Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
A tale as old as time. One man on a quest to find true love. The question is, how many times can I rewatch the same love story unfold? Seven times.
Craig Thomas and Carter Bays created one of my favorite shows of all time — “How I Met Your Mother” — evidenced by the fact that I simply cannot stop watching it. I am on Season 9 for the seventh time, and it’s just as entertaining as it always is.
The show stars Josh Radnor, who plays a lovelorn Ted Mosby, living in Manhattan. The 9-season show has Ted recounting to his children, through a series of flashbacks, the way that he met their mother. Ted is never alone, though, as he is accompanied by his four best friends the entire time — Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin, Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky, and Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen.
The relationships amongst the tight-knit group of five are utterly hysterical, heartwarming, and tear-evoking, as love and relationships threaten to tear them apart. It is my comfort show for a reason. Between Ted searching for true love and Barney using all the tricks up his sleeve to court every woman in Manhattan, the show never runs out of unique, silly storylines.
But more than that, the show conveys time and time again how different the meaning of the word “family” can be for people. People flow in and out of the group’s lives — with cameos by very accomplished, well-known actors and actresses — yet the five remain just as close as they were the episode before. HIMYM (pronounced him-yim), as myself and other die-hard fans call it, explains life through the flashbacks and the voice of a father, but through his eyes and mind as a single 30-something year-old man. It truly is ingenious and touching.
I don’t think there will ever come a time when I will put this show to rest … on to screening number eight!
