In recognition of things missed

I am a big fan of many things, and without ordering the things that I am a big fan of, two of those things are lists and television. Accordingly I have been reading any number of 'Best of the Decade' TV lists from many sources. Just a small sampling are Alan Sepinwall, Daniel Fienberg, and the AV Club. If you noticed that all of these lists have the same number 1, well good for you and I agree with them more then others. Now I am going to recognize a show that no one has recognized.

Cartoon Networks Justice League (later retitled Justice League Unlimited) 2001-2006

First, I can give any number of reasons why this show has not been recognized. In fact I will. This was a show made with children in mind, and even children's programming at it's best does not get the recognition. In fact it was written to a young teenage audience, but the principal characters are superheroes. Superheroes might have been big box office this decade, but not until later in the decade and not as animated features. Also the fact that it was written for young teens placed it squarely outside of Cartoon Networks two defined sweet spots for original programing this decade. The first was young children with shows like Power Puff Girls, Johny Bravo, and Samuri Jack, early in the decade. The second was young adults with the advent of Adult Swim being built around Anime features and later Family Guy reruns spawned a bushel of college age humor that has almost defined the network. Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, Sea Lab, Space Ghost, and many others defined the tone of network. This show would premier on Saturday nights and then finding episodes later took quite a bit of effort. For these and many other reasons this show does not make lists by TV critics. Now, just the small list of Cartoon Network shows I just mentioned were all creative and wrote very well to their audiences, which just goes to show how rich this decade was in original television. So what did Justice League do to separate it from it's peers? Well in a completely biased tone, it just rocked.

Right away this show is something special, this is the only non comic to place the Big 3, Superman, Batman, and Wonderwoman right next to each other in the same universe. As an action show the animation was exciting and engrossing. As a kids show it was funny and self referential. The creators of the DC Animated Universe had already had great success with Batman: TAS, Superman, Batman Beyond, and Static Shock, but with this show they got to take that level of writing and unleash it on the entire DC Universe.

The first two seasons of this show, known simply as Justice League, followed the big seven of the DC Universe. Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, Flash (wally west), Green Lantern (Jon Stuart version), Martian Man Hunter (referred to almost exclusively as J'onn J'onzz), and Hawkgirl. The first episodes brought our heroes together meeting J'onn to fight the white aliens that took over Mars and discovering a promising rookie hero from the Amazon named Diana. The first season took place in 2 or 3 episode installments that were sometimes clunky, sometimes action based, and sometimes very funny. A silver age homage called Legends was both fun and self referential. The first season might have been uneven, but it ended on a 3 part alternate history movie, called the Savage Time. Vandal Savage went back in time to usurp Hitler and take a more pragmatic approach to world domination guided with his access to future weapons technology. Our Heroes go back in time to set things straight and from this point on the series never backed away from a theme or event that might be considered to serious for a kid's show.

After the shaky first season, the show only got stronger, keeping the same format as the first, the second season ended with a betrayal by a lead character (Hawkgirl) that challenged the trust of the entire league and threatened all of Earth. This subversion led to the expansion of the Justice League into the third season revamped as Justice league Unlimited bringing in second tier DC heroes like Green Arrow, Supergirl, Hawk and Dove, and the Question. From this point forward the show became a series of self contained episodes that had some significant and impressive story arcs.

This show, like everything Bruce Timm has done with Andrea Romano, had fantastic voice acting, centered by Kevin Conroy as the Batman we have known for years, and added to by just about everyone who came into the series, with an extra nod to the perfectly solemn Carl Lumbly as J'onn J'onzz and the irreverant but still likeable Michael Rosenbaum as Flash. Inherantly the conflicts adn resolutions of a comic book are objectively silly, but every actor attached to the show treated it seriously and thoughtfully. There were no silly voices or winking sarcasm, these characters acted in a manner where the world was at stake and still enjoyed each other in the confines of battle and rest. The voice acting is certainly a reflection of writing that never directly catered to the youth that were most predisosed to watching this show.

The writers, after years of showing sophistication beyond the medium of simply a superhero in Batman:TAS, took a while to get used to serving 7 lead characters (and later many more) but once they did were able to explore many themes with the characters provided. In the 4th and 5th seasons the idea of power and trust of the powerful were explored to such depths a child watching the show might no longer trust Superman himself. The Heroes were placed directly against the interests of the U.S. Government in manner that put the trust and faith on both sides in question. The writers did not abdicate the Heroes of responsability, although they were more noble in accepting it, of the importance of challenging authority. The show very clearly took on the idea of tyranny and that it does not always come from craven despots but from well meaning altruists trying the serve the needs of everyone at the same time. It was not simply Lex Luther versus Superman, it was the ideas of Luther versus Superman, a possibly challenging idea for a young audience, but one that the writers did not back away from the percieved intelligence of their percieved audience.

