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

Guys. Is it just me, or has the writing gone way, way, way downhill? Please tell me I just watched a bum copy of the season premiere, and that this hasn't just become the worst sitcom on television. :'(

That's um, a bit overdramatic, I think. It was okay but lacking a bit, I guess. And for goodness sakes, have you seen what's on the air a half hour later? (though I didn't stick around for the Jenna Elfman show, so that could have been even worse)

I guess I'm just really in shock. I felt like the writing really tanked, and it sounded like they even turned the laugh track way up.

I was looking forward to it, and I couldn't even finish the episode

Really? I thought it was hilarious

i don't think we've ever got as far as even season two on british tv. first was shown twice on the bbc (bbc3 then bbc2) and now e4(?) is showing them again from the beginning. my absolute favourite episode of season one, Drumroll Please, is on tonight as it happens. hopefully they will continue onto the later seasons when they've finished with the first.

I thought it sucked a bit and I agree on the laughtrack thing. It still had good points (lol whip) but I think they just need a bit of time to sort out the new dynamics of the group, especially after spending most of last season without the girls and now Robin is in a relationship with a new Barney and Ted's going to get a new girlfriend, it's going to take a bit of time. Also be glad to see the end of Lily obsessing over Robin/Barney.

Also, is the mother an economics student? Because I guess that at least avoids the cliche of sleeping with a girl in yr class.

yeah, it wasn't the greatest episode, but ted teaching was pretty funny. big bang theory was better last night. i really should start a seperate BBT thread, but i don't know if anyone would care. then again, i didn't think anyone would care about this thread...

xp yeah, she was in the economics class. though if she turns out to be an undergrad it's still a bit creepy. i admit i laughed at the PROFE bit

as much as i hate that show, i think a BBT thread would get enough attention to warrant it (that is, just enough)

last night was pretty funny to me. i try to live in the moment and laugh or not at what's in front of me, although really how many shows can you say were still at to the top of their game by the 5th season anyway? if it's a mild decline in quality i can live with that.

definitely leaning towards some dude's attitude. also, this show usually has sub-par season openers

yeah and the last season concluded without anything really left unanswered apart from the B-ROmance (ha) so it's not surprising that this episode is more of a setting-up-themes episode.

i liked it (lol'd at flashback to tuxedo night) but then I've missed these characters so much.

seems stupid to call a shark-jump after one 22-minute episode!!! didnt think it was taht great but hopefully theyll be done w/ ghey robin/barney stuff for the season and just go back to lols

marshall was as always the mvp

they're probably gonna do a pregnant lily storyline, so the lols shall be killed henceforth

nah i kid, actually i'm pretty optimistic they'll keep it going well

i have hopes it could actually get better. last season was all awkward transition; now we know the end is in sight and they have clear storylines (last season they had... umm, barney kind of liked a girl, they were all a bit uncertain about jobs, lol ted having a shit year - which may all be realistic but it never really went anywhere, especially while not being able to use a character) they can actually work around something. this show has always been best when doing stuff, basically.

http://have-you-met-ted.com/wp-content/uploads/robin-dopple.jpg
http://have-you-met-ted.com/wp-content/uploads/marshall-dopple.jpg

good episode imo

To be fair, you could just have twenty minutes of Lindsay Sloane doing anything and it would be great telly. But have her as a person who dresses her cats in supervillain outfits and add in moustache marshall and you have something well worth watching.

really funny episode - as often is, the marshall storylines were the best. dying lily fantasy/stripper fantasy, doppelgaggers, awesome.

basically everybody but ted was great (yeah i know i can't stop saying this). this bit from tvsquad nailed it for me:

But two things didn't sit well with me, and one of them wasn't the fact that Ted didn't call Jen back in 2002 (that seems like a Ted thing to do). The first thing was that, even after the mediocre date, 2002 Ted and Jen would still kiss at the end of it. The second thing is that at the end of the second date, 2009 Ted would suddenly realize that he likes being douchey and lame, and wants whoever he's with to like his douchey lameness. That seems more like something season one Ted would say, not the older, supposedly more mature season five Ted.

goddamn douchey ted. a friend of mine said, "it's funny, I guess the whole point of his story last night was that he doesn't actually grow and change".

Lindsay Sloane has stans, who knew?

i worry a lot that jason segel is going to leave the show

Not stanning, she's just very nice on the eye.

why? it's not like I Love You, Man's gross was so amazing that he'd feel too big to do a show that he seems to really enjoy making. (xpost)

I too was worrying about Jason leaving but I do think he just loves sitcoms. He's essentially been playing the same guy since Freaks & Geeks, though he may have been playing Mustache Marshall in Undeclared..

lol...i dunno i've thought about it, he definitely has a 'type,' but his characters in How, F&G, Undeclared, FSM, etc. are all at least in different enough situations that they're all pretty distinct, and he kind of has different levels of dorkiness/emotional neediness/goofiness for each of them.

Sooooo much better this week.

BOWL

best episode in like forever. dug it a bunch.

such a goofy show. i love it though.

really like this show's depiction of relatively realistic career arcs (i.e. basically none of the characters ending up with the jobs that they want)

is marshall still working at barney's bank?

i mean they all still have pretty ridiculous jobs but yeah

so glad this is easily watchable online (cbs, and tvguide.com apparently). i don't remember that being the case before this season.

i dunno about tvguide but it's been on cbs.com for a while

easily watchable, that is

guess i was just busy last season

silly penguins acting all fancy

loooooooooooooool

great when they break out the ted storytelling lies, the thumbs up replacement and robin's non-erogenous zones

really liked marshall's elaborate fantasy sequence from last week's episode

Barack Obama Jr.?

that whole fantasy thing was a king of queens episode, although it was way funnier on himym of course.

I want a full version of the cat funeral song.

i couldn't watch this tonight! will have to watch tomorrow on the interweb.

that cat funeral song was indeed tops

http://www.itwasthebestnightever.com/

Don't usually like or regularly watch this show, but cat funeral song won me over truly, madly, deeply. Meow meow backups FTW.

ridic dope episode imo

seemed like a burlesque of itself last night, with lots of screaming and out-of-character plot-required mood swings. some decent set pieces but when old-timey barney avoided the hand of a woman with a beard i saw a shark in the water. but that's season 5 of anything for you.