10 Things About How I Met Your Mother That Haven’t Aged Well

Within the 12 months of our lord 2025, it is not precisely information to say that some folks discover parts of the hit sitcom “How I Met Your Mom” (HIMYM) to be considerably problematic. From Barney Stinson’s (Neil Patrick Harris) frequent manipulation and sexual exploitation of harmless younger girls to the tradition’s reanalysis of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) as a “good man” who’s secretly a immodest jerk, there are many holes you possibly can poke into the beloved sitcom. Nonetheless, plenty of fans will happily revisit all nine seasons of the long-running CBS staple, particularly with the introduction of “How We Made Your Mother,” the rewatch podcast hosted by Radnor and collection co-creator Craig Thomas.

There’s loads of room to be essential in regards to the exhibits you’re keen on, however of us usually take potshots at HIMYM that you would be able to take at nearly each sitcom that has ever aired on tv. Attempt revisiting outdated “Simpsons” jokes or some of the cringier “Seinfeld” episodes, and you may see what we imply. The tv business is an usually ignorant institution and loads of that seeps into exhibits with even the very best of intentions, together with HIMYM. Whereas it is at all times essential to acknowledge these missteps, it is also essential to make different, much less apparent critiques. What in regards to the present’s manufacturing worth, or its sophisticated continuity and frequent callbacks? Perhaps a scene or two have been lower that must have stayed within the last edit. Children, let’s break all of it down.

Listed below are 10 issues about “How I Met Your Mom” that simply have not aged properly.

“How I Met Your Mom” has been referred to as many issues — fatphobic, homophobic, xenophobic, all types of phobic — however a majority of those criticisms are lobbed at jokes that, on the finish of the day, are based mostly on drained stereotypes. They suck, however within the 12 months of our lord 2025, they’re straightforward to brush off.What is not straightforward to brush off is the present’s occasional however way more evident transphobia, particularly its use of the t-slur as late as season 6 (“Architect of Destruction”), which aired in 2010. Although different sitcoms on the time have been culpable of utilizing the identical slur, including toward trans character Carmen on the still-airing “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” it nonetheless looks like a very mean-spirited addition to a present that forgoes slurs in each different context.

What’s worse than the slurs, although, are the shock worth potshots towards trans folks, particularly trans girls. Virtually each trans joke is portrayed by a lady who “was once a dude” (“Slap Guess”) or “had a penis” (“Spoiler Alert”) in some surprising reveal. There’s even one scene the place Ted’s date comes into the lads’s lavatory and, a lot to his horror, makes use of a urinal (“Thriller vs. Historical past”), a very tone deaf joke in an period the place right-wing politicians weaponize unfounded concern towards trans folks for lavatory payments. These jokes reinforce the misogynistic view that trans girls are disgusting or undesirable due to their genitalia, and amidst all the present’s questionable humor, these moments are particularly tough.

Physical media may be struggling, however even that would not persuade diehard collectors to begin proudly owning porn. Within the age of the web, the place user-generated video platforms reside side-by-side with subscription companies like OnlyFans (to not point out free grownup leisure simply discovered all around the internet), most individuals need not pop in a disc for some motion. For higher or for worse, Barney Stinson will not be most individuals. Not solely did he amass a major assortment of properly over 100 DVDs, however he had their cabinets professionally lit, as seen in “World’s Best Couple”. Barney clearly takes pleasure in his porn, however how might you not with titles like “A Stunning Hind,” “In Diana Jones,” and “Tip Gun,” all of which could be seen in the event you look intently when Barney offers his assortment away in “The Tough Patch”.

“How I Met Your Mom” has a stunning quantity of jokes centered on porn, and a majority of them are present in pretty outdated varieties: Marshall and Lily’s intercourse tape is on a cassette (“No Stress”), Barney makes use of a camcorder to document his personal “dwelling movies” (additionally in “The Tough Patch”) and Marshall’s bachelor celebration watches the actual “Deep Impression” in an SUV DVD participant in “Bachelor Celebration,” although Barney supposed to deliver the grownup movie model. Clearly, HIMYM is a product of a time the place it was frequent, although considerably taboo to personal porn and even watch it along with your buddies. If that alone would not date the present, we do not know what does.

Regardless of their fame as a drained and even offensive trope, fats fits and different thickening prosthetics are nonetheless regularly utilized in movie and tv. With moments as latest as the insulting makeup Oscar nomination for Brendan Fraser’s fatsuit in “The Whale,” it is miserable to see that filmmakers nonetheless have not realized something from dangerous portrayals of fatness in sitcoms like “Mates” and movies like “Shallow Hal.” Working example: “How I Met Your Mom” options two examples of fatness as a dressing up, each of which make in any other case stable episodes memorable for the incorrect causes.

