TV: How I Met Your Mother

STARRING: Josh Radnor (newcomer), Jason Segel (Freaks & Geeks), Alyson Hannigan (Buffy), Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) Cobie Smulders (newcomer from Vancouver)
CREATORS: Carter Bays & Craig Thomas (Late Show, MTV Movie Award parodies)
PLOT: Ted is telling his children how he met their mother. It’s a really long story and it involves his close friends. (Why would he be telling his children about his sex life and times he got drunk? Little creepy.)

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4The cast is so natural together. These are people you would want to hang out with on a regular basis. Even more so than the cast of Friends. They all have great chemistry together and play off each other extremely well.
4The writing is very quick paced and non-linear. This jumping around is perfect for the ADD folks out there. The storylines often feel very different from each other but manage to be linked thematically. Almost like Seinfeld or Scrubs.
4After four seasons, Neil Patrick Harris’ Barney still manages to steal every scene he is in. He mixes smarm with charm quite beautifully. His theories, his put downs, his clever phrases are the secret ingredient to this already well-written show. Give this guy an Emmy already! He’s definitely paid his dues.
4They reward faithful viewers of the show with references to earlier installments. Their ongoing slap bet (two to go!) is one of the greatest inside jokes known to series television.
4Being from Vancouver, I am often rooting for Cobie Smulders who is both sexy and extremely funny. They have definitely played up her Canadian heritage by making her backstory include hockey practices, ‘weird’ Canadian phrases and traditions, and making her a teen star (ala Tiffany or Debbie Gibson) named Robin Sparkles who sings about hanging out in the mall and building sandcastles in the sand. These cheesy music videos are hysterical and worth looking up on YouTube.

RECOMMENDATION
Must See (not enough people talk about it, but they should)

COMING SOON
TV reviews of 30 Rock, House