(Once again, after this OP, OPEN SPOILERS are permitted for everything right up through the end of season 3. Open speculation is permitted for stuff after season 3 – if this thread survives long enough for anyone to get ahold of spoilers for season 4, those should be boxed.)
We don’t have a lot of discussion of HIMYM on the boards, but I know there are fans. And it’s my second-favorite current sitcom, after The Office, so what the hell, let’s have a thread.
And to pad out my spoiler-free OP: Who’s your favorite character? Yeah, Barney’s fun, but I’m glad they’ve avoided turning him into a Fonzie. My favorite? Probably Robin, though Marshall’s neck-and-neck.
And, as I’ve mentioned before, I really appreciate that Marshall and Lily are happily married without killing the comedy, and I hope Jim and Pam on The Office can follow in the tradition.
Speaking of Barney and Robin, do you think they’re going to end up permanently entwined? Barney obviously has feelings for her, based on that hospital bed glance in the season finale, but they’ve got a lot of leeway for how this plays out. Anything from Barney’s conversion to happy husbandhood to awkward romantic tension because Robin’s not going to feel anything for him.
I’d vote for the never-married-but-coupled status for the two of them, assuming Barney’s character survives being de-lechified.
Spoilers/speculation #2:
Is Stella the mother?
I like Sarah Chalke, but I’m going to vote no. My biggest reason: if Stella is the mom, the kids already know. Even if Ted’s changing the names to make things suspenseful, there’s no way they don’t recognize their mother and older half sister if Stella really is the mom.
And yes, the creators could fudge it, but I think it would be sloppy to pretend Ted’s kids are as in-the-dark about the identity of their mom as the audience at home is.
Of course, that leaves the real mother’s identity wide open. Anyone else have a thought?
My roommate got the DVDs for season one and two earlier this spring; I haven’t been particularly interested in any sitcom from the last X number of years (aside from Curb Your Enthusiasm) enough to keep the TV on and watch it, let alone plan on watching it again.
After watching one or two random episodes while the roommate was watching, I ended up going through the first two seasons in sequence. This is a phenomenal show, and as a 20-something I can say that aside from the higher level of attractiveness and of financial stability, these people are acting out my life! It is funny and true writing. Even Barney, who is a bit over-the-top, is a sincere and genuine person who is an analogue to people I know.
Best program on TV (though I haven’t seen any of this season, so I’m not sure if it’s sustained its level of awesome). This show is legen . . . wait for it . . . dary!
Ya this is my favorite show on TV. Unfortunately I missed the last two episodes this season and I’ve heard they were pretty good. the old Barney’s blog was a lot more fun and pretty interactive they had a poll about which would be worse 10 slaps immediately or 5 good for a life time about a year before the slap bet episode. In general they do a good job with tying the internet stuff into the show. A lot of the Robin Sparkles stuff is on myspace and youtube.
I really like Barney but I tend to laugh to most at Lilly’s stuff. The best laugh I’ve had so far was Robin’s gift to Lilly for her bachelorette party I was crying during the grandma’s speech. But Barney’s crazy hot scale and the lemon law come up the most in my conversations.
There is no way that Sara Chalke is the mom. They won’t introduce the mom until the last season. I’m hoping that it will be the slutty pumpkin. Eventually I will convince a girlfriend to where that outfit and I will marry her.
They might pull a fast one and have Ted marry Robin’s sister, who we haven’t met yet. That would make “Aunt Robin” really Aunt Robin.
Or maybe she has a slutty twin she hasn’t mentioned yet…
We know Stella isn’t the one because Stella wasn’t the girl with the umbrella.
I agree that How I Met Your Mother is one of the best comedies on TV right now. What amazed me the most was when I watched some re-runs from Season 1, and saw that little throwaway things from that season turned into major plot points in later seasons. The show is amazingly internally consistant, and seems like it is actually being thought out and planned in advance.
My wife and I enjoy this show a lot. We record it every week if we get a chance. I have no idea who the mother is supposed to be, but I don’t think it’s Stella either. I don’t have an outright favorite, but it would probably be Barney who is the funniest womanizer I’ve ever seen.
Um… I don’t think there’s every been any indication that the kids don’t know who their mother is. The whole point is Dad meandering and boeing them with tangents while trying to get to the real story of how they met, not her identity. I know there was a recent movie about a dad telling his kid who her mother is, but I don’t think it borrowed the idea from this show. The mystery is for our benefit, not theirs, or else they wouldn’t look so bored every time he talked. Most people would like to know who their parents are if it was unknown, and would take some interest in the subject, wouldn’t they?
speculation #3:
The last scene of the show will be this - Ted finally tells the kids everything, and it pans in on them. They look annoyed. One of them, probably the girl, says “We know! You and Mom have told us how you met like a hundred times already.”
speculation #4: Robin is “aunt Robin” the same way that a mother might have her kids call her boyfriends “uncle soandso.” She and Ted get together only after a short relationship produced his kids
The guy who plays Ted is cute, but I think Robin is my favorite character.
Agreed - up until she had a daughter, she looked like she could have been the mom. But now…
Even though she mentioned a St. Patrick’s Day party (which has been mentioned as important more than once) and there was the sighting of the Yellow Umbrella at the party, too. The kids would notice the sister thing. Probably. Unless they’re really stupid kids.
Good show, though. They do a lot of great things with continuity and change of focus (and play well with the web, too). Reminds me a lot of the early seasons of Coupling.
But there has been some indication that they don’t know the story, and that the reveal of the mother in the context of the story will be at least somewhat of a surprise. See the first episode: “And that’s how I met your Aunt Robin.” Incredulity from the kids.
And that’s my point: Aunt Robin’s identity surprised the kids because there was nothing about her from that first episode that counterindicated what they knew about their mother. But by now, the way Ted’s telling the tale, they’ve got to know she’s the mom or not. And they haven’t reacted, saying “So you met mom, and you’re still telling us the story why?”
That would be awesome, except I think their aforementioned surprise at how his story started makes it unlikely.
This was an OK episode, with a few laughs. It is one of the shows I watch each week. The premise has gotten old for me, but I enjoy the characters and the rest of the comedy. And they have hot women pretty regularly.
I’m a Caltech alum and had a career in silicon valley. I enjoy the show because witnessed people doing and saying things that are just not that different from Sheldon and his pals.