The obvious instance is in “The Tough Patch,” the place Neil Patrick Harris wears progressively extra exaggerated prosthetics to simulate how a lot Barney has let himself go in his relationship with Robin. What begins as “relationship intestine” turns into a full on fatsuit, full with ridiculous double chin extensions. It would not assist that, when fats, Barney can also be portrayed as an unattractive slob, leaving stains on his garments and hesitant to have interaction in intercourse. 

That stated, the far worse instance is in “Lobster Crawl,” when Robin’s allergic response to lobster is simulated utilizing absurdly excessive face and neck prosthetics that transcend anaphylaxis. They’re clearly meant to painting Cobie Smulders as some type of disgusting monster and, within the course of, equate horror with being fatter. HIMYM has lengthy been criticized for fatphobic jokes, however these two moments make extra visceral and arbitrary mockery of fats folks and, because of this, really feel extra mean-spirited.

“How I Met Your Mom” repeatedly flirted with low cost jokes about Asian folks, however just one occasion received them into actual scorching water. “I remorse the unlucky quantities of cultural appropriation in Slapsgiving 3,” wrote Carter Bays as a part of a HIMYM-themed “Ask Me Anything” Reddit thread in 2014. “I believe all of us remorse Ted’s Fu Manchu mustache very, very a lot.” To say “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra” (in reference to John O’Hara’s novel “Appointment in Samarra”) aged poorly is placing it calmly. The episode was criticized instantly within the hours after it aired in 2014, when Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, and Alyson Hannigan’s yellowface make-up impressed the hashtag #HowIMetYourRacism on X, then nonetheless often known as Twitter.

The episode is clearly supposed to parody old style kung fu movies, however the option to make three white actors look Chinese language is the type of racist nonsense that anybody well-versed in popular culture would not even consider making an attempt. The truth that Ted’s character was styled after Fu Manchu within the first place, a personality that was deemed a racist stereotype many years earlier than HIMYM co-creator Carter Bays was even born, is inexcusable and never a far attain from Mickey Rooney in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” which we’re fairly certain seems within the dictionary underneath the phrase “yellowface.” Even over 10 years later, it is onerous to fathom how the present received away with any of those inventive selections in what quantities to one of the worst HIMYM episodes of all-time.

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In a submit #MeToo world, “The Bare Man” is among the hardest “How I Met Your Mom” episodes to swallow. To recap, the season 4 episode introduces Mitch (Adam Paul), an in any other case unremarkable man who has a secret technique to making sure intercourse on a date with a lady that is not going properly: You discover an excuse to go as much as her condo, you await her to go away the room, and you then strip bare. As soon as she re-enters, her shock at your nudity will disarm her to the purpose that she says, “what the hell,” and decides to have intercourse with you.

We’ll give the present’s forged and crew some credit score. For a glimmering second, they make you imagine one thing like this might work. It definitely charmed followers of the present, who’ve since swapped experiences attempting The Bare Man in actual life on multiple Reddit threads. Nevertheless, life will not be a sitcom. The Bare Man is indecent publicity and a slippery slope to sexual assault. We need not remind you that numerous horror tales throughout Hollywood start with a person stripping down and exposing his genitals to an unsuspecting girl, emotionally traumatizing her perpetually. We’re not claiming Mitch is as dangerous as Harvey Weinstein, who is serving 39 years in prison for multiple counts of sexual assault and rape, however to make comedy out of predatory conduct is simply actually, actually gross.

Should you or anybody has been a sufferer of sexual assault, assist is accessible. Go to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

For these exterior of New York Metropolis, it may be straightforward to have a look at all 5 boroughs and Manhattan’s public transportation system and assume it is easy to get round. In fact, it is not so easy. Should you reside in a borough like Brooklyn or Queens, it will probably take you properly over an hour to get to tourism hotspots like Instances Sq. or Broadway, even on a subway. Effectively, for the primary 4 seasons of “How I Met Your Mom,” Robin lives in Brooklyn, particularly the neighborhood of Park Slope. That signifies that each time she went to MacLaren’s, which was situated on the Higher West Aspect of Manhattan (even though it’s based on the real-life McGee’s Pub in midtown), it took her an hour to get there.

Any New Yorker might see via this ridiculous plot stretch, which is strictly what Josh Radnor’s Brooklynite spouse, Jordana Jacobs, did when they began watching the series together for “How We Made Your Mother.” Talking to collection co-creator Craig Thomas in an early episode, Radnor recounted that “[Jordana] stated, ‘how was she hanging out on this bar on the Higher West Aspect a lot if she lived in Brooklyn? That is not sensible! She would by no means!” The 2 had a superb chortle, rationalizing that maybe Robin’s information station was in Midtown, a a lot nearer district of Manhattan. Nonetheless, even a New York beginner must be fairly determined for buddies to courageous a borough-to-borough commute.

Once you’re first watching “How I Met Your Mom,” you possibly can’t imagine how properly the present’s inventive workforce is ready to journey via time whereas retaining issues constant. Bear in mind in season 3’s “The Platinum Rule,” the place the present flashes again to each successive 12 months because the present’s debut in 2005 and follows the gang’s ill-advised relationships? How about all the best way in season 9’s “The Poker Recreation,” after we revisit Marshall and Lily proper after their marriage ceremony, and so they look identical to they did in season 2? It is uncanny!

