Not to knock on How I Met Your Mother, because I love it, but we sure are reading about it a lot lately, huh? It's sort of like being one of those people that liked a band before it got popular. I was big supporter of HIMYM in the BBS (Before Britney Spears) era, and now "the little sitcom that could" is all anyone is writing about.
While the show has enjoyed up and down ratings over the course of its 2 1/2 season run, the return from the WGA Strike saw it post its biggest numbers ever with a guest appearance from that chick who used to be married to K-Fed. The same ep featured Scrubs' Sarah Chalke as a dermatologist who removed Ted's butterfly tattoo. Now comes word from Ausiello that Chalke may be coming back.
Much like Neil Patrick Harris' objections to Brit Brit having another shot, I'm against the return of Chalke 100%.
In Chalke's first appearance as Stella, we found out that she was in attendance at the same St. Patrick's Day party that Ted and Barney went to. She had to leave early, perhaps in a rush, and that led to speculation that she could very well be the owner of the yellow umbrella that got left behind and Ted found. So of course the big question is, could she be the mother? The Mrs. Ted Mosby?
I really hope not.
The way I see it, the second we find out who the mother is, the show begins to suffer. While HIMYM has arguably gone on a tangent where guest stars are now common fodder (James Van Der Beek is the next on the list), I will admit that I don't immediately think of Chalke and "huge star" in the same sentence. Other than Scrubs, Roseanne, and those annoying Hanes commercials where she keeps getting a wedgie, I don't really associate her with anything else. So that's one thing in her favor. The casting doesn't feel like a stunt to me.
Now, I remember reading somewhere that there had been some gentle nudging from CBS execs for Bays and Thomas to start shedding some light on the show's big maternal mystery, but here's what I'm hoping. If Chalke does return and hints are dropped, I pray that she's just a red herring. If she isn't, then I think the show really loses a key dynamic; mainly, Ted as we know him. If Ted couples up this early in the game with his future wife, and HIMYM goes on for another two or three seasons, they simply won't be as good. The schemes with Barney, the camaraderie at McLaren's, and that yearning feeling we feel for Ted, are all lost.
There have been numerous comparisons, pitting this show as the "new" Friends. If we find out who the mother is now, HIMYM won't be like Friends. It will be Friends - a pretty decent and usually funny sitcom where you know who's in love with who and the big payoff is a happy finale with babies and weddings.
Now I realize that you can argue that is the payoff for this show, Ted getting married and what not; that can still be achieved. I'm just trying to outline the clear distinction about finding out who his wife is now versus in another season or two. If it is Chalke, it just feels too convenient; too easy, to me. I said she isn't a huge star, and with Scrubs ending next season - she's a perfect fit. As an experienced sitcom actress, she fits the role and could guest star a few more times this season, then slide into a series regular spot mid-season four. See what I mean though? Easy. I guest I just want more mystery. "Your mom was my dermatologist back in the day" just doesn't sound like something we'd hear from Future Ted's mouth.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-11-2008 @ 1:24PM
Keith McDuffee said...
I think Chalke's character is *friends* with the one Ted winds up with. Remember all of those girls she hangs out with, at the movies? I'm willing to bet they, too, were at that St. Patty's party.
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4-11-2008 @ 1:24PM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
Yeah, but they were all fugly. Maybe she has a hot friend we havn't seen yet.
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4-11-2008 @ 2:14PM
MarcDom7 said...
Unless something happens to the Sarah Chalke character's daughter, this is most likely not a case of her being the mother. Since she already has a child, that would make Ted's daughter we see in 2030 at least 22, which she isn't made out to be at all. They could say Chalke's daughter (not Ted's biological child) is off at college in 2030, but that would be stretching the flashforward premise, not mentioning a half-sister at all so far.
But hey, it could happen.
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4-12-2008 @ 9:23AM
nattyff said...
it's not that far fetched, he is just telling the story to his kids, that premise doesn't change if he had a step daughter in colleague, it can happen... though i don't think is the case , i think that they throw the stella character just in case the show get cancelled so they can say... she is the mother and not let it hanging (wich i don't see it happening now thanks to britney.. :). Plus if i don't recall correctly the mother is supousted to be a brounette... i´m betting in one of stella's friends.
4-11-2008 @ 2:14PM
MarcDom7 said...
Ah...just checked some facts that I had forgotten: Chalke's daughter is 8 in 2008, so she'd be 30 during the flash-forwards, making it explainable why she's not being told the story.
Well, hey, this could all happen then. It's still a slight stretch, but it's not something I would get worked up over.
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4-11-2008 @ 2:15PM
Jennifer said...
