How I Met Your Mother

:

Season 1
  • Network: CBS
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 19, 2005
Season #: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 959 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 841 out of 959
  2. Mixed: 50 out of 959
  3. Negative: 68 out of 959
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User Reviews

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  1. MarkM
    Oct 7, 2005
    1
    This is one of the lamest new shows of the fall. I think many people have fallen into the trap of believing what the paid-by-the-network critics have to say. I found it dull and inane. Can't imagine how they could stretch this weak storyline for more than a few weeks much less a whole season.
  2. ffrey
    Oct 31, 2011
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Every series reaches a point where it exhausts its premises. Sadly, HIMYM has about reached that point. For one of the funnier and certainly more clever sitcoms on television, all the warning signs are there and it is clear that the show is running out of gas.

    When HIMYM began, the show managed combined a clever premise with a certain degree of outlandishness - Barney is nothing if not outlandish - and yet retain a very human feel. Ironically, as the characters have developed, they have managed to become both less believable and increasingly predictable.

    Marshall gets his dream low paying job. Well, here is a plotline that has been run into the ground - and this at a moment with a child on the way. Don't get me wrong, we'd all like to be able to accept the job of our dreams and not worry about the money, but few of us can - and most of us would probably avoid it if we had a baby on the way. (Oh yeah, and how explain older Marshall's beautiful home office? Where did he get the money for that?) So what we get is a repeat of the Marshall and his job story, but now played out in a patently implausible way.

    Then there is the endless merry go round of Barney and Robin and now a wedding. The show's creators hint that Barney and Robin will not necessarily get married but that things will happen between them of a romantic nature. Yes, here again, been there, done that. This falling in love with people we have been hanging around with and dating and then breaking up with, rinse and repeat has a regrettable "Friends" feel about it. Is it impossible? No, but it is so unlikely in real life and so repetitive in the series that it has become a bore.

    Finally, there is Ted, the ostensible core of the show. What gave HIMYM its energy was that it always seemed to be moving toward that moment when he would meet the love of his life. This theme was played out in such a way that it made the story unique and gave it a cleverness and freshness that is very uncharacteristic in sitcoms. Unfortunately, what once seemed a neat idea has turned out to be cheat. (Think of "No Tomorrows - actually one of my favorite episodes - where the closing narration would have led the viewer to believe that Ted was now on the final path to meeting his future wife.)

    This theme has been repeated so often that the viewer has come to the point where he is just sitting around waiting for Ted to meet his future wife, and no longer believing all the closing narrations about "how my life was about to change" and so forth. The clever concept has become the one trick pony and it has drained all the dramatic and therefore the comedic energy from the show. Add further the fact that Ted is barely recognizable anymore as the character he was. Yes, people do change, but for the viewer to believe that Ted was moving toward the love of his life, he must believe that Ted still wants to. Instead, we now have a character who seems more like a junior version of Barney - but too old to be credible in the part.

    This is at the heart of what appears to be going wrong with HIMYM. Plots repeated too many times resulting in jokes that no longer carry their punch. The weird thing is that the characters have grown older and superficially at least, they have changed, but with the wrongheaded exception of Ted who rather repeats his plotline while seeming to have lost interest in it, they really are not going anywhere.

    In fairness, the show has stored up such a resivoir of promise and good will that it would be a mistake to abandon it - at least yet. In the past, the writers have made mistakes with characterization - see Ted getting high at his high school reunion and indifferently wondering where his wife is as Exhibit A, not what you would expect from a man who met the love of his life. However, what once was an episodic error appears, with season 7, to be now a congenital defect.

