well. if you just look at the title, its most likely you would think its some crappy show that will probably be cancelled the first season for being extremely lame and incredibly boring. honestly, i felt this way about this show when i saw what it was going to be called.."How I Met Your Mother". Come on. thats what most people would expect.

well, if people gave it a chance, its actually a really cute and hilarious sitcom about the main character Ted pondering on his love life and looking for "the one". Josh Radnor I've never heard of before, but i really do like his humor in the show. it's a strange kind of humor to me though, almost dry humor. The supporting characters give great comedy to the show, esp. Neil Patrick Harris' character Barney. (who's my favorite character in the show). Man, his character cracked me up in the pilot. I laughed continuously when everyone kept on dismissing his ideal of them all wearing suits. Its great that Doogie finally comes back to television in a great new series. Their are other great characters i feel give great comedy to the show such as the couple Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segal) who make a great team. They have those romantic, but hilarious scenes together where you have those laugh out loud moments. Then you finally have Robin (Cobie Smulders) who is seen as "the one" at first, but turns out to not actually be Ted's future wife. She has her funny moments, but i don't really see her as funny as the rest of the characters.

Thats basically what people need to know about this show. Most of the actors we have never heard of and haven't seen in movies or shows in awhile, but this is great stardom for them. It's a great show for everyone to watch for it has great comedy and writing to it. It's nothing really what i expected though when i saw the previews for the pilot. Just give this show a chance, you won't be disappointed. It def. has a potential to last some more seasons.

the only reason I started watching this show was because I'm a die hard BTVS fan and I wanted to see what Willow (Hannigan) was doing after buffy the show is actually a hoot and I am real happy I started watching its always good for an easy laugh

How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.

As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) [1] with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting their mother, which explains the title and allows for a narration in the past tense. How I Met Your Mother follows Ted alongside his friends Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris).[1]

How I Met Your Mother has been a critical success, and has received consistently strong ratings throughout its run. It has won five Emmy Awards, including a nomination for "Outstanding Comedy Series" in 2009. In 2011, CBS announced that the series had been renewed for an additional two seasons, making the current count eight.

The seventh season of the series was announced in March 2011, along with confirmation of an eighth season, and premiered on September 19, 2011, with back-to-back episodes

Production:

How I Met Your Mother was inspired by Bays's and Thomas's idea to "write about their friends and the stupid stuff they did in New York"[3]. The two 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.[4][5] Thomas's wife Rebecca was initially reluctant to have a character based on her, but agreed if they could get Alyson Hannigan to play her. Fortunately, Hannigan was available, and was looking to do more comedy work.[4]

The bar MacLaren's, in which some of the show is set, is based on a bar in New York City called McGee's.[6] It has a mural that Carter Bays and Craig Thomas both liked and wanted to incorporate into the show.[7] The name for the bar is from Carter Bays's assistant, Carl MacLaren; the bartender in the show is also called Carl.[8]

Usually each episode is shot over three days (most sitcoms are typically shot in a single day) in the Los Angeles based Soundstage Studio 22[9] and features upwards of 50 scenes with quick transitions and flashbacks. The laugh track is later created by recording an audience being shown the final edited episode. Co-creator Thomas claims shooting in front of a live audience would be impossible, and doing so "would blur the line between 'audience' and 'hostage situation'".[10] Later seasons started filming in front of an audience on occasion when smaller sets are used.

The theme song is a portion of "Hey Beautiful" by The Solids, of which Bays and Thomas, the two co-creators of the show, are members. Episodes from the first season generally started with the opening credits. A cold opening has been used since season two. 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, scenes from previous episodes or shots of New York City with Ted narrating over the top are shown. Thomas has explicitly said Future Ted is an unreliable narrator since he is trying to tell a story that happened over 20 years earlier, and therefore tends to recall events incorrectly;[11] this has been a plot point in several episodes such as "The Goat", "Oh Honey","How I Met Everyone Else" and "The Mermaid Theory". Nevertheless, Thomas has also emphasized maintaining a coherent and consistent universe, and trying to avoid continuity errors, based on his experiences of being a fan of other shows.[12]

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.[13] This was primarily done because the teenage actors portraying them will be adults by the time the final season is shot.[14]

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 nine new episodes.[15] A change in timeslot was also announced, to 8:30 ET/7:30 CT, flip-flopping from the summer schedule with The Big Bang Theory.[16] The show was renewed for a fourth season by CBS on May 14, 2008,[17] which premiered on September 22, 2008.[18]

