Top 10 Things We Want to See in How I Met Your Father
#10: Cutting The Laugh Track
In an attempt to simulate the feeling of audience laughter from a live performance, early radio shows used recorded laughter to denote punchlines in jokes. This carried over into television and was a staple of sitcoms for decades. With a switch to single camera comedies, many new shows have ditched the laugh track and now rely solely on the material to inspire the audience’s laughter. Although the original “How I Met Your Mother” had a laugh track, we hope to see the new comedy take a cue from shows like “Modern Family” and let the viewer decide when to laugh.
#9: A More Diverse Cast
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In the 21st century, there has been a heavy push for Hollywood to be far more inclusive when casting for movies and television. Although they are considered classics, and still bring plenty of laughs, sitcoms like “Seinfeld”, “Friends”, and countless others featured all-Caucasian leads. With more modern audiences re-watching older shows, the question of ethnic diversity has come up on more than one occasion. Thankfully, studios, and more so the talent themselves, have been pushing for more diverse casting to better represent the real world. Based on what we’ve seen so far, this new show appears to be taking a step in the right direction. We’ll find out more in January.
#8: A Woman's Perspective
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The original “How I Met Your Mother” story was told from Ted’s point of view. A single man in his twenties, he gave a very long, and very detailed story of what his younger life was like. Many of the tales talk about his various hookups, bar adventures with Barney & Marshall, and countless other “guy” related tales. With this new show being narrated by a woman, we’re hoping to see a more female spin on the subject of meeting “the one”. We’re fine with hearing about any adventures she’s been on, but here’s to hoping audiences really get a good glimpse into a woman’s perspective of a story like this.
#7: Nods To The Original
A spinoff has one giant advantage over fresh material: it automatically comes with a built-in audience. Fans of the original tune in to see the new one just to find out if it’s any good. Sure, the characters and stories have to be entertaining for the show to sustain itself. But true fans of a franchise are always looking for those “nods” to a previous incarnation. Could we see a yellow umbrella appear somewhere? Or how about a pineapple snack? Any tiny little wink to the original that viewers can spot is always a nice touch to help keep long-time fans interested.
#6: That It Exists Within The Original's Universe
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Shared universes between movies and television shows are now a common thing. The MCU has made an entire franchise out of it, but the idea of characters from one piece being in something else has been around forever. Indie director Kevin Smith connected most of his films through the “View Askewniverse”, and even shows like “Friends” and “Mad About You” were connected in some ways. Given that the original HIMYM creators, Carter Bays & Craig Thomas, are part of the team for “How I Met Your Father,” there’s a good chance it will exist in the same world as the original.
#5: Actually Brings The Laughs
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What do “Joanie Loves Chachi”, “That 80s Show”, and “Joey” all have in common? They were all inspired by highly popular shows that died a quick death. Just because the original connected with audiences, doesn’t immediately mean fans will love the new one. Regardless of what Barney may have said [b-roll: “New is always better”], newer is not always better. For any situational comedy program to be a success, it needs two things: characters the audience can connect with and actually being funny. Given how subjective comedy can be, it’s a monumental task to try and get it right, especially out of the gate. “How I Met Your Mother” gave us plenty of laughs, so we really want this new one to do the same.
#4: Running Gags & Catchphrases
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How many bottles of Tantrum would Robin Sparkles have to drink before remembering a legendary catchphrase from “How I Met Your Mother”? From slap bets, to the playbook and beyond, nine years of episodic television produced more memorable quotes and running gags than we could ever capture on a list. The fact that there’s so many of these that stand out in the minds of fans demonstrates how talented the writers really were. Since they’re now giving us another realm similar to the previous one, we’d love to have new gags and lines be permanently burned into our minds.
#3: Lifting The Limits Of Broadcast TV
In 1972, George Carlin released his fourth comedy album, “Class Clown,” which contained the now infamous bit on the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”. The censorship of language and other material deemed “too mature” for all audiences varies around the world. Many cable channels are known to toss censorship to the wind, and many online services have followed the same model. Since this new show will air on the streaming service Hulu, the limitations its predecessor had to live under likely no longer apply. We certainly don’t need it to be as “adult” as say “Game of Thrones”, but we do hope the show leverages their newfound freedom.
#2: Not Have It Drag On Too Long
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Most dedicated fans of “How I Met Your Mother” will agree that the sitcom should have ended earlier. It took Ted 208 episodes to finally tell his kids how he met Tracy at a train station. The show could have easily incorporated the mother into the story in other ways far earlier than season nine. Now that they have a chance to tell a similar story, we’re hoping they learned from the past and plan to make this a more concise story. One huge point in their favor is that the first season is set to be 10 episodes long. That’s definitely a step in the right direction.
#1: Cameos From Original Cast
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Was there ever any doubt that this would be number one? Much like one of our previous entries, fans of the original will be waiting with baited breath to see if any of the original series actors show up in this sitcom. Spinoffs and sequels can always use a boost here and there by drawing on connections to their previous work. Given how the timeline of “How I Met Your Mother” ended in 2030, there’s plenty of time to see those characters as they were from the original show. We’d even be fine with Carl the bartender or Ranjit the driver popping by.
