Here’s a show that I forgot to include in my favorites list: CBS’s best comedy (in my opinion), How I Met Your Mother. As much as I love this show, I somehow completely missed season 7 – as in, didn’t even catch a millisecond of one episode. Soon after realizing that I neglected an entire season of the show, I also realized that the first six seasons are available on Netflix Instant. Yay!
I’m still tackling Alfred Hitchcock Presents (and will be posting those R&Rs for a looong time to come), but I’ve decided to re-watch HIMYM as well. I finished season one last Saturday and am currently working my way through season two. Here are my thoughts on the first season of HIMYM, for this week’s Off Topic Thursday!
Funniest episode: “Matchmaker” (episode 7)
There are two main scenarios going on in this episode:
- Ted visits a matchmaking business, Love Solutions, and the matchmaker finds that Ted only has one good match — who happens to be an engaged dermatologist. Ted visits the dermatologist’s office pretending that he wants to get a mole on his back checked out, and uses the info from the engaged woman’s profile to try to woo her.
- Marshall and Lily discover an odd creature in the apartment which appears to be part cockroach, part mouse. They name it the “cockamouse” and attempt to trap it. Just about everyone is skeptical of their story, but they’re determined to trap the creature and figure out what it is.
The “cockamouse” saga leaves me literally laughing out loud every time I watch this episode (and I’ve watched it many, many times — it’s one of my favorites in the series). Camryn Manheim is a hilarious guest star as the frazzled love guru. Plus, I love the episodes where Ted comes off as a bit creepy (I find it very funny), and he definitely lets his creep flag fly here as he obsesses over his 9.6 match.
Most emotional moments: I have two answers for this one.
- Robin and Ted’s midnight kiss in episode 11, “The Limo”
I’m not a Robin/Ted fan, but they killed me with cuteness a little bit in this episode. Ted has hired a limo to take the gang to a bunch of different New Year parties. Robin decides not to tag along, because she has a date with her very rich boyfriend. She gets stood up, they pick her up in the limo… and then her date finally shows up, ruining Ted’s chances. But at midnight, Robin follows Ted out of the limo and kisses him at midnight. Ted flip-flops a lot in his feelings for Robin in this season, but in this episode he seems so lovestruck that you can’t help but root for him.
- Lily leaves Marshall in episode 22, “Come On”
The rest of the episode is generally quite happy. Ted succeeds in bringing the rain back to NYC (literally – he does a rain dance and the rain shows up) to stop Robin’s camping trip and win her over. Success for Ted! But that mood is immediately brought down at the very end of the episode, when Ted returns from his night with Robin to find Marshall moping on the apartment steps. I love Lily and Marshall together, and Jason Segel’s performance in this scene makes my little heart break for them.
Favorite moment: Marshall and Lily’s jail cell conversation in episode 9, “Belly Full of Turkey”
Lily is jailed for public urination after taking a pregnancy test behind a Minnesota convenience store. Marshall, mildly horrified and definitely embarrassed by his fiance’s arrest (which his whole Minnesotan family has also learned the details of), heads to jail to pick her up. They get into a bit of an argument at first, but the conversation ends up with terribly cute future talk about how it doesn’t matter where they raise their kids as long as they’re together. I’m a total sap for loving this, but it’s definitely one of my favorite moments of the season.
Lily: “Yeah, what are the rules to that game anyway?”
Marshall: “There are no rules, we just wail on each other.” (Screen capture by TMP)
Re-watching the first season reaffirmed my love for this show. It was just as hilarious and lovable as I remember thinking it was when I watched it in the original run. The cast has the best sitcom chemistry since Friends.
(If you liked this post, keep an eye out for more episode/season reflections of non-Hitchcock television shows on future Off Topic Thursdays!)
The Motion Pictures 