How I Met Your Mother S07E09 - Disaster Averted

How ridiculous can it get? No, I'm not going to complain about how How I Met Your Mother is past its prime because this episode had just enough ridicule. I love crazy, as long as it's so crazy that we can all laugh about it. And with bears attacking out of nowhere, you're doing just fine in my book.
This was actually one of the best episodes of the so-so season for How I Met Your Mother. Kevin remained in the background where he belonged and we were actually locked up with the gang, the way it should be.

How I Met Your Mother S07E08 - The Slutty Pumpkin Returns

How I Met Your Mother is quickly becoming that show I love but can't get rid of while it shamelessly waltzes over my heart. Every. Week.

I don't know why I even bother to get invested in any of the stories this show puts in front of me. It's certainly not for the laughs that, these days, rarely occur, and not for the characters, who start to feel like they come from a Hannah Barbara show. So why hope that a descent guest star and the revisitation of an old, familiar and slightly nostalgic story would straighten things out?

How I Met Your Mother S07E06 - Mystery vs. History

In what is destined to be a season-long love/hate relationship with the show, this episode provided one of the best moments yet combined with some of the more cartoonistic ones. The concept worked fantastically with Ted's dating life put in the spotlight while the rest of the gang plus therapist Kevin were painting the babyroom. This time the problems were the desocialization of dating as well as the analyzation of the group dynamic. That said, bowel movement and Canada-puns were present too.

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The very best part of the episode was when Kevin finally snapped how the gang dealt with one another. Seeing all of the problems was extremely hilarious, but the real LOL came when Kevin adressed the lack of physical misbehavior and we were presented with an awesome montage of several moments of physical abuse. It was How I Met Your Mother at its best. Quick, simple, funny and with an underlining sense of nostalgy. The rest of the episode was so-so. Amber Stevens was her awesome self which fits well with the show but it does kind of suck to have to see Ted screw up yet another date just because he couldn't keep his cool. It didn't fit as well with the character as it did with the story, which points out my problem of the show forcing stories for comedy's sake. Don't even get me started on Ted's dick move of running away from a girl who used to be fat. What does THAT have to do with anything? Anyway, putting some emphasis on how mobile influenced life is nice but certainly not refreshing. It's a minor flaw of the episode considering how great the ending was that saw Marshall and Lily finding out the baby's sex through a note on a foot. Once again I'm torn whether to hate this show for filling so much time between its mysteries or to love it for making up so much fun history in the meantime. Either way, I kind of love the show regardless.

How I Met Your Mother S07E05 - Field Trip

Perhaps it's because it's early and my head just isn't there yet but a lot of this week's stories didn't appear to reach their full potential.

The main story of the week revolved around Ted trying to inspire a group of fresh college students. It saw him taking twenty-something interchangable figurants to various places, including the bar and to various settings, including letting them decide on various disagreements between Ted and Barney.

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A fun concept that begged for some adventures that never came. Why not let them get lost in the city? Or meet up with some old characters? Or buildings that Ted wanted to make or actually made? It just felt like the group represented the audience, going various place without really wanting to be there.

An even worse executed story is that of Marshall trying to save the world. Literally. The story was about saving the planet and the prospect of everything dying anyway. I didn't understand half of what was being said but in the very basics, Marshall probably did the right thing. Without cursing.

A different story sees Robin and her therapist getting closer. I'm all for giving Robin some distraction from that guy that left for Japan or, even worse, Barney, but there was zero chemistry here. Of course the How I Met Your Mother creators know how to pitch a couple. So you're definitely charmed when Robin and the therapist meet up for seven days to have casual breakfast. But on a show that thrives on telling long lasting stories (is Barney ever getting married?) we're not really in for one-episode pairings, regardless of how awkward and fun they might be.

The tone of the season is definitely not about progression. Instead it feels like we're filling up time where a whole lot of nothing happens. Some of the stories are still fun but the matters that are waiting to come out are pressing on the comedy side of things. Meanwhile, every character is just waiting for his or hers story to come full circle. In the least attractive manner thinkable (let's not get started on Barney actually doubting his feelings because of a 'Star Wars' formula). 

