Yes, sorry. There’s a BBT thread going on around here somewhere.
As for HIMYM, I mostly watch it for Alyson Hannigan.
I interpreted their incedulity as being unhappy that he wasted that long telling them something else, not about their mom as he said he was going to.
But if they already know the story of how he met their mother, it would’ve been clear a lot earlier than when he said “And that’s how I met your Aunt Robin” that he wasn’t talking about their mother.
I didn’t start watching this until the first episode of the latest season (and was thoroughly confused) but got into it and went back and watched the first season. I’m amazed at how tightly tied together everything is. For example, the goat at the birthday party we had recently (and which we learn was really at the next one) had a cameo in the season one birthday party as something he’d mention again later.
As far as whether the kids already know who their mother is or not, they seemed to fall for Ted’s joke about how Barney took him to a strip club “and that’s how I met your mother” for a bit.
Of course by the time they get around to revealing who the mother is, the actress playing the daughter in season one will be old enough to play the mother.
I didn’t start watching until this past season, but I like the show a lot. I’ve seen a few random epsiodes from the first two seasons, and we probably will catch up on DVD this summer. I’m not all that invested in the mother’s identity – it’s just a gimmick to hang the rest of the show on, and Ted is the least interesting character.
I think that they just played that response for laughs, and not as a real dramatic reaction.
The idea that Ted is a single parent with two kids who don’t know who their mother is is a bit too heavy to not be explicitly stated at the get-go.
Plus, since the show is “how I met your mother,” what do the kids say when the show is over? “Ok dad, that’s how you met mom, but what we really want to know is, where the fuck has she been for 17 years and why haven’t we met her before?”
Will that be in the spin-off series, “How I Divorced Your Mother”? 
I guess I could have started a new thread with this question but since it originated with this show I’ll place it here.
If you had an ex-girlfriend who you were still friends with and you were both seeing other people, having relationships, sleeping with them, etc. is that ex really off limits to your other friends? (from the bro-code ep.)
It just seemed odd that Ted would be so angry at Barney and end his friendship with him because Barney slept with Robin even after they weren’t together anymore.
I thought Ted’s reaction in “The Bro Code” was completely insane. Ted and Robin broke up a year earlier!
Add my voice to those who thought Ted was wrong for his reaction to Barney. Sure, there may be some residual petty jealousy when someone you loved goes out with a friend, but you gotta suck it up.
Actually, Ted’s response to Barney made perfect sense to me. It’s not that Barney slept with Robin – it’s that Barney broke a code that he himself set up. That, and Barney’s reaction to having broken the code is not “Hey, Ted, I’m sorry this happened” – it was trying to pretend it didn’t happen, then trying to get Ted to go to Las Vegas with him rather than go to his birthday party with the rest of his friends.
If Ted were really upset that Barney and Robin slept together, he’d be similarly pissed at Robin. But he’s not, because she was honest with him. Barney’s limo hijack was what pushed Ted over the edge.
Okay - That makes sense. I still think Ted was a bit of an ass, though.
Anyhow. **Mrs. Magill[\b] and I love this show. We first started watching during the first season, and Barney immediately reminded us both of my best friend… Only at Sitcom proportions. We also agreed during the second season that Barney and Robin would make a better couple than Ted and Robin.
Regarding Stella - We know she’s not the mother, because she had nothing to do with the yellow umbrella.
There are a couple of things we must never know: What the goat did and how that pineapple got there.
How do we know this? Ted said their mother was at the St. Patrick’s day party, and Stella said she had been at a St. Patrick’s day party. Did I miss something that showed she didn’t have the umbrella?
They keep hedging their bets with revealing the mother because at the end of every season, they’re in suspense about whether the show is getting renewed. It might be Stella, but it doesn’t have to be, which is good because ABC picked up Scrubs for next season so Sarah Chalke has a regular gig somewhere else for another year.
He said in an episode before St. Patrick’s Day, they met (will meet?) because of the umbrella.
Until this weekend there were a handful of season one episodes I’d never seen, the pineapple one being one of them. That episode is even funnier than the crazy eyes episode!
I’m bumping to point out this very good recap of a HIMYM event hosted by Alan Sepinwall.
One excerpt: “Cobie said she and the producers have half-seriously talked about doing a Robin Sparkles mall concert tour, but it would have to be only in Canadian malls.”
That would be awesome.