The How I Met Your Mother Blog

First, you guys are awesome for holding back about this in the main episode recap. I really wanted to know everyone’s opinions on the finale in general so I appreciate it. I’ll have to watch it again tonight but all your positivity has made me realize I was perhaps too harsh. That being said…

What was up with the long lingering stare from Barney to Robin? I know they’ve made little references here and there, but that was a big, flashing-light signal. I have to say, I loved it.

All season Robin’s been in the background. She really only dated three guys that we saw, and none of them were anything serious. She’s been relegated to the occasional goofy Canada joke and laying down the razor’s edge wit that makes her so damn hot. But look again: slowly all season she’s been looking better and better (I’m amazed each week they trump the previous episode.) It’s almost as if we the viewers are falling for her in real time as Barney does. She’s the girl in the group that was always one of the guys until you realize you’re comparing every other woman to her. This slow burn has earned the creators the right to use this plot shift. And I thought it was all build up to the end of Sandcastles in the Sand. I think RoBarn has only just begun.

I’ve said many times before that I wouldn’t like to see Barney in a relationship; that the best part about his character is the balance of a despicable Lothario with a heart of gold. Seeing him as a foil for both Marshall and Ted made each character richer. For all those reasons I felt like anything between him and another girl would seem awkward and something between him and Robin might seem forced, something for her to do since she’s no longer with Ted. In short, I wasn’t a fan.

Now I’m coming around. Consider the following:

• Neil Patrick Harris kicks ass. We know that in real life NPH is not Barney. I think the sly wit is there, as well as the charm, but he’s much more of a kinder, gentler person. He’s also a phenomenal actor. I have utter faith in him as a performer that any new development would serve only to add depth and breadth to the character, not to cheapen it. In dramatic shows, characters are expected to change and grow. HIMYM has already proved a sitcom can be much more than the stereotype, why wouldn’t it also prove that real character growth is possible in the half-hour format?
• The writers love Cobie Smulders as much as we do. When was the show firing on all its cylinders the best? Whenever they were writing a story that had Ted and Robin falling in love. Smulders seems to be their muse, and all of the best moments have involved her and Ted. If it’s her and Barney, that gives the writers an opportunity to do it all again, but this time with wit and sarcasm where once there was sappy romance. In other words, we could possibly see another long courtship that is as awesome as the night of broing out in Zip, Zip, Zip.
• Robin is a different person. We’ve seen her character change the most from the beginning of the series. She’s now more sensitive, forthcoming with her feelings, and she seems to have gotten over a lot of her issues in the past that held her back. I think she’s ready for this plot just as much as Barney is.

All that being said, I don’t expect Barney and Robin to turn into LAME. I think they’ll have their own hilarious issues and if they do date, they’ll be the couple that always seems to make the most jokes at the other’s expense.

On the other hand, they could not get together at all. They could have a really casual on-again, off-again thing happening. I think it’s safe to assume the only thing we won’t see is a repeat of season one where Barney suddenly turns into Ted trying to win Robin’s heart. All the other possibilites seem plausible, and awesome.

What do you think?

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Do miracles exist? Us fans got a forth season and Ted and Barney both got a new lease on life so it seems like they might. Tonight saw many cliffhangers, many flashbacks, and, in my opinion, many mistakes. One thing is for sure: I’m already anticipating this fall. Season three is over, what do we think? Spoilers follow so only continue if you’ve seen the finale. Continue reading…

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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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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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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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I was rewatching The Bracket on the train home last night (as I’m wont to do) and noticed something in the credits. I Googled it a bit and beyond a post on tv.com forums no one else has wrote about this.

The girl stalking Barney last night was listed in the credits as “mystery woman”. Her name is Tess Alexandra Parker and, like Ted’s mystery woman, is a relative unknown.

I think it’s interesting that they listed her in the credits. Maybe my Lost fan paranoia is kicking in but this seems like a clue we might see her again in the future. Could she come back? To what extent? What does it all mean? Who’s pants are these?

What do you guys think of all this?

PS. Sorry for the small pictures. Don’t blame me, blame IMDB.

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A few weeks ago I was contacted by a soldier, we’ll call him Carl (not his real name) who is currently serving in Iraq. He told me the following story of how much better his life has been since he and his fellow soldiers discovered the show:

So the other day, I got a random “Dude! Have you seen How I Met Your Mother?!” from my buddy. “Pfft, no thanks,” I said “I don’t really watch TV shows.” While walking to the chow hall a few days later with Johnny and my buddy Edgar, they couldn’t stop quoting it. It was like a “secret” that I didn’t know about.

Then fate delivered me a present: my other buddy Steve tells me he just got all three seasons on his hard drive. Still hesitant, I figured if I was bored, I could watch it. But I was already so busy with night guard watch that fitting in any extra media seemed impossible after our 12 hour shifts. A few more days go by and I decide to sit down and watch a few episodes mainly to say “Yeah I checked out the show! Can I be in your little circle of awesome?”. Well they said I wasn’t “seasoned enough” to be considered “in the know”. So I sat down the next night and watched a few more. Then it was over—I was hooked. I was so addicted, people were a little worried about me. I would get comments like “You watching that show? Did you even change out of your uniform?!”

