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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Hollywood likes to repeat itself. Well, I should say that if an idea is successful they try to repeat the success. In movies they create sequels, prequels, and remakes. In TV they make spinoffs or remakes. Sometimes they work like Frasier, other times they don't work at all like the American made version of Britain's Coupling (which was itself a British working of Friends). After Seinfeld studio after studio bought ideas of endearingly funny people who were basically loathsome people, and after Friends studios bought ideas of groups of best friends who met in public places to talk about their messed up sex lives.
Boiled down to its basic premise, How I Met Your Mother could be considered to fall into the latter category. Because I was never a fan of Friends (still not, although I have enjoyed a couple of episodes here and there, I wouldn't turn on the show of my own accord) and many critics and commentators compared How I Met Your Mother to Friends I decided not to check it out at first. There have been many Friends clones, and I felt that another one of them didn't warrant my attention. It wasn't until just before the fourth season aired that I realized I was wrong to wait so long to check it out.
I would be lying if I said that the recent appeal of Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel's recent box office success in Forgetting Sarah Marshall had nothing to do with my choice to check out the show. It was really my fiancée who got me to check it out. While I was at work a few times Renee chose to check out some episodes in syndication on Lifetime and really enjoyed them and got me to check it out. The first episode I viewed was the season 3 episode "How I Met Everyone Else". In the episode Ted (Josh Radnor) brings a new girl he's dating to meet the group, and everyone in his group of friends recounts how they met each other.
This particular episode illustrated one of the brilliant elements of How I Met Your Mother's storytelling. While the initial conceit has Ted in the future (future Ted is voiced by Bob Saget) telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. At times this allows for a modicum of suspension of belief because of the fact that future Ted is perfectly capable (and at times his kids call him out on it) of embellishing the story. Beyond that we see stories within stories. "How I Met Everyone Else" exploits this idea to great effect. For three seasons we've seen these characters together only really knowing how Robin came to join the circle of friends, but here we get the full story and told in a way that remains engaging.
All of the characters are fully rounded with quirks that endear them to the audience rather than overbearing. The cast and crew have proven that How I Met Your Mother is first and foremost a character driven show, and even in the show's sixth season they pull major surprises. Throughout "Bad News" we watch a hidden countdown ticking down to the biggest tragedy in the history of the show. Over the next several episodes we watch as the gang works together to help each other through the situation. There are also running gags throughout the series, but these work to further flesh out the characters and their relationships and are not overused. In the season 2 episode "Slap Bet" Barney and Marshall enter into a bet that leads to Marshall being able to slap Barney 5 times at any time he wishes. Going into the seventh season only four of the slaps have been dealt, and they're typically dealt without the prior knowledge of the audience. There's also a really brilliant recurring gag about Robin (Cobie Smulders) being a former Canadian pop star that hits all the right notes (pun intended) as well.
Because it is one of the best American sitcoms in recent years, How I Met Your Mother ranks on my list of top 10 favorite TV shows. It would rank higher, but I have to admit that the show suffers from a somewhat dull main character. While Ted is not the worst in this category, I have to admit that I would rather watch any of the other characters on the show more. Also the fifth season didn't live up to the promise of the previous four. However I do also have to give this show extra credit for making even Britney Spears tolerable!
5/5
Be sure to check out: Armadillo & Sands: Intellectual Properties at Work!
Boiled down to its basic premise, How I Met Your Mother could be considered to fall into the latter category. Because I was never a fan of Friends (still not, although I have enjoyed a couple of episodes here and there, I wouldn't turn on the show of my own accord) and many critics and commentators compared How I Met Your Mother to Friends I decided not to check it out at first. There have been many Friends clones, and I felt that another one of them didn't warrant my attention. It wasn't until just before the fourth season aired that I realized I was wrong to wait so long to check it out.
I would be lying if I said that the recent appeal of Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel's recent box office success in Forgetting Sarah Marshall had nothing to do with my choice to check out the show. It was really my fiancée who got me to check it out. While I was at work a few times Renee chose to check out some episodes in syndication on Lifetime and really enjoyed them and got me to check it out. The first episode I viewed was the season 3 episode "How I Met Everyone Else". In the episode Ted (Josh Radnor) brings a new girl he's dating to meet the group, and everyone in his group of friends recounts how they met each other.
