i know i'm one of the only people on ilx who watches *how i met your mother* on a regular basis, but did anyone else see the robin sparkles episode? where robin didn't want people to know that she had

^^^^^^^^

& bonus points for pseudo-Big Lebowski homage (flying in the sky, listening to The Man in Me)

http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/ha_ha_ha_i_can_t_believe_how

it's funnier than that onion article

rules of engagement is funnier than that article

srsly my favorite show on tv. i love 30 rock but there is not a bit of sentimentality in that show, it's all slapstick. this show is a joy to watch for other reasons.

+1. this show is mad deep imo - chars inhabit a world so much more fully than in 30 rock feel like these dudes are my neighbors whereas 30 rock is always on tv. used to think that 30 rock had better jokes but now i think that its just that himym is on a next level like two episodes ago the runner about barney cheering for the villian in movies is a bite of a thrown off gag about kenneth thinking the kids in footloose were evil but a) himym's was funnier and b) that joke in that episode had all sorts of sly resonance to ideas abt the viewer and interpretation in context.

not tryna be sum sitcom theory dbag or anything and the show is mostly awesome cuz it brings lulz but yah it has something extra 30 rock doesnt imo

i would like to give a brief shout-out to big bang theory on monday. sheldon drinking his first cup of coffee and the whole episode were a hoot.

i love how you just won't start a big bang theory thread

Love that they are just refusing to make Lilly pregnant. This episode w/ loose pajamas and magazines in front of her working, it will great if they can carry on getting away with it.

is cobie smulders pregnant now also, y/n?

y

the best was having lily stand behind a giant globe

the hot-dog eating contest!

Oh, that one's gotta be the winner!

i wonder if theyre gonna be done shooting before the babby is due

It'll likely be close - according to wiki both actresses are due this spring. The weird thing is it really seemed like they were going to write in Hannigan's pregnancy, when they did that "one year later" bit a few months ago and they showed Lily not drinking the expensive liquor with everybody else. (Though personally I'm still hoping they avoid doing any pregnancy/children storylines at all in the show.)

In Entertainment Weekly they said they filmed the finale back in January because of the pregnancy.

but I feel like the show is more and more acknowledging that Ted is an annoying jerk, and he dates mostly annoying women,

i think this actually makes him more relatable to me

i cd write a whole essay abt the show but the real selling points on it 4 me are:

1) arresting & original narrative structure both along the axis of the entire series & w/in specific episodes (i.e. every dam show does something new & interesting w/ how it tells the story & the way it locates its arc)

2) recognizable, relatable characters (i.e. not totally corny/embarrassing depictions of what its like being yung in nyc--yes i cringe @ the wilco refs but i cringe when i hear real life 30 yr olds talk abt wilco too)

3) the way those 2 things overlap (i.e. the way that ted tells his stories & relates his characters is both realistic AND narratively daring--like those episodes where he tells 1/2 the story and then is like "oh wait i forgot tell u abt this other thing" and that other thing is the final 1/2 the story--or the goat)

yeah...the way they set up Ted and his relationships is generally more realistic and internally consistent than the Seinfeld-style "male protagonist's girlfriend of the week has this quirk or this flaw that will have comedic payoff x," which enriches the character whether or not he's being more or less jerky at the moment.

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i had completely erased wilco refs from my memory

lol there are at least 2 including ted trying to have a threesome--winnie cooper is all "wheres that wilco cd you said we shd to listen to"

i do like the fact that for better or worse the corny music beds/references seem kind of like sincere representations of the creators' tastes and not just product placement, and there's as much 'classic' college rock (the Replacements, the Pretenders, Big Star) as there is contemporary lol indie.

besides, ted def seems like a wilco kinda guy.

well yeah i actually thought wilco worked there--it didnt really seem like it was trying too hard, and wilco is pretty big, and honestly, i bet ted loves the shit out of wilco

xp ya--the dude i know who reminds me of ted exactly is a wilco fan, so

lol they also refd the breeders & sonic youth in one episode

yah u three are otm the music refs in this show (including ted breaking up w/ a girl because she listened to creed which was lol) seem v. in character. its not stuff id listen to but i dont mind it and found the scene that had "here comes the regular" playing over it kind of moving

wilco isn't really that obscure, it would be worse if they were dropping crystal stilts and a place to bury strangers references

more lol that the creed cd belonged to marshall! xp

wilco isn't really that obscure, it would be worse if they were dropping crystal stilts and a place to bury strangers references

could be! helped make your post terrible at the very least

dont think anyone was saying wilco was obscure

srsly enough about the use of other people's music - this show rules just for giving us "let's go to the mall" and "ted mosby is a jerk".

i actually found ted yelling at lily pretty riveting! like, in a dramatic acting kinda way. can't say i am riveted by too many sitcoms these days.

yeah i agree scott, i didnt really rate that actor but i was totally impressed w/ his performance in this ep

the more i think abt it the more i loved that episode i was sitting here loling at future lily yelling BRIDGE! but they got a lot of emotional/character stuff done as well

"i see your bridge and raise you three bridges"

btw it's kind of surprising that the dude who plays ted hasn't shown up in any terrible romantic comedies yet

the best part of the bridge sequence was they were mixing the red-backed and the blue-backed cards together, in a totally absurd using multiple decks of cards kind of way.
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most shudder-worthy music moment was the belle and sebastian thing imo

also worked imo. that girl really seemed like a belle and sebastian type with the soft toys and candles and such.

yeah but like they had cds propped up there that wouldn't have been released at that time and i was like wtf guys this doesn't make sense

i dont remember the belle & sebastian thing

haha oh ok - yeah i wouldn't know about that. chalk it up to future ted getting the dates wrong again or something.

xp max, the girl who beat ted up after he broke up with her (twice) on her birthday was a belle and sebastian fan.

I think he dated a girl who was obsessed with.. chickfactor? I do remember the LOL-gigantic pile of B&S cds all stacked up on top of each other

'we rule the school' was the song that was playing, unless i'm remembering it very very wrong.

how have i missed so many episodes!

oooh I think you're right Gukbe! All I remembered was a slow tempo :)

It feels like to me they've toned down a lot of the musical references (probably to save the annoyances of inevitably cutting them from the DVD releases, which is really weak in this day and age - most shows have that locked up before broadcast now) but I have to admit I smiled when they used a song from Terror Twilight at the end of one of the first season eps.

(also I agree, I think they just have good taste in general, it's not a cynical ploy)

the fact that they've used 2 Pavements songs and they've both been from Terror Twilight is imo something that put them in a corny overload danger zone

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is the music different on the dvds?