Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris,
Alyson Hannigan, Lyndsy Fonseca, David Henrie, Bob Saget | Created by Carter Bays & Craig Thomas
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £24.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 461 minutes | Directed by Pamela Fryman
Kids, if you're already familiar with this show then you may want to skip the next bit of background, but if you're new to HIMYM, then read on.
Often called "a love story in reverse", How I Met Your Mother is the story of how architect Ted Mosby (Radnor) met the love of his life. Told in a series of flashbacks as Ted relates the tales of his youth to his two children in the year 2030, HIMYM chronicles the escapades of Ted and his friends in their late 20s living in New York City. Those friends include Ted's college roommate Marshall (Segel) and his fiance Lily (Hannigan), newsreader Robin (Smulders) and "awesome" bud Barney (Harris).
HIMYM began for me as a guilty pleasure. When it debuted in the US, I started watching (via download) simply because Hannigan was in it, and I loved her in Buffy and those Pie films. But I've continued watching because HIMYM – now in its fifth season – has become, well, pretty damned good. It's become popular, too – mainly due to the scene-stealing awesomeness of Neil Patrick Harris (aka NPH). The former Doogie Howser plays high-fiving Barney as the guy that ALL guys would, secretly, love to be. He oozes self-confidence. He sleeps with a different woman almost every night. He looks good in a suit – and knows it. He's arrogant, snarky and is the best character in the show.
Season 2 begins where the first left off. Ted and Robin are finally together, but Marshall and Lily have split after Lily decides to go to San Francisco to pursue a career in art. That storyline plays out for the entire 22 episodes, with a few side-trips along the way: Robin tries to keep a secret from her past, but fails; Barney poses as Ted to get women; Barney asks Lily to paint him nude; Barney runs the New York marathon; Barney's shattered when he learns that his gay, black brother is getting married; Ted and Robin move in together; and we finally get to see Barney's bachelor pad – aka the Fortress of Barnitude, which comes complete with a self-raising toilet seat.
I guess you could call HIMYM a conventional sitcom, but it does mess with the formula and bring a freshness to the format. It's got a charismatic cast (with tons of chemistry) and some exceptional dialogue thanks to a crack team of writers. It's sweet, funny, fresh, endearing and comfortable – just what you want a TV show to be. It's been compared to Friends, and there are a few similarities (it's set in New York, and features a bunch of 20-something friends) but in many ways it's a lot smarter and grown up. And HIMYM knows this: for a start, while the Friends always hung out in a coffee shop, the HIMYM crew prefer a bar – as do most normal 20-somethings. In a sly nod to its predecessor, one episode of this season even opens with the three guys sitting round sipping lattes in a coffee shop, when Barney quips: "Yep, hanging out in a coffee place is not nearly as much fun as hanging out in a bar." With moments like that, How I Met Your Mother is a sitcom that's definitely going to become legen - wait for it – dary.
EXTRAS None at all. Which is really, really disappointing – because the US, Region 1 release DOES have extras. Quite a few extras. And those extras are: cast and creator commentaries on seven episodes; the complete Robin Sparkles video for Let's Go to the Mall; a gag reel; a making-of featurette; deleted scenes; and a video for Hey Beautiful, a song by The Solids - the band that does the intro to HIMYM. So why do these extras NOT appear on the R2 release of this box set?