I recently caught a reel on Instagram where Josh Radnor, who played Ted in How I Met Your Mother, relays an encounter with a Spanish fan who gushed about what made the show special to him: surprisingly, the framing device. Seeing the protagonist reminisce on his mid-20s made the fan realise that he is currently making those memories he too will later remember fondly, allowing him to feel more present in his life.
Considering how often people like to rag on the show's admittedly ridiculous premise — a guy narrating a story to his kids about how he married his unseen wife for an entire decade — it was a fresh perspective to hear, and it made me think about what makes HIMYM so consistently appealing to me even after all these years.
One aspect that always stands out among American sitcoms is how sincerely sentimental HIMYM is, without being overbearingly cloying (for the most part). There are plenty of good laughs, but at its core, it's a romance. The show celebrates that period of transition to "full adulthood" many of us go through in our 20s: trying to find love in the big city, hanging out with the same old friends at the same old bar, losing yourself to every random flight of fancy that comes along. However, the further we delve into Ted's journey, the bleaker it becomes as we begin to feel the weight of his stagnation and hopeless failure to find the elusive "One". The constant teases to the Mother's identity may get tiresome after so long, but the hype eventually paid off with a satisfying reveal.
Okay, other stuff to like: The authentic chemistry between the leads blows many other sitcoms out of the water. Barring some moments of Early Instalment Weirdness, the continuity is rewarding for long-time viewers. The indie rock soundtrack absolutely slaps.
Did it ever jump the shark? Well, making the entire final season focus around a highly anticipated wedding between the two most popular characters, only to unceremoniously annul it in the finale, was probably not the brightest idea. The finale itself is indeed terribly rushed, but with better build-up from the rest of the series, smoother execution of its ideas and fewer problematic quirks (yes, all the female main characters feel too defined by their ability / willingness to birth children and it's weird), I genuinely believe it could've gone down as one of the better codas to any mainstream TV show.
Honestly though, I'm sick of how the controversial ending has completely overshadowed the rest of the show's legacy. Even if you hated it with a seething passion, it must be because the rest of the show was pretty great, right? Why not focus on that?
It was something special
I recently caught a reel on Instagram where Josh Radnor, who played Ted in How I Met Your Mother, relays an encounter with a Spanish fan who gushed about what made the show special to him: surprisingly, the framing device. Seeing the protagonist reminisce on his mid-20s made the fan realise that he is currently making those memories he too will later remember fondly, allowing him to feel more present in his life.
Considering how often people like to rag on the show's admittedly ridiculous premise — a guy narrating a story to his kids about how he married his unseen wife for an entire decade — it was a fresh perspective to hear, and it made me think about what makes HIMYM so consistently appealing to me even after all these years.
One aspect that always stands out among American sitcoms is how sincerely sentimental HIMYM is, without being overbearingly cloying (for the most part). There are plenty of good laughs, but at its core, it's a romance. The show celebrates that period of transition to "full adulthood" many of us go through in our 20s: trying to find love in the big city, hanging out with the same old friends at the same old bar, losing yourself to every random flight of fancy that comes along. However, the further we delve into Ted's journey, the bleaker it becomes as we begin to feel the weight of his stagnation and hopeless failure to find the elusive "One". The constant teases to the Mother's identity may get tiresome after so long, but the hype eventually paid off with a satisfying reveal.
Okay, other stuff to like: The authentic chemistry between the leads blows many other sitcoms out of the water. Barring some moments of Early Instalment Weirdness, the continuity is rewarding for long-time viewers. The indie rock soundtrack absolutely slaps.
Did it ever jump the shark? Well, making the entire final season focus around a highly anticipated wedding between the two most popular characters, only to unceremoniously annul it in the finale, was probably not the brightest idea. The finale itself is indeed terribly rushed, but with better build-up from the rest of the series, smoother execution of its ideas and fewer problematic quirks (yes, all the female main characters feel too defined by their ability / willingness to birth children and it's weird), I genuinely believe it could've gone down as one of the better codas to any mainstream TV show.
Honestly though, I'm sick of how the controversial ending has completely overshadowed the rest of the show's legacy. Even if you hated it with a seething passion, it must be because the rest of the show was pretty great, right? Why not focus on that?