Posts with tag Neil Patrick Harris
Posted May 15th 2008 10:04AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Interviews, How I Met Your Mother, Reality-Free
It's been a heck of a season for
How I Met Your Mother, between the writers' strike that everyone had to suffer through, blogs and other websites picking apart episodes in
Lost-esque fashion, and the Britney Phenomenon that got the attention of fans and non-fans alike. But the end result is a good one: the show has been picked up by CBS for a fourth season, giving fans one more year to enjoy the chemistry among the five leads while trying to guess who the heck the "Mother" actually is.
Despite the strike, co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have been able to get out 20 episodes for the third season. The finale will be broadcast on Monday, May 19 at 8:30.
As he did before last year's finale, Bays and I got together by phone to discuss the season and the finale. Bays (who is on the right in the photo; Thomas, who is on the left, was on another call and couldn't make it) spoke about getting picked up, the finale, Sarah Chalke's role as Ted's new girlfriend Stella, how the show managed to pick up a mythology, and, of course, their very famous guest star. The interview is after the jump.
Continue reading Carter Bays of How I Met Your Mother: The TV Squad Interview
Posted May 12th 2008 11:44PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Episode Reviews
(S03E19) I'm going to be speaking to Carter Bays and Craig Thomas tomorrow afternoon, and I think that one of the first questions I'm going to ask them is if Britney Spears is going to be a recurring guest on the show. It's starting to look that way, based on what we saw tonight; the way things ended, I can just imagine crazy Abby popping up once or twice per season, just to make Ted's life miserable. And since Brit Brit established the role, I'd imagine she'd come back and reprise it.
And that's not altogether a bad thing. Once she becomes part of the fabric of the show, the episodes will be less about her presence and more about the story. Somehow (heh), Brit pulls off the nutty stalker role well enough, and maybe her acting will get a bit more refined the more she appears. At least I hope it does.
Why am I prattling on about Britney? Because there isn't much more about this episode that really stood out.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go - VIDEO
Posted May 5th 2008 11:57PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E18) You know how I keep saying that guest spots ruin the chemistry of
How I Met Your Mother? Well, that's not an absolute; sometimes, guests integrate well into the ensemble, or the story they're given is so good, that it just works. This week was one of those weeks. In fact, it was doubly good, since
both Sarah Chalke and Will Forte did a good job of fitting in, with Forte being his usual creepy-funny self and Chalke being... well, anyone who reads my
Scrubs reviews knows how I feel about Sarah.
What? I have respect for her acting ability! That's all...
Ahem... now, where were we?
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Rebound Bro - VIDEO
Posted May 1st 2008 1:04PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, OpEd
Many people think that the term "cougar," which is loosely defined as "older woman on the prowl for younger men to date" was introduced on last season's
How I Met Your Mother episode that had
Jane Seymour seduce Neil Patrick Harris' Barney. But like I said in my review back then, I had heard that term before that episode aired. But we can definitely say that
HIMYM popularized the term.
Now it seems like TV Land, which is becoming the network for reality shows starring people over 35, has decided to pick up a
Bachelorette-esque series where a number of young men will be
competing for the affections of "sexy and accomplished mature woman." The show is being produced by Mike Fleiss, who was the executive producer for the network's version of
High School Reunion.
Continue reading TV Land orders dating show for Cougars
Posted Apr 29th 2008 7:41AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
We knew it was coming. Since
her first appearance on
How I Met Your Mother broke ratings records for the series, it was inevitable that Britney Spears would return as crazy receptionist Abby. Last week we reported that
Spears would be reprising her role on
HIMYM. Today,
CBS confirms the news and dishes about the episode that will mark the singer's return.
What's interesting about Britney's upcoming storyline in
HIMYM is that she'll be paired with Neil Patrick Harris. If you recall the actor was recently
misquoted saying that
the show didn't need guest stars like Britney Spears.
Spoilers ahead!Continue reading Britney definitely back on How I Met Your Mother
Posted Apr 28th 2008 11:11PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E17) Interesting ending to this one, huh?
I'll get to that after the jump, for those who are spoiler-phobic. This was an episode full of story and character development, and some glimpses into the personalities of all five members of the
HIMYM gang. And it was pretty damned funny. The show's starting on an end-of-season roll, and with some big emotional and interpersonal issues coming to a head right now, the last few episodes are looking very promising.
Now, about that goat...
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Goat - VIDEO
Posted Apr 21st 2008 10:42PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E16) Bless the peapickin' little hearts of Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. All week, they've been setting us up, telling us about the return of Robin Sparkles, saying that we were going to get an episode full of eighties and nineties goodness, complete with James Van Der Beek, Tiffany, and Alan Thicke. We even
got a video (full video is after the end of the review) as a taste.
But all of it was a ruse. A week-long ruse to distract us from realizing what was
really going to happen in this episode. Since I don't want to spoil it for anyone, come with me to the after-jump portion of our review and then we can talk.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Sandcastles in the Sand - VIDEOS
Posted Apr 21st 2008 8:03AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Casting, Reality-Free
You can stop the prayer. Your wish has been granted.
Britney Spears will be making a return appearance to
How I Met Your Mother.
The singer/actress has recently had a high-profile appearance on the CBS comedy as a receptionist who falls for one of the show's main characters, played by Josh Radnor. The response to her appearance was generally positive.