As the lists above show, this decade has been a glut of fantastic television, and when you look at works like Deadwood, Sopranos, or The Wire, their ambition and audience had no limits, but when a show has limits, a younger audience, a childish premise, and years of history to respect, and still succeeds, it deserves special credit. Justice League had many masters to serve, comic book fans, children, animation fans, and the public at large. It managed to please and surpass the expectations of all of these fans, be it with fantastic fight scenes, references to the Jack Kirby history of the medium, a quick glance of Hal Jordan, or an intense allegory of the Patriot Act played out with superheroes, this show deserves great notice for this decade and preferably syndication of it's 91 episodes.

HIMYM 113: Drumroll, Please

Ted meets a mysterious woman at Claudia and Stuart's wedding. She and Ted have a pact to have the perfect evening without reality ever interfering with pesky things like a relationship or the inconveniences that come with one, but Ted, ever the romantic, decides to find his mysterious 'Buttercup'. Marshall falls in love with the cake at the wedding as he and Lilly spend the next morning listening to Ted's weak ass story of fake ridiculous romance. Robin finds her way to the reception only to realize that Ted has already moved on from them never being involved and she cries a little. All while Barney does the most noble thing a person can do, pretend to join the Peace Corps to have sex with brides maids.

Ted: This is the Ted people like most. The starry eyed romantic and not the kind of abrasive superior acting douche. I am indifferent to the differences, but both play to the reality of the show, and even when he is 'this guy' he is pretty blatantly chasing sex and he came up with 'Lando Calrisean' as a pseudonym.

Marshall: Marshall's love affair with the cake was being acted from minute one and he sold it all the way till the end. "Ted, you have to marry this girl" "Ted. How do I explain this to you? Last night I had the greatest cake of my life. Now do you think I'm going to let that cake out of my life? Hell no, I am going to find out what bakery made that cake and I am going to get me some more cake."

Lilly: Lilly listens to a story better then any ten friends I know. "I am going to take that flower grenade and throw it into the crowd and yell 'crawl for it bitches!' that's just what girls do."

Robin: Robin has been a bit of a mystery up to this moment. She is in the group because Ted fell in love with her at first sight. She seems to believe that there are no repercussions for being in such a tight nit group where those types of feelings are involved, but now between this and the Limo, it's clear she's around because if the first date had gone without an overreaching emotional statement, she would be very happy to be with Ted, and by extension this group.

Barney: This is an episode where you realize how much easier it is to be like Barney then to be Ted for a given night. I am as big a fan of Victoria as anybody, but Tania was very hot and he doesn't have to worry about any long term implications.

MVP: Marshall falling in love with the cake was as pure a love as I have seen on TV. Even when he goes to the bakery with Ted and offers an encouraging word, he still wants Ted to pick up a cupcake for him.

Season count:

Ted - 2
Marshall- 3
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 4
Lilly - 2
Guest (Ellen the matchmaker) - 1

Continuity:

• So why did Lilly need to tell Robin the whole story to have Robin realize that she knew Victoria was the one who made the cake? Didn't she know from her crying jag that Ted was into the girl.
  

Suit Ups: 1 (7)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 0 (8)
Barney: 'Ted Ted Ted the second hottest bridesmaid Ted, I got the second hottest bridesmaid, Ted, Ted, See ya Ted' . Confirmed; Tania (2nd hottest bridesmaid), Work's with Carlos girl, Natalia (NYE) (3), Possible; Suitcase thing worked (1)


Up next: Ted and Victoria take some time to consummate their relationship, while Barney and Robin sew seeds that just may blossom in 4 seasons.

HIMYM 112: The Wedding

Ted believes he has a '+1' for his friends' Stuart and Claudia's wedding and invites Robin. Turns out he did not and Ted has to negotiate with the groom and bride and save the wedding's very existence.

Ted: OK Josh Radnor is universally considered the weakest link in the ensemble, but he really is the lead of this show, and in this episode, as in many he is selfish to the point of unlikeable, and yet he still is likable and someone we are rooting for to get the mother of his children. "If Stuart can bag a 9, I should be able to get like... a 16" "What's a 16?" "Those two 8's over there" You see Ted's quote is in the middle and not funny, but it makes the whole thing funny overall, like the show. See what I did there... that's a simile.

