Posts with tag himym
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 13th 2008 2:27PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Interviews, How I Met Your Mother, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Just got off the phone with Carter Bays, co-creator of
How I Met Your Mother (Craig Thomas was doing another interview). He confirms that,
as earlier reports indicated, the show has been renewed for a fourth season.
"I think we can say it. We got our pickup. We're on the schedule, so we hear," he told me. As far as where the show will be on the schedule, he doesn't know, but "we'll be happy to be anywhere." When I asked him if he was confident that the show was going to be picked up, he said "Call me crazy, but I never really doubted it. I just felt like this show has a lot of creative life left in it, and that it's too good of an environment to up and disappear."
I asked him a lot about Britney Spears' appearance and if it was the reason why the show got picked up. "The cynical answer would be Britney, but I do think that even before that ... during the strike especially, when I managed to get out in the world it felt like enough people liked the show and proselytized for it that it's grown in viewership."
The full interview will be up either tomorrow or Thursday, where I ask Bays about Britney, not making the show guest star-heavy, some info on the finale, and why the heck was that framed letter in Stella's apartment. Stay tuned.
Posted May 13th 2008 9:37AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Programming, How I Met Your Mother, Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Reality-Free
Well, it looks like fans of
How I Met Your Mother (me! me!) and
The Unit (maybe my parents?) have some early good news ahead of CBS's upfront, which is scheduled for tomorrow: The
LA Times' Show Tracker blog is reporting that
both shows will be renewed (thanks to Greg for
leaving a comment with the link last night).
The article talks more about
HIMYM, of course, mentioning that Britney Spears' first appearance gave the show the boost it needed to carry it to a fourth season. I wish that wasn't true, but I'm pretty sure it is. As much as fans of
HIMYM (me! me!) hated the distraction Brit Brit brought to the show, and really hated her wooden performance (especially last night, according to many of the commenters on
my review of "Everything Must Go"), they have to admit that without the pop tart, the show might not have made it.
Sigh. Oh, well. Whatever gets the job done, right? I'll see if I can confirm the renewal when I speak to Carter Bays and Craig Thomas later today.
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 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 22nd 2008 1:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, How I Met Your Mother, Reality-Free
Say you're a comedy writer. You toil away for years in the comedy writing salt mines. You write monologue jokes and little skits for Dave Letterman for years, while you and your best friend / writing partner pound the pavement in L.A. pitching
a show about five friends in their twenties. You finally land the show, and produce three highly-acclaimed, if only moderately-watched, seasons. You're always on the bubble, stressing over everything from the medicated pop star you've hired to boost ratings to people asking you whether you're ever going to reveal the mystery invoked by the show's title.
You go through all this, and, if you're Craig Thomas, what do you get? Everyone calling you by your partner's name.
Continue reading Poor Craig Thomas... all the power, none of the credit
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 Mar 25th 2008 2:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Ratings
Mission accomplished!
According to James Hibberd at
The Hollywood Reporter, Britney Spears' guest appearance on
How I Met Your Mother generated the highest ratings ever for the show. The overnight rating among adults 18-49 was a 4.5, attracting 10.6 million viewers. It was the only show in CBS's Monday comedy lineup to show improvement, as the rest fell in the ratings. This marks the second week in a row that the show generated solid ratings. Hibberd reports that the strong post-strike ratings for
HIMYM "assures" its renewal for the fall; CBS had been previously undecided on bringing it back.
Like I said last night,
I thought it was a low-water mark for the show, though apparently many of you disagreed with me. And, to be honest, even though Brit Brit did OK on the show, she was still a bit of a distraction. But, anything to help take the show from "maybe" to "definitely" status for next season is all right with me.
Posted Mar 12th 2008 2:05PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Casting
Ooooh... juicy gossip! Michael Ausiello over at TV Guide.com has some good dish about
How I Met Your Mother that he swears is true.
Apparently
Alicia Silverstone has canceled her guest appearance on the show due to Britney Spears' upcoming cameo. As
Joel recently reported, Spears pitched the idea herself. She will play a wacky receptionist in a doctor's office--the doctor was supposed to be
played by Silverstone, and she was to appear in a "multi-episode arc". According to Ausiello, Silverstone quit the gig because she was worried that her performance would be over-shadowed by Britney's appearance. OK, that's a legitimate concern. She's probably right. Although, I think Britney was only going to be on one episode and Silverstone was slated for several.
Sarah Chalke, who plays Dr. Eliot Reed on
Scrubs, will take Silverstone's place. The episode in question is the third new episode after the writers' strike.
HIMYM begins new episodes on Monday, but an air date for the Britney episode is not yet confirmed.
