In the first season of HIMYM, I wrote a review after finding the show intolerable after a few episodes. I didn't watch for years and the show kept going... after seeing some excerpts from the following seasons, I recognized the show did begin to live up to (what I saw as) its original potential.
It truly became great. I am keeping the original review here, so you can see my criticisms and understand that the show grew and truly overcame them all. Over years it became brilliant. My wife and I picked it up around season 4 and watched all the prior seasons that summer, then faithfully stuck with it until the end (even when they aggravatingly created what felt like a couple of filler seasons (7 and 8) to keep milking the cash cow. When it ended, we brought my teenage kids in and watched it all again.
The thing about this show is, it's well suited to binge watching, from a time before binge watching was a thing. The occasionally clunky episode is quickly forgotten as you carry on to the next. Even the weaker seasons have both touching and hilarious moments. The much-maligned ending of the show is, from my perspective, absolutely in keeping with how the show evolved and was a very realistic and appropriate finalé.
Watch it. Push through the rough parts and you'll find it's a gem. Neil Patrick Harris is fantastic and every cast member is great, whether transient or permanent.
I hated the show in the beginning, but now I have to say it's one of my all-time favourites. Watch it, enjoy it and I hope you love it as much as we did.
-----Original Review Below----------------------------------- What can I say? I watched all the publicity all summer about this show while watching lamearse "Big Brother" on CBS and really thought I liked the idea of how this show was going to work. I pictured a sort of "Mad About You" type thing with a more expansive feel - the early days of meeting and dating evolving into what would become a long term relationship. What a tremendous premise if it was done in a "looking back" way. I even thought it might be something like a look-back-to-the-80s sort of thing although that wasn't really clear at all in the previews.
When I started watching the first episode and I saw the "Wonder Years" type narrative form, I thought, hey, this could be actually a really great concept... borrowing from others but making a completely new form. 2030? OK, so the setting will be more present day - I can live with that.
Then, I watched the show. And then the second episode. And the third.
How disappointing.
The concept should have led to a really original idea. The cast have that familiarity born of folks who have been around TV in somewhat different roles but they should be believable in these ones. I admit it - I LIKE Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan in this. Or at least, I SHOULD like them if they were actually given some material to work with. I guess the expression I am looking for is - I WANT to like them, they are working so hard.
What's wrong with the show? Well, after you get past the premise - almost everything. I don't think you can blame the cast - it is like they have been handed an armload of coal and asked to make diamonds. There just is not enough substance or originality in the writing. The jokes are various combinations of old, predictable and lame. All the spark and humour that made classics like "Night Court", "Cheers" and "Seinfeld" work is completely absent. There is also no trace of farcical or out-there innuendo that made shows like "Three's Company" and "Mork and Mindy" hilarious.
I remember in the "golden era" of the sitcom, sometimes sitting in front of my television with my ribs aching from laughing so hard. This show should have been the kind of thing that I would find somewhat hilarious. Many of the "old classic" shows have found new life in recent years by revisiting the concepts originally envisioned and updating them - for example, Battlestar Galactica. Others have touched me in different ways I have I aged and my life has evolved. Since I now have kids of my own, I often enjoy stories based on premises like "how we met" or "how we started a family" - I guess age, experience and wisdom allow me to relate well. I enjoyed "Six Feet Under" not only because of the interesting concept and brilliant writing, but because it kept me grounded in a way by reminding me to live life to its fullest because everyone is going to die.
Why am I bringing all this up? Because I think this show has, or maybe just HAD, great potential. Strong writing and a dedicated network could have turned this into the next long-running television classic sitcom in spite of this era of "reality" television and the proliferation of copycat special-FX driven crime dramas. Instead, it is just a pale imitation of the far overrated Friends wrapped in a "Wonder Years" wrapper. (Don't get me wrong, I liked Friends, but it was only really funny for a couple of seasons - I didn't LOVE it like some other sitcoms.) I'm going to try watching a little more. Heck, I gave "Joey" 4 months before I gave up on it. My advice to others would be to check it out, but don't expect too much.