Marshall: How do squirrels define and express their wedding vows. Marshall's earnestness is in great form about wedding etiquette and how couples should relate. "Why don't we just poke this bear, or feed this gremlin after midnight."

Lilly: Lilly is a bit of a pain when it comes to negotiating her future wedding, and also wishes she and Ted were Ninjas. I guess we all do.

Robin: Officially Cobie Smulders became smoking hot to me in this episode. So, way to go red dress. she certainly brought it.

Barney: "You don't bring a date to a wedding. That's like bringing a deer carcus on a hunting trip" That line is so good, my mom uses it when I get invited to weddings. And come on Ted, it's a simile.

Guests: Claudia kinda rocked by breaking down Ted's argument that he checked +1. His story was full of holes and she argued with her husband in fast forward.

MVP: It is between Claudia and Barney, but Barney got my mom to quote an amazingly misogynist line.. so really no contest. Barney

Season count:

Ted - 2
Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 4
Lilly - 2
Guest (Ellen the matchmaker) - 1

Continuity:

• "Claudia is crazy" "But to be fair she is also hot" Eventually we will get a hand drawn scale to decide what the tolerable relation is between the two traits.
• Claudia goes to the bar to deal with the temporary break up, Lilly needs to meet her downstairs to talk to her. Well the guys got to Stuarts apartment before Lilly got downstairs and let Barney hit on her for a very long time.
• Claudia and Stuart will show up a couple more times, Stuart goes to Marshall's bachelor party, and eventually develops a drinking problem requiring and intervention.
  

Suit Ups: 0 (6)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 0 (8)
Barney: 'I have hooked up with my share of girls below my level of attractiveness.. but I was drunk' so no specific number hence we will stay at the current count. Confirmed; Work's with Carlos girl, Natalia (NYE) (2), Possible; Suitcase thing worked (1)


Up next: We get a real threat for the Mother title... except this is season 1 out of 5 so far, so no.

The Other Guy Looks at 103-111

Gonna respond bullet point style since there's a lot of ground to cover:

• "Sweet Taste of Liberty" -- Holy balls, that was only the third episode?! "WE ARE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSMEN" is a line I hope to use during an interrogation someday.
• "Return of the Shirt" -- Really the episode I can point to as a defense against the "Why don't you want to get married as much as that guy on 'How I Met Your Mother' does?"-style questioning as this is the one that proved Ted had a shopping list and not an interest in love. Ted's the guy who wants something but doesn't know how to get it and then if he does somehow get it realizes he never wanted it in the first place; Barney knows exactly what he wants and gets it (except, according to Hobbes' tally, sex); Ted & Lilly want nothing because they have each other. This episodes "I know, right? Right? RIGHT?" was particularly annoying. All that said, I liked it quite a bit and think more shows should do past relationship explorations. High Fidelity is one of my favorite films and uses that exploration for its setup.
• "Okay, Awesome" -- *Probably* my favorite episode of season one. I have never seen a show make fun of clubs and clubbing before. That seems very anti-establishment, as most young people who watch sitcoms are brainwashed to believe by default that they can have fun at "Da Club." But not me. I'm quite boring, you see. This was just a tight, well-constructed episode that also showed off what the flashback/narrative style can do in a hybrid sitcom like this. There's a part where Marshall's about to have a celebratory "I escaped from a boring-ass party and now I can have some fun" beer when Narrator Bob Saget suddenly remembers that Marshall had dental work done just prior to that evening. Jason Segel's immediate switch from joy to pain is *as* fun as his dancing. That whole bit worked about as well as anything else in this gem. BUT, there is a big minus here: Samm Levine guests as a nerd who can't get into the club but there is nothing memorable or important about the character. Wasting Samm Levine isn't just something that sounds like a Comedy Central movie, it's also an entertainment crime.
  
• "The Slutty Pumpkin" -- More concept mastery at work here. I really think the show earned the right to its formula: (Outlandishly titled concept/event) + (Robin asking Ted/Barney/Marshall/Lilly to define outlandishly titled concept/event) = Funny episode. We want to know what the slutty pumpkin is and we are perfectly willing to buy that Ted is this desperate, since he told a woman he loved her on their first date already.
  
• "Matchmaker" -- Hobbes said it best: Camryn Manheim FTW.
  
• "The Duel" -- Another classic first season episode. I really, really liked this one, all the stuff about Lilly's apartment and its sudden conversion to a Chinese restaurant, the bit involving Marshall's mix CD, etc. That all worked great. It also had one of the biggest SITCOM JOKES I can recall, when Marshall says to Ted: "Your British phone booth arrived." Marshall gives Ted a pointed look, the audience roars, and the TV Gods are appeased for another sweeps.
  
