The Clicker Meets Your Mother

“How I Met Your Mother” is my new favorite comedy. There, I admit it. I spent thirty minutes trying to come up with a clever opening that sort of subtly mentioned it. I don’t care if our staff graphic artist, Matt Sinopoli, makes fun of me for liking it. “Mother” ranks in my top 5 comedies and it's only in its first year. What you haven’t seen it? Oh, you are missing out, my dear Clicker friend. It’s Legen-wait for it-dary!

I mentioned my love of Tivo last week, but I have to give it an extra smidgen of love. Tivo kept me from missing the best sitcom to hit television since the first year of “Friends”. My wife, the smart woman that she is, set up a season pass for it at the beginning of the year. I would hear her laughing from the other room but I dismissed it. She likes "7th Heaven" remember? I gave her grief for that so I owe her some praise. She is usually pretty good at picking comedies. One day, I sat down and watched it and what do you know? She picked another winner.

The early premise of the show was a father telling his children stories of, well, how he met his mother. Bob Saget provides the voiceover of the Dad, the main character, Ted. Each episode would see the kids listening to their Dad as he led off the story of how he met their mother. Thankfully, they dropped the kids from the show but we still get Saget’s voice as the narrator. The show takes place during present day with Ted (Josh Radnor) searching for love and struggling with the dating scene. He’s assisted by his friend Marshall (Jason Sagal) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan), an engaged couple sharing an apartment with Ted. Robin (Cobie Smulders) joined the group on the pilot episode as a girl that Ted met. She’s hot, she’s funny, and she seems like a great girl to be around. Eventually, they decided they shouldn’t date but they remained friends although I’m sure their feelings for each other will be an underlying current for seasons to come.

One more rounds out the core group of friends. His name is Barney and he’s the best new character on television (Sorry Mr. Eko). Neil Patrick Harris, aka Doogie Howser, has grown up to play an outrageously awesome guy with a singular purpose in life: women. He’s written well enough that you love him even if he’s recording his sexual revenge against the girl who broke his heart and created Barney v2.0. The “gimmick” of this character is his style. He “suits up” every episode and has an awesome music mix CD that you can read about here in our official thread about the show. You will also find a MUCH better character review by one of our moderators, Moviegirl11. Thanks, MG!

Put em all together and you have an incredibly likeable cast that meshes well together. I have a feeling that one of the reasons for dropping the “kids” from the show is because they want to tease Robin and Ted being together at some point. The voice overs in an earlier show call her “Aunt Robin” so might she get involved with “Uncle Barney”? That would so be awesome. I’m a little ashamed that as a guy, I just said it would be awesome that two people would get together. That’s my problem with this series. It brings out qualities I'd rather stay hidden. Lucky for me, “24” starts at 9:00pm and Jack Bauer normalizes my testosterone levels. Enough with the plugging, just watch the show already. It’s Steak Sauce!*

*(A-1, steak sauce. Keep up.)

What to Watch (4/2 to 4/8)



Desperate Housewives (ABC) 9:00 pm
Everybody Says Don’t-I actually hate this show but my wife told me to recommend it. Eh, after my column about “7th Heaven,” I guess I owe her. Anyways, if you like it, watch it. It was overrated last year. It’s even worse this year. I think this episode is about alcoholics, adoption, and psycho hotties. I promise you it isn’t nearly as cool as it sounds.




NCAA Final Four-Championship Game (CBS) 9pm
Yeah, the week I write about “Mother” is the week it’s preempted. Too late for a re-write, I am going camping! The NCAA championship game is usually pretty competitive. Florida, George Mason, UCLA, and LSU will battle it out for the right to play in this game. I’m rooting for a George Mason vs LSU matchup.

24 (FOX) 9:00 pm
Day 5: 10:00-11:00- Jack Bauer is not afraid of a championship basketball game. Jack searches for Henderson and feels he’s the key. In ridiculous side stories, the hottie psycho chick will waste time and the Homeland Security takeover of CTU will of course waste valuable time DURING A FREAKIN CRISIS. I can’t believe I love this show with all these absurdities. I never thought I would say that I miss the mountain lion story.




Teachers (NBC) 9:00 pm
The worst show on television. You might want to catch it before it’s cancelled next week.

Amazing Race 9 (CBS) 10:00 pm
Sleep Deprivation is Really Starting to Irritate Me-Apparently, this show is going to be moved to Wednesday’s at 8pm some time soon. Thank God. I’m too old to stay up to 11. (I’m 32. Yes, that’s pathetic). In another shock, a team gets lost. NO!!! It can’t be!!! How many exclamation points will I use this week! The teams are in Sicily and need to sell a hell of a lot of fish or carry a ginormous swordfish a short distance.

Thief (FX) 10:00 pm
I Ain’t Goin’ to Jail for Anyone- Did you catch it last week? This week, Nick plans for Wanda’s funeral while planning his next robbery. Dude. That’s commitment. We’re not talking about robbing the Kwik E Mart. We’re talking about stealing $30 million while in the air! I’ll give it another shot.




LOST (ABC) 9:00 pm
Dave- Holy hell what an episode. I apologize for my last week’s rant. FORGIVE ME! The fake Henry Gale gives more information about the hatch and Locke is disturbed. The episode is supposed to be Hurley-centric. Expect to see Libby turn up in Hurley’s past.

Evidence (ABC) 10:00 pm
Borrowed Time- This show has made my must watch list pretty quick. If you haven’t watched it yet, give it a shot. A widow learns that her husband was secretly battling cancer. She only discovers this after his accidental death. Goldman is disturbed by this.




My Name is Earl (NBC) 9:00pm
The Bounty Hunter- Last week rebounded with a strong episode. Randy was at his best last week. In this episode, Juliette Lewis is Earl’s ex-girlfriend/bounty hunter. She’s out to arrest Joy for stealing Earl from her. Oh, a pair of Metallica tickets might be involved too.





National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth (PBS) 8:00 pm
Invaders; The One Degree Factor Besides having the longest title in television history, I think this show will be rather interesting. Part 1 looks at the effects of invasive species and climate change. Edward Norton hosts. Okay this is a pretty sad recommendation for a Friday Night. My apologies.




Kennedys: The Curse of Power (History Channel) 8:00 pm
Spend the night with the Kennedys. Watch an hour special on the tragedies that have fell the first family of American politics.

KennedysAssassination: Beyond Conspiracy (History Channel) 9:00 pm
The late Peter Jennings hosts a two hour show that examines the conspiracies that follow the murder of JFK. Three hours of JFK isn’t the most exciting Saturday Night but at least you’ll learn something!


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