How I Met Your Mother

Something happened to the sitcom and myself (and some of my friends) that deemed them obsolete and terrible. What contributed was the laugh track: if a show had a laugh track you could not watch it and your life would be better. But that's only for modern shows, say, in the past ten years or so. Nostalgia has a way of overpowering reason, and "classic" shows will always be as such, making it easy even now to watch re-runs of Friends in moderation.

I would hazard a guess and say that everyone is on the same boat, judging by the fact that half hour sitcoms have decreased in numbers significantly, being replaced by a boat load of CSI clones and legal dramas. Oh, and don't forget about the ridiculous volume of reality television wandering around too.

There have been a few short comedies that I've been watching (and enjoying) such as The Office (which is getting terrible), Parks and Recreation (which is getting better) and 30 Rock (which is the best). When How I Met Your Mother was suggested to me, I met it with great hesitation. I watched the first episode, or did I? Something may have happened and I didn't get any farther than that. I wasn't overly impressed, and it would be at least a year before I tried again.

Success. Consider me hooked. In my prejudice I've forgotten how well written and sharp a traditional "sitcom" could be. This show does have me laughing out loud on occasion, and I feel as though it is "keeping it fresh" so to speak. So what happens is that I watch the entire first season in about two weeks, and you could expect that I'll be done the second in half that time. Twenty-two minutes is nothing to consume; no real commitment is made and even at twenty two episodes a season, it just feels right. Truly, I have become conditioned on these hour long, twelve episode seasons found elsewhere.