Update:
E! Online is reporting the same information.Posted Mar 10th 2008 6:21PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Casting
I'm not really sure how to process this news: according to Kristin Dos Santos of E! Online,
Britney Spears will guest on an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Dos Santos got the word directly from the show's reps at Fox and from a rep for
HIMYM show-runners Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, so the information seems to be solid.
The role Britney will likely play is Abby, a girl who works in a doctor's office Ted will frequent (I'm guessing it's the offices of the doctor
that will be played by Alicia Silverstone). Abby is supposed to be "sweet and friendly and scattered and a little nerdy-a female Michael Cera." I'm sure Michael Cera would be thrilled to hear that. Anyway, Britney is scheduled to appear on the show's 14th episode, which is only three episodes into its post-strike comeback (which starts on Monday March 17 at 8:30 ET).
Continue reading Britney Spears to guest on How I Met Your Mother
Posted Sep 28th 2007 1:05PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Subtle Subtitles, How I Met Your Mother
Welcome to Subtle Subtitles. For those of you who are uninitiated to the purpose of this feature, we're asking you to come up with your funniest quote or description for what's going on in the screen grab we choose for the week. Winners are announced in the following Friday's contest.1st place to
Bob MC:
2nd place to
Lee: "Damn man, I can't believe that these are the best seats available for Gallagher."
3rd place to
Jeff: "I'm starting to regret my decision to take part in
Fear Factor..."
This week, a scene from the
season premiere of How I Met Your Mother ...
Continue reading Subtle Subtitles
Posted Sep 24th 2007 9:01AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: TV on DVD, How I Met Your Mother, Contests and Giveaways
It's time for us to give away some stuff ... again! One of today's giveaways is for five copies of
How I Met Your Mother season two on DVD, which will be in stores October 2. All you've got to do is submit a comment below before 5PM Eastern, September 28, and mention what your favorite Barneyism (Barney quote). We'll randomly choose five winners to receive the DVDs!
Some other details:
- To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating your favorite Barneyism (Barney quote).
- The comment must be left before September 28, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
- You can only enter once.
- The winning entries will be chosen completely at random.
And now we present you with the official rules and legalities of the giveaway. (Read them. Please.)
Continue reading Giveaway Monday: How I Met Your Mother season two
Posted Jul 24th 2007 6:26PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Watercooler Talk, How I Met Your Mother
The Slap Bet is coming! The Slap Bet is coming!
CBS is finally showing a little love for one of the best comedies on television,
How I Met Your Mother, by launching
this countdown clock to the next Slap Bet. What is a Slap Bet? Only the greatest subplot ever. In last season's "Robin Sparkles" episode, Marshall didn't have any money to bet Barney on why Robin refused to go to the mall, so they agreed that the loser of the bet got a slap. There was some "premature slapulation" and Marshall ended up with five slaps, to dole out against Barney at any time from here to eternity. By the way, if you haven't seen the episode, please take some time to go over to
this HIMYM MySpace website. It will get you hooked on the series.
Fans will remember that Marshall still owes Barney three slaps. Apparently the next one is coming in just about four months.
How do you fans feel, knowing exactly when another slap is coming?
Posted Apr 18th 2007 4:23PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother
Interesting piece over at The New York Observer that fans of How I Met Your Mother will probably agree with: why isn't this show a bigger hit?
Mark Lotto thinks the show is as good as Friends and deserves to be promoted more by CBS and talked about around the watercooler the next day at work. But he wonders why CBS isn't promoting it more (ads for the show are lacking and CBS didn't push it after the Super Bowl) and seems rather confused to hear that the show might indeed be canceled at the end of the current season.
While I don't think that HIMYM is as good as Friends (except for maybe the last couple of years), I do think it's a solid little show that should not be canceled. This is a show that could easily grow into a long-running staple for CBS. It has the characters, it has the writing, and it does what it does a lot better than most similar shows that have been on the air recently.
[via TV Tattle]
Posted Jul 12th 2006 2:33PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, Industry, Programming, How I Met Your Mother
Of course, if you work on the new show The Class, the word "slightly" might not be appropriate here.
CBS was going to move How I Met Your Mother to Mondays at 8pm, and put the new show The Class (about a group of third grade kids who reunite when they're older) into the 8:30 slot, so it gets a good lead from HIMYM (I'm tired of typing that out all the time) and sandwiched between that show and Two and a Half Men. But now they've changed their minds. They're keeping HIMYM at 8:30, and putting The Class at 8, which means that a new show is going to have to lead off the night for CBS.
A risky move. They must really have confidence in The Class.
Next Page >
The Upfronts: FOX
Carter Bays of How I Met Your Mother: The TV Squad Interview
The Upfronts: CBS
