How I Met Your Mother is an Emmy Award winning American sitcom on September 19, 2005. The show was created by that premiered on CBSCraig Thomas and Carter Bays. As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting their mother, which explains the title and allows for a narration in the past tense. How I Met Your Mother's other main characters are Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan).
Production
Inspired by the idea "let's write about our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York." How I Met Your Mother is Bays and Thomas's idea. The two drew from their friendship in creating the characters, with Ted based loosely on Bays, and Marshall and Lily based loosely on Thomas and his wife. The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television.
Episodes from the first season generally started with the opening credit screen. A cold opening has been used since season two. Viewers then occasionally see Ted's children on a couch and hear him talking to them, telling the story of how he met their mother. Alternatively, scenes from previous shows or shots of New York City with Ted narrating over the top are shown. Thomas has explicitly said that Future Ted is an unreliable narrator.
The theme song is a portion of "Hey Beautiful" by The Solids, of which Bays and Thomas are members.
The bar "MacLaren's", in which some of the show is set, is based on a bar in New York called McGee's. It has a mural that Carter Bays and Craig Thomas both liked and wanted to incorporate into the show. The name is from Carter Bays' assistant Carl MacLaren, the bartender in the show is also called Carl.
A scene directly relating to the identity of the mother, involving Ted's future children, was filmed near the beginning of season two for the show's eventual series finale
During the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, How I Met Your Mother shut down production, but once the strike ended the show returned on March 17, 2008, with 9 new episodes.A change in timeslot was also announced, to 8:30 ET/7:30 CT, flip-flopping from the summer schedule with The Big Bang Theory.The show was renewed for a fourth season by CBS on May 14, 2008, which premiered on September 22, 2008
In September 2008, it was announced that Lifetime Television purchased the right to rerun How I Met Your Mother at a rate of about $725,000 per episode. As part of the syndication agreement, the four-year syndication contract stipulates that the studio will deliver 110 half-hour episodes by the year 2010. At the end of the fourth season only 88 episodes had been produced. Therefore, under the syndication deal, the studio is obligated to deliver at least 22 more episodes, ensuring there would be a fifth season. On May 19, 2009, the fifth season renewal was announced
On November 26, 2008, TV Guide reported that Cobie Smulders (Robin) and boyfriend Taran Killam are expecting their first child in the spring of 2009. Smulders's announcement came only a month after co-star Alyson Hannigan revealed her pregnancy
On May 20, 2009, CBS announced that How I Met Your Mother would move back to 8pm, leading into the new comedy, Accidentally on Purpose.
