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How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother is an American situation comedy that premiered on CBS Broadcasting on September 19, 2005. The show was created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays. As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting their mother. How I Met Your Mother's other main characters are Marshall Eriksen, Robin Scherbatsky, Barney Stinson, and Lily Aldrin. Thomas and Bays drew from their friendship in creating the characters, with Ted based loosely on Bays, and Marshall and Lily based loosely on Thomas and his wife.

On May 16, 2007, CBS executives announced at the annual Upfront presentation that How I Met Your Mother was renewed for a third season. While airing CSI-style promos for the show, it was announced that the show would be moving to the 9:30 ET/8:30 CT Monday timeslot for summer reruns, after reruns of the highly-rated Two and a Half Men. The show shifted back to 8:00 ET/7:00 CT at the beginning of the third season, which premiered September 24, 2007 but it has since been moved to the 8:30 PM ET/7:30 PM CT slot.

During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, How I Met Your Mother shut down production, but once the strike ended the show returned on March 17, 2008, with 9 new episodes. It was also announced another change in timeslot to 8:30 ET/7:30 CT, flip-flopping from the summer schedule with The Big Bang Theory. The show was renewed for a fourth season by CBS on May 14,2008, which premiered on September 22, 2008.

In September 2008, it was announced that Lifetime Television purchased the syndication rights to How I Met Your Mother at a rate of $750,000 per episode. That is the second highest price per episode for a syndicated show, only behind CBS's Two and a Half Men which scored $800,000 per episode on FX.

Production

Inspired by "our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York," How I Met Your Mother is Bays and Thomas's idea. The duo's first concept about "an Enron executive who gets sentenced by the judge to go teach at an inner-city high school" was discarded because neither writer wanted to research the subject.

Episodes from the first season generally started with the opening credit screen. However, a cold opening has been used more often recently, especially in season three. Viewers then occasionally see Ted's children on a couch and hear him talking to them, telling the story of how he met their mother. Alternatively we can just see scenes from previous shows or shots of New York City with Ted narrating over the top. Thomas has explicitly said that Future Ted is an unreliable narrator.

The show explores the concepts of stories and storytelling usually with multiple flashbacks occurring each episode, a technique similar to that often employed in the earlier UK sitcom Coupling. This effect has been dubbed "deep frying" the story, a reference to the show's director, Pamela Fryman. This structure necessitates many more scenes than the average sitcom; therefore the show is not filmed before a live studio audience despite being shot in the traditional sitcom format. Laughter is not recorded until the episode is shown to an audience after it has been completely edited together. Sometimes, scenes would incorporate a studio audience depending on the set structures.

The theme tune to the show is from the song Hey Beautiful by The Solids, of which Bays and Thomas are members.

The bar "MacLaren's" in which some of the show is set is based on a bar in New York called McGees. It has a mural that Carter Bays and Craig Thomas both liked and wanted to incorporate into the show.

A scene directly relating to the identity of the mother, involving Ted's future children, was filmed near the beginning of season two for the show's eventual series finale.

Cast

Main characters

Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby
Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky
Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin
Bob Saget (uncredited) as Future Ted Mosby (voice only)

Recurring characters

Charlene Amoia as Wendy the Waitress (2005-)
Sarah Chalke as Stella Zinman (2008-)
Lyndsy Fonseca as Future Daughter (2005-)
David Henrie as Future Son (2005-)
Marshall Manesh as Ranjit (2005-)
Joe Nieves as Carl the Bartender (2005-2007)
Ashley Williams as Victoria (2006)

Main crew

Carter Bays
Pamela Fryman
Craig Thomas
Chris Harris
Suzy Mamann-Greenberg
Rob Greenberg
Stephen Lloyd
Greg Malins
Sam Johnson
Chris Marcil
Eileen Heisler
DeAnn Heline
Jonathan Groff
David Hemingson
Ira Ungerleider
Gloria Calderon Kellett

Season synopsis

Season one

In the year 2030, Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) gathers his daughter and son to tell them the story of how he met their mother (even if they don't look too eager to hear it).

