I guess the commercials have had me fooled all this time. Thanks for clearing that up. Maybe I should actually try and watch it.

NPH plays a straight male in the show, but he really plays it well. He's possibly the best character in the show. I do recommend watching it. I think it's truly funny and I'm really impressed how the quality has just gone up and up over the 1.5 seasons thus far.

I thought the show was terrific last year, and I really thought maybe it'd topped off, but they've come back with an absolutely stellar season so far. I can't imagine what they have in store.

I agree. Everyone actor on this show has brought their A game and the SL's do not drag. So glad Ted & Robin are together this season, without a lot of undue fuss.

Awesome episode. Wayne Brady was great, Barney was great, and everyone else was wonderful. Barney with the baby was a highlight of the entire series, and the flash forward was terrific. Marshall and Lily married in a year? Are Ted and Robin still together? Someone at TWoP pointed out that Ted and Robin weren't tired, and couples are always tired. I wish I'd picked up on that. Awesome storytelling.

Yeah I had fun watching it tonight too. I thought the whole black brother thing might be kinda dumb but it was really great. NPH, LOOOOVE him. So much. Great to see the Barney character learn and grow. I do hope we see him in a relationship at some point. Hell they should just call this the Barney show.

I too was trying to figure out if Ted and Robin were still together in a year. It's kinda fun watching their relationship, knowing it ends. Trying to find the cracks in the surface.

I think I might buy the first season on DVD, I'd like to help contribute to the network that there's a fan following, if they aren't totally aware yet.

I thought this episode was going to be cheesy, what with the "Robin is afraid to say I love you" and "Robin's sister wants to have sex" at the beginning. However, I loved the flashbacks to everyone's first times, especially Barney's head superimposed on Patrick Swayze's body.

I thought the story of Ted's and Barney's first time were really funny.

The best thing I've seen all week.

That was hysterical!

I didn't watch this show all the time last year, but now I love it. I know it was corny. but I really liked "I am Marshall!" in the mirror.

I also liked the "wedding dress camp-out"

I love this show, especially last night's episode--in fact, the final three episodes this season. I wish it did better in the ratings, but the L. A. Times is reporting that it's picked up for next season. I don't know that this show does anything really groundbreaking, but it does sit-com so well, I don't care.

Hooray! Another season for Marshall to deliver the rest of the slaps!

The storyline with Barney going on Price is Right to meet his father (Bob Barker) was one of the funniest on any sitcom in years. I almost wish they'd give Neil Patrick Harris his own spinoff, because I don't like any of the other cast members as much as I like him. I expected Alyson Hannigan to be much better at comedy than she is, since she was funny on Buffy.

I'm hoping CBS reruns some episodes over the summer, as HIMYM lost out in a three-way tie with Heroes and 24 in our household. (The dual-tuner TiVo is mighty, but occasionally even it meets its match.) So I feel like I've missed half the season... probably because, you know, I actually missed half the season. Damn.

Ever since "Zip Zip Zip" (the episode where Robin and Barney hang out as "bros"), I've been hoping the writers might put them together. I'd love to see what Neil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders could do if their characters started a friends with benefits thing.

Legen...

[wait for it]

...dary!

Seriously, why aren't more people watching this show? I do fear for the actual introduction of Ted's true love -- the "mother" of the title, which is a conceit I fear will actually sink the show, right with the damned yellow umbrella -- but Barney's demented turn as wingman was defintely worth watching.

Yeah, I think they should hold off on the mother as long as possible, but I do love small hints like the umbrella. It's hardly a major clue, but it makes me feel giddy. Maybe I'm just weird.

Really good premiere with a few instant classic lines and moments. I'll go with the beard shaving sequence as my favorite. Or maybe it's Marshall's crush on Gael. First Brad, now Gael. Marshall just needs to face that maybe bros are more than bros sometimes. No big deal. Lily's open-minded, I'm sure.

And I'd love to see Ted have to deal with having his tattoo. Poor guy. Tramp stamps are no fun.

This is one of the few sitcoms that makes me laugh out loud, and one of the few shows I missed during the strike. I don't know why it doesn't get better ratings. When I saw the title "How I Met Your Mother" I thought it was some lame, touchy-feely, family-oriented show. I never bothered watching it until a friend told me I had to. It probably doesn't have much to do with it, but I wish it was called something else.

I watched it for the first time today online. Holy crap that is some funny stuff. We'll definilley dvr it now.

AHA!!!

swtrgrl -- if you can get past episodes, watch the one that has the Slap Bet Commissioner.

In my residual giddiness from last night (Barney & Robin FTW,) I grabbed S1 on DVD today at Target (in addition to picking up FNL S2 on DVD!)

Both S1 and S2 of HIMYM are part of their discounted TV on DVD and always sell for $19.99. A real steal for a full season of TV, IMO. I'll probably pick up S2 soon as well.

Can't wait to marathon this weekend!

Not a lot can be said about last night that hasn't already been said. The build and the execution were perfect, with the writers manipulating us and nearly everyone -- even someone like me who had read the spoilers! -- just going right along with it. I mean, Craig and Carter must be sitting in their offices pleased as hell today at what they accomplished.

