I have a new and disturbing addiction. It’s called How I Met Your Mother.

I feel dreadful about it. I’m not sure how it began. Probably I was flicking through the channels one evening after work. Tired of watching Friends repeats for the millionth time, perhaps I was looking for something new and different. Of course there was nothing new and different so I watched How I Met Your Mother instead. It’s basically Friends but with only five cast members. See how different it is!! Not really. It’s sort of the same way that Friends is Seinfeld but with sentimentality and 2 extra cast members.

So now I record all the episodes that 7Mate chooses to air every evening and watch them in a desperate attempt to catch up to the current series which has just aired. Don’t get me wrong. I think there is lots to like about the show. Neil Patrick Harris is a delight as Barney. He can act and strikes a perfect tone for the sitcom. The storyline that has him falling in love with Robyn is an odd choice and doesn’t sit that well with me but sitcoms can’t get everything right. Remember the “muffin top” episode of Seinfeld? Jason Segel is good as well, as is the actress from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (whose name escapes me and I am too lazy to Google it right now). I’m not so sure about the guy playing Ted. Will he ever get another acting job again? Wikipedia tells me he writes and directs films that are award-worthy. Perhaps that will be his thing. And the other one – Robyn – apparently someone wanted her to play Wonder Woman (source: Wikipedia).

Naturally it has its flaws. The writers are often trying to be too clever for their own good with euphemisms and catchphrases that as far as I’m aware have not caught on. Or maybe there’s an entire How I Met Your Mother community out there that’s throwing them about in everyday conversation in the same way that I use “taking credit for someone else’s big salad” or “these pretzels are making me thirsty” or “I don’t wanna be a pirate”. The use of flashbacks and forwards can be fun but sometimes over-used. In the end though, there are worse ways to spend half an hour and plenty of really bad sitcoms out there by comparison.

And really, I’m just desperate to know who the darned mother turns out to be (apparently scenes have already been filmed – thank you Wikipedia….again!)