Watching the clips on the AOL Television site, Britney
does give a cute and funny performance. The character she plays is naive, sweet and tries not to offend people. She acted the role well and in the end her character gets taken advantage of by Neil Patrick Harris's character (sort of).
Britney's first appearance gave the episode phenomenal ratings. A return appearance was inevitable, particularly given Britney's real-world problems at the moment (she has a family to support and a lot of lawyer fees to pay). Some positive exposure would undoubtedly be good for the woman.
Posted Apr 20th 2008 10:08AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Celebrities, Game Show, Casting, Reality-Free
In an announcement that most who remember the older versions of Password would consider a no-brainer, it has been revealed that Betty White will be returning as a guest panelist on CBS' new Million Dollar Password series. And, really, if she wasn't even being considered would it even be Password?
White, who is 86-years-young, was a staple of the original version of Password when it started back in 1961 as well as the revived 70s and 80s versions of the show. Much of that connection came from her marriage to original Password host Allen Ludden. White and Ludden were married in 1963 and remained together until his death from stomach cancer in 1981.
Continue reading Betty White to appear on Million Dollar Password
Posted Apr 14th 2008 10:57PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E15) The original name of this episode was going to be "The Simmons Report," according to IMDb and Epguides. But, as we all know, there was a report in the episode, but it got a much different -- and much cooler -- name. In fact that little joke is one of a number of silly throwaway jokes that made this episode one of the funniest of the season. And what was interesting was, in the middle of all that goofiness, we got serious advancement of story in the deal. And, refreshingly, the story wasn't the relentless pursuit of the mother's identity. No, we find out more about Marshall's career and come a step closer to seeing why he became a bald mess by 2030.
Oh, and we also got to learn about the chain/circle/pyramid of screaming. I wish I knew about that when I used to be a corporate wage slave. It would have made my life a lot easier.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Chain of Screaming - VIDEO
Posted Apr 13th 2008 5:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.
Posted Apr 10th 2008 8:30PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Here is Reason #243 why I like Neil Patrick Harris, or NPH as people have taken to calling him: He thinks that
How I Met Your Mother is perfectly OK without all the guest stars. And, yes, that includes that nutty gal from Louisiana.
"I worry that if they start
Will and Grace-ing us too much, that the show will suffer, " NPH told Erin Carlson of the AP. He's referring to the fact that
W&G spent many of its later years building comedy around a parade of high-profile guest stars. He went on to say that "we're all really proud of the content of the show. I mean, viewership is not our game. It's the network and the studio's game, you know. It's the promotion department's game."
NPH feels he's in "the minority" with his view, according to the article, and he thinks the fact that the show is opposite
Dancing with the Stars (or, as he calls it, "an awkward reality dancing competition") has caused the network, as well as creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, to scramble for viewers.
Continue reading HIMYM doesn't need guest stars like Britney, says Neil Patrick Harris
Posted Apr 3rd 2008 9:23AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Watercooler Talk, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
I'm a huge fan of CBS'
How I Met Your Mother. However, I'm not a Britney Spears fan, especially due to everything she did this past year. So when CBS announced a few weeks ago that
Spears would guest star on the show, I was not a happy camper.
That said, after watching the episode "
Ten Sessions," I had to admit that Britney Spears gave a good enough performance as Abby, the crazy office assistant. But I was hoping that this would be the last we would see of Abby. The TV Fairy didn't hear my plea and decided that Spears could return for one more episode ... if planets aligned.
Continue reading Spears back on How I Met Your Mother?
Posted Mar 31st 2008 10:55PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews
(S03E14) First of all, let's get this out of the way:
TedMosbyIsAJerk.com works.
Of course it does. We've come to expect nothing less from Bays and Thomas, as they love to use the Web to further the
How I Met Your Mother brand. This site looks like it's fun: cheap 1996-era graphics and text, lots of exclamation points... there's even a song written by poor Anna, who still thinks Barney is Ted. Oh, and that Ted Mosby is a jerk.
It's not a coincidence that
HIMYM's first truly funny episode returning from the strike is Barney-centric. Even though Barney seems to be the most one-dimensional character on the surface, Carter and Craig have used him (and the very game Neil Patrick Harris) as a blank canvas, giving him all sorts of backstory elements that seem crazy... but somehow plausible. He used to be a hippie; he has a black gay brother; he slept with
Madeline Albright... it all seems entirely possible, doesn't it?
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Bracket - VIDEO
Posted Mar 24th 2008 10:23PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Episode Reviews
(S03E13) You know, I'll probably be the only person in the TV-review world who won't lead off his review of this episode with a picture of Britney Spears. Believe me, I had one up before I saw the episode (it's still there; I put it after the jump). But after watching it, I just couldn't do it; the episode is about the relationship between Ted and his tattoo removal doctor. Britney, as most people expected, was just there as an accessory. More on her in a little bit.
OK, now on to the episode... it stunk.
It didn't just stink; it was among the worst episodes of
HIMYM I've ever seen. It was corny. It was only occasionally funny. And it had sitcommy situations that would have made
Three's Company fans roll their eyes. I was tempted to channel
The Simpsons' Comic Book Guy and utter
his catch phrase, but this episode didn't even deserve that.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Ten Sessions - VIDEO
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Carter Bays of How I Met Your Mother: The TV Squad Interview
The Upfronts: CBS
