How I Met Your Mother TV Show

First Aired: September 19, 2005 on CBS

Starring: Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby, Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen, Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky, Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, and Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin.

How I Met Your Mother TV Show is a love story in reverse. When Ted's best friends Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) decide to tie the knot it sparks the search for his own Miss Right. His buddy Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) who is a definite bachelor, adds in several laughs with his many bright ideas and suggestions for helping Barney find his future wife. Ted chooses the beautiful and independent Robin (Cobie Smulders), but destiny may take some intervention. Told through a series of flashbacks, Ted recalls his journey and search for true love.

Pop Matters One of the unfortunate legacies of Friends is that for the next few years, every show featuring a group of compatriots will be compared to it. How I Met Your Mother fell victim before the first episode even aired, courtesy of tv critics who pigeonholed the show without reading the press packet describing its concept. But Mother isn't Friends, and it isn't trying to be. Michael Abernethy

Washington Post Though neither is of the caliber or class of the departed hit "Everybody Loves Raymond," both "How I Met Your Mother" and "Out of Practice," premiering tonight, should keep CBS safely dominant in the Monday-night sitcom business for the foreseeable future. Then again, futures aren't as foreseeable as they used to be. Tom Shales

Variety Now and again a sitcom comes along that undermines all "The form's broken" hand-wringing about multicamera-and-couch comedy. Having managed that trick two years ago with "Two and a Half Men," CBS does it again with this bright, cleverly constructed half-hour that features a topnotch cast and a sly, too-good-to-give-away twist. It's not often that a pilot has the polished feel of a show that's been around for a while, but "How I Met Your Mother" should be a solid bridge between "King of Queens" and the aforementioned "Men."

How I met Your Mother Official network site. Show summary, cast bios, video clips, and blog.