The How I Met Your Mother Blog

Monday’s episode “The Chain of Screaming” formerly known as “The Simmons Report” centers around Marshall and, much like “I’m Not that Guy”, we get a cool guest star:

Marshall gets shouted down by his boss, “Artillery Arthur” (guest star Bob Odenkirk) - or, as Segel put it, “The wheel of abuse finally lands on Marshall.” The traumatic moment leads to the end of Marshall’s brief career as a high-paid corporate lawyer and sets him back on course to become a do-gooding environmental lawyer.

Segel, whose movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” opens April 18, said he’s happy to see his character on track again.

“Marshall has such a pure heart, so I like to see him achieve his goals,” he said. “I’m happy he ends up turning his back on the corporate world. I’m very proud of him.

“And I’m glad we get to see me at work. You get to see Marshall in ’schlubby husband’ mode most of the time. It’s nice to see me in a suit. I’m finally suiting up.”

The entire list of guest stars for the episode:

Ferguson - Jordan Black
Arthur - Bob Odenkirk
Bilson - Bryan Callen
Blauman - Taran Killam
Waiter - Avner Garbi

How will L.A.M.E. be able to afford their new place if Marshall doesn’t have the high paying job? It’ll be interesting to see what Bays and Thomas do with this development.

In that same article we got some cryptic hints at what the future has in store as we move toward the finale which, I hear, will end with a cliff hanger that has “real emotional weight” for the characters:

The overarching story will be that Ted, whose romantic relationship with Robin ended at the end of last season, comes out of his tailspin. In the process, he begins to question why he hangs around with a lothario like Barney.

“Ted had been turning into Barney, so we’re putting him back on track as the nice guy we all fell in love with in the first place,” Bays said. “The second half of the season will move him a little closer to what Marshall and Lily have, but as a result, it will make him question having a Barney in his life. Some big events will put that in motion.”

source

Lothario is a great word. I wish I had more opportunities to use it. What do we think? Will “The Chain of Screaming” be as good as similar episodes about Marshall’s job such as “Life Among the Gorillas” or “I’m Not That Guy”? What type of event is coming up? The hints given so far have felt pretty ominous.

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I’ve purposefully been quiet about all the non-stop coverage of “Britney might return to How I Met Your Mother”. That’s about all the news there is, that one sentence, and every media organization in the world is talking about it. Buckle up, because now I’ve got something to say. There are quotes everywhere about Neil Patrick Harris wishing Britney was banned from the show. The only actual quotes I’ve seen from him are:

“I’m in the minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed”

“I worry that if they start `Will and Grace’-ing us too much, that the show will suffer. And we’re all really proud of the content of the show. I mean, viewership is not our game. It’s the network and the studio’s game, you know. It’s the promotion department’s game”

On who might be cast next: “No telling, but based on the stunt casting we’ve done in the past I’m guessing Tara Reid”

source

None of that overtly says he doesn’t want Spears to return. It sounds like he’s just being sarcastic and doesn’t want all of the news coverage to focus on the guest stars. Him, and everyone else from Josh Radnor to Carl MacLaren, go to great lengths to create a show that is more than the traditional sitcom. We all know this—it’s why we love the show. The ironic thing is that all the media outlets have taken NPH’s sentiment and spun it into the exact thing he didn’t want. NPH isn’t the only one: Josh Radnor has also expressed similar concerns about the show being looked at only for its guest stars. He was wary to discuss Spears during appearances yesterday on various TV morning shows and has been quoted recently concerning all the guest casting brouhaha:

“The challenge for the show has always been to get more eyeballs on it…the only thing — and this is not a slam on any of the other shows on CBS on Monday — but the only thing we have in common with those shows is we’re half an hour, multi-camera shows with a laugh track.”

