Pilot (How I Met Your Mother)
| "Pilot" | |
|---|---|
| How I Met Your Mother episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Pamela Fryman |
| Written by | Carter Bays and Craig Thomas |
| Production code | 1ALH00o |
| Original air date | September 19, 2005 |
| Guest actors | |
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Lyndsy Fonseca (Daughter) |
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| Season 1 episodes | |
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"Pilot" is the first episode of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on September 19, 2005.
Plot
The episode (and series) begins in 2030 with an older Ted Mosby telling his children the story of how he met their mother. The story begins in 2005, with Ted's best friend and roommate Marshall Eriksen proposing to his girlfriend Lily Aldrin, prompting Ted to begin a search to find his own soulmate. At a pub called MacLaurens, alongside his friend Barney Stinson, Ted meets budding news anchor Robin Scherbatsky, with whom he is instantly smitten. Ted asks her out on a date, and the date is successful. The date concludes with Robin being called away for a news story.
Ted's friends tell him that he was supposed to kiss Robin before she left. Ted goes to Robin's house (“Suited up”, much to Barney's delight), with the company of Marshall, Lily and Barney. He stops at the restaurant of their first date and symbolically steals the blue French horn on the wall and continues on to Robin's apartment with the gang. Things are going great and they are about to kiss when Ted inexplicably tells Robin that he loves her, prematurely destroying his chances with her. After a lingering goodbye, and with the afterthought that he may or may not have missed “the signal” (missing out for the second time on his first kiss with her), Future Ted tells his children that is the story of how he met their aunt Robin.
Production
The episode introduces several of the show's storytelling tools, including the framing device of future Ted as the narrator, his children, and many flashbacks to the past, present, and future. Future Ted reveals early the ending of a possible relationship story when he tells his children that Robin is not the mother, but "Aunt Robin". When asked if he regretted revealing that Robin ultimately becomes Ted's platonic friend in the pilot episode, series creator Craig Thomas explains they stick by the decision because they didn't want the show to be about "will they or won't they" like Friends and that, despite their chemistry, it would have been "criminal" for Ted to decide he was ready to find someone and to have it happen so quickly.[1] He and cocreator Carter Bays said that the show is about how "Ted meets the perfect woman, and it’s [still] not his final love story."[2]
The pilot episode was filmed at CBS Radford different from following episodes of HIMYM (season 1-7) which were filmed at 20th Century Fox Home Entert..[3]
Barney's blog first appeared with this episode.[4]
Music
- Theme Song: The Solids - "Hey Beautiful"
- Otis Redding - "Cigarettes and Coffee"
- Kool Blues - "I Want to Be Ready'
- The Pretenders - "Back on the Chain Gang"
Continuity
- Ted says he was present in Lily and Marshall's first time. This is explained in season 2 episode "First Time in New York"
- There's a flashback that shows Barney talking to Ted the night they first met. In season 3 episode "How I Met Everyone Else" we see the whole history.
- The scene where Marshall opened the champagne bottle and the cork hit Lily's eye was shown in the episode "Zoo or False" and it was also shown that Marshall accidentally hit Lily many times.
- Robin's recently dumped friend reappears in "Zip, Zip, Zip", again recently dumped.
- Ted talks about having to take "The Leap".
Barney's Blog
- Barney tells Ted that his suiting up will be going in Barney's blog; it is indeed the first entry made in the blog and in the same entry, he talks of his new love of Lebanese girls.[4]
Recurring elements introduced in this episode
- The blue French horn, is referenced when Ted brings a whole musical ensemble with blue instruments to Robin's apartment as a surprise in "Come On."
- Ranjit, the cab driver, who drives a limo for them on New Year's Eve in the later episode "The Limo," reapears in several other episodes during the series.
- Marshall doing the robot.
- Barney's catchphrase "Suit up!," which has been modified and used in many later episodes.
- The "Have You Met Ted?" game, which is used by Barney and Ted to introduce women to Ted, and later is adapted for other characters (Robin and Marshall).
- Barney insisting that he is Ted's best friend.
- Barney breaking up words by saying "wait for it" in between syllables.
- Barney's phrase "What up!"
- References to Barney's blog.
- Barney's love of laser tag.
- The scene where Future Ted's kids saying "What!" is shown again in the episode Last Cigarette Ever.
Reception
The episode received generally favorable reviews, garnering a score of 69 from Metacritic.[5]
Nielsen Media gave it a viewership rating of 7.9/8 for households with 3.3 rating for adults age 18–49.[6]
IMDB gave it a rating of 8.2/10 with generally positive feedback.[7]
References
- ^ Maureen Ryan as a person (April 27, 2006). "Craig Thomas: 'Sitcoms used to be about something'". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Stransky, Tanner (2013-05-13). "'HIMYM' unveils the mother! The creators answer your burning questions -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
- ^ according to audio commentary at 00:58 min. of the HIMYM - Season 1 DVD
- ^ a b Stinson, Barney (2006-09-14). "Ted Suits Up!". Archived from the original on 2005-11-24. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
- ^ "How I Met Your Mother reviews". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
- ^ Neilsen ratings
- ^ [1]
External links
- "Pilot" at the Internet Movie Database
- "Pilot" at TV.com
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