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Saturday, October 16, 2010

How I Met Your Mother (2005 - )

On First attempt, I watched three episodes of the first season. I’ve seen films as long as 4 hours (Once upon a time in America) and I can’t remember myself feel time move slower than it did for each episode of “How I met your mother”. If you take an IQ test before and after watching an episode, and plot a graph, it would result in a downward slope. Its objective is to burn your brain cells and it is successful at doing so. Well done. Its setting has some random guy whom you don’t see on screen (Thank the creators for that, we have enough imbeciles on one show) telling his kids how he met their mother. They feel like they’re being punished. Unfortunately, they’re not alone. We, the audience, feel more punishment than any of them. (For those of you who’re fans of the series, I feel I’d be being rude if I didn’t put it in imbecile-friendly words-I don’t mean it’s because we empathize with them but because the show is excruciating (Oh, forgive me, I mean painful))

People around didn’t take my criticism lightly and urged me to watch it again, this time with the suspension of disbelief. I didn’t want to be a contrarian, so I gave it a second chance with episodes “Swarley” and “Stuff” from Season 2. It was a laugh riot. The series' creators, the joke. A horrible, mind numbing experience is what it was. It’s no surprise though, that its acquired a huge fan following, a majority of which, probably includes lonely women who’re willing to go to the extent of spending time with a charismatic (effeminate in my opinion) supporting TV character to make up for their insipid life, and guys who’re trying to learn one-night-stand moves from the same, Barney Stinson. Sure, he’s a funny character but what’s new? We’ve seen so many of them. On the contrary, there is something that’s sincerely funny- Neil Patrick Harris while being a homosexual in real life plays a straight guy here. And fans are thinking “Wow, what a daring actor.” He disappears into a character that’s defined to the T by one word, womanizer. Alas! How could I forget the pitch perfect dialogue delivery of larger-than-life dialogues such as “Suit up.” Each time Harris says that, it’s his dignity he’s suiting down.

Everyone involved in this is trying so hard to sell. Slow down, there’re enough whores in the industry. There’s not an ounce of sense, realism, subtlety or creativity. ‘The Simpsons’ is more realistic and its characters despite being more improbable are believable. I know. I know. You’re probably going to say, so what “it’s fun!” Fun? Only if the rest of your day involves staring at the hour hand of a clock.

In a season where Martin Scorsese has stepped into the television scene and directed the pilot of “Boardwalk Empire”, there’re actually people waiting for the next season of “How I met your mother.” Just what the hell? If you watch and enjoy this drivel so much, let me let you in on a little secret, the creators have no respect for the intelligence of the viewers and hence the excessive use of canned laughter. They don’t believe you’ll get the jokes unless they prompt it with previously recorded laughter. And You? You think they’re AMAZING. Please, have a little self-respect.

Rating - 3/10, for a culturally fitting opening theme.

16 comments:

  1. this is gonna piss off quite a few ppl! njoi the insults!!

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  2. Piss them off and hopefully open their eyes too.

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  3. Lol.

    Well, I happen to be one person among the many millions who watch this show. It's on its sixth season and I really don't mind saying I haven't missed a single episode. :|

    I'd always wondered why people thought F.R.I.E.N.D.S was so fucking awesome and funny? I never could take those corny jokes. And to a point I felt the same way about How I Met Your Mother. I was in the hostel, and everyday my roommates and others would watch it right from season one. Then, at the end of season 2, something happened. It happened to grow on me. The screenplays started to get creative. They started to experiment with the structure, the gags got just a little wittier. True most could be predicted, but the few that couldn't were really funny. Ah, well.

    I don't think I needed to 'open my eyes'. I knew it's faults, anyway. And I don't need to justify my liking for it. (Although, the last episode, though structured very creatively, had some witless humor.)

    Nice, write-up there. Good language, etc. To each his own. :)

    Arjun.

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  4. "Entertainment" is the word. There is a real world and there is a reel world. I dont mind watching a mind numbingly stupid serial if it makes me smile. All entertainment need not be real and sad and with twists and turns as u like it!and mind u just because u like it does not male it any good :)
    Bitte!! Bitte!! replace the phrase " ME , the audience" to " ME,the audience".

    Deepa

    Arjun rightly put it " To each his own"

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  5. Error
    "We .the audience " to
    Me the audience.

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  6. Great review. I can't believe I haven't watched a single episode of this show. I feel left out... (This is Nick L. by the way)

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  7. Haha, Lol @ "Me , the audience." Yeah, to each his own.

    Nick, don't bother unless you're looking to write a hateful review. Do it after you watch a string of good films, just to calm yourself down.

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  8. Very nice review. And I do get where you're coming from.
    Having said that, I'm still a fan of the series :D
    Not because of the canned laughter, exaggerated characters or dialogues; but because they portray relationships in a very different light that I find refreshing.
    I would definitely say HIMYM is a much more thought provoking serial than Friends.
    But -Agreed- The Simpsons' subtle humour and disguised satire would win hands down.

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  9. I agree its a dumb comedy, thought sometimes one might watch it for timepass..

    p.s. was Surenfra's favourite series.. lol..

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  10. Surendra's favourite series? Now that just confirms everything I've said above.

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  11. "Homosexual who wishes to live his dream of being a straight guy","imbecile" - best tagger!

    Have to agree with Roshini though that it portrays relationships in a creative way. +1 for HIMYM.

    How come so few comments? You love people bottling up?

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  12. I wonder how it does that when the characters themselves are merely chalked out. But maybe it does work. Just like using puppets in sex education class would.

    And yes, I love people bottling up xD

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  13. hahahahaa! Razor sharp!
    T.

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  14. Agree with most of the review, which is very well written. The question on most peoples minds is, why is the narrator Bob Saget and the lead character that whiny guy?

    I did like friends when it came out and in most part the characters were extremely likable, which later became excessively annoying, but by that point I was too invested in the characters to get out. But with HIMYM, the characters are not really lovable at all. Everyone is quirky just for being quirky and come off as exaggerated caricatures of the actual people. This said, NPH's Barney was the best part of the show as far as I know. It was considered a casting coup of some sort to have a gay guy play the womaniser, but NPH is the only likable guy and decent actor in the series.

    The anti climax of meeting the mother is so shitty and stupid it is beyond comprehension. The narrator is telling his kids about their mother, so wouldn't the kids already know from the names that most of the women he is describing is not their mother? How disturbing is the premise by itself and what kind of message is this guy giving his children with his sexual promiscuity? those kids would need years of counseling to overcome the trauma of sitting through dad's bedtime stories.

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