In September 2008, it was announced Lifetime Television purchased the right to rerun How I Met Your Mother at a rate of about $725,000 per episode.[19] The four-year syndication contract stipulated the studio must deliver at least 110 half-hour episodes by the year 2010, and allows for up to eight seasons of the show. At the end of the fourth season only 88 episodes had been produced, and a further 22 episodes were required ensuring there would be a fifth season.[20] On May 19, 2009, the fifth-season renewal was announced.[21] On May 20, 2009, CBS announced How I Met Your Mother would move back to 8 pm, leading into the new comedy Accidentally on Purpose. On January 12, 2010, the show hit the milestone of its 100th episode. It was also announced the series would return for a sixth season on CBS.[22] In response to being syndicated, co-creator Craig Thomas said, "We're thrilled that it will live on in other forms," and they were proud of the show and it was great to see there was a strong desire for it.[23] However, cast members have suggested the show will run for no more than eight seasons.[24]

On September 13, 2010, reruns of the series began airing on local U.S. broadcast television stations and on Chicago-based cable superstation WGN America. Featured in these airings are vanity cards previously unseen in the CBS and Lifetime airings due to marginalized credit sequences used by the two networks. Shown in between the closing credits and the production company credits, these vanity cards show portions of "The Bro Code," a list of rules frequently referenced by Neil Patrick Harris' character, Barney Stinson, on how men should interact with each other, with an emphasis on activities involving pursuing members of the opposite sex. The opening theme song for the syndicated reruns is also slightly edited, running shorter and not using all the pictures seen in the opening montage that runs on DVD and the original CBS broadcasts. The episodes, too, are edited, leaving out small details.

One of the series' ongoing traditions involves giving guest roles to actors from various Joss Whedon productions, many of whom co-starred with Hannigan on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Carter Bays puts this down to being "huge fans", and those casts representing "a big talent pool".[25]

On March 4, 2011, CBS announced that the show had been renewed for two more seasons,[26] with the seventh season scheduled to air with back-to-back episodes on September 19, 2011.

On July 27, 2011, It was announced that FX has picked up the show for syndication. FX began airing the show on September 5, 2011


Main characters

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

[edit] Recurring characters

Lyndsy Fonseca as the daughter (2005–)
David Henrie as the son (2005–)
Marshall Manesh as Ranjit (2005–)
Joe Nieves as Carl the bartender (2005–)
Charlene Amoia as Wendy the waitress (2005–2011)
Bill Fagerbakke as Marvin Eriksen Sr. (2005–2011)
Ashley Williams as Victoria (2006, 2011)
David Burtka as Scooter (2006–2010)
Joe Manganiello as Brad (2006–2009)
Bryan Callen as Bilson (2006–)
Taran Killam as Blauman (2006-)
Alexis Denisof as Sandy Rivers (2006, 2011-)
Wayne Brady as James Stinson (2006–)
Bryan Cranston as Hammond Druthers (2006–2007)
Cristine Rose as Virginia Mosby (2006–)
Enrique Iglesias as Gael (2007)
Sarah Chalke as Stella Zinman (2008–2009)
Britney Spears as Abby (2008)
Chris Romano as Punchy (2008–)
Will Forte as Randy Wharmpess (2008, 2010)
Frances Conroy as Loretta Stinson (2009–)
Benjamin Koldyke as Don Frank (2009–2010)
Laura Prepon as Karen (2009–2010)
Rachel Bilson as Cindy (2010, 2011)
Ben Vereen as Sam Gibbs (2010–)
Jennifer Morrison as Zoey Pierson (2010–2011)
Laura Bell Bundy as Becky (2010)
Kyle MacLachlan as George "The Captain" van Smoot (2010–2011)
Nazanin Boniadi as Nora (2011–)
John Lithgow as Jerome "Jerry" Whittaker (2011–)
Kal Penn as Kevin (2011–)
Martin Short as Garrison Cootes (2011–)

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_I_Met_Your_Mother

i absolutely love alyson hannigan and i love this show as well, i can tell thats its a good show because it has been on for 7 season and people arent bored yet... this show introduced me to more of jason segel's work and NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, oh how i love them bothhh!

A love story, In reverse. Brilliant modern comedy narrated by Bob Saget. The story begins by him telling his children the story of how he met their mother,(obviously) but also involves the life's of his four friends. Whom one in particular I don't think I would watch without Barney,(Neil Patrick Harris)the womanizing odd one out of the group. If you want to get hooked real fast on a comedy show, then try the first episode alone, you wont be disappointed!

This show is all about stereotypes. The lovable Dougie Howser is transformed from a fun loving kid to a womanizing machine. Apparently he is quite successful and his friends both male and female enable this reprehensible behavior. The humor is slapstick and without depth and the relationships between characters superficial at best. This is the kind of show people like because it makes them feel like the guy who used them was just "being a guy" and that many random hookups is ok and not an emotionally big deal because it is the norm so it justifies both guys and girls to go out and act on their hormones. Other then that their is NO reason that I can find to like this show.