Bob:
How I Met Your Mother returned this week and it seems like we are in store for more of the same this season. By that, I mean loads of drawn out, tired plot lines, and the occasional laugh. Seriously, is anyone really all that invested in all the mother bullshit? I am so done with it. I will continue to watch the show, because the occasional laughs are funnier than a lot of the other comedies on television, but the fact that a sitcom (with a laugh track for crying out loud) has a mythology and a series of “big mysteries,” is ludicrous to me.
Am I completely off base here? Are there huge numbers of people waiting with rapt anticipation to find out just who the mother turns out to be? How many times can Robin and Barney be on again, off again, or longing to be one or the other? Enough already! When this show is funny and clever, it is one of the best comedies on TV. I haven’t felt that way for a while now, however, and whenever the show is funny or clever, it never has anything to do with the stupid mysteries.
So what do you think? Am I crazy?
Debbie:
I, too, feel that HIMYM has lost its way to some extent. I did enjoy last season more than the previous two, but last night reminded me that the teasing is no longer fun (was it ever?). I remember reading somewhere that the Barney’s wedding cliffhanger was a season-long one, so the reveal won’t come until the end of this season. Whether that reveal is who Barney is marrying or who Ted meets at the wedding, I don’t know.
Where are the legen … dary days of “Slap Bet,” Barney’s March Madness of dating and that freaking goat? I’m feeling a top ten funniest episodes of HIMYM post coming on. …
You aren’t crazy, but it will be interesting to see how many people think you are. Just to turn the heat off you for a moment, I have to throw in here that Lily and Marshall just aren’t cute. I get that they are fictional, but if you were to have them in your group of friends, it would be one giant gagfest. Imagine being in a bar with them … although I suppose Barney would subsequently take the heat off of Lily and Marshall, for all the reality he represents. Forget I said any of that, but I do not generally enjoy or adore Lily and Marshall.
Bob:
I get what you’re saying about Lily and Marshall. I certainly wouldn’t want to hang around with them in real life. They would be that annoying power couple, always acting super sweet. On the show, though, I don’t mind them. I think they serve as a nice foil to the insane promiscuity of Barney. Sometimes you have to balance crazy with crazy. Kind of how your marriage works.
I just don’t get why the writers are so obsessed with dragging out these story lines? Are they so terrified that the show will just get canceled as soon as Ted meets his future wife? I’m just tired of it. I’m tired of listening to Bob Saget and watching Ted mope around like a pathetic loser when we could be watching people getting slapped and Robin singing and dancing in ’80s clothing.
Debbie:
One thing I really did like about last night’s wedding episode, and something I’m guessing they’re trying to do more of, is the dance scene. It’s about time they give a nod to the incredible talents of NPH and use more of his strengths. I’ll bet he loves it, too. And that Robin Sparkles could certainly hold her own.
Oh, so you mean Keith’s and my crazy marriage balances your crazy, Barney-like behavior? Surely you don’t mean to imply that the only crazy lies on this end of the internet. …
Bob:
My Barney-like behavior? Oh, that’s funny.
I have to agree with you both. I was never into this show for the “mystery” — although I am excited to see Victoria back! — and I haven’t found it to be all that good since season four. Barney’s the main reason I keep coming back. Lily and Marshall are painful to watch … Marshall on his own — or with anyone else — works, but Lily is a huge drag on the comedy. Not to say that without her the show would be great again (most of Ted’s long-term girlfriends sucked too), but it would be a start….
I know, I feel so disloyal to Alyson Hannigan, who brought something outstanding to Buffy’s Willow that no other actress could have brought … but I just can’t stand Lily.
There were 5 seconds in those two episodes I extremely liked :-)