How I Met Your Mother

Did You Know?

• The series aired on Nick at Nite from September 8, 2014, to December 27, 2015, and on TV Land from June 29, 2015, to 2018.
• It also aired on FX from September 5, 2011, to 2019, and on Lifetime from 2009 to 2018.
• Ted's children are named Luke (after Luke Skywalker) and Penny (after Ted's love for coins).

Production

The series was inspired by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas' idea to write about their friends and the foolish things they did in New York, where they had worked as writers for Late Show with David Letterman. Ted is loosely based on Bays, while Marshall and Lily are based on Thomas and his wife. Thomas' wife Rebecca agreed to have a character based on her only if Alyson Hannigan could play her; Hannigan was seeking more comedy work and was available.

Joshua Radnor and Jason Segel, cast as Ted and Marshall, were not well known, though Segel had been on Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. The role of Barney was initially envisioned as a John Belushi-type character before Neil Patrick Harris won the part after an audition invitation from casting director Megan Branman. Pamela Fryman asked Bob Saget to be the voice-over narrator, Future Ted, explaining the show would be like The Wonder Years but set in the future.

Saget recorded narration while watching the episode or separately, and normally did not attend table readings except for the final episode. Bays and Thomas stated that a famous actress turned down the role of Robin, revealed in February 2014 as Jennifer Love Hewitt; they then cast the unknown Cobie Smulders, later saying they were grateful because the audience saw Robin for the first time alongside Ted. Although Ted is smitten with Robin in the pilot, it is quickly established she is not the mother, to avoid repeating the Ross and Rachel storyline from Friends.

The writers incorporated facets of each main actor's personality into their characters, including Neil Patrick Harris' magic skills, Jason Segel's songwriting, Alyson Hannigan's absent-mindedness while pregnant, and Josh Radnor's intellectualism.

Season synopses

In 2030, Ted Mosby sits his children down to tell the story of how he met their mother. The series begins in September 2005 with Ted as a single, 27-year-old architect living with his college friends Marshall Eriksen, a law student, and Lily Aldrin, a kindergarten teacher and aspiring artist. Lily and Marshall have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes, prompting Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, to the disgust of his self-appointed best friend Barney Stinson, a serial womanizer who concocts elaborate con games to bed women.

Ted meets Robin Scherbatsky, an ambitious Canadian reporter, and quickly falls in love, but they decide to be friends after Robin does not want to rush into a relationship; Future Ted reveals she is not the mother, referring to her as Aunt Robin. Ted dates a baker, Victoria, whom he meets at a wedding, causing Robin to become jealous and realize she has feelings for Ted. Victoria moves to Germany for a fellowship, and Ted and Robin eventually date after Ted lies about breaking up with Victoria.

Meanwhile, Lily wonders if she has missed opportunities and pursues an art fellowship in San Francisco, breaking up with Marshall. The season ends with Ted returning home after spending the night with Robin to find Marshall sitting in the rain with Lily's engagement ring, devastated by their sudden break-up.

Critical reception

The first season received generally favorable reviews, though some compared the series unfavorably to Friends. On Metacritic, it scored 69 out of 100 from 25 reviews. Michael Abernethy of PopMatters gave a negative review, stating the comedy was not enough to compensate for inconsistencies. Tom Shales of The Washington Post gave a lukewarm review, calling it a little better than most sitcoms featuring wacky urban friends.

Melanie Macfarlane of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave a positive review, saying the show was a comfortable, reliable hitter for CBS. The second season received critical acclaim, with Staci Krause of IGN calling it groundbreaking. The third season met mostly positive reviews; Michelle Zoromski of IGN said it was fun and clever with a good flow from earlier seasons. The fourth season received critical acclaim; Zoromski rated it 8.5 out of 10, noting that the chase for the mother settled down and standalone episodes were entertaining, highlighting a Robin-Marshall episode titled Little Minnesota.

The fifth season received mixed reviews; Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity wrote that characters seemed to regress, particularly Barney and Ted, and she felt relief when the season ended.

Subplots

In Season 2, episode 9, titled Slap Bet, viewers are introduced to the concept of a slap bet, explained by Marshall to Lily. The first slap bet occurs when Ted insists on discovering why Robin refuses to go to malls; Barney bets she has starred in pornography, while Marshall believes she is married. Barney suggests a slap bet instead of money, where the winner gets to slap the loser as hard as possible, but no rings. Lily initially finds it immature but becomes slap bet commissioner.

Ted badgers Robin, who lies about being married; Marshall preemptively slaps Barney, then discovers Robin lied. Lily as commissioner imposes a slap penalty allowing Barney to slap Marshall three times. Barney finds a video on MySpace from a man in Malaysia, stops it at a suggestive part, and slaps Marshall, but Robin reveals the full video shows she was Robin Sparkles, a teenage Canadian pop star, with the song Let's Go to the Mall. Lily lets Barney choose between ten slaps immediately or five slaps anytime to eternity; Barney chooses five.

Marshall slaps Barney, saying That's one. The slaps become an ongoing trope, lasting through the twenty-second episode of season 9, The End of the Aisle, before the two-episode series finale Last Forever.