• "Belly Full of Turkey" -- Probably funny, but definitely one I can't recall.
• "The Pineapple Incident" -- Now, this episode demonstrated (to me, anyway) that maybe the writers are trying a bit too hard to make HIMYM a *classic* sitcom in the same strata as Seinfeld or Friends. There are too many little gimmicks at play, but it is all forgiven because Winnie Cooper is gorgeous, Drunk Ted needed to happen and I'm a sucker for a comic mystery.
• "The Limo" -- For reasons I can't recall, it was with this episode that my crush on Cobie Smulders began.

Overall, this is a strong, strong stretch of episodes, and did exactly what it needed to do to build an audience: be funny, clever and unique. Maybe this show doesn't smack of pure originality, but it puts enough spin on the tropes of yore to make it feel fresh, and the performances really do raise HIMYM a cut above the rest.

HIMYM 111: The Limo

Ted gets a limo for the group to have the best New Years Ever. Robin isn't with the group because she is with her hundred millionaire boyfriend Derek. The group gets separated and gets back together just in time to learn the true meaning of New Year's Eve.

Ted: Ted waffles between his desire to move on with the nice, if overly friendly, girl from his office to his crush on Robin. And since the girl is nice she recognizes the crush and moves away politely.

Marshall: Marshall got to make the triumphant return at the end to Bon Jovi saving the night and establishing that the world will always end up right for Marshall and Lilly.

Lilly: Lilly calls Marshall from the limo without a cell phone and reaches him. Mainly she was gone changing her shoes this episode.

Robin: Clearly likes Ted and has for a while, at this point in the run they did need to give her a hundred millionaire boyfriend, because the couple's separation at this point would seem quite artificial. She also sang Bon Jovi acapella.

Barney: Barney is driven to be psyched by the throbbing start of Bon Jovi's 'You Give Love a Bad Name' and then gives a wistful speech when he loses the mix cd.

Guests: Bon Jovi could be considered a guest star, Ranjeet as always bats a thousand, and a bald hipster Not Moby made irresponsible gun use as funny as Robin would make it years later.

MVP: Barney gets credit for Bon Jovi, so Barney

Season count:

Ted - 2
Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 3
Lilly - 2
Guest (Ellen the matchmaker) - 1

Continuity:

• Ted hides the fact that he met Ranjeet on the night of their successful/disastrous first date in the pilot
  

Suit Ups: 0 (6)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 0 (8)
Barney: Barney ends up with Natalia at the end of NYE, I may be giving to much of the benefit of the doubt, but I am going to call this a confirmed, 2 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Does Ted have a 'plus one'

HIMYM 110: The Pineapple Incident

Ted is stuck dealing with his crush on Robin while she has started seeing a hundred millionaire. Ted gets drunk quickly and the whole episode is a flashback reconstructing a night where 'Drunk Ted' makes friends and meets a lady. Not just any lady a math majoring lady that brought Kevin Arnold through his formative years. Oh and there was a pineapple.

Ted: Drunk ted showed off the best of Josh Radnor. He got to be friendly and fun while being a little bit of a jerk, but one with an excuse. Right from the start when he drank all of Carlos' shots "I drank them alll, bitch" to he his second return to the bar and declaring that he has to see some penguins, Ted was all over this episode in a situation that could have made him very unlikeable.

Marshall: Marshall just got to cheer lead the fun that is 'Drunk Ted' and wonder aloud about why there was a pineapple in Ted's room. He also invoked one of the best SNL parody commercials ever when he said that Ted drunk dialing Robin would be 'Bad Idea Jeans'.

Lilly: Lilly along with Marshall got to enjoy the story as it unfolded. She also got to wonder aloud if the girl that Ted brought home was in fact alive. Lilly being the perfect guy's girl comes through yet again when for the moment that they thought the mystery girl was Robin she relented and gave Ted a high five. Awesome girl.

Robin: She had a nice run in the opening about why people always round up, but for the most part she was just the target for Ted's drunken passive aggressive advances.

Barney: A very good episode for the dichotomy of Ted's friends. Barney isn't wrong to help Ted drop his inhibitions and go after any girl including Robin, it's just reckless, but the kind of reckless Ted will never get from his essentially engaged friends of 9 years. They never had to risk themselves all that much to be with another, while Barney is a master of the trench warfare of dating.

MVP: All Ted

Season count:

Ted - 2
Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 2
Lilly - 2
Guest (Ellen the matchmaker) - 1

Continuity:

• When Ted meets Winnie again in the tricycle no one remembers to ask about the Pineapple again.
  