“That’s why the people who love this show looooooove this show because I think it’s like your favorite band that hasn’t gotten popular enough for you to start hating it,” he said. “So you can still kind of love it and wear the T-shirt and speak in code with the other people who are on to it, but it hasn’t tipped into this kind of phenomenon where you start to turn on it

It sounds like he’s saying the exact same thing as Harris. It makes sense. Radnor, Harris, the rest of the cast, and the creators have spent three years creating one of the highest quality sitcoms that’s ever been on American television. For a long time it was a sleeper hit and fans like me and you could appreciate it knowing we knew about something great that everyone wasn’t privy to. Now, as it gains attention from the rest of the world, new viewers are confused that it isn’t just another sitcom, and that its stars don’t want to pander and shill on the talk-show circuit. It’s differences are its strengths, but Big Media doesn’t know how to sell it. Britney has become America’s whipping post so why not make it sound like the actors on the show don’t like her? It seems like spin and it annoys me.

I even read a headline on MTV that said “Neil Patrick Harris confirms Spears won’t have a regular role on the show”. WTF? Of course she won’t, where’d that rumor even come from?

I guess this is what we (fans of the show) have to deal with—late-term adopters jumping on board and trying to bang this perfect circle of a show into their tired, cliche, square hole.

Maybe it’s for the best. None of the guest appearances I’ve seen so far have bothered me. If the show existed in a vacuum, where we got no press coverage and just watched the episodes, I don’t think anyone would complain about Mandy Moore, Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, or any of the other guest appearances. Most of the time the guest casting is a joke in and of itself, like all the 80s dad appearances. It gives more depth and breadth to the show and hasn’t yet made the show cease bringing the funny.

Look at Sarah Chalke’s performance; she killed it. Absolutely note-perfect. I’d welcome her back on the show at any time (which seems like it might be the case if Josh Radnor was to be believed yesterday during his TV appearances.) Last night when I watched Scrubs I kept thinking “there’s Stella”, it didn’t ruin Eliot Reed for me at all. Hell, I’d even welcome back Britney. She wasn’t awful, and the show’s writers have earned my trust so that anyone they cast I’ll support. If I heard that they’d cast Hulk Hogan to play Barney’s dad I’d be first in line to say it’d be hilarious. That’d not because I’m an obsessed fan, it’s because Bays and Thomas have earned my trust over the past two and a half seasons.

But we don’t live in a vacuum, a fact the media has lately made abundantly clear. We’re deluged with a torrent of guest-star coverage every day (like this). None of the coverage is negative and even the most inane news article is still a news article mentioning the show. The hard-core fans like me and you can still love the show for all the details that make it great. The show has always been a critical darling, and that isn’t going to change. It’s a testament to Bays and Thomas that they took a show that was a sleeper and have catapulted it into the mainstream without having to compromise their artistic vision. Kudos to them.

Don’t believe the press attention has helped? A French reader told me that How I Met Your Mother was not available for the longest time but now, as a reaction to Brtiney’s appearance, a major channel there is considering picking it up.

So it’s like Harris said, when they write and shoot an episode they aren’t thinking about metrics and numbers and viewership. They’re thinking about how to make the best show possible. In a perfect world that’d be enough, and for us fans it is. So that’s why I don’t mind all the press, even if it drives me crazy, because that’s the promotional departments job and they’re doing it well which will allow the producers to continue creating a great product.

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I really hate copying directly from the source but I don’t have a ton of time so here we go:

The April 21 episode of How I Met Your Mother is turning into a wonderful ’80s flashback. Already marking the return of Robin Sparkles, the outing will feature visits from former teen popstress Tiffany and Growing Pains‘ Alan Thicke, playing Ms. Sparkles’ gal pal and father, respectively, in a newly unearthed video for “Sandcastles in the Sand,” a ballad Robin wrote upon being dumped by her backup-dancer beau (Dawson’s Creek’s James Van Der Beek).

HIMYM co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas wrote and composed “Sandcastles in the Sand” as the B-side of “Let’s Go to the Mall,” using iconic ’80s breakup ballads such as “Foolish Beat” and “Toy Soldiers” as inspiration.

With Michael Gross (Family Ties) having guested as Ted’s pop and Bob Saget (Full House) playing narrator, Thicke represents the third classic ’80s dad to get involved with the CBS sitcom.

source

I think this episode is shaping up to be truly legendary. What do we think?

I leave you with this, which is quite possibly the most insane commercial I’ve seen lately. It’s got Meatloaf and Tiffany selling Go Phones. I love it.