How I Met Your Mother S06E04 - The Barney Stinson Missile Crisis

It looks like How I Met Your Mother has found its footing this season and for the most part it's all good. 
Once again the show proves it's staying power is in the story telling. 'The Barney Stinson Missile Crisis' takes us on a memory trip of Robin who assaulted a girl. The story works in the sense that you continue to guess who she attacked and how it all went down but it fails in the sense that you really don't care how the stories tie in. The stories already work, so why do the writers bother themselves by promising it will all make sense when in fact, it doesn't really matter if they don't.

How I Met Your Mother S07E03 - Ducky Tie

Listen up Oxford, we're replacing a saying in the English language. 'Don't judge a TV show by its season premiere.'
If anything, How I Met Your Mother proved it very well knows what it has, what makes it work and where it came from. With a classic "bet" episode, fans are treated with flashbacks that matter, a story that engages and the very premise of the show that's dealt with delicately.

How I Met Your Mother S07E01 - The Best Man

When the season opens it is immediately clear how the show will continue. In a likely event, it will be without me.
It's not that How I Met Your Mother doesn't deliver the laughs, because to a certain point it does. But even so it is to a much lesser extent than before. I don't know if it's because I am more aware of the writers' tricks or because the show outgrew itself but it was a lot of easy shooting last night.

Not in the last place because of the story. I have come to the point where I don't even care who Barney is going to marry or who Ted is going to meet. The writers keep dropping traces but never a clue and my patience has run out.
Where the show still manages to shine is character. When Ted tells Robin he stopped believing it feels real and logical and don't get me started on the times Marshall and Lily say the word "baby".
Of course, there's still the issue of Robin and Barney who seem to have no chemistry at all and the large amount of stories Ted has to tell before any development occurs. I'm not sure if I want to stick around for that. I love the gang but I really want to go to bed, so can this story be over already?

Review: How I Met Your Mother S05E18 - Say Cheese

How I Met Your Mother probably owns the rights to comedy flashbacks and gets storytelling right in a way few other shows manage to. 'Say Cheese' has the ingredients of every HIMYM episode, funny side notes, hilarious Barney comments, an overexcited Marshall, Ted searching for love and a trip down memory lane. The last one takes home the award, with such a great look in the past even some of Ted's ex-girlfriends return to guest star just for flashback purpose only. Gotta love bigger budgets.

Pilot casting updates: How I Met My Daughters

As the castings continue actors who appear only in secondary or returning roles hope to catch a lead in one of the 80-something pilots that have been ordered for fall season. And today, there are two famous well known TV daughters making their way to a lead. Oh, they grow up so fast.

Elisha Cuthbert, who's best known for her role as daughter of Jack Bauer on 24 (and of course 'The Girl Next Door'), will star on ABC's comedy pilot Happy Endings. Cuthbert will play a bride who, after breaking up with her groom at the altar, must figure out how to maintain relationships with their group of friends.

Second, Lyndsy Fonseca who perfected surprised, grossed out or shocked looks as Ted's future daughter on How I Met Your Mother will co-star opposite Maggie Q in The CW's Nikita.

Off-topic, Will Sasso and Stephanie Lemelin joined CBS' twitter-show Sh*t My Dad Says while Traylor Howard has been cast as the female lead on an untitled comedy pilot for ABC. Maria Thayer, Laureen Weedman and Mahaley Hessam have been cast in Larry Charles' NBC comedy pilot Our Show. James Frain has landed a lead in NBC's drama The Cape. Stephen Rea has boarded CBS's drama Chaos while David Gallagher joined CW's Betwixt. Sonja Sohn joins ABC's Body Of Evidence and Raoul Trujillo has been cast in ABC's Edgar Floats.

Review: How I Met Your Mother S05E17 - Of Course

In what seems to be a way back to the Barney/Robin romance that was canned so suddenly earlier this season, this 'Of Course' offers up a story about a hot girl that won't sleep with Barney, a catchy song, another musical number and Jennifer Lopez.

Review: How I Met Your Mother S05E16 - Hooked

How I Met Your Mother returns with an episode that is mildly funny, but not because of the lack of story...or pigs.