While here in Iraq, I get to call my wife Carrissa every few days and get updates from the homefront. She had told me that I had seemed “down” to her these last few weeks. This rut is due to a temporal time warp that happens in Iraq. Every day, you work the same hours, do the same things, eat the same food, talk to the same friends. Every. Day. So we call it Groundhog’s day and the only way you know what day of the week it is, is by what food is being served in the chow hall.

One night I stayed up until 2:30AM watching the show, then woke up at 7AM and continued watching the show until 8AM where I had to go take a shower and go eat. As I’m walking to the chowhall, I’ve got this perma-grin on my face and, as I’m saluting officers, I can’t get rid of the smile. I call my wife later that morning, and she is wondering if my mood is chemically induced. I explained to her how it was a new show I’d discovered that was affecting me in a positive way and to not be worried. I also told her to start watching it because it would be something we could experience together even though we are separated physically. She was relieved that I seemed to be out of my rut and promised to watch the show.

I’ve tried to tell everyone I could about it, and one night, in our barracks of 200 soldiers, I had 3 people get the files from me so they could watch it too. One of the guys finished the entire series in 2 1/2 days. Insane!

So now I’m “in the circle” and Edgar, Johnny, and myself are always quoting jokes and lines from our favorite episodes. I told two of my co-workers a couple days ago that “Legendary” was going to be the new word to describe anything awesome, and they said it wouldn’t catch on, we’ll see about that. My thanks go out to all the people that made HIMYM happen.

Contacting me was an attempt to fulfill his mission of eventually getting in touch with the show’s creators. He wishes to tell them the story of how their show has brought happiness to those serving our country overseas and how it has offered a connection between him and his wife even though they’re far away. He hopes to share this story and maybe get a letter, or something signed by the cast, or even just DVDs of the show.

I was touched by Carl’s story. It’s easy to forget that the worst thing we’ve had to complain about is the writer’s strike while elsewhere there are those who have to be separated from their families and are forced to suffer the monotony that is described above. The fact that the show can reach not only us but those in Carl’s situation is a testament to what is really great about television. At the end of the day it isn’t ratings, or guest stars, or anything like that that makes a show a success. It’s the heart that makes people love it and How I Met Your Mother has the heart that it takes.

So here’s hoping that Carl succeeds in his attempts to contact CBS or Bays and Thomas. If you have any information on how he might get in touch with someone connected to the show, please email me at jd@have-you-met-ted.com and I will forward that information to him. Thank you.

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So it was called The Bracket after all and not The Final Four. Whatever you call it, it was a great episode. Barney episodes are few and far between but they’re always extra awesome. While we might never have found out who the girl was or why she was sabotaging Barney (two mystery girls? This IS turning into the sitcom version of Lost) we did get some quality Lily/Barney time, more hints at a Barney Robin hook-up, and a window into the disturbing mind and capabilities of the Barnicle. Continue reading…

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So there’s been a lot of chatter online about whether or not we may have met the mother this week. As reader Jez pointed out to me in an email, it seemed strange for the episode to include Ted bumping into a girl, seemingly at random, while at the club (for those of you who have the episode, say from iTunes like I do, it’s around the 13:30 mark). We know that the mother was at the party, yet Future Ted says at the end that he didn’t meet the mother there. Could the girl he bumped into turn out to be the mom? Let’s examine the possibilities.

1. In the picture above, all we can see the woman with the yellow umbrella wearing is a leather jacket and jeans. We can tell she’s caucasian, petite, and has a bit of an olive complextion.
2. Check out the images below, screen captures from the moment Ted bumps into the woman at the bar.

This woman is also wearing jeans, but so are 99% of the other women in the bar (and, in fact, the world.) I say this evidence isn’t conclusive enough. With all the talk about potential mother casting and then subsequent changes in game plan, it could be that, in lieu of Dermatologist Stella turning out to be the mom, the writers have thrown in a curve ball hinting at something else for the future. Or it could be a red herring.

I decided to track down the actress who played the girl Ted bumped into to try and determine how likely she would be to, at some point, become a series regular. Based on the press release I tracked her down:

Her name is Nicole Muirbrook Wagner and she has not appeared in anything notable. That’s a good sign, if she isn’t a hugely popular, in demand character actor there’s a good chance she’d be both available and amiable to come back on the show in a larger capacity.

Also, she fits the profile of the mother that was established in season one’s episode “Milk” when they showed shots of the mom with her face covered. What we could tell about the mother in those pictures was that she a) was brunette b) was petite c) had a mild olive complextion. Again, Wagner fits the bill. Additionally, if you look at Future Ted’s kids, they too are petite brunettes with vaguely olive complextions.

Now we have to ask if the creators of the show would do this to us? Maybe I watch too much Lost but yes, I think they would. That’s not to say that I’m convinced this is the mother, but it’s a definite possibility.

What do you think?

PS. If you guys would digg this story I’d appreciate it.

