The How I Met Your Mother Blog

While I was patiently waiting my turn to meet and chat with the cast, I watched them give interviews last week. I didn’t realize those interviews were for TV Guide. Check them out:

Neil Patrick Harris:

Josh Radnor:

Alyson Hannigan:

Cobie Smulders:

Carter Bays and Pam Fryman:

Read more about that night, from TV Guide’s point of view and see all their How I Met Your Mother coverage.

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The invitation came without solicitation. Well, that’s not entirely true. I had added Carter Bays and Charlene Amoia as friends on Facebook and, to my surprise, they not only confirmed but Charlene sent me a nice note thanking me for the site. I wrote her back and in a fit of confidence offered to buy her a beer the next time she was in New York. Proving how legendary she really is she did me one better: “How would you like to attend a party in New York tomorrow with Carter Bays, Pam Fryman, and the cast?” I would like that very much I told her. Continue reading…

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Alyson Hannigan turns 34 today. She’s had a lucrative acting career even before Lily Aldrin was one half of L.A.M.E. We first saw her as the band camp geek from the American Pie movies. Then she played Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer—one of her most memorable roles. She’s also appeared on Veronica Mars. With her film and television roster, and her girl-next-door charms, Hannigan has set geek’s hearts swooning for many years.

In Alyson’s honor, here is a short bio:

Date of Birth

March 24, 1974, Washing D.C., USA

Birth Name

Allison Lee Hannigan

Height

5′ 6″ (1.68 m)

Trivia

• Was a clarinet player in junior high school.
• Played soccer until she got an injury in her early teens.
• Has a tattoo of tribal dolphins on her ankle, and a japanese kanji, for luck and happiness, on her back.
• She is a spokesperson for breast cancer, and appeared in a brochure to raise awareness about the disease.
• Married to Alexis Denisof. Denisof proposed during a trip to Northern California wine country during the 2002 holiday season. They were married in October 2003. We know Alexis Denisof as egotistical anchorman Sandy Rivers.
• Is of Irish-American decent
• Owns a mansion in Sacramento, California.
• Attended California State University in Northridge, California majored in Psychology
• Was Bob Saget’s babysitter in her teens. Once went on vacation to Hawaii with his family.

Editor’s note: I want to give myself extra-credit for the banner pic above. Do a Google Image Search for Hannigan and see how hard it is to find a good photo. There are some unfortunate Photoshop collages out there of her.

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The first reports are coming back from the set where Britney is currently filming her episodes. Alyson Hannigan was pleased:

“I have been quite impressed by Britney’s performance. The character she is playing is very sweet and endearing, which seems to come naturally to her. Not to mention, she has good comedic timing, which helps, given we’re a sitcom.”

As per usual, Neil Patrick Harris had more to say. Full Q&A here but here are some highlights.

It looks like security was tight on set:

They have different wristbands every day, and it’s like the ultimate after-party. I wasn’t given a wristband, because I’m on the show, but then they swapped out security people and they wouldn’t let me on the stage because I didn’t have the proper wristband.

This is good to hear, and makes me feel better:

…it should be clear, and I hope you state this, Britney’s camp came entirely to us with the idea of it, and in fact, we all thought it was a joke. It wasn’t like CBS or How I Met Your Mother is trying to get ratings, and said who can we star-cast to get attention.

We were literally just filming last week and told, “You’re not going to believe who just called and said they wanted to be on the show.” That’s sort of how it all went down. My only reservation about her being on the show at all is that it appears that we are desperate for ratings, and that’s not the case, we’re sort of in a good comedy groove. So, my only concern is one of appearance.

I knew it! This confirms what I was saying about the show being intellectual:

Sarah [Chalke]’s the perfect fit for the show. Josh Radnor has a real intellectual sensibility to his acting, and I think Sarah matches him step for step and beat for beat, so when we started our run-through yesterday, or started rehearsing, rather, it was like she’d never not been on the show. I hope and my fingers are crossed that Sarah manages to do more than one episode with us because she’s just terrific.

This all makes me feel much better. It also seems to suggest that the show might not be in as much trouble as it has seemed. I can’t wait for Monday to see how much momentum will be gained with new episodes finally airing.

There’s also some quotes from Britney about working on the show that I didn’t think were terribly interesting.

Thirdly (is that a word?) there is a nice short bio on Josh Radnor. Turns out he’s Jewish, intellectual, and awesome (we already knew all that right?)

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Yesterday was a little serious so let’s lighten up today with a little irreverence, How I Met Your Mother style.

Watch this clip from The Onion where an FCC representative details the differences between lewd and artistic displays of nudity on television. Where’s the line drawn? Right across Alyson Hannigan’s bosom.

My favorite moment:

“That would be acceptable?”
“That would be beautiful.”

Enjoy.

