3 posts tagged “cbs”
So weeks ago, after I wrote a post in which I was perplexed by "How I Met Your Mother's" mystique and pondered what has kept it on the air for nearly four seasons, many of my friends and readers responded, telling me that it's a great show. While I've watched it before, I decided to give it a second chance.
I stand corrected! The episode I watched Monday March 2 was really entertaining, with a premise so ridiculous that it actually worked (especially thanks to HIMYM anchor Neil Patrick Harris). Harris' Barney told his mother on her death bed years ago that he fulfilled her final wish and met someone to spend the rest of his life with. However, it turned out that Barney's mother would survive her illness, and Barney would have to keep up the lie (including an ad lib from his wife/actress in which she told his mother she was pregnant!). So Barney had to hire a wife and child to play his family. I found this story HILARIOUS and just the kind of situation comedy television needs these days.
Here's a link to the episode (since CBS doesn't embed!):
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/video/video.php?cid=446409135&pid=0EMZ5nmCCKK_x6Km55pa_z9qQhqEUG_7&play=true&cc=
So while I still stand by my confusion as to why Arrested Development was cancelled before this show, I do have a new respect for HIMYM and understand a little more why fans have stuck by it. However, I'm a little scared that they're going to make Laura Prepon the mother (please producers don't!).
Beside the post-Holiday, January blues getting me down, today the kicker was that How I Met Your Mother started airing reruns on the Lifetime network. How I Met Your Mother. The television program you never watch, but a few select people tell you to watch when nothing else is on.
While it's not a bad little show, the fact that HIMYM still exists (nonetheless in syndication) is a real puzzle. How has this show stayed on the air for four seasons? It just doesn't seem right. Cult classics like Arrested Development have been cancelled since this show started due to lack of viewers, yet I don't know a handful of people who watch HIMYM. Shows that have garnered critical praise and award nominations have also been cancelled (see Pushing Daisies), yet this show comes back like a bad weed (with merely one yearly obligatory award nomination for Neil Patrick Harris). How does a would-be knockoff of Friends do it?
Another conundrum with HIMYM is that the plot behind the show (A father tells his kids the story of. . ."how I met your mother") has got to be wearing thin. It's been four seasons and so far the kids were tricked for two of those seasons into thinking that Robyn was their mother (or at least THIS kid was). While I applaud the show's rebellion against convention (The two leads won't end up together! Eat that Ross and Rachel!), I can't help but wonder where this is all leading. I know there was talk of Scrubs' Sarah Chalke being "the mother," but is this just another mother diversion in order to crank out another season of HIMYM?
I wish I had some sort of conclusion as to why this show is still on the air, but I don't. Put this in the history books next to Stonehenge and David Blaine. There's no telling how this came about, nor how it maintained an audience. All I can say is, HIMYM is one tough Mother.
It had been a few years since I had last watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the claymation classic from 1964 that airs every December on CBS. While watching Rudolph and crew battle everything from the Abominable Snow Monster to the mean bastard reindeer who made fun of Rudy's nose, I was struck by the importance of one of the main characters: Hermey, the elf who didn't want to make toys, but would rather teach children the lesson of flossing.
Hermey was a monumental elf in that he was the first openly gay character on network television, which was pretty crazy for the early 1960's when the only gays were still unhappily married to their wives (and vice versa). Throughout much of the film, Hermey claims to be a "misfit" that doesn't "fit in." Yet, through it all, he finds his way and maintains his independence, eventually becoming a dentist at the end of the film.
"Dentists" was 1960's lingo for homosexuality. I can't believe it took me 20 odd years to realize this. The message of Rudolph is still to be true to yourself, but suddenly, it has taken on a stronger significance for me. If not for Hermey, there would be no Ellen. No Anderson Cooper. No Tom Cruise Top Gun volleyball scene.
Each year, entertainment commentators count how many openly gay characters there are on network television. Since the demise of Will & Grace, these numbers have dwindled. However, recently Grey's Anatomy fans gained an openly gay character (Dr. Hahn) to embrace, only to suddenly lose her when she was let go from the show for reasons unknown (perhaps because she was not a dead character from two seasons ago). Some message boarders lamented, "Another gay character off of network television." Well, my friends, Hermey fills that void. Maybe not on a weekly basis, but at least for one day a year, spreading Christmas joy and the message of tolerance. Score one for CBS.