This particular episode illustrated one of the brilliant elements of How I Met Your Mother's storytelling. While the initial conceit has Ted in the future (future Ted is voiced by Bob Saget) telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. At times this allows for a modicum of suspension of belief because of the fact that future Ted is perfectly capable (and at times his kids call him out on it) of embellishing the story. Beyond that we see stories within stories. "How I Met Everyone Else" exploits this idea to great effect. For three seasons we've seen these characters together only really knowing how Robin came to join the circle of friends, but here we get the full story and told in a way that remains engaging.
All of the characters are fully rounded with quirks that endear them to the audience rather than overbearing. The cast and crew have proven that How I Met Your Mother is first and foremost a character driven show, and even in the show's sixth season they pull major surprises. Throughout "Bad News" we watch a hidden countdown ticking down to the biggest tragedy in the history of the show. Over the next several episodes we watch as the gang works together to help each other through the situation. There are also running gags throughout the series, but these work to further flesh out the characters and their relationships and are not overused. In the season 2 episode "Slap Bet" Barney and Marshall enter into a bet that leads to Marshall being able to slap Barney 5 times at any time he wishes. Going into the seventh season only four of the slaps have been dealt, and they're typically dealt without the prior knowledge of the audience. There's also a really brilliant recurring gag about Robin (Cobie Smulders) being a former Canadian pop star that hits all the right notes (pun intended) as well.
Because it is one of the best American sitcoms in recent years, How I Met Your Mother ranks on my list of top 10 favorite TV shows. It would rank higher, but I have to admit that the show suffers from a somewhat dull main character. While Ted is not the worst in this category, I have to admit that I would rather watch any of the other characters on the show more. Also the fifth season didn't live up to the promise of the previous four. However I do also have to give this show extra credit for making even Britney Spears tolerable!
5/5
Be sure to check out: Armadillo & Sands: Intellectual Properties at Work!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Styx
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Gave this gift to our 20 year old son for Christmas. Couldn't believe it when he asked us if we wanted to watch it with him... the gift that kept on giving! Now I know what to give him for his birthday; Barney's book, The Bro Code.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I`ve never seen a tv serie like this in the past 5 years and i love comedy. The last one that really caught my attention was The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. Though I never watched Friends, it seems that HIMYM and Friends are alike (they both have Pamela Fryman as director), but HIMYM is new, 21st century material and you can always see yourself in some situations, characters. Recommend it for sure... true story.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recommend
Excellent product thus far. Everything is working great, family loves it. Highly Recommend as lots of extras to use with the Camera.
Published 4 months ago by GESjr
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this show
We love this show. This was an awesome price for all five seasons and they were shipped n perfect time!
Published 4 months ago by Heather Clarke
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great series
I'm not a huge television fan, but HIMYM is one of the few shows that I watch almost religiously, whether I watch online or when the episode runs on cable. Read more
Published 4 months ago by katarinaism
2.0 out of 5 stars
Immature Shenanigans and sexcapades
First off, the premise of the show is ridiculous; a father is telling his young teenage kids how he met their mother years ago, but his story includes every date and sexcapade he... Read more
Published 5 months ago by LEO_SUN_SIGN_777
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Series Ever!
The How I Met Your Mother TV Series is the best ever. It's whitty and funny and never lets you stop laughing. I would recommend this for Adults only though.
Published 9 months ago by ajohnson85
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this show
Even though you can watch reruns on pretty much every station, I really liked this purchase because it allowed me to watch the entire series. Read more
Published 9 months ago by C. Stowe
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty sexist
I started watching this series on Netflix as well to while away the time, and had to stop because the sexism started to get to me. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Malavika Sasikumar
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bad quality product
Items were recieved in a timely manner though exterior quality appears to be from DVD's that were burned and labels were made for each disc. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Maia
2.0 out of 5 stars
New Bootleg Copy
Items were recieved in a timely manner, but the exterior quality made it appear that the DVD's were burned and labels were made for each disc. Read more
Published 14 months ago by adam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Videos!!!
This was exactly as described. A great way to spend your evenings in the winter. This is the new Friends!!!
Published 16 months ago by marcheskie
