By Dee-Dum
Edited by shrrshrr

 How I Met Your Mother is one of the more successful sitcoms this season, doing the best numerically in the ratings and second only to Everybody Hates Chris among critics. I thought the pilot was only so-so for several reasons. The characters seemed rather bland, especially compared to those on the rival sitcom Kitchen Confidential (which has been cancelled). The main character on Mother, Ted, was the least interesting character on the show, which is never a good sign (except that it worked on Seinfeld; and the original Dick van Dyke Show; and The Mary Tyler Moore Show . . . hmmm, never mind). However, the biggest problem I had was the framing device.

The show is supposedly the musings of a father in 2030 (voiced by Bob Saget) to his two teenaged children (these actors have the most thankless job in television—for 30 seconds a week they have to sit and pretend to listen to Bob Saget). The pilot pulled a switcheroo in that the character the audience thought was their mother turned out to be their “Aunt Robin.” So much for any sexual tension in that relationship. I doubt we’ll ever hear the older Ted say, “Kids, let me tell you the story bout the time your Aunt Robin and I had sex the night after your Aunt Lily and Uncle Marshall’s wedding...” I suppose the last thing TV needed was another sitcom couple with sexual tension.

The limitations of the framing device were evident in the November 28th episode. The story involved a night that Ted could not remember because he drank five shots of alcohol and blacked out. He woke up the next morning with a woman in his bed that he at first thought was Robin but turned out to be someone else he didn’t remember and never saw again. So…he’s telling his kids about the night he went on a bender and had a one-night stand? It’s no coincidence that this was the first episode (I believe) where the kids weren’t seen listening to the father spin his yarn.

Don’t get me wrong - the show is good and getting better. Like the best comedies (Arrested Development) it does not rely on one type of humor, but has character driven jokes, word play, sight gags, absurdist humor and comedic plotting. The actors seem sincere, and Alyson Hannigan is adorable in anything. Neil Patrick Harris (aka “Doogie Howser”) is a revelation as Ted’s skirt-chasing friend, Barney, who may be sleazy when it comes to women but seems to have Ted’s best interest at heart (his catchphrase is to go up to an attractive woman and say, “Haaaaaaave you met Ted?”).

TV shows used to be designed to run forever, but now we are getting more and more shows where the concept seems to have an expiration date. Some shows have a high concept that will last for maybe a season, but then what? Okay, 24 is up to its fifth season (er, sleepless day for Jack Bauer). And Lost appears to have avoided a sophomore slump - I can’t wait until we get the back story for Mr. Eko. But what will happen next season on Fox’s most popular new series, Prison Break? The brothers will escape from a different prison? Reunion, a show that had planned to have its 20 episodes each spaced a year apart, was cancelled after 13 episodes. So much for solving the murder.

Because it is good, I’ll keep watching How I Met Your Mother, but either we’ll meet the mother soon, or we won’t; either way it’s going to be disappointing.