HIMYM -- Season 4

Favorite part was Lily saying she was pregnant, and Marshall's response of "I know you had been putting on a little weight," and her blowing her top. Well done.

 

Yeah, I agree with this. I know this is going to sound counter-intuitive, but if you are watching this show mainly as a soap opera, because you just HAVE to know who the mother is, you're doing it wrong.

It's just a sitcom. The how-I-met-your-mother thing is just a storytelling gimmick. At its core, HIMYM is just a sitcom about five friends living in New York. It's a latter-day "Friends" or "Seinfeld." That's all it is.

I could care less if we ever discover who the mother is. This ain't Dynasty.

 

Considering how few decent comedies are left on TV, we shouldn't be so surprised people are very protective of one of the few good ones left.

Big Bang Theory is better, but that show could be ruined as soon as Leonard and Penny hook up.

For my money, the best comedies on network TV are 30 Rock, followed by Big Bang Theory, followed by HIMYM.

 

But that's the thing though. It's not just a sitcom. The "gimmick" is what sets it apart from the rest of the sitcoms on the air. Any show can try and be funny in situations, but to have real meaning behind it takes a show that can go above that. I love Big Bang, but it is just a sitcom. HIMYM, at its best, goes beyond that.

I think some of you have blown the plot point discussion out of proportion. I wasn't the first to mention it (in fact, when it was first mentioned I thought the idea was stupid ... but then, after another few episodes of zero development, it started to annoy me), so I know I'm not the only one. I don't need a whole lot of development or to know who the mother is right now. Especially considering the show is going to end when the mother is revealed, I am in no rush. But the episodes with some development for the characters are the ones that really resonate (usually, this finale was just ok).

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I hold HIMYM to a higher standard and to completely ignore character development in favor of some laughs (good ones, but just laughs) for long stretches takes it to the same level of other comedies on TV (which isn't a good thing). Of course, we can all bitch about this because it is one of the funniest shows on TV, plot or no-plot.

EDIT: And, for the record, Friends had tons of plot/character development (I can't comment on Seinfeld, I only watched it a few times towards the end of the run). Sure, it was typically Ross/Rachel stuff over and over, but there was still development.

 

I'm glad you mentioned the plot development on Friends. When the writers started focusing heavily on plot development -- the Ross/Rachel stuff, the (ugh) Monica/Chandler stuff -- is precisely the moment Friends started to suck.

HIMYM is just a sitcom. It is better/different than most of the stuff on TV right now simply because it is fucking funny. The "mother" gimmick is secondary. If it wasn't fucking funny, nobody would give a shit about this doofus architecht who grows up to sound like Danny Tanner from "Full House."

PS -- And Christ Almighty, if you haven't seen much of Seinfeld, stop screwing around with HIMYM and go rent some DVDs.

 

I must be a doofus. I liked the Monica/Chandler run on Friends, especially when nobody else knew it yet and they were trying to keep it on the down-low. Some of the funniest eps, IMHO.

 

Hey, discussing the plot points and character development is fine.

OVER-discussing them to the point of reaching "warp drive capacity of the Enterprise" levels... that's something else.

 

Actually, How I Met Your Mother is a lot more like the BBC show Coupling than anything that has aired on American TV.
Both shows revolved around five main characters. Both were centered in a bar or at their respective apartments. Both shows had a happy couple, one horndog dude who was always in a suit, one horndog woman (and they flirted around becoming a couple themselves). The horndog woman was also a broadcaster. The only difference is that the fifth character was played by a woman, who was always looking for love, but could never quite find it.
Coupling was an absolutely brilliant show. Still one of my favorite things as well.

 

So, it was more like Coupling than the really crappy American version of Coupling?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338592/

I didn't realize that thing lasted even 10 episodes. But hey, Rena Sofer is hot.

 

The American version of Coupling was so bad, it wasn't even fun to watch just to make fun of.
They tried to make sex the focus, but on the BBC it wasn't about sex or people hooking up. It was about people living their lives but in that television way that is slightly larger than real-life.

 

There are shows you know are going to have no chance as soon as you see the preview, but the NBC version of Coupling had the right time slot and was one of the worst shows ever. Heather Graham had a show a couple years ago that might have been worse given the hype, I think it lasted two shows.

 

What about that Love Monkey show Tom Cavanaugh from Ed? Did that essentially get cancelled after two episodes?

There is some show that lasted one episode, but I can't remember it now.