how i met your mother Season 1 | TV Review

Megan:

Nathan and I chose to watch this show because we ran out of any other options. That doesn’t sound like a very good reason, but we could not think of any more shows that we knew were on our list of ones we had been waiting to watch. We happened to be at a video rental store and they had every disc for the first season, and it ended up being only $3.50 to rent all of them…so we figured, “what the heck.”
I was more interested in the show before we started than Nathan was. He was a little apprehensive that he would like it. I was kind of hoping for another show to enjoy similar to “Friends”. I wasn’t disappointed!
Although it seems that the characters are a little quirkier, in my opinion, compared to some other sitcoms, I ended up finding things that I could relate to in most of the characters.
The show starts out with a father, Ted, (voice of Bob Saget) telling his teenage daughter and son in 2030 the story of how he met their mother. I have mixed feelings about this type of narrative. Pro-it’s different and gives the show a narrator without sounding cheesy. Con-can sometimes be disappointing when you know something already due to something he tells the kids (this is hard to explain without giving away aspects of the show). But one example is you know in certain relationships its not going to work out, because it’s not their mother.
So then his flashbacks start in 2005 where younger Ted (Josh Radnor) is living with best friend, Marshall (Jason Segel) and is engaged to Lily (Alyson Hannigan). Ted has a sort of life crisis and decides he needs to find the love of his life. In comes other character, Robin (Cobie Smulders). And then, there’s Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) the third guy friend, and the one that seems determined to stay single and sleep with as many women as possible. In other words, the one that always has crazy ideas and keeps things interesting for the group of friends.
The show has typical sitcom ups and downs, but does it all with wit and charm. You can’t help but become interested in their lives, and I always am dying to finally find out who actually is going to be their mother.
The show uses the same director, Pam Fryman, throughout the whole season and I appreciated the uniformity it gave to the feeling of all the episodes.

Summary:
The first season is only the beginning and leaves you glad that there’s at least three more seasons to watch. Characters are easily relatable to. And Barney is hilarious and worth watching just for his picking up women schemes.
Oh and the last episode is bitter sweet ;)

By the way Nathan (and I) are now both fans!

Nathan:

The first thing I want to mention about this show before I get into anything else is this; I saw one episode of how I met your mother previous to renting the first season and I didn’t like it. In fact I didn’t even finish it. That didn’t last long though…
This show quickly grew on me after only a couple of episodes.
It’s not very often that I feel like I can relate to a TV series. Most of the time I think viewers tend to only relate because of some sense the viewer feels, like relating to the same type of humor, maybe the setting location, or even sometimes solely watching due to an attraction to one of the character stars. This show was not like this for me, I related to the situations in a deeper way, almost like I wish I was in the show or the sixth member of their group. I wanted to hang out with them in New York and have a drink at, MacLaren’s.

How I met your mother is not just about a group of five people from the point of view of the main character, Ted, telling his kids in 2030 the story of their mother. It’s about how the group interacts and grows together, separately and as a group. Other shows I like, like Seinfeld or Friends had a group, but nothing like this one. This is more about real life, that we all experience is some way or another, and if not you want to after watching. It could easily be called “how I met my life”.
If I’m making this show sound sappy, well it’s not at all. It’s actually really funny too, hmm, just like real life. This first season not only introduces the characters but also unfolds a lot about the people involved in making the show. You can see this through the way the show is shot and made. With a slow start the season requires a few episodes to catch on. Some things I noticed that make this series stand out are that it requires many more sets and scenes than the average sitcom, which it probably why its not shot in front of a live audience. Although it looks like the crew is still using the traditional three-camera set up, they are not stuck with it,. The camera moves when and where the characters in the scene need it too to capture the right feeling. The overall production quality of this show I believe is above average.
So if you’re like me and sometimes don’t want to watch a TV series because of the first impression it made on you then think again, how I met your mother is one not worth missing.