And honestly, though the song was no "Let's Go to the Mall," it is definitely freaking awesome and I would imagine I've listened to it 15 times today. It only gets better and more awesome as it goes along, especially when you consider this was Robin's attempt to be artistic. Just brilliant.

I highly recommend picking up seasons one and two on DVD, if you haven't already. I've been rewatching some of season one lately, and I'm not only amazed at the way the writers nailed the characters early on, but I'm also amazed at just how funny the show was. Not that it's not now, but I mean, the show really found its voice early and did a great job.

The Pineapple Incident is still television storytelling at its finest, and I think the Victoria episodes hold up remarkably well, especially since it fits into the larger picture and it all fits Ted very well. Again, it's about character.

Great, great show. Sorry, other sitcoms. You lose right now.

I discovered this show last year with the Super Bowl episode and am now an avid watcher. And I loved this weeks episode, but I'll be honest, I don't care for Robin, something about her character bugs. I really didn't want her and Barney to hook up because it feels like the writers want me to believe that Robin is some kind of Goddess that is irresistible, but I'm just not feeling it. But I do love Barney so much, and even though I still think it would be a good show without him, he really does make the show awesome.

Even if that is the case with Robin (writers wanting us to believe she is some goddess), the fact that Barney kissed (maybe more, we'll see) her doesn't matter either way. Isn't he a "dog" who beds whatever he can whenever he can?

I can't come to a conclusion about Robin as a whole yet with only having seen one episode in it's entirety.

It'll be interesting to see which way they go with the Robin/Barney hook-up. Will it just be a one-night stand that they're embarrassed and awkward about or will they have Robin and Barney in a relationship? Either way has plenty of comic potential if done right and so far, the writers have done everything right. It's one of the few shows where, even when the show takes a turn I'm not sure I'm crazy about, I don't get worried because the writers haven't let me down once.

Have I ever mentioned that I work with Jason Segal's father? When I found out, it was all I could do not to literally squeal. I maintained my calm demeanor and told him what a fan I was of his son but inside I was jumping up and down like a 12-year old school girl.

I don't feel like the writers want us to think of Robin as irresistible. After all, Ted ultimately did resist her because their personalities and hopes would never mesh.

Yeah, she's beautiful and guys lust after her, but ultimately, the show suggests that it's your hopes and dreams, not your hotness, that matters. Barney and Robin do share similar hopes and dreams, and that seed's been planted since season one. The two had fun together when he paid her to do stupid things on TV, but it wasn't until Barney found out that Robin was into cigars, laser tag, and suiting up that he tried to hit on her. He thinks she's hot, sure, but I feel like there's more to it than that.

I guess none of that really refutes your point, but I think there's something potentially there that's more than physical.

I started watching this show this season and caught up on season 1 and 2 during the fall and strike hiatus. I watched the first three episodes when they initially aired and while I liked certain aspects of the show, I didn't like it as a whole, and stopped watching it. If only I had stuck around for another episode, I would have seen how funny and great the show is, and I would have become a devoted viewer earlier in the show's run.

I think the show does lack a certain consistency. I think most of their shows are funny, but there are a few that hit it out of the park -- slap bet commissioner, the first robin sparkles, barney's 64. However, there are a few downright clunkers too. So if you caught the less-than-funny episodes, you might wonder what everyone else is talking about.

I think it's funny because I've done this too but Slap Bet is the first appearance of Robin Sparkles. They are both such genius ideas that in my head I relegate them to separate episodes, but really they just make one super awesome legendary episode.

I'm watching S1 in its entirety now and I agree episode to episode, there's some inconsistency (it's not a perfect debut season and the appearance of Ashley Williams didn't help anything) but I do appreciate the series as a whole a lot more.

I think it was really clever of the show to subvert Robin as the obvious love interest early in S1, put Ted and her together anyway, keep them together for an entire season and break them up for completely organic, character-based reasons. Smart and unconventional writing.

Hey now, I loved Victoria. It seems like a lot of people had the opposite reaction, but I liked that she matched Ted almost note-for-note with the over-the-top romance. And the writers knew it was mushy and over the top, so they had the other characters comment on it to undercut it, which was nice because Ted needs to be undercut at times.

I do agree that there are moments that didn't quite work, and I actually think the end of the season, while being mostly funny, fell too far onto the traditional side (Ted loves Robin, Ted moves on, oh wait Robin loves Ted, Ted makes mistake, Ted wins Robin), and Marshall and Lily's break up didn't have the emotional weight that it should have given that I think it was pretty firmly established they'd be married in the future. You could argue that Ted and Robin's relationship is similar, but it's more fun to look at the cracks then it is to wait for something to get patched.

So, no comments about last night?

I'm going back and forth on whether or not I want Stella to be the mother.
I loved Barney's reaction to who he loved (ROBIN!).

When I think too hard about the show, I realize the premise doesn't quite hold up. Keeping the viewers in suspense over whether or not Stella is the mother may work, but Ted's kids should have an inkling if she is or isn't. Even assuming Ted changed some names around to keep his kids in suspense, the kids should know whether or not they have an older half-sister.

All that aside, I enjoyed last night's episode. I'm glad they're going with the Barney/Robin pairing. I like the two actors together.