REVIEW #180 How I Met Your Father (Season 1)

How I Met Your Father is the spin off to the popular show How I Met Your Mother. It follows a new group of characters living in New York, narrated by an older version of Sophie, the lead character, as she tells her son the story of how she met his father. 

This spin off, for want of a better word, had very large boots to fill. It was always going to receive some negative criticism because it’s predecessor was so beloved but it still manages to deliver its own unique charm. The lead character Sophie is played by Hilary Duff, a smart choice from the producers because she will bring a lot of eyes to the show and she’s reliable in terms of likability for sure. In regards to the storyline, it’s not to dissimilar from the original, this time a mother telling her son the story of how she met his father. However this time, the flashback is set in 2022 so we have modern influences like dating apps imbedded into the story, which is a nice touch. I will say they have gone out of their way to make the characters, their interests and their sexuality as ‘woke’ and inclusive as possible. Which is both great and disappointing at the same time, great because representation is incredibly important but at times certain topics are so over emphasised, which made certain dialogue seem unnatural at times. But other than that, I loved seeing such a multicultural cast with different ethnicities and sexualities, something that perhaps the original How I Met Your Mother lacked. The humour was very hit and miss for me, don’t get me wrong there were a lot of funny moments but there were also times where it felt a little cringe and off the mark. I think because it was a Hulu show, they were allowed to use some mild swearing and more raunchy topics which worked in the shows favour for sure. Now does How I Met Your Father compete with the other top sitcoms out there at the moment? I don’t think so, it’s quite far off in my opinion! I enjoyed it as a casual watch but I didn’t have any emotion towards the characters really, there wasn’t an aspect that stands out amongst its competitors but it’s still a solid first season nonetheless. There’s plenty of How I Met Your Mother Easter eggs dotted through season one and I loved every one of them but it wasn’t enough for me to fall in love with the series itself unfortunately. It’s now streaming on Disney+ and it’s worth a watch, I know it’s hard not to compare it to How I Met Your Mother but the more you can separate the two, the more you’ll enjoy the show.

Overall (6/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan