HIMYM -- Season 3 premiere

I have to wonder if Trudy is the mother. Considering who plays her, that would be one hell of an in-joke for Carter Bays and Craig Thomas to pull off.

 

It was a less than solid B-/C+. The jokes were a bit cruder and broader than last year (the payoff is that Ted has a bigger unit?). Barney is still aweome.

Inky -- they have been good in the past about bringing things up from previous episodes and I assume that they will do that with respect to the bigger story.

I guess that we get a slap in 8 weeks. Is that sweeps?

The lead five all have great chemistry, but it's going to be a little hard to go back to an easy dynamic between Ted and Robin.

It will be interesting how they handle meeting the mother -- I read a number of reports last year that CBS was close to cancelling the show. I'm sure that they don't want to rush the story -- but can they really wait a couple of more years?

 

I actually got a kick out of Robin telling Ted he was bigger and that saves the day. One episode of Ted being jealous and stupid about Robin was enough. We've seen enough of all that before they got together. And honestly, it felt right from the characters. I thought it was completely in character for Robin to say it and I thought it was a pretty funny way to get Ted over the whole situation.

 

The Mandy Moore line about the "tats" was the best of the night, followed closely by my favorite sequence of the night:

Ted: "Oh, so it's Gail?"
Gael: "No, Gael."
Barney: "Oh, so it's Kyle?"
Gael: "No, Gael."
Marshall: "Ohhh. Girl?"

 

I admit, that was good. Maybe I graded it a bit too harshly. I just enjoyed the season 2 finale so much (perfect ending), I guess my expectations were pretty high.

I'm not so sure I buy the stuff that the show was almost cancelled. The whole thing started with a blind iteam in TV Guide that everyone assumed was HIMYM and that it wasn't going to be cancelled because of poor ratings but because some CBS suit thought it was "about as funny as a root canal." TV execs are whores. CBS may be doing this show a total disservice by not promoting it much, but I can't see them yanking the plug. It would be a Deadwood-esq screw job though if we never got to find out who the Mother was though.

 

... and the website's real. Hilarious.
http://www.slapcountdown.com

 

I also found that hilarious -- that and the slap bet Web site were the two funniest parts.

 

Wasn't it like this?

 

I liked it. We talked about this show at lunch anout the writers are rewarding those who pay attention. Sort of like the spaghetti sauce and then they came back and explained it.
So I strongly suspect that they'll reveal who the Mother is, and those who pay attention, and have really good memories, will slap their foreheads and remember the episode she was in.
Can someone clue me in on the yellow umbrella story?

 

Rewatch last night's ep.

At the first of it, when older Ted is talking to his kids about meeting their mother, there's footage of a yellow umbrella being blown down a street. Then, at the end of the episode, there's an overhead shot of dozens of black umbrellas passing by outside the bar and then a yellow one enters the frame.

 

Also, Old Ted says in the opening, "Kids, there is more than one story of how I met your mother. You know the short version -- the thing with your mom's yellow umbrella. But there is a bigger story, the story of how I became who I had to become before I could met her. And that story begins here..."

That opening dialog, to me, lends credence to the theory that we never meet the mom. Because when we see the umbrella again, Old Ted has told his kids all they need to know. They already know where the story goes after the yellow umbrella appears. But I bet we'll see just the umbrella a few more times this season, just for a flash or two in the background as a tease.

 

I caught that, I thought that the yellow umbrella had made a previous appearance, like maybe back in Season 1 or maybe Season 2. I was thinking it had been seen before, like maybe the one where Lilly is stalking crazy eyed girl? Or maybe it was in the background when they show Ted getting married?
Anyway, just thought I had missed some backstory from an old episode, when I haven't.
My only hope is they cast a relative unknown for the mother role, so when she does make an appearance, it isn't obvious.
I mean, if some member of SportsJournalists.com masturbation nation catches Sophia Bush in the background at the bar, that might give it all away. And nobody wants that...
In theory, they could introduce the mother at the end of this season, then have a season of courtship, another season like 2 where they have the run up to the marriage. Then life as a married couple.