Effectively, not fairly. You are so distracted maintaining with the story that you do not look intently at what are clearly wigs serving to to take care of continuity. More often than not, it is not too tough, particularly for the lads of HIMYM. Their hair would not change too drastically season to season, so it is easy reducing forwards and backwards. It fares far worse for the ladies, whose apparent wig work throughout numerous episodes turns into increasingly more sloppy with each passing rewatch. Lily might be the worst offender, and the present’s must recreate her iconic redhead pixie bob and her short-lived brunette bangs make for some humorous side-by-side comparisons, to not point out her goth black hair in faculty flashbacks. Robin would not get a cross both, particularly as her hair received shorter in the direction of the top of the present. The finale’s chilly open flashback, which sees Robin sporting curly hair and horrendous hairline, is not fooling anybody.

For a present that does a lot time-jumping, “How I Met Your Mom” has a remarkably ironclad continuity upon first watch. The plot and characterization all really feel actually tight. Nevertheless, as you rewatch the present time and again, sure inconsistencies start to emerge. For instance, bear in mind when Marshall says he has by no means been in a struggle (“Candy Style of Liberty”) but insists he is had many fights together with his brothers (“The Battle”)? Or how about when Robin says she by no means performed a workforce sport (“Slutty Pumpkin”) but additionally says she by no means attended promenade as a result of it conflicted with area hockey finals (“Greatest Promenade Ever”)?

You could possibly argue a few of that is simply the writers discovering their footing, nevertheless it continues in later seasons. Season 6’s “The Mermaid Idea” claims Robin and Marshall have by no means frolicked alone though they share a subplot in season 4’s “Little Minnesota.” Barney’s mom, Loretta (Frances Conroy), is recognized as Patty in season 3’s “The Yips” earlier than her introduction in season 4’s “The Stinsons.” Even Barney’s panic assault studying to drive in “Arrivederci, Fiero” is undercut by him stealing a transferring van within the very subsequent episode, “Transferring Day,” which isn’t necessarily a plot hole so much as it makes absolutely zero sense. No long-running present could be excellent in its continuity, however these little goofs and gaffs do dampen the present’s inventive novelty upon rewatches.

One of many issues that made “How I Met Your Mom” such a novel sitcom was its mixing of conventional sitcom story construction with extra cinematic filmmaking strategies. Most exhibits merely filmed reside in entrance of a studio viewers with a number of cameras, however HIMYM didn’t. As an alternative, they’d pre-record multicam segments with out an viewers and splice in further, single-cam content material, like POV pictures, sluggish movement, and even visible results. A number of the latter moments actually shine, just like the body-doubling in “The Time Vacationers,” one of many many parts that make it one of the best HIMYM episodes of all-time.

That stated, there are additionally loads of moments that present their age, notably people who contain both inexperienced screens or CGI. We’re fascinated by moments like when Robin and Gael (Enrique Iglesias) are windsurfing (“Look ahead to It”) or when Ted and Tracy are up within the lighthouse on the Farhampton Inn (“The Lighthouse”). How about when Marshall and Lily morph into one individual on the mattress and breakfast (“Duel Citizenship”) or when Robin’s canine morph into all the fellows she’s dated earlier than (“Stuff”)? Even stuff like of us exploding after getting Lily’s “useless to me” look (“Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap”) simply look a bit foolish, particularly in an period the place streaming has turned status TV into the gold commonplace. Nonetheless, the very fact HIMYM even applied them in any respect was daring for a community present, so props to them.

This one hurts, guys. Followers have lengthy been break up over the “How I Met Your Mom” finale (“Final Ceaselessly”), partly over the dying of Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti) from an undiagnosed sickness. Those that did not catch on to season 9’s many clues have been probably left gobsmacked by the sudden twist. We think fans might have been a bit too harsh about it at the time, however there isn’t any denying that a couple of extra scenes with the titular Mom could have softened the blow. Effectively, because it seems, we have been imagined to get one notably essential one. Based on collection star Alyson Hannigan, 18 minutes of the finale’s unique script have been lower, together with a quick however transferring montage second the place the gang comforts Ted throughout Tracy’s funeral.

“[That cut was] much more heart-wrenching than what the finale was,” she instructed TVLine. “They have been like, ‘No. It is simply too gut-wrenching,'” she continued, talking to their thought course of behind reducing the scene. “[The scene] would have been higher for the viewers, in order that then they’ll course of, ‘Oh, [Ted] mourned. He received closure’ — after which they’d be completely happy that [he and Robin] received collectively … I believe [it] was too quick.” You could possibly say that once more, Alyson. This would not have glad each fan on this planet, nevertheless it positively would have given extra gravitas to Tracy’s dying in a means that might have introduced catharsis for followers simply as a lot because it did for Ted.