The Show “How I Met Your Mother”,Cast, Pictures, and Trivia!
This is a series told in a unique sort of way, with lots of flashbacks, as well as flash-forwards. It was similar in tone to the very popular series, “The Wonder Years”, in the 1980′s.
Watch”How I Met Your Mother” Online
How I Met Your Mother: The Complete Series
The basic concept of the show is the main character, Ted Mosby, (Josh Radnor) telling his children in the future, exactly how he met their mother. And during the narration of the story, the other characters are then introduced.
Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor)-Ted is an architect and a college professor, who after graduating from Wesleyan University where he met his best friends, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) and Lily Aldrin, (Alyson Hannigan) moves to New York City with them. While living in New York he meets Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) at the urinal of a bar they frequent called “MacLarens”. Barney becomes another close friend of Ted’s, also known as his “bro”. Later, he also meets Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) at the bar as well, a woman he not only becomes close friends with but also dates briefly. Though Ted is on a search for “The One”, and tends to have more dignified interests than the rest of his friends, he also has a tendency to act immature at times. This usually stems from his joining in with Barney on some of his wild and crazy activities, or from his complete and total love for “Star Wars”, so much so that he is known to be heard quoting the films.
Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel)-Marshall is the somewhat naive optimist and best friend of Ted. He comes from St. Cloud, Minnesota originally and is married to the love of his life, Lily, and though he is not from New York, he is very happy there and considers it to be his home. After meeting Ted and Lily at college, he later graduated from Columbia Law School so that he could pursue his dream of becoming an environmental lawyer, but does not see that dream come true for quite some time, due to the fact that he didn’t have enough money to marry Lily, prompting him to take a job at a corporate law firm instead. Marshall is very close to his family, although he seems to be oblivious to the fact that his mother greatly dislikes his wife. He has a strong belief in the paranormal and aliens, and believes more specifically, that both the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch truly do exist.
Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan)-Lily is one of Ted’s closest friends and the wife of Marshall. She is a happy, sweet person on the surface, although when one looks closer she does tend to be somewhat manipulative of her friends, and is known to be quite ravenous when it comes to her sex life. However, she is always there when someone needs a shoulder to cry on and is usually the one to fix any conflicts that arise within the group. Barney often refers to her as “pure evil” for her somewhat strange gift of being able to get couples who aren’t right for each other to break up. She is an amateur painter and a kindergarten teacher, and is fluent in the Italian language. She also has a somewhat underlying sexual interest in other women, and has remarked in a joking fashion on more than one occasion about the fact that she finds Robin attractive.
Funny Saying; How I Met Your Mother: Suit Up (1.5 Inch Button)
Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris)-Barney is known as the wild man of the group, both for his well-known hobbies (such as laser tag and magic tricks that involve fire) and his lifestyle in general, which is that of a wealthy playboy who will use almost any tactic there is to get a woman into bed. He works at Goliath National Bank in an unknown position, wears suits most of the time, likes women who have “daddy issues”, and believes in the absurdity of many lies that his mother told him while he was growing up. Most notably that Bob Barker, who was the game show host of “The Price Is Right”, is his father. He has a vast knowledge of designer labels and gourmet food, waxes his chest, enjoys manicures and has a problem with gambling. His reluctance to be in a committed relationship stems mostly from the fact that his father abandoned him when he was only a child. And though he is shown to be somewhat devoid of morality, he also shows a softer side from time to time.
Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders)-Robin is the friend of the entire group after moving to New York City from Canada to pursue a career in journalism. This of course was only after her minor career as a teenage pop star by the name of Robin Sparkles. For an entire year she performed her one hit single, “Let’s Go to the Mall” on a mall tour, causing her to have a serious dislike of shopping malls for a long period of time. After she arrives in New York, she gets a job as a news anchor for a cable news channel, is independent and always seems to be full of confidence. She is somewhat like Barney in that she does not really want that “normal” sort of lifestyle with marriage and children. She does not like the way that her father raised her, but still enjoys many of the things that she grew up with such as drinking Scotch, smoking cigars, playing Frisbee, guns and hockey.
My Opinion
This show is interesting and fun to watch. It has a strong cast and great writing that keeps throwing in little surprises along the way. I give this show 7 out of 10.
