How I Met Your Mother

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How I Met Your Mother
Promotional cast photo with the main cast of How I Met Your Mother
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Carter Bays Craig Thomas
Starring	Josh Radnor Jason Segel Cobie Smulders Neil Patrick Harris Alyson Hannigan
Narrated by	Bob Saget (uncredited)
Opening theme	"Hey Beautiful" by The Solids
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	40 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Carter Bays Pamela Fryman Rob Greenberg Eileen Heisler DeAnn Heline Craig Thomas
Running time	22 minutes (approx.)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 19, 2005 – present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

How I Met Your Mother is a Emmy Award-winning CBS sitcom that premiered on September 19, 2005. It was created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas.

The show received generally positive reviews.[1] TV Guide gave it a good review in its Fall Preview Issue, giving it the "Editor's Choice" honor.

The show is narrated by the main character, Ted Mosby, in the year 2030 as he tells his son and daughter about the events that led to his meeting their mother. The future Ted, who is not shown, is voiced by Bob Saget. In the early episodes, the show would begin with Ted's two teenage kids listening to his narration, but this is less frequently shown in later episodes.

Despite being shot in the traditional multi-camera sitcom format, the show is not filmed before a live studio audience because of the many scene changes the show demands. Laughter isn't recorded until the episode is shown to an audience after it has been completely edited together.

1 Main Cast
2 Episodes
3 Plot
4 Recurring Elements
5 DVD release
6 International broadcasters
7 External links

Main article: List of characters from How I Met Your Mother

Main article: List of How I Met Your Mother episodes

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

25 years earlier, in 2005, the younger Ted (Josh Radnor) goes on a date with reporter Robin (Cobie Smulders) but blurts out to her that he loves her after just one date, leading to her breaking off the relationship.

After Ted hosts three parties for Robin, Robin joins Ted's group of friends, which includes the deadpan womanizer Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), law student Marshall (Jason Segel), and Marshall's fiancée, Lily, a kindergarten teacher (Alyson Hannigan).

In a twist at the end of the pilot episode, we learn that the "mother" of the title is not Robin. Instead, she is referred to as "Aunt Robin," and the identity of Ted's future wife has not yet been revealed. (Some viewers had initially assumed that the "Aunt Robin" reference meant that the as-yet-unknown "mother" must be a sibling of Robin's, but other instances have future Ted referring to his other friends as "your Aunt" or "your Uncle", meaning it's used in the fictive sense.) Many subsequent episodes have employed similar twist endings, where prior scenes are put into surprising contexts. For instance, in the second season's "Ted Mosby: Architect," Robin discovers that Ted is on a wild night on the town, possibly culminating in a one-night stand. Only at the episode's end is it revealed that it was not Ted — but Barney using Ted's identity — engaging in these pursuits.

In the third episode of season two, Ted has dinner with his parents, and they eventually tell him the story of how they "met in a bar" (that was the entire story). Ted becomes upset at this, saying it is pathetic and that when he tells his kids about "how [he] met their mother" that he will tell them the entire story, in detail.

Barney's catchphrases: "Legen - wait for it - dary." "Suit Up," "High Five," "What up?" and various uses of the word "awesome" and "awesomeness"
"Have you met Ted?" In several episodes, one of Ted's friends, usually Barney, introduces Ted to a random girl in the bar, simply by saying, "Hi, have you met Ted?" then walking away. In the first episode, it's revealed that this is a game Barney invented for Ted.
Slap Bet: The season two episode "Slap Bet" featured a wager between Marshall and Barney where the winner would slap the loser. Lily (the Slap Bet Commissioner) gave Barney (who lost the bet) the choice of 10 slaps immediately or five to be dished out at any time.
Barney, having chosen the five slaps, has been slapped twice by Marshall since then:
- At the end of "Slap Bet," a few minutes after losing the bet
- At the end of season two episode "Stuff," while performing his one-man show "Suck It Lily."
After both slaps, Marshall held up the appropriate number of fingers and announced "That's one/that's two."

Spoilers end here.

Season releases

DVD Name	DVD Cover Art	Release Date	Ep #	Additional Information
Season One		November 21, 2006	22	This three-disc box set includes all 22 episodes of Season 1. Bonus features include commentaries on select episodes, gag reel, and video yearbook.

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule
United States	CBS Television	September 19, 2005	Mondays 8:00 p.m. ET
Canada	Global Television Network and CH		Mondays 8:00 p.m. ET
Australia	Channel Seven	June 29, 2006	Thursdays 7:30 p.m.
Brazil	Fox Life	January 11, 2006
France	Canal +	February 11, 2007	Sundays 4:30 p.m.
Israel	yesSTARS (Season 1) yes stars 1 (Season 2)	March 9, 2006	Thursdays 9:05pm (Season 1) Sundays 9:15pm (Season 2)
Mexico	Fox Life
New Zealand	TV3	24 January 2007	Saturday 8:00 p.m.
Pakistan	Showtime, Paramount Comedy Channel
Philippines	ETC (Cable TV)
Saudi Arabia and Arab World	Showtime Arabia, Paramount Comedy Channel, Paramount Comedy Channel +2 and MBC4
South Africa	e.tv		Sundays 7:30 p.m.
Spain	laSexta	January 8, 2007	Mondays 9:35 p.m.
Sweden	TV3 (Viasat)
Thailand	True Series	January 25, 2006	Wednesdays 9:00 p.m.
Turkey	CNBC-e		Wednesdays 8:35 p.m.
United Kingdom	BBC Two	7 May - 5 Aug 2006	Sundays 7.35pm GMT
	Trouble	7 March 2007	Weekdays 9:00 p.m. GMT