The story begins in 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27-year-old architect living with his two best friends from Wesleyan University, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes. Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), a womanizer with an unnamed corporate job. Ted begins his search for his perfect mate. He is introduced to the ambitious young reporter Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), when Barney plays the game he invented to introduce Ted to women: "Hi, have you met Ted?" Ted quickly falls for Robin, though she doesn't feel the same as he does.

As the series progresses, Ted begins dating a baker, Victoria, whom he meets at a wedding, causing Robin to become jealous and realize she does have feelings for him. When Victoria moves to Germany for a fellowship, Ted almost cheats on her with Robin. The two then break up. Ted gets a call from Love Solutions, the matrimonial company that struggled to find a match for him, that finally they have a love mate for him. But he did not show up for the blind date and begins to date with Robin. Meanwhile, Lily begins to wonder if she's missed any opportunities because of her relationship with Marshall, and decides to pursue an art fellowship in San Francisco, breaking up with Marshall in the process.

Season two

Ted and Robin are finally a couple. The heartbroken Marshall must now go on and try to continue his life without Lily, and begins dating other people. Realizing she is not an artist, Lily returns to New York. She's reunited with Marshall, and the season culminates in their marriage. Barney loses a "slap bet," which permits Marshall to slap him in the face five times at any given time in the future, whenever Marshall chooses, which he has done two times through the course of this season. It is revealed that Barney has a gay, black brother. Also, Barney takes a trip to California to be a contestant on The Price is Right, at first believing that Bob Barker is his father, but he never actually says so. They eventually find out that Robin was a Canadian teen pop star in the early 90s.

In the season finale, through a series of flashbacks, Barney learns from Ted and Robin that they had been broken up for some time before Marshall and Lily's wedding. They didn't tell anyone before because they felt there was never the right opportunity. Ted and Robin agree to stay friends as Ted wants to get married and Robin does not. The season ends with Barney excited at the prospect of Ted and himself being single guys on the town again.

Season three

Robin returns from a trip to Argentina, and Ted must adjust to life as just her friend. Marshall and Lily decide to move out on their own, falling in love with a place they can't afford. Marshall learns of Lily's bad credit rating due to her compulsive shopping. They are able to finally score their dream apartment despite this, only to discover the neighborhood is next to a sewage treatment plant. Coming to terms with this, they later also realize that the apartment is crooked. Barney is slapped for the third time on Thanksgiving, which Marshall dubs "Slapsgiving."

Ted attempts to woo Stella (Sarah Chalke), a dermatologist he sees to remove an embarrassing tattoo. This culminates in a memorable "two-minute date," which incorporates small talk, dinner, a movie, coffee, two cab rides, and a goodnight kiss, all within two minutes. Meanwhile, an unknown woman begins to sabotage Barney's attempts to hook up. Robin sleeps with Barney after he comforts her following a break-up, which is followed by Ted's disapproval due to the breaking of the "Bro Code." After that, Ted decides not to be friends with Barney anymore. Barney's saboteur is revealed to be Abby (Britney Spears), Stella's receptionist, with a vendetta against Barney for not calling her after they had sex. She still wields a pseudo-psychotic fixation on Ted and does all she can to pursue him with the help of Barney who also still holds a grudge against Ted. In the last episode, Miracles Ted and Barney renew their friendship after both Ted and Barney are involved in accidents (Ted is in a cab accident and comes out of it without a scratch. Barney is run over by a bus while rushing to find out if Ted's all right). At the end of the episode, Ted proposed to Stella. It has not been revealed whether Stella is the woman Ted marries. However in the episode Ten Sessions Stella reveals that she attended and left a party on St. Patrick's Day, which may have been the same one Ted attended.

It is also heavily implied that Barney has feelings for Robin. In the episode The Goat, we find out that in the following year (when Ted turns 31) Robin will be living in Ted's apartment.

