tv review of how i met your mother

The last time Neil Patrick Harris was relevant in American pop culture, Prince was encouraging people to party like it was 1999, and Ronald Reagan was ordering Mr. Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Now, the artist formerly known as Doogie Howser, M.D. is back on network television, starring in the new CBS sitcom, “How I Met Your Mother,” that premiered last Monday night (9 p.m.).
In the show, Patrick Harris plays Barney Stinson, a cosmopolitan version of your typical college frat boy. His two biggest pieces of advice to his presumed best friend, architect, and the show’s main character, 27-year old Ted Mosby (played by Josh Radnor) are to always wear suits (“suits are cool”) and never fall in love and get married (comparing the two to death).
However, Ted develops a sense of urgency to settle down after hearing about the engagement of his real best friend Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) and Marshall’s longtime girlfriend Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan of “American Pie” fame). We then think we find out how Ted met his babies’ mama in this first episode after becoming attracted to a television reporter named Robin Scherbatsky (Jacoba Smulders).
But given a twist in the plot at the end of the pilot, we’re led to believe that the show’s creators (Craig Thomas and Carter Bays of “Oliver Beene”) don’t want to reveal “how I met your mother” anytime soon.
Given the sitcom’s hip setting (New York City) and young ensemble of actors, it’s clear that CBS is targeting an audience they don’t usually cater to until they’re AARP eligible. The elder member of the cast is legendary sitcom dad Bob Saget. Once again, he’s returned to play a father, but with a twist. That’s because Saget is also Ted Mosby, only 25 years in the future. Saget is a narrator, using flashback to tell his two children the story of how he met their mother (where, of course, the title originates).
For a pilot episode, the acting in “Mother” is surprisingly polished. That may be more of a testament to Patrick Harris and Hannigan, the two actors in the show with preexisting exposure. Saget doesn’t count here because, again, he’s the unseen narrator.
Quite frankly, it’s a pleasure seeing Patrick Harris back in the saddle. He pulls of his new role of Stinson so effortlessly that it makes being a womanizer seem hilarious. And Segel’s role is adorable, Doogie Howser style; he’s as petrified of proposing to Hannigan as he is to pop the champagne bottle for their celebration after she says yes.
The plot is developed well, also. At the least, the budding relationship between Ted and Robin is intriguing enough to compel the viewer to watch the second episode. Another surprising element is the fact that “Mother” cracked the CBS primetime lineup.
Given the dry, sexually explicit humor that’s smattered in the teleplay (like Barney’s numerous confessions of his attraction to Lebanese girls), this type of program on CBS is a far cry from the dinosaur ages of “Matlock,” “the Price is Right,” “Murder, She Wrote,” and “Dallas” that had audiences consisting of viewers used to capping off their nights with a glass of warm milk.
With new, fresh shows like “CSI” and “Two and a Half Men” in its repertoire, it’s clear that the network has launched a campaign to target an audience that’s closer to grad school than old school, and a quality show like “How I Met Your Mother” will help make CBS appealing to even more gen Yers.