• Ted said he was vomit free since 93 which we would learn is not true in episode 115 when he threw up on Robin's door during the re-return. Now that is all fine, but Barney didn't bust him on it this time and Ted sure didn't flinch telling this fib while he was drunk.
  

Suit Ups: 0 (6)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 1 (8)
Barney: Ted got Winnie Cooper, Barney didn't even get a number and slept in a tub, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: The gang is shot through the heart over and over on New Year's Eve

HIMYM 109: Belly Full of Turkey

Lilly goes with Marshall back home to St. Cloud to visit the Eriksens on Thanksgiving. She has a pregnancy and future life scare as she and Marshall decide they don't want to be just like either of their families. Robin and Ted try to get into the holiday spirit by volunteering at a soup kitchen, but Barney beat them to the punch with the good deed. It was a court mandated good deed and the night ends with the surprisingly good buffet at the local strip club.

Ted: Ted tries to be a good person before Thanksgiving and calls out the 'good' food stealing volunteers. He then gives the greatest gift of all, a lap dance to a homeless guy.

Marshall: I will roll Marshall into the rest of his family including his gigantic brothers and father Dauber from coach. The way the family got excited for bask-ice-ball (ice-ketball? that just sounds weird) and his breathless describing of the rules seemed very much like a family of boys to me.

Lilly: Not to jump the lead but this episode was all about Lilly and she rocked. Physically getting buried by the Eriksen clan and being visually blocked by the 15 pound baby sized turkey highlighted Allison Hanigan in all her diminutive glory. (Oh your Marshall's fiance! You are taller then described) And her freak out at the dinner table had the line of the night because people in New York grow up just fine and then they reach the appropriate size and they stop. Probably because they need to fit into those apartments.... amiright amiright. Oh wait unless that apartment was big enough to open a Chinese restaurant in.

Robin: Robin and Ted looked like friends this whole episode, a balance they have held very well over the years as their relationship progressed, regressed and settled. This is also the first round of overt Canadian jokes as Robin is already done with the 'real' Thanksgiving.

Barney: Barney being a super sweet guy who takes volunteering as seriously as he takes getting women is a good change of pace. Ultimately it can lead to him getting more women as I can not to justice to how NPH yells 'Volunteer of the YEEEAAARRR' Although I don't think he would have had to do a whole year of community service and have 40 hours left when they get booted at the end of the episode, but I have never peed on a church so I wouldn't know.

MVP: Lilly.

Season count:

Ted - 1
Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 2
Lilly - 2
Guest (Ellen the matchmaker) - 1

Continuity:

• Lilly is uncomfortable around Marshall's mother, but I don't see the animosity that would progress as the seasons would go on. (Not forever honey, Marshall is going to Heaven.)
  
• Robin's Canadieness is brought to the forefront which upon review was only mentioned in passing in the first two episodes and hadn't been mentioned since
  

Suit Ups: 0 (6)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 1 (7) Robin introduced Ted to the awful girl at the soup kitchen.
Barney: Once again no girls 9 episodes out of roughly 100 in and we are still at only, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Ted gets to drunk to remember being with Winnie Cooper. A tragedy on all accounts.

HIMYM 108: The Duel

Lilly is evicted from her apartment because it was turned into a Chinese restaurant. Ted struggles with the changing dynamic and impending change to his relationship with Marshall and Lilly as they move toward being married, culminating in a sword fight, yes a sword fight, between Marshall and Ted for the apartment. Barney creates what he believes is a necessity a 'Lemon Law' for dating where if within the first 5 minutes of a first date, with full knowledge there will be no second date, you may declare it a 'Lemon' and back out. Robin believes this is completely uncalled for, but may have to capitulate after going on a nerdgasm date with Martin Starr.

Ted: Ok, Ted is sadly passive aggressive in a situation with people he considers his best friends in the world. It makes sense that he was lead there by the selfish leanings of one Barney Stinson, but it lead to a sword fight where the chemistry between Radnor and Segal took over and won the day. Plus after Marshall laments stabbing his fiance... "Oooohhh do you really think she's still your fiance?" Fantastic.

Marshall: Marshall uses the word anhedonic during a sword fight, fakes a British accent, and makes it clear that having swords on the wall was one of his life long dreams and he isn't even in the running this episode.

Lilly: Lilly is a little clueless that just because she has officially moved in that she is still in 'Ted and Marshall's' place and the conceit that she could afford to NOT LIVE in an apartment big enough to open a Chinese restaurant in New York is absurd, but she did say "I'm sorry. Is this a discussion about the degree to which you stabbed me?"

