How I Met Your Mother - Season Two

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor

Directors: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Country: USA

Year: 2006

The sweet, snarky charms of How I Met Your Mother are in full force on this clever sitcom's second season. The show's conceit is that it's all from the point of view of the future self of Ted Mosby (played in our time by Josh Radnor, voiced in the future by Bob Saget), telling his kids the story of how he met their mother--a character that, two seasons in, has yet to be introduced. Instead, the show revolves around Ted's romantic pursuit of Robin (Cobie Smulders) and the cozy relationship of Ted's best friends, Lily (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's beloved Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel from another cult show, Freaks and Geeks). Careen...

 

How I Met Your Mother - Season Three

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor

Directors: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Country: USA

Year: 2007

No other sitcom is as gleefully inventive as How I Met Your Mother. The basic setup is familiar stuff: Five charming, good-looking twentysomethings pal around New York City seeking love and happiness. But many episodes have a narrative trick. For example, when his friends try to persuade Ted (Josh Radnor) from going on a date with the doctor removing the butterfly tattoo he got while drunk, their justifications send the show careening back and forth among three interconnected flashbacks. Other episodes repeat scenes from different perspectives, or leap forward, or interrupt scenes to provide necessary exposition. None of this is groundbreakin...

 

How I Met Your Mother - Season Four

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor

Directors: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Country: USA

Year: 2008

The fourth season of the charming sitcom How I Met Your Mother (or HIMYM to fans) remains as inventive yet as heartfelt as ever. The writers pull off all kinds of narrative tricks, and though events are sometimes absurd, they never feel gimmicky--the show has a solid grip on its characters and keeps everything grounded in their ongoing lives. Devoted womanizer Barney (Neil Patrick Harris, riding a wave of popularity in the wake of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) can't understand why he's having actual feelings for Robin (Cobie Smulders), whose career as a TV anchorwoman is floundering. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) struggl...

 

How I Met Your Mother - Season Five

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor

Directors: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Country: USA

Year: 2009

Season Five is not just another day at The Office, delivering break-ups, corporate shake-ups, and a game-changing finale that, as with Jim (John Krasinski), should leave you ecstatic and speechless. The writers continue their masterful handling of the Jim and Pam (Jenna Fischer) romance, taking care of some unfinished business from last season's finale in the season opener with a glorious rain-swept gas station proposal. Their initial separation--while she attends art school in New York--avoids the usual sitcom mechanics ("We are not that couple," Jim states as he aborts a panicked trip to see her). The course of true love is no smoother for ...

 

How I Met Your Mother - Season Six

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor

Directors: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Country: USA

Year: 2010

Available Quality: Hi Def, iPod, Hi Def

Ted meets Cindy again, and sees her with a woman which he presumes is her roommate, only to learn that she is actually Cindy's girlfriend. It is also revealed that Ted first meets his wife while acting as best man at a wedding (during which he is caught outside in the rain without an umbrella). Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily start trying for a baby.Barney's mother decides to sell the house he grew up in. While packing their mother's house, James and Barney see an unsent letter to Sam Gibbs, which leads to their discovery that Sam Gibbs was the father of James. Loretta offers the identity of Barney's father on a sheet of paper, but Barney tears ...

 

How I Met Your Mother - Season Seven

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor, Bob Saget

Directors: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Country: USA

Year: 2011

Egged on by his best friend's upcoming nuptials, Ted believes he finds the woman of his dreams in Robin -- though destiny might have something different in mind.

 

How I Met Your Mother - Season One

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor

Directors: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Country: USA

Year: 2005

If the end of Friends left a hole in your life, take a look at How I Met Your Mother. Quirky young urban folk grappling with life and love--check. Charming, good-looking actors who aren't afraid of looking like idiots for the sake of a good joke--check. Crisp, solid writing that sticks comfortably within the sitcom format, but is fresh enough to nudge the show into surprising and inventive moments--check. In fact, the creators of How I Met Your Mother should be embarrassed by how close they hew to the Friends formula--except that they do it so well. Let's face it, Friends didn't invent this territory (tales of twentysomething life), they just...