My Real Friends

Show: How I Met Your Mother
Seasons: Currently running in 4th
Network: CBS
Awesome Rating: Exploding High 5

My reconciliation with television has been a long process. We broke up for a long time. Reality television was catastrophic and I never got into Friends or Seinfield. I know, I know - I'm from a different planet. I never liked 90210. If something its too popular its my knee jerk reaction to abstain. I know - I'm bonkers, but thats a whole other blog.

The last show I really liked before I found Lost was My So-Called Life. After Lost I wandered into the hilarious halls of Arrested Development and 30 Rock, fell in love with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (RIP - you were ripped off Alan Arkin. I'll witness). I got sucked into Heroes, The Office, Rome, Avatar (more on that later), and for a bit Fringe.

So when I had more than a few people buzz at me about this show my first impulse was "I'm all full up. I'll let Best Week Ever keep me current on the rest" and for the most part I have but some of the clips that I saw of Barney Stinson kept me laughing for days and I decided to put in the little red envelope request and I wasn't let down. This is a great show.

This isn't a ground breaking show of any kind. It's just a really awesome version of the good parts of a lot of different shows. Its told in retrospect like The Wonder Years so there is this overarching sense of closure even though you don't know what's going to happen next. This is a group of much more approachable people who act like adults, very funny adults mind you, but adults, not over indulged adolescents like some other ensemble show that takes place in New York...

The cast is a perfect blend of believable bonkers. Ted (the protagonist) has two very different but believable best friends. Marshall, his college roommate who is a simple, hilarious, slightly oafish Minnesota guy going to law school that sings about every thing he does who has been with his girlfriend Lilly for 9 years who is your typical red headed, buck ten, kindergarten teacher by day, beer chug contest winner by night girl. The other, mine and everyone's favorite, is Barney Stinson. The over the top casanova who you'll never see out of a suit or without a pick up line played by the timeless Neil Patrick Harris who recently earned a Golden Globe nomination for his magic tricks, rapier wit and delivery. Robin is the inital love interest that gets folded into the group is the tolken Canadian and career girl.

Its funny but it feels real. The stories escelate and never die much like they do with a group of friends. The jokes keep running through build on themselves much like Arrested Development did. Everything from slap bets to articles in each other's apartments. Its awesome. They either have great writers or the sense to hire a contunity director, or both.

Its the little things that I really like about this show. Like every character is either eating or drinking something in nearly every scene. TV too often I think doesn't depcit this but real people eat and drink. There is alot of alochol in this show, I'm not going to lie, but people do drink. A lot. The girl's clothes are AWESOME. Stylish without being alienating (like Sex in teh City), its funny and witty without being alienating either.

What I think I like most of all is the intergity of these characters. Like they're all not dsyfunctionally codependent on each other. They all have cohesive lives outside the apartmet or bar and each one is really independent in their own way. Consequently they each bring a really different flavor to the table at McClarens. Much like a group of friends I'd rather be in.

I'm only half way through season 2 at the moment but I really like what I see. I'll keep you posted but I doubt I'll change my mind