The Cast
Ted Mosby-Josh Radnor
Marshall Eriksen-Jason Segel
Lily Aldrin-Alyson Hannigan
Barney Stinson-Neil Patrick Harris
Robyn Scherbatsky-Cobie Smulders
Daughter-Lyndsy Fonseca
Son-David Henrie
The Mother-Cristin Milioti
Bob Saget-Voice only of Future Ted
Recurring Cast
Ranjit-Marshall Manesh
Carl-Joe Nieves
Wendy-Charlene Amoia
Victoria-Ashley Williams
Judy Eriksen-Suzie Plakson
James Stinson-Wayne Brady
Zoey Pierson-Jennifer Morrison
Marvin Eriksen, Sr.-Bill Fagerbakke
Patrice-Ellen D. Williams
Mickey Aldrin-Chris Elliott
Stella Zinman-Sarah Chalke
Linus-Robert Belushi
Quinn Garvey-Becki Newton
Loretta Stinson-Frances Conroy
Marcus Eriksen-Ned Rolsma
Kevin-Kal Penn
Sandy Rivers-Alexis Denisof
Nora-Nazanin Boniadi
Mike-Ron Nicolosi
Daphne-Sherri Sheperd
Arthur Hobbs-Bob Odenkirk
The Captain-Kyle MacLachlan
Brad Morris-Joe Manganiello
Nick Petteruti-Michael Trucco
Stuart-Matt Boren
Virginia Mosby-Cristine Rose
Scooter-David Burtka
Billy Zabka-William Zabka
Don Frank-Benjamin Koldyke
Bilson-Bryan Callen
Robin Scherbatsky, Sr.-Ray Wise
Gary Blauman-Taran Killam
Marvin Eriksen, Jr.-Robert Michael Ryan
Trivia
Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson) played the role of Doogie Howser in the television series, “Doogie Howser, M.D.”.
Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, who created the series, based it loosely on their friendship when they were both living in New York City. The character of Ted Mosby is based on Bays, while Marshall and Lily are based on Thomas and his wife, Rebecca. Although initially, Thomas’ wife was somewhat hesitant to have a character based on her, she agreed, but only if they could get actress Alyson Hannigan to play the role. Luckily, the timing was right, and Hannigan was available.
Alyson Hannigan (Lily Aldrin) is a spokesperson for breast cancer.
All of the scenes with Ted’s future children (David Henrie and Lyndsy Fonseca) were filmed during the series very first season, in order to keep the children at the same age throughout the entire show.
Josh Radnor and Lindsay Price (Cathy) dated from 2008 to 2009, after meeting for the first time during shooting of a “How I Met Your Mother” episode.
Neil Patrick Harris went to the same high school as fellow actor, Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky) was an international model in her late teens and early 20′s, and then she had the opportunity to start auditioning for television and film.
The show has a tradition of using euphemisms for issues that are culturally sensitive. Some of these include, “thumbs up” for giving the middle finger, “eating a sandwich” for smoking marijuana and playing the bagpipes” for noisy sex acts.
Jason Segel (Marshall Eriksen) is not only an actor, but a musician and songwriter as well. Many of his songs have been in a myriad of different projects, “Freaks and Geeks”, “Get Him to the Greek”, “Meeting Sarah Marshall”, and of course, How I Met Your Mother, to name just a few.
Three of the series’ main actors have been able to have their significant others in numerous episodes with them. These were: Neil Patrick Harris’ fiancé, David Burtka who played Scooter, Alyson Hannigan’s husband, Alex Denisof played Sandy Rivers, and Cobie Smulders boyfriend, Taran Killam played Blauman.
Neil Patrick Harris loves the drink Red Bull so much, that the company actually gave him a lifetime supply, as well as a mini-refrigerator, all because of the large amount of free advertising that he has given to it.
During much of the filming for season four, Alyson Hannigan was pregnant. But with the exception of one episode, “The Possimpible”, where Lily has just won a hot dog-eating contest and has a comically swollen stomach, her pregnancy was never shown. Also, just after Hannigan let the show-runners know about her pregnancy, Cobie Smulders found out that she was also pregnant, giving the costumers twice as much to do and hide.
Cobie Smulders was born Jacoba Francisca Maria Smulders. She was named for her great-Aunt, who also was the one to give her the nickname of “Cobie”.
Alyson Hannigan played a witch named Willow Rosenberg, on the television series, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.
How I Met Your Mother shut down production during the 2007-2008 Writer’s Guild of America strike. They returned once the strike was over.