You'll likely be just as disappointed as I was.
It truly became great. I am keeping the original review here, so you can see my criticisms and understand that the show grew and truly overcame them all. Over years it became brilliant. My wife and I picked it up around season 4 and watched all the prior seasons that summer, then faithfully stuck with it until the end (even when they aggravatingly created what felt like a couple of filler seasons (7 and 8) to keep milking the cash cow. When it ended, we brought my teenage kids in and watched it all again.
The thing about this show is, it's well suited to binge watching, from a time before binge watching was a thing. The occasionally clunky episode is quickly forgotten as you carry on to the next. Even the weaker seasons have both touching and hilarious moments. The much-maligned ending of the show is, from my perspective, absolutely in keeping with how the show evolved and was a very realistic and appropriate finalé.
Watch it. Push through the rough parts and you'll find it's a gem. Neil Patrick Harris is fantastic and every cast member is great, whether transient or permanent.
I hated the show in the beginning, but now I have to say it's one of my all-time favourites. Watch it, enjoy it and I hope you love it as much as we did.
-----Original Review Below----------------------------------- What can I say? I watched all the publicity all summer about this show while watching lamearse "Big Brother" on CBS and really thought I liked the idea of how this show was going to work. I pictured a sort of "Mad About You" type thing with a more expansive feel - the early days of meeting and dating evolving into what would become a long term relationship. What a tremendous premise if it was done in a "looking back" way. I even thought it might be something like a look-back-to-the-80s sort of thing although that wasn't really clear at all in the previews.
When I started watching the first episode and I saw the "Wonder Years" type narrative form, I thought, hey, this could be actually a really great concept... borrowing from others but making a completely new form. 2030? OK, so the setting will be more present day - I can live with that.
Then, I watched the show. And then the second episode. And the third.
How disappointing.
The concept should have led to a really original idea. The cast have that familiarity born of folks who have been around TV in somewhat different roles but they should be believable in these ones. I admit it - I LIKE Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan in this. Or at least, I SHOULD like them if they were actually given some material to work with. I guess the expression I am looking for is - I WANT to like them, they are working so hard.
What's wrong with the show? Well, after you get past the premise - almost everything. I don't think you can blame the cast - it is like they have been handed an armload of coal and asked to make diamonds. There just is not enough substance or originality in the writing. The jokes are various combinations of old, predictable and lame. All the spark and humour that made classics like "Night Court", "Cheers" and "Seinfeld" work is completely absent. There is also no trace of farcical or out-there innuendo that made shows like "Three's Company" and "Mork and Mindy" hilarious.
I remember in the "golden era" of the sitcom, sometimes sitting in front of my television with my ribs aching from laughing so hard. This show should have been the kind of thing that I would find somewhat hilarious. Many of the "old classic" shows have found new life in recent years by revisiting the concepts originally envisioned and updating them - for example, Battlestar Galactica. Others have touched me in different ways I have I aged and my life has evolved. Since I now have kids of my own, I often enjoy stories based on premises like "how we met" or "how we started a family" - I guess age, experience and wisdom allow me to relate well. I enjoyed "Six Feet Under" not only because of the interesting concept and brilliant writing, but because it kept me grounded in a way by reminding me to live life to its fullest because everyone is going to die.
Why am I bringing all this up? Because I think this show has, or maybe just HAD, great potential. Strong writing and a dedicated network could have turned this into the next long-running television classic sitcom in spite of this era of "reality" television and the proliferation of copycat special-FX driven crime dramas. Instead, it is just a pale imitation of the far overrated Friends wrapped in a "Wonder Years" wrapper. (Don't get me wrong, I liked Friends, but it was only really funny for a couple of seasons - I didn't LOVE it like some other sitcoms.) I'm going to try watching a little more. Heck, I gave "Joey" 4 months before I gave up on it. My advice to others would be to check it out, but don't expect too much.
You'll likely be just as disappointed as I was.
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