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Thank you to Jess for this:

Michael Ausiello (of TVguide.com):

Not so much scoop as a call to action: Josh Radnor’s stopping by tomorrow to guest-star on my vodcast, so send any/all questions to ask_ausiello@tvguide.com

source

Josh is in NYC this week doing all kinds of press. Look for him on The Early Show, Regis, and The CW Morning show. So if you have questions, email them in!

I actually have an embarrassing story (about myself) that has to do with Mr. Radnor that I’ll share with you all later this week.

I’d love to know what questions you mailed in. Let me know in the comments.

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The movie is coming out soon and I’ve got some info and production photos to share. Let the news and media begin. Continue reading…

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No episode last night due to the real Final Four (which apparently is about basketball and not women.) Next week new episodes return with The Simmons Report, a Marshall-centric episode. That’ll coincide nicely with a certain movie of his that I hear is coming out soon.

Just because there was no episode doesn’t mean we have nothing to talk about! I found a great promo from CBS on YouTube today. It’s called “The HIMYM Dictionary” and it’s really just a montage of clips edited together. It’s pretty funny though and serves the purpose—I’m excited to watch the show.

So Ted was using the C word in How Lily Stole Christmas last year. I’d always kind of suspected that but it had never been confirmed. See you next Tuesday for the new episode recap. Until then, I’ve got some Sarah Marshall Updates, and some legacy Season vs Season coming out later this week. Stay tuned.

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This is a weekly column where the episodes from seasons one, two, and three will go head to head in a humor cage match. This week, the episode fourteen’s.

Season 1: Zip, Zip, Zip

After agreeing to take things slowly and not have sex for a month, Ted and Victoria decide that they have waited long enough.

This is one of my favorite episodes from Season 1. We get to see Marshall and Lily stuck in the bathroom while Ted puts the moves on Victoria (”They’ve been out there for 45 minutes. We could’ve had sex three times by now.” “Try five!” *High five*) and Robin fills in as Barney’s bro for a night on the town.

I love all the Marshall and Lily moments in this episode, it was a great way to focus on them without totally ignoring Ted. Cooler trivia: the B&B that Marshall and Lily had planned to go to was in The Berkshires which is a small community in North-Western MA. It also happens to be my hometown. Having grown up there, I’m not sure being stuck in a bathroom is much worse.

The Barney B-plot was almost the best in the episode, him and Robin have a great chemistry. This was the first time we saw cool, bro-Robin. She loves cigars and scotch, suits up, plays laser tag, and even makes a great wingman. Of course when she wanted to play Battleship Barney took that as a metaphor and started to birthday suit up. When she shot him down it was revealed to Barney that Robin had feelings for Ted, something we learned the week before.

This episode showed the chemistry between Marshall and Lily as well as Robin and Barney. These are combos we don’t get to see too often since the format of the show usually pairs at least one of the four with Ted. This episode is a milestone as it set in motion all of the Barney + Robin theories that are still swirling today.

Season 2: Monday Night Football

When a funeral conflicts with the Super Bowl, the gang vows to avoid hearing the score and watch it together on Monday. This proves difficult, as Marshall is threatened with the score by a boy in Lily’s class, while doing the news puts Robin in danger of finding out who won.

This episode was supposed to air right after the super bowl. The CBS switched it with something else. It was a shame because this is a great stand-alone episode. It doesn’t really deal with any of the serialized plots in the show but has enough laughs that it might have brought in new viewers. There are some great jokes (Ted’s sensory depravator 2000 is great) and an appearance by Emmitt Smith.

The premise of this episode was that a funeral for someone the gang didn’t really know kept them from watching the Super Bowl as it ran live. At the funeral, Barney sweatsuited up (regular suits are for joyous occasions.) Joe Nieves also had some good lines as Carl the Bartender which, looking back, makes me ask again where is Joe Nieves?

Season 3: The Bracket

Barney’s efforts to hook up with women are being thwarted by a mysterious woman from his past. Barney and the gang must sift though his many past flings in an attempt to find out who she is.

This episode was great, as Barney episodes always are. Check out the recap last week for all the details. After No Tomorrow and Ten Sessions, it was nice to get away from the main Ted storyline and have a few good laughs at Barney’s expense this week.

