With How I Met Your Mother's series finale airing in just a few days, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the things the show did differently from other sitcoms when it debuted. From far-out flashbacks to maternal mysteries, HIMYM certainly left its mark on the world of television and inspired other shows to take a page from its unconventional format.
Of course, time can be a harsh mistress, even to the most stalwart of sitcoms, as we learned over the course of HIMYM's nine-season run, and ultimately, some of those risks didn't pay off. In the end, though, you have to commend the show's creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for bucking traditions and coming up with a show that was completely outside the box for three-camera comedies.
HIMYM Cast and Crew on Reaching the Series Finale
So, without any further ado, here's our list of things that made How I Met Your Mother uniquely awesome (and not so awesome):
Flashbacks (and Flash-Forwards)
Why They were Awesome: When talking about How I Met Your Mother, it's impossible not to think of the show's flashbacks. While the device had certainly been used in other shows before, it was a daring choice on the part of Thomas and Bays to make flashbacks such an integral part of a show that was, stylistically, a traditional, multi-cam sitcom. Instead of filming before a live studio audience, HIMYM would record the episodes in a silent studio -- given they would need a notably longer production schedule for each epsiode than a typical sitcom, filmed in one night -- and add laugh tracks later from episode screenings. This gave the show free reign to flip back and forth between the past and present, and tell more engaging stories thanks to this device. As a result, some of the characters' funniest moments came from flashbacks: Ted Mosby as a bespectacled, would-be philosopher, Barney Stinson as a hemp-wearing barista and Robin Scherbatsky as a Canadian teen pop star.
"My parents live in Ohio. I live in the moment."
Not only that, but it also gave the creators an opportunity to make visual callbacks to previous episodes (the infamous goat, for example), as well as hint at future events by flashing forward in time.
Why They were Not Awesome: As the old saying goes, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. While flashbacks and flash-forwards were a crucial element of How I Met Your Mother, the show was known to go a little overboard in its later years. It used to be that HIMYM was one of the only sitcoms that used flashbacks on a regular basis. (That may be hard to believe now, but just think back to 2005.) Since then, almost every sitcom has used flashbacks as a recurring device (30 Rock, Modern Family, New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, to name a few).
In the years that followed, HIMYM struggled to stay relevant in a TV landscape that became over-saturated with cutaway gags. Sadly, the one-time darling's jokes didn't hit as hard in later seasons, resulting in over-the-top bits that rivaled even the zany flashbacks of Family Guy (and not in a good way).
No questions asked.
Social Rules for the New Millennium
Why They were Awesome: Another unique trait of How I Met Your Mother (especially in the early going) was its social rules. While the show saw many different principles tested over the years -- the Olive Theory, the Slap Bet, the Woo Girl, the Naked Man, the Nothing Good Happens After 2AM Rule -- HIMYM took it a step further by actually publishing its episodic theories in The Bro Code, Barney's patented set of rules for modern living. This included such classic articles as the Lemon Law, the Three Days Rule, the Hot/Crazy Scale, and, of course, the Platinum Rule.
The Hot/Crazy Scale, as illustrated by Barney.
Why They were Not Awesome: Many great episodes came out of the gang's social rules, but as the show went on, the well started to run dry. What was once thought to be an endless fount of clever witticisms quickly turned into a cavalcade of bizarre protocols. This could be seen as early as Season 5 in the episode "Robin 101," which saw Ted (Robin's ex-boyfriend) teaching Barney (his best friend) how to properly date his former flame Robin... Yeah, on what plane of existence is that okay?
A lesson in scooping and swooping.
Later on, the social norms got even stranger -- for example, the Knight Vision Theory, which was basically a far-reaching reference to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Mind you, HIMYM never totally lost touch; there were occasional upticks like "Trilogy Time" in Season 7 and Ted's Dabler-Dahmer Theory in Season 8. Still, there were only so many times you could say, "That's so true!" before it stopped being the case.
Dramedy
Why It was Awesome: Even now, toward the end of its run, How I Met Your Mother has always walked a fine line between comedy and drama. Even though it's always been a sitcom at heart, the show did have its sentimental moments. After an episode had sufficiently tickled your funny bone, it would then tug at your heartstrings, leaving you with something more substantial. In most cases, HIMYM's "dramedy" worked to its benefit. In fact, in the later seasons (particularly Season 9), the dramatic aspect of the show became its saving grace...
Why It was Not Awesome: The problem is, How I Met Your Mother's comedy eventually took a backseat to the feels. Instead of clever storylines and wry one-liners, the show devolved into a series of eye-rolling puns and wacky antics. Fortunately, the writers still had plenty of dramatics in their back pocket, in case things got too monotonous -- things like Marshall's dad dying or Ted's introspective "Time Travellers" episode.
For the longest time...
That's not to say these weren't highlights -- on the contrary, that's exactly what they were. But because of these moments, the show undeservedly became exempt from critique. If you came down too hard on the show's story, fans would argue, "It's a comedy. Lighten up!" On the flip side, if you said an episode wasn't funny, fans would insist, "But How I Met Your Mother isn't just your average sitcom! We can forgive it for not being funny." Truth be told, it got away with this song and dance for most of the second half of the series. A vicious cycle of justification.
An Unreliable Narrator
Why It was Awesome: As How I Met Your Mother's unsung hero, Bob Saget did a bang-up job over the years as the voice of Future Ted. But part of what made him so great (aside from his fatherly words of wisdom) was the fact that he had total control of the perceived events. Sometimes this meant censoring his stories for the sake of his kids -- like how he referred to "smoking marijuana" as "eating a sandwich" or changed a bad word to "Grinch." Other times it meant gaps in information -- Ted's ex "Blah Blah" and the mysterious pineapple come to mind. Usually, though, Future Ted's alterations were used for comedic effect, and most of the time it worked.
They grow up so fast.
Why It was Not Awesome: Though Future Ted certainly had his charm, Thomas and Bays eventually started using the unreliable narrator to their unfair advantage. In the beginning, the show did a good job of slowly integrating character quirks -- things like Robin's love for scotch and cigars, Marshall's fascination with cryptids and Lily's bi-curiosity.
That all changed, though, after a Season 5 episode called "Last Cigarette Ever," as Future Ted revealed that all five members of the group had been heavy smokers at various points during the series, even though we'd never seen them smoking before. Suddenly, the show's meticulous continuity, which had been one of its strongest assets, was undermined. (This kind of goes back to the flashback thing too.) From then on, the reliability of Future Ted was called into question, allowing the creators to retcon pretty much anything they wanted to fit the larger story.
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