I know what you’re thinking: How the hell did I meet your mother? Well, boys and girls, that’s a story for another time and another place (I couldn’t condone such dirty material to be published on this blog anyway) . In stead, let’s take the time to hear how ‘Ted Mosby’ met his wife, which is a tale that’s undoubtedly grander in length then the one about your mom. If not in volume…

Ugh. Okay, that was the last inappropriate joke. I swears, precious!

‘How I Met Your Mother’ is an American sit-com that first aired in the ancient year of 2005, and it’s still going strong. I’ve watched every single episode of the three seasons, save the four remaining ones that will begin airing tomorrow, and I’ve loved nearly every second of it. It’s without doubt in my mind one of the best sit-coms I’ve ever seen. Sounds interesting? It damn well should, so tucker down and fasten your waist belts, people. Here are my thoughts on Your Mother:

Every episode of this show begins in the same manner: Two teenagers are sitting on a sofa in a cluttered room and a header appears beneath them, informing us that the scene takes place in the year 2030. These two youngsters are Ted Mosby’s kids, and they’re sitting where they are because their father has a story to tell them. Oops, strike that - Ted Mosby has several stories to tell them, and they all pertain to a varying extent on how he met their mother.
I’ve already mentioned that I’ve seen every episode of this show, and I still haven’t got the faintest idea of how Ted met his wife. True, we’ve been getting closer to her in the third season, but that doesn’t really matter. You’re not watching this show to find out how it all came about - you’re watching it because you find the journey to be entertaining.

There isn’t anything ground-breaking or especially original about ‘Your Mother’. The whole ‘telling it from the future’ does offer some nice twists to the storytelling, but aside from that it’s a pretty straightforward show with one narrator and four additional side-characters that pretty much hang out in the same two-three places all the time. In stead of the ‘Central Perk’ from ‘Friends’, ‘Your Mother’ uses a bar, and since three out five characters live together, they naturally spend a lot of time in their apartment.

All in all I think the ‘Friends’ comparison is a very valid one, especially if you don’t include the last seasons where the actors and the concept of ‘Friends’ started growing old and stale. ‘Your Mother’ hasn’t reached that point yet, nor has it become annoyingly repetitive in its drama, like ‘Rachel&Ross’ and ‘J.D&Elliot’ (’Scrubs’), since the narrator made it clear from the beginning that Ted’s love interest in Robin would never pan out.

The other characters have also had very satisfying developments, even if every one of them (including Ted) had a very stereotypical origin. Marshall & Lilly (equivalents: ‘Carla&Turk’, ‘Monica&Chandler’) are the Couple, Robin is the Love Interest and Single Girl (’Elliot’), Ted is Searching for the One (’J.D’) and Barney is the Tasteless Guy who’s always trying to get with Another Girl (a smart version of ‘Joey’ and ‘The Todd’). My personal favourite is without doubt the awesomeness that is ‘Barney’. He is an experience unto himself. The most disappointing character is Lily, played by Allison Hannigan (Willow from ‘BtVS’). I don’t know whether it’s just me who can’t relate to her in a different role or if she simply doesn’t have the necessary comedic timing that’s required for her role. I hope it’s the former, but I think it’s the latter.

There’s naturally not a lot of plot in this show, but there are some plot lines that have matured and that often culminate on a high note in the last episode of the season. This doesn’t bother me the same way that the lack of major plotlines bothered me with ‘Psych’, ’cause this is after all a sit-com. The character development, however, is immensely gratifying and that makes up for nearly everything.

So to sum up: ‘How I Met Your Mother’ is a hilarious sit-com that doesn’t innovate, but plays deftly on the same strings that have so often been ameuterishly fiddled by lesser shows before. It’s a consistent series that seldom drops in quality, but that does sparkle every once in a while with an especially funny episode. So, looking for something easy to pass the time with? You can’t go wrong if you try ‘Your Mother’…

8.0 /10 (weak)