One moment, you are sitting on your couch watching the first few episodes of this marvelous television show, How I Met Your Mother. The next thing you know, hours have passed and you are in the middle of the next season. Who knew that a story about two people meeting and the events leading up to it could be so compelling, comedic, and catchy?

The characters and actors in this CBS show, How I Met Your Mother (also available on Netflix), do a magnificent job helping to move the story forward. The protagonist, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) tells the story of meeting his wife. His good friends, Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris); Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders); Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan); and her husband, Marshall Erikson (Jason Segel), play a significant role in his life. They are in every episode, every memory, either helping him out with some problems, motivating him to keep trying to find "the one," or poking fun at him. Right away in the first few episodes of the first season, the viewer can tell what type of people they are. Barney is an immature ladies' man. Lily, a redheaded kindergarten teacher who is kind and hilarious at times makes a great couple with Marshall, an environmentalist lawyer from Minnesota who is also incredibly nice and has his funny moments. Robin is an outgoing Canadian with a rough family life who is dryly humorous, and loveable. Ted is a somewhat geeky architect who is desperate for a legitimate relationship with a girl he loves.

The whole show is narrated by Ted, who tells the long story of meeting his wife, to his kids. He also brings up important moments in his friendships, which were with the children's Aunt Robin, Uncle Barney, Aunt Lily, and Uncle Marshall. Ted goes through a lot of girlfriends, and the audience keeps wondering if each will be "the one." A little bit later in the show, viewers learn that the mother always carries around a yellow umbrella. Her face is not revealed, however, until the last episode of season 8. This late reveal makes the viewer eager to find out more about her, giving her a mysterious and alluring quality.

The marvelous writing and scripting allows each episode to be entertaining, whether or not the viewer knows the characters. The writers were skillfully able to make the show that is comical and intriguing for both one¬time viewers and regular How I Met Your Mother viewers. Ted's group of friends is like a group of friends that I, and probably most other people, would want to have. The evolution of each character is only evident to those who watch the show on a regular basis. Ted is able to change each of his friends for their own good, not necessarily his own. The producers of this show play a crucial role in making it worth watching. Every once in awhile in the show, there is an intervention on one of the characters. Sometimes, the reasons for intervention were silly, like Marshall wearing a stupid hat. Other times, the issues that motivated the interventions were more serious, like disapproving of one of his girlfriends, Stella. Ted’s friends didn’t know Stella very well. Once they got to know her, they realized that she actually wasn’t as bad as they thought, thus, cancelling the intervention. Along with all the actors, the producers could be part of the reason that the show has been nominated for 30 Emmys and won ten of them.

How I Met Your Mother is a very interesting and successful show. The characters, actors, plot, writers, and producers of this show are the base of its success and what makes people watch it. This show is truly, as Barney Stinson would say, "Legen... wait for it... dary. Legendary!"