How I Met Your Mother Season 1 Review

• 8th Nov 2010

How I Met Your Mother – a multi-award winning CBS show, currently in its sixth season and shown here in the UK on E4 – features a cast of comedy favourites including Alyson (American Pie) Hannigan and Jason Segal (I Love You Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall). If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, the show’s title is pretty self-explanatory; protagonist Ted – voiced in the ‘future’ scenes by Bob Saget – narrates each episode, speaking in the past tense to his children in the year 2030 about how he met their mother. Despite this strong cast, and original approach to story-telling, this premise grows weaker across the series, with increasingly more obvious digressions, and sub-plots such as ‘the doppelgängers’, drawing it out. Fear not, however, as it does bound forward – finally, we find out Ted’s original connection his future wife, and how he came to buy their home!

The first episode of season five sees Barney and Robin finally addressing their feelings for each other, while Ted takes on a post as architectural professor, which involves an amusing dream sequence and some entertaining Indiana Jones references. Things between Barney and Robin may not pan out beyond this point as some fans hoped it would, but it’s one storyline which will keep viewers engaged without becoming tiresome. Robin develops as a character over the course of these episodes, but Barney’s womanizing ways and updated look paint him as a touch ridiculous. Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily grapple with the issue of starting a family in their own unique way. Their quirky pairing creates convincing chemistry but they aren’t always believable as ‘real’; luckily analytical romantic Ted is likeable and encourages empathy as well as mirth from his audience.

The O.C.’s Rachel Bilson guest-stars, along with Jennifer Lopez and former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. This must surely heighten the show’s cool status, but there is a nagging feeling that the show’s concept may not stretch across an entire sixth season – this season spans a generous 24 episodes, an amount that could be tedious if emulated. Existing fans of the show will not be disappointed (it definitely surpasses the below-par comedy of season two), though could find it predictable, but if you’re new to it the canned laughter and often contrived humour may seem somewhat irritating and borderline absurd at times. It’s advisable to start at season one if you’ve not seen the show before, which is entirely fresh and original even if you’re not a sitcom enthusiast.

The ‘clips to go’ feature – clips which can be transferred to a portable device and shared via social networking sites – is essentially an advertising tool, but along with standard extras it means the series is good value for money and, if nothing else, very easy to watch…and once you start watching it’s unlikely you’ll be able to escape wondering just How I Met Your Mother!

Lauren Felton