Season four

In the season premiere, it is revealed that Stella accepts Ted's proposal of marriage. Marshall then discovers that Ted and she know very little about each other. Meanwhile, Barney confesses to Lily what was earlier suspected, that he does, in fact, have strong feelings for Robin, and attempts to reform himself into a one-woman-man in an effort to impress her. Robin is confused by the "new and improved" Barney, and does not suspect his true feelings for her. In episode 2, Marshall sets out to find a burger that he claims is the best in New York. Through many obstacles and calls to guest star Regis Philbin, they finally find the place. Marshall is revealed to have been hired to the bank at which Barney currently works, Goliath National Bank (member FDIC). In episode 3, Ted decides after much deliberation to move to New Jersey when he and Stella are married and Robin is offered a job as a foreign correspondent in Japan.

Episodes

Season	Ep total	First airdate	Last airdate
Season 1	22	September 19 2005	May 15 2006
Season 2	22	September 18 2006	May 14 2007
Season 3	20	September 24 2007	May 19 2008
Season 4	26	September 22 2008	2009

Cultural references

To How I Met Your Mother

In the episode "No Chris Left Behind" of the FOX animated series Family Guy (also produced by 20th Century Fox Television), a short clip from a pastiche TV show "How I Met Your Father" is seen. Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris make cameo appearances voicing their characters Ted and Barney, with the name of the show and the gay kiss a reference to Harris's then-recent outing. The clip also introduces a rather different meaning to Barney's "Suit up!" catchphrase.

Used in How I Met Your Mother

In Moving Day, the episode closes with a scene in "MacLaren's" where Barney reads out a Top Ten list, in the style of David Letterman's Late Show.

In Mary the Paralegal, Barney says "I said good day!" (Originally a quote from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and used by Fez in That '70s Show)

In Swarley, Barney gains the unfortunate nickname Swarley. The end of the episode features all the people in McLaren's Bar calling him Swarley, to which Carl presses play on stereo and plays "sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name," the "Cheers" theme song. This episode ends with "Cheers"-esque theme while the credits are rolling. In that same episode the men are in a coffee shop and comment on how it is cooler to hang out in a bar than a coffee shop, which the writers later stated was not a reference to Central Perk from Friends.

The Bracket closes with Barney beginning to write a blog post - an allusion to Harris's role in Doogie Howser, M.D., which usually concluded with Howser writing his computerised diary. It also introduces fans to Barney's online diary at CBS.com - which explains or expands on some of the gags used in the series, such as the 24 similarities between women and fish. It also used the CBS Sports NCAA Final Four basketball anthem One Shining Moment in a montage that parodied the regular post-game montage.

In the Season 4 premiere Do I Know You?, Ted discovers that he doesn't know Stella as well as he thinks he does. Marshall asks him "What color are her eyes?" Ted's response is directly from the Princess Bride: "The color of the ocean after a storm."

In the second episode of season 4, "The Best Burger in New York", Marshall references a speech from the 1980's movie, Amadeus.

Nielsen ratings

Based on average total viewers per episode of CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother:

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	Monday 8:30 P.M. (September 19, 2005 - May 15, 2006)	September 19, 2005	May 15, 2006	2005–2006	#43	9.5
2	Monday 8:30 P.M. (September 18, 2006 - October 2, 2006) Monday 8:00 P.M. (October 9, 2006 - May 14, 2007)	September 18, 2006	May 14, 2007	2006–2007	#51	8.5
3	Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 24, 2007 - March 10, 2008) Monday 8:30 P.M. (March 17, 2008 - May 19, 2008)	September 24, 2007	May 19, 2008	2007–2008	#60	8.2

Awards

Emmy Award: Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series (2006 & 2008).
Emmy Award: Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series (2006).
Emmy Award: Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Neil Patrick Harris - 2007 & 2008).

DVD release

Season releases

DVD name	Release date	Ep #	Additional information
Season One	November 21, 2006	22	This three-disc box set includes all 22 episodes of Season 1. Bonus features include commentaries on select episodes, gag reel, and video yearbook. The episodes on the DVD have been cropped from the originally broadcast widescreen to a full frame 4:3 format though. At present there is no widescreen version.
Season Two	October 2, 2007	22	This three-disc box set includes all 22 episodes of Season 2. Bonus features include commentaries on select episodes, gag reel, and several featurettes.
Season Three	October 7, 2008	20	This three-disc box set includes all 20 episodes of Season 3. Bonus features include commentaries on select episodes, gag reel, and several featurettes.