this one. So I am really curious now. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/64 "2013-01-22T20:11:09Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > I think the mother will be some amazing twist in order to outdo this one. So I am really curious now. The mother is a bass player in Barney and Robin’s wedding band. She used to be roommates with Rachel Bilson. She paints watercolors with robots in them. She loves the same poetry Ted does and laughs at his doofey jokes. She’s dark-haired. She carries a yellow umbrella. We haven’t met her yet. There is no twist. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/65 "2013-01-22T20:39:03Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The mother is a bass player in Barney and Robin’s wedding band. She used to be roommates with Rachel Bilson. She paints watercolors with robots in them. She loves the same poetry Ted does and laughs at his doofey jokes. She’s dark-haired. She carries a yellow umbrella. We haven’t met her yet. > > There is no twist. Oh, there’s a twist, Monty . . . ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/66 "2013-01-23T13:13:51Z")
Well I’m glad that they addressed the Barney’s sister theory head on, had fun with it, and even made it meaningful to the storyline (got Barney over one night stands). However I’m a little confused by the mixed messages they were sending about age. On the one hand they seemed to be making fun of the audience for thinking Ted would end up with someone so young, but at the same time they have told us the mother was a student (living on campus!) when he was a teacher, so that implies at least somewhat of an age disparity. In other news, it’s been picked up for season nine. I hope that means we meet the mother at the end of this year and get to spend some time with her next year. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/67 "2013-01-23T13:46:26Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Well I’m glad that they addressed the Barney’s sister theory head on, had fun with it, and even made it meaningful to the storyline (got Barney over one night stands). > > However I’m a little confused by the mixed messages they were sending about age. On the one hand they seemed to be making fun of the audience for thinking Ted would end up with someone so young, but at the same time they have told us the mother was a student (living on campus!) when he was a teacher, so that implies at least somewhat of an age disparity. > > In other news, it’s been picked up for season nine. I hope that means we meet the mother at the end of this year and get to spend some time with her next year. I don’t think she was living on campus - that was obviously and apartment her ankle was seen in. She was roommates with grad student, so the implication was that either she was an older undergrad, or she was a grad student taking an undergrad course. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/68 "2013-01-23T14:02:56Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I don’t think she was living on campus - that was obviously and apartment her ankle was seen in. She was roommates with grad student, so the implication was that either she was an older undergrad, or she was a grad student taking an undergrad course. That was a grad-level course that Ted was mistakenly teaching in. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/69 "2013-01-23T14:14:11Z")
Was it? Columbia may have a different numbering scheme than NC State had back in the paleolithic. I thought Economics 3XX would have been a Junior level undergrad course. No matter: The bigger point is while there may be an age difference, it’s certainly not fourteen years. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/70 "2013-01-23T14:58:55Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > No matter: The bigger point is while there may be an age difference, it’s certainly not fourteen years. Exactly… Plus, how much time has passed in-show since Ted taught that class? At least a few years right? He was probably around 29 or 30 and she would have been in her early 20s, so not a huge difference. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/71 "2013-01-23T15:07:01Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Exactly… Plus, how much time has passed in-show since Ted taught that class? At least a few years right? He was probably around 29 or 30 and she would have been in her early 20s, so not a huge difference. He started teacher at the start of Season 5, so he would have been 31, I think. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/72 "2013-01-31T03:40:52Z")
I think I saw somewhere above that they’d announced the ninth season. But I hadn’t realized that it’s officially the LAST season: [http://www.cbs.com/shows/how\_i\_met\_your\_mother/photos/1000130/himym-returns-in-2013-2014-for-final-season-](http://www.cbs.com/shows/how_i_met_your_mother/photos/1000130/himym-returns-in-2013-2014-for-final-season-) Poop. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/73 "2013-01-31T03:48:51Z")
But wasn’t the current eighth season “officially” the last season until CBS saw how good the ratings were and got greedy? ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/74 "2013-02-13T02:14:32Z")
I might be done with this show. Not only was it just completely unfunny last night, its attitude towards mental illness was offensive. Like it’s one thing with the crazy-eyes theory or the hot-crazy scale, but this woman was in serious need of help and it just wasn’t funny. And wife-beating rapist Mike Tyson? And Robin and Lily are in awe of him instead of disgusted? It doesn’t fit their personality and just the sight of him revolts me. Didn’t Ted decide he needed to settle down in the first episode? Proposed to Stella too quickly? Told Robin he loved her too quickly? Bought a house? Helped Victoria destroy her wedding? But he’s being portrayed as commitment-phobic as Barney was and his wanting to settle down is some new character trait instead of his (whiny) driving force for how many seasons now? This episode was just insulting on so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/75 "2013-02-13T02:22:13Z")
:shrug: I enjoyed last night’s episode a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/76 "2013-02-13T02:35:17Z")
Some other places I’ve read, a lot of people liked it a lot. It’s just that those of us who disliked it REALLY REALLY REALLY hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/77 "2013-02-13T02:35:56Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > And wife-beating rapist Mike Tyson? And Robin and Lily are in awe of him instead of disgusted? It doesn’t fit their personality and just the sight of him revolts me. Well, it was 16 years in the future and the wife-beating rapist was now “Senator Mike Tyson” so perhaps he will be rehabilitated by then. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996/78 "2013-02-13T02:59:56Z")
Wasn’t Ted dating Barney’s half-sister a couple of episodes ago? I assume that was a different woman from Jeanette. And I think narrator Ted said that Jeanette was the last woman he dated before the titular mother, so perhaps that means we’ll finally meet her soon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-premiere/635996.md?page=3)