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So, it’s true:

Britney Spears’ havoc-wreaking cameo on How I Met Your Mother has already claimed its first victim. A Mother insider confirms that Alicia Silverstone — who was slated to appear in a multi-episode arc as Ted’s dermatologist/lover — has dropped out and will be replaced by Scrubs’ Sarah Chalke.

Pink Is the New Blog reports that Silverstone bowed out because her reps (understandably) feared she would be overshadowed by Spears, who, per my sources, will play an assistant to the dermatologist now being portrayed by Chalke. As a result, I’m hearing Mother bosses Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have reconceived the female doc character. Originally slated to appear in multiple episodes, she’ll now be in just one — mostly because that’s all Chalke’s schedule will allow. The diminished screen time would also seem to eliminate any hope there was of her being Ted’s future yellow-umbrella-carrying wife (aka the “Mother”).

But Mother still has big plans for Silverstone. “[Bays and Thomas] love Alicia,” whispers my mole, “and they intend to create another character for her.”

All of this begs a critical question: Is Spears worth the headache? Provided she brings in enough viewers to get Mother off CBS’ endangered list, I reckon she is!

source

The Alicia Part

We all know how excited I was when I first heard about the Silverstone casting. I still think that she’s note-perfect for this show. The thing I’ve always loved about How I Met Your Mother is its intellect and heart, a heart it often wears on its sleeve. I think this has brought criticism to the show—it’s not as superficial as shows like Friends, and not as acerbic as shows like Everybody Loves Raymond. It’s even been called sappy, which I have never agreed with. I can see Silverstone fitting in well with the sensitive, thoughtful tone of the show as well as rolling with the humor while keeping a certain level of sophistication (something Cobie Smulders has been doing without much credit since day one.)

Alicia Silverstone’s professional persona is rooted in a Gen X sensibility, something else the show has in spades (Ted is the classic wandering soul.) She would have been the perfect familiar face that would have worked on the show the same way Danika McKellar worked in the past. The show’s demographic has, for the most part, fond memories of Silverstone’s previous roles and I think she would’ve been accepted warmly.

The Britney Part

Britney Spears is none of those things. At one time the picture of virtue, how far we fall when we fly too close to the sun. Her recent antics are too numerous to account for here (and are better documented elsewhere). I’ve taken pot-shots at her like everyone else, and whether or not she was an active participant in her own Icarusian fall or merely the victim of those she trusted, we’ll never know. What I do know is that she represents everything about celebrity and pop culture that I try to get away from when watching shows like HIMYM.

That being said, she’s also not an actress. I don’t trust that she’ll be charming, funny, or even necessarily coherent. Mandy Moore did well, but she acts quite a bit, and has a reputation for being motivated and hard working. I’ve read stories of Britney showing up late for video shoots drunk or incapacitated in some way, being surly and difficult to work with, and generally bringing down those around her. I’ve also read that the set of HIMYM is one of the best—laid back, fun, easy going, and very efficient and affable. Which attitude is going to win out? Will the positive aura Pam Fryman has created win out over the venomous tendencies of a deranged pop star? These are the things I’m really worried about.

The Sarah Part

I love Sarah Chalke. I’m a huge Scrubs fan and find her to be a great female character. She’s quirky, awkward, sexy, strange, and filled with neuroses. Much like Silverstone, I think she’s great for the show. The only problem I see is being able to separate Sarah Chalke from Eliot Reed. Plus, an added bonus: she’s Canadian and, I believe, has a bit of a natural accent she tones down for Scrubs. This could play well into the established canon of Canada jokes on the show. If she could be on for more than one episode there could’ve been a side plot that involved her being Robin Sparkles’ biggest fan.

The “Why It’ll be OK” Part

That brings me to my one regret with all of this casting news. Chalke can only appear for one episode, while Spears is rumored to return for several. That means that we won’t just see Spears in the doctor’s office as the assistant and she’ll probably end up dating Ted. I’ll say it here: Britney Spears will not be the mother. I don’t have inside sources, I just can’t imagine this is the outcome. At most, she’d be a Victoria—someone Ted dates for awhile and then breaks up with.

Silverstone’s character (which is now Chalke’s) was supposed to be recurring, maybe even the mother. With her out, the creators are having to re-work the story they wanted to tell. I hate to see scheduling conflict and things like that affect story telling. I’m sure it happens more than we ever hear, but it is an unfortunate compromise for the writers. Hopefully the hint that Silverstone will return is true, and they’ll postpone her arc for the future.

I don’t really understand why, if they had Silverstone cast in a roll they were ready to move forward writing, they’d let her go just to cast Britney in a supporting role. I know that it’ll be good for ratings (I haven’t seen a single news item spread quite so fast online since Heath Ledger died) but is it worth it? Again, we’ll have to wait and see. I have trust in the show, the writers, and the actors to take what seems like lemons and give us some lemonade.

What do you think?

Thanks to readers John d’Arc and Ranier for sharing this news with me.

PS. Sorry for the wonky feed stuff, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to post this as a new entry or just update the old one (I did the former.)

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