I'm not worried about it. They can hint about parties and umbrellas, but that still doesn't obligate them to reveal a mother before the last episode of the show- and I really don't think they're gonna do that. If the show got canceled at the end of this season (and the writers had enough notification of such), sure, SC could be the mother. But if it goes another season, I don't think so. They HAVE to drag that out, it's a requirement of the show's premise.
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4-12-2008 @ 9:24AM
Alicia said...
I could not have said it better myself...
The last line of the last episode should be something like: And that is how I met your mother.
4-11-2008 @ 2:16PM
whitney said...
I totally agree. I don't think we should find out who the mother is until the last episode of the series.
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4-11-2008 @ 2:34PM
dt3 said...
so all of the writers kill HIMYM for "stunt casting" and now you are killing them for not getting a big enough star during their "stunt casting".
all i know is no matter what they do their will be a blog here killing their decision, a show review killing the episode, and than a bunch of comments from real fans talking about how great an episode it was.
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4-11-2008 @ 2:37PM
Jonathan Toomey said...
dt3 --
Did you even read the post? I specifically said, "The casting doesn't feel like a stunt to me." And I went on to say she's a perfect fit, should she turn out to indeed be the mother. The point of my post is that I hope she isn't.
Read, then comment :)
4-11-2008 @ 2:34PM
Chris said...
Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand the snobbish resistance against "guest stars" -- (most of) these people are actors. That's what they do. Just because James Van Der Beek has been in movies doesn't differentiate him any more than NPH.
Now, if it's from the genre of "ripped from the headlines non-actors," like Britney, granted, there's room for some complaints. But a list of actual guest actors, I don't have any problem with that.
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4-12-2008 @ 9:24AM
nattyff said...
i agree with you, and im sorry to say that im very thankfull for mis spears apearence, i really don't like her at all (never did), but she will have my eternal gratitude for making posible that HIMYM is still in the air for another season (they haven't made the call yet i think, but im pretty confident they will with the stellar ratings that she gave them:), plus craig and tomas make it work with any person they through at them... yes, they are that good!!!
4-11-2008 @ 2:46PM
Jesse said...
What if Ted was married once before he met the mother? What if Chalke is his future ex that we all assume is the mother until they divorce and we then find out she isn't?
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4-12-2008 @ 9:24AM
nattyff said...
great idea!!!, but maybe that would need some kind of mention of future ted to his kids... so i don't think so, but with another character that could totally happen!!!
4-11-2008 @ 2:57PM
cdawg said...
I am all for Sarah Chalke being the mother! And returning. The thing is, we know that Stella is too wrapped up right now to even date Ted... so I think that she can return "here and there" for a while, and then at the end of the run, they can amp up their dating and reveal that she's the mother.
alot of people want the show to end with "And that kids, is how I met your mother." I think you can still do that in a more humorous way. Make Stella do something totally out of character and Ted realize that that is who Stella really is, ie, he is just meeting her for the first time. something silly like that.
as for "stunt casting" - i'm with Barney - no more Brittni, but I'm totally ok with other guest starts like Alan Thicke... ones who wont be "overshadowing" the real stars.
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4-11-2008 @ 3:31PM
Michelle said...
I agree with some of the above comments, we can't find out about the mother until the final episode. I always felt that my "ideal" finale would end with the words "And that is how I met your mother."
To tell you who the mother is would mean that future Ted told the story and then just kept talking, wouldn't it?
Anyways, I feel that Bays and Thomas view their audience as too detail oriented to make Chalke the mother. They repsect us enough to slip past occurences into new jokes (Last week's 83% blind, etc.) and they know we will catch it, and enjoy it.
I have faith that there was something to those references (like Chalke's comment about the St. Patty's day party, and the girl Ted bumped into at the party itself), but I don't think that they are clues that she is actually the mother. They are too obvious.
Anyways, love the show. =)
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4-11-2008 @ 3:32PM
RC said...
I think if you go back and watch Chalke just says she went out for St. Patrick's Day, not that she was at the same bar as Ted that night. The whole thing could be a red herring.
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4-11-2008 @ 3:32PM
jill said...
Like Jonathan said in his last paragraph, it would be too boring if Stella's the Mother. Keith, Merv, and Jesse, I like your ideas.
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4-11-2008 @ 3:32PM
litehousebeacon said...
She already has a daughter. That leads me to believe she isn't it. But that's based on the assumption that both kids in the "narrative" sequences are biologically Ted's.
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4-11-2008 @ 4:40PM
Ashley Boyd said...
The only problem I have is Ted is telling his kids these women's names (except for "blah blah") so if one of them were the mother they would spot it.
Oh and I still think Ted is divorced in the future. Would be the perfectly bitter irony needed for such a romantic fool like Ted.
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