Thursday , March 28 2024
There's a show out there "on the bubble" and we all need to give it a helping hand.

Looking Towards Next Fall and Season Four of How I Met Your Mother

To clear up a misconception, not only do I watch an inordinate amount of television, I read an inordinate amount about television. After all, how can one fully stay up on the television news if one does not read about it as well as watch it?

Well, one of the things I’ve read recently has troubled me, troubled me greatly. One of the best shows on television, perhaps the funniest comedy on television, may not get renewed for next season; it is, as the people say, “on the bubble.” I’m counting on you, dear reader, to watch the show when it returns next month, to get all your friends to watch the show, and to get all their friends to watch the show. A world in which How I Met Your Mother does not get a fourth season is not necessarily a world I want to be a part of.

Oh sure, you’ve heard me rant and rave before about How I Met Your Mother is one of the funniest shows on television, about how Neil Patrick Harris is deserving of an Emmy for his portrayal of Barney Stinson, and about how the cast, in general, is superb. But, talk is cheap — now is the time for action. Now is the time for you to click your remote and watch CBS Monday nights at 8.

Sure, sure, some of the same pieces that state that HIMYM is on the bubble also state that the odds are good that it will get renewed because next year would be its fourth and it could then enter the syndication market, but that’s not a risk I want to take. That’s not a risk you should want to take. You should want, as I do, to protect HIMYM’s run via its ratings, not just the possibility of copious amounts of syndication money.

The one show on television that might be able to rival HIMYM in terms of bringing the funny is The Office, but which is funnier depends on exactly what episode is being watched. If you’re looking at one of The Office’s episodes with “heart” and comparing it to the funny that is Robin Sparkles, Robin Sparkles (one of the characters’ rock star alter-ego from back in the day) is unquestionably funnier. Here, watch Robin Sparkles’s music video and see what I mean.

Genius, right? Pure genius. But the funny of HIMYM doesn’t end there, there’s also the famed “You Just Got Slapped” video.

Do you really want to let this sort of funny leave your television forever? Do you really want to pass up the chance to find out who exactly the mother of Ted’s children is? Do you really want me to harangue you all next year about how you let one of the funniest comedies on television die out of your insistence on watching Dancing With The Stars or My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad? You know that you can miss one or two dances with the “stars” and still have a pretty good idea of what’s going on in that show tuning in 30 minutes late. Plus, 20% of you have a DVR, so DVR Dancing and watch HIMYM. I promise you that it’s not a decision you’ll regret.

The show is legendary, and you’re missing it.

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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