I’m Done With How I Met Your Mother
the cast of a show that used to be good, but isn't anymore
Now that all this election stuff is done with, I made a major decision last night: I’m done with How I Met Your Mother, giving my DVR a break now on Monday nights. The first two seasons of HIMYM were great; the premise was told in an interesting way, in that they used a lot of flashbacks to give back story. One of my favorite (later) Pavement songs- “Spit on a Stranger” was also used during a pivotal scene where Ted got together with Robin, I think.
But something happened last season, and the writer’s strike probably isn’t to blame. Two things specifically- the premise of the show- How Ted Is Meeting His Wife, has started to drag, big time. Critics and fans a like suggested Lost was going to struggle with the problem of not wrapping things up- and having invested fans stop caring. This is what has happened to HIMYM- and in a way, they had a larger task- where as Lost could take characters off the island, and leave some “lost,” if HIMYM answers the titular question, the show is done. So, they had to find ways to extend this, and the ways they found have been dumb. Barney/Neil Patrick Harris’s character- instead of evolving into something mature, has become just pathetic. Because when you go to a bar and see that 30 something year old acting like that, you start to feel sorry for him- one time, or two, its funny. The joke’s been used 70 plus times at this point, so we get it.
how i became played
The writers hinted that he’d be maturing- with his “love for Robin,” but they seemed to have killed that plot line. Marshall/Jason Segal was at a crossroads with his career, but that seems to have wrapped itself up nicely, too. Robin/Cobie Smulders, the person we initially thought was going to be with Ted, was revealed early on, that she was an “Aunt,” thus negating any marriage. The writers have struggled to find anything remotely interesting to tie her to the group, and is just now awkward and bogging the plot lines down. And Ted/Josh Radnor has just simply become a wank. It’s become clear, that the BBC/Gervais model of just doing 12 episodes that are focused on quality, would’ve probably worked here- and not stretching it out over 4 seasons of 22 or so episodes.
So, I’m done, until the Series finale, when the question will be answered. I feel better already.