Jason Segel is an Ordained Minister and actually married couple Jason and Abbe Wood, on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in 2010. This was only the second marriage to ever be performed on the show. The first was in 1969, with Tiny Tim and Vicki Budinger. Johnny Carson was the host at that time.
Neil Patrick Harris received “The Trevor Life Award” in 2009. This award honors an “individual who, through his or her example, support, volunteerism and/or occupation, is an inspiration to Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual, Transgender, or Questioning youth.” The award itself is given by The Trevor Project, which is a national crisis and suicide prevention organization that helps LGBTQ young persons who are contemplating suicide or are facing rejection from their families. Harris was elected to the Board of Directors of The Trevor Project the following year.
Most of the websites on the show were actually real. Some examples are; www.canadiansexacts.org and www.stinsonbreastreduction.com. The website www.LilyandMarshallselltheirstuff.com, was actually created for charity and different objects from the series were then auctioned off.
Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby) was the class president of his high school.
The song that made the character of Robin a pop star when in her teens, “Let’s Go to the Mall”, is available on the dancing game, “Just Dance 3″.
Cobie Smulders is a certified scuba diver and at one time planned on studying marine biology.
Neil Patrick Harris and his life partner, David Burtka, had twins (a boy and girl) via a surrogate mother in 2010. They are both a biological father of one their twins. When the eggs were ready, they chose two and inserted them, one with Harris’s sperm and one with Burtka’s, and both took. They don’t know which child is whose.
Although the creators of the show did not know it when they hired him, they later found out that Josh Radnor is allergic to dogs.
Jason Segel was on the 1996 and 1997 CIF state champion boys’ basketball team in high school.
Alyson Hannigan has been married to her husband, fellow actor Alexis Denisof, since 2003. Their wedding was actually featured in the February 2004 issue of “InStyle Magazine”. They have two daughters.
In the seventh season, you can actually see late night talk show host, Conan O’Brien, in the background of the gang’s well-known hangout, “MacLarens Pub”.
Neil Patrick Harris told Howard Stern that he had his ears pinned back surgically, so that they did not stick out as much as they did when he was younger.
Josh Radnor was raised in Conservative Judaism, and went to Jewish day schools while growing up.
After the series ended, Neil Patrick Harris kept the Playbook and the booth they all sat in at MacLaren’s and Josh Radnor kept the blue French horn. Creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, as well as director Pamela Fryman each own one of the three yellow umbrellas.
Cobie Smulders was #9 on the Maxim list of Hot 100 Women in 2011.
Jason Segel loves Disneyland.
In 2013, CBS and 20th Century Fox Television announced that they will be launching a new series entitled, “How I Met Your Dad”, and it will be executive-produced by Carter Bays, Craig Thomas and Emily Spivey. The new show, however, will not tie in with original series.
Neil Patrick Harris has hosted the Tony Awards four times. Only Angela Lansbury has hosted it more times with a total of five.
The highest rated episode out of the entire series, was the two-part finale.
Alyson Hannigan once went on vacation with Bob Saget’s family, and also babysat his children when she was in her teens. Years later of course, she ended up working with Saget on How I Met Your Mother, as Saget does the voice of future Ted.
Josh Radnor made his Broadway debut in 2002, in the stage version of “The Graduate”.
Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, who are the writers, co-creators and producers of the show, are members of the band, “The Solids”, which sings the theme song of the show “Hey Beautiful”.
The character of Robin Scherbatsky is from Vancouver. And Cobie Smulders, who plays the role is from Vancouver as well.
Jason Segel has a Jewish father and a Christian mother.
The bar that the group frequented throughout the series, “MacLarens”, was based on four real life bars that were favorites of Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, as well as others from “Late Show with David Letterman”, which is where Bays and Thomas worked as writers when they lived in New York. The four bars were, “McGee’s”, “McHale’s”, “Chumley’s” and “Fez”. All of the four are closed now, with the exception of McGee’s.
Cobie Smulders is only two days younger than husband, Taran Killam. They have one child.
Alyson Hannigan got a temporary restraining order against a resident of New Hampshire, John Hobbs, in 2013. Hobbs had been sending her obsessive messages through the internet that were also threatening to the point of wanting to meet and possibly murder her. Only one month after the restraining order was granted, it was then extended to last for four more years.
In 2010, Neil Patrick Harris was named as one of “Time Magazine’s” 100 Most Influential People in the World.
How I Met Your Mother won the “People’s Choice Award” in 2012 for “Favorite Network TV Comedy”.