Advantage

I love “The Bracket” and “Monday Night Football” has a lot of laughs, but “Zip, Zip, Zip” wins. It had a lot of character development, and gave us some unforgettable moments. It was also a nice switch-up having Ted out of the picture so Marshall and Lily could spend a night in the bathroom while Barney and Robin bro’d out.

Vote

Previous Season vs. Season Showdowns

• Episode 1
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8
• Episode 9
• Episode 10
• Episode 12
• Episode 13

I’ve removed the scorecard for now. I’m going to go back and make sure the tallies are correct for each episode and hopefully get the earlier ones posted that are not up at the moment.

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So I’m back and have had a little more time. Here are the facts:

A reader pointed out tedmosbyisnotajerk.com which appears to be written by Victoria as a response to tedmosbyisajerk.com which popped up after Monday’s episode.

As reader Jack pointed out, the new site is registered to Timothy Kirschenheiter while the original is registered to Marc Geller. They were both registered through GoDaddy. The original was registered on March 3rd, the new one on April 4th. Neither of these people are the registrar for slapbetcountdown.com, an old web site associated with the show.

The new site is very detailed. If it’s written by a fan, it’s written by a devoted one. There are testimonials from all of the women in Ted’s life, replete with references to each one’s time spent with Ted. Color me impressed.

There’s an email associated with the the new site—tedmosbyisnotajerk@yahoo.com—that would seem to go to “Victoria”. Last night I emailed “her” this:

I agree. Ted is great. Do you think you’ll try to be with him when you get back from Germany? I would.

Then today I got this response:

Hey Justin,

Well, my internship only lasted two years. And those two years ended this past January. But I took a position with a prestigious French-inspired cafe in the heart of Berlin, so I am still in Germany.

But, I have thought about returning to NYC. If I do, I hope I bump into Ted. I really just want to see how he is doing. And maybe, just maybe, there is still something there.

I’m not sure, though. It is all bery confusing.

-Victoria

p.s. thanks for checking out my site! tell all your friends about it!

Interesting. I’m going to email again from a different address and see if I get a similar response.

Real or not, the site is hilarious. Check out the testimonials, they’re legendary.

What do we think? Is this canon? Made by a fan? Is Victoria coming back? Do we want her to? Her IMDB is pretty empty lately but she is currently filming a pilot for a television series called “Night Life” that Zach Braff is associated with.

Update: This site is fan made. The writers had nothing to do with it. That’s damn impressive though, and I tip my hat to whomever is responsible for it. That means that we probably won’t see Victoria again though. I just think it’s great that How I Met Your Mother fans are starting to make some noise!

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Spoilers follow, do not read if you’re not into that sort of thing.

Without a new episode this week lets take time to look at what’s coming in the future. Continue reading…

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Known to us as Carl the Bartender at MacLarens, we haven’t seen Joe Nieves in awhile. Not since Monday Night Football last season where he had much more of a speaking role and I thought he might be featured a little more prominently. Then he’s gone, just like that.

From the DVDs I know that Joe Nieves was originally supposed to play a cop in the pilot, but the role was cut. He showed up to work in his own cop outfit and made such an impression on Bays and Thomas that they gave him the part of Carl the Bartender (aspiring actor’s note: show up in outfit.)

More trivia: both the character Carl and the bar—MacLaren’s—is named after production assistant Carl Maclaren who, I believe, is the assistant to Bays and Thomas and has come up with a couple Barneyisms over the years.

But where’d Joe Nieves go? I always liked his appearances. Wendy the Waitress is still around, so why can’t Carl come back?

Consider this post a petition. Bring back Joe Nieves! Who’s going to write their number on Drunk Ted’s arm? He’ll wake up with the penguins at the zoo! Leave your support in the comments. Or maybe you hate Nieves. You’d be wrong, but you can still comment.

Carl the Bartender appeared in:

Pilot
The Sweet Taste of Liberty
The Slutty Pumpkin
Matchmaker
The Pineapple Incident
Ted Mosby, Architect
Swarley
Columns
Monday Night Football

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