    The writers need to decide - will the characters on HIMYM begin to grow, or will they just keep waiting around the bar falling and re-falliing in love with each other and the periodic random guest star, recycling old plotlines to make overused jokes?    … Expand
  3. NYcritic
    Jul 6, 2013
    1
    The show is filled with poor actors, irritating characters and moronic moments. over rated and boring.
    This show is a poor version of FRIENDS. People should try and make something different, they have stolen many ideas and jokes from friends & these poor actors have not been able to execute even that properly. This show sucks big time, unlike friends in which you can laugh your asses out    The show is filled with poor actors, irritating characters and moronic moments. over rated and boring.
    This show is a poor version of FRIENDS. People should try and make something different, they have stolen many ideas and jokes from friends & these poor actors have not been able to execute even that properly. This show sucks big time, unlike friends in which you can laugh your asses out throughout the episode, the 22 min. running episode is only funny when Barney is around.    … Expand
  4. bitsyodem
    Aug 2, 2013
    1
    I can't understand why this show is popular. I really want to like it, mainly because I love Jason Segal and Neil Patrick Harris but it is just not funny. I am not interested or attracted to any of the other characters, I don't think Segal and Harris are funny and I think the writing is terrible. I can't understand the positive critic reviews for this sad show, which reminds me of theI can't understand why this show is popular. I really want to like it, mainly because I love Jason Segal and Neil Patrick Harris but it is just not funny. I am not interested or attracted to any of the other characters, I don't think Segal and Harris are funny and I think the writing is terrible. I can't understand the positive critic reviews for this sad show, which reminds me of the level of humor we found on unfunny shows of yore, such as Three's Company, Good Times and Facts of Life. And I hate to see Segal and Harris wasting their talents on this show. Is it me?… Expand
  5. Kevin
    Sep 4, 2006
    0
    Awful. Not funny, poorly acted, boring.
  6. jordanb
    Mar 5, 2007
    0
    this show annoys the sh*t out of me.
  7. DaveB
    Mar 7, 2007
    0
    Worse sitcom since Will and Grace. Willow should call Buffy to stake the writers. I find it amusing that 69 critics found it favorable when I could wear out my tongue complaining about everything that sucks about this show.
  8. JayB.
    Dec 7, 2008
    0
    This show is sad. They try to make it appealing to the drinking crowd by having a lot of scenes in a bar, but it doesn't work. Cheers was classy and funny, this show and it's actors are pathetic.
  9. NicholasK.
    May 19, 2008
    0
    give me a break. this show blows, BIG TIME. This isn't humor its totally stupid. Its created by hacks who could not cut it in real comedy writing. Come to think of it, these writers are just one step below the guys who write Two and a Half Men, an equally stupid show that's only worth watching muted.
  10. nonyanonya
    Jul 17, 2006
    0
    this show sucks
  11. [Anonymous]
    Mar 19, 2007
    0
    How is this show still on TV...it should never have made it past ep. 2. Even the canned laugh track is getting tired of this show.
  12. PhilM.
    Jul 11, 2008
    0
    How is this SAD,SAD show even still on? I think the only thing keeping this show afloat is Doogie Howser there and thats not sayin a lot since he's no good either.
  13. KK
    Dec 15, 2009
    0
    alyson hannigan has to be the least funny actress of all time. her humor is like what you'd expect from a junior high kid doing a school comedy. all the characters annoy me (ted's frustrating depsperation, barney's predictability, marshal's sappy optimism and poor acting)... but hannigan is the WORST!
  14. DeanW
    Dec 9, 2009
    0
    This is one of the most UNfunny shows I've ever seen. The acting is terrible, the premise is weak. And on top of all of that, how in the heck can Doogie Howser be taken seriously as a Womanizer? Get real. The fact that this show is popular is baffling. It would've never survived during the haydays of TV Sitcoms that were actually interesting and funny and had great actors. I This is one of the most UNfunny shows I've ever seen. The acting is terrible, the premise is weak. And on top of all of that, how in the heck can Doogie Howser be taken seriously as a Womanizer? Get real. The fact that this show is popular is baffling. It would've never survived during the haydays of TV Sitcoms that were actually interesting and funny and had great actors. I give this piece of crap a ZERO, and advise people to go back and watch REAL good shows like Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, and Family Matters. That's how sitcoms are supposed to be done. HIMYM is a joke, but I'm not laughing.… Expand
  15. MG
    Dec 15, 2009
    0
    This show is safe thanks to The Big Bang Theory and 2 1/2 Men. People leave the TV on between these two shows and Nielsen thinks that they have a winner on their hands. Not! Lame actors, unfunny, and not everybody wants to live vicariously through alcoholic twentysomethings with issues. Sucks! Oh and the person who compared it to Seinfeld? Please send me whatever you are smoking.
  16. 69shannel
    Feb 4, 2011
    0
    Bring back friends, Bring back friends, Bring back friends, Bring back friends,Bring back friends, this show is the best, how I met your mother is crap an should be band for how bad it sucks. Bring back friends,
  17. Sixstring
    Mar 10, 2011
    0
    This suuccckkkks!Please cancel this piece of crap.I wonder how much money they spend on this piece of crap that they could spend on a decent show?Bring back Charlie Sheen.Winning!
  18. jcreighton
    Apr 27, 2015
    0
    This show falls amazingly flat. The cast is so not funny and Neil Patrick Harris can not act (and he can be very rude). Jason Segal is generally very funny, but not in this.
  19. gettygg0040
    Nov 22, 2018
    0
    the first 2 season are decent but after that its completely pointless and boring
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Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Best TV Season of 2005
4
#4 Most Discussed TV Season of 2005
14
#14 Most Shared TV Season of 2005

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 25
  3. Negative: 3 out of 25
  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    80
    Like ''Friends," this is not a big-themed series so much as a bunch of little character jokes and relationship confusions getting batted around by an able cast.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Doug Elfman
    38
    The script is just poor.
    Read full review
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    80
    Manages to get the balance of cuddliness and snark just right.
See all critic reviews »