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TV Guide recently ranked the top ten married television couples. Guess who came in at number five? Lily Aldrin and Marshall Ericksen. Not bad after less than a year of marriage. The rest of the ranking was as follows:

1. “Friday Night Lights” Tami and Eric Taylor, played by Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler
2. “Medium” Allison and Joe Dubois, played by Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber
3. “Desperate Housewives” Lynette and Tom Scavo, played by Felicity Huffman and Doug Savant
4. “Everybody Hates Chris” Rochelle and Julius, played by Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews
5. “How I Met Your Mother” Lily Aldrin and Marshall Eriksen, played by Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel
6. “The Unit” Mollly Blane and Sgt. Major Jonas, played by Regina Taylor and Dennis Haysbert
7. “Lost” Rose Henderson and Bernard Nadler, played by L. Scott Caldwell and Sam Anderson (editor’s note: my second favorite on the list)
8. “Ghost Whisperer” Melinda Gordon and Jim Clancy, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt and David Conrad
9. “Family Guy” Lois and Peter Griffin, voiced by Alex Borstein and Seth MacFarlane
10. “Scrubs,” Carla Espinosa and Chris Turk, played by Judy Reyes and Donald Faison

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Found this today, thought it was adorable:

Alyson Hannigan was turned down for a job as a bartender when she couldn’t get work as an actress because she looked too young. During a lean period in her acting career, the 33-year-old star took a course and tried to get a job pouring drinks at Hollywood hotspots.

The How I Met Your Mother star tells the New York Post, “I never got hired anywhere. I looked 12. They said, ‘Honey, people are just gonna laugh when you try to card them (ask for their identification) - they’re gonna want to card you.”

via Hip-Hop Elements

PS. In that photo, Lily is holding a “World’s Greatest Couple” cup that has a photo of her and Barney on it. I don’t remember that from the eponymous episode, do you?

PPS. While looking for Hannigan pictures I found a few nice ones. Check it:

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It looks like HIMYM will not suffer as much or as immediately as some of the other shows on TV. Last week the cast finished filming all the written scripts before the strike started. This positions the show to continually serve up new episodes, possibly well into December. A potential blessing in disguise–if this is the only new show, maybe it will gain a lot of new viewers!

The cast has been positive. Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders both showed up outside the picket lines this week to pass out food and keep people company.

In related news, Neil Patrick Harris will appear on The Price is Right Wheel of Fortune next week, playing for charity this time rather than discovering his father (who is definitely NOT Drew Carrey Pat Sajak). I’m not sure of the exact day but The episode will air Monday Nov 12 so keep your eyes peeled to see if Neil can clean house the same way Barney did last season.

both stories via BuddyTV

UPDATE: Apparently I can’t read properly, which Voltaire was kind enough to point out. Good call.

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Over on ew.com they’ve got a photo essay chronically some popular film and TV stars decked out in their favorite t-shirts. Three HIMYM cast members popped up in the collection:

Alyson Hannigan

From ew.com: The late John Ritter gave this tee to Hannigan after his guest spot on Buffy in 1997. “He was such an incredible guy anyway, even if he didn’t give me a rubber ducky T-shirt,” she says. “Every time I see it I have such love in my heart for John. And I miss him.”

This isn’t nearly as cool as Hannigan’s shirt in World’s Greatest Couple, with the fairy tale cat illustration. She looks cute though and it’s a touching story.

Jason Segel

From ew.com: The How I Met Your Mother star is basically using us to plug his new favorite band, Instant Sorrow. “They’re a British band, a little bit like Oasis, or early U2,” says Segel, who says he rarely buys rock tees. “I want these guys to become a smash sensation.”

I haven’t heard Instant Sorrow’s music but if it’s good enough for Segel, it’s worth checking out. I find it amusing that Jason is such an indie music fan. Very similar to his character on Freaks and Geeks. Doesn’t it seem like the shirt says “Infant Sorrow” though? That’s both a William Blake poem and a way cooler name, maybe ew.com misquoted him?

Neil Patrick Harris

From ew.com: The How I Met Your Mother star stole this from a shoot years ago after noticing it said Clovis, New Mexico — the town where his mom was raised. He likes the ringer style, but “to be honest, my favorite is the cutoff, sleeveless tee. For breathing room.”

If Neil can’t breath in a t-shirt, he must be dying in those suits every week. I’m not usually a fan of a sleeveless look but I think NPH is dapper enough to pull it off.

Thanks to HIMYB for this story.

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The Barnicle isn’t the only one with a new How I Met Your Mother promo. CBS has video from Marshall and Lily’s honeymoon. It’s pretty great. Watch them in the hotel room that isn’t what they expected. Watch them at Lock Ness looking for Nessy. Find out why the Scotch in Scotland is so good.

You can take away our lives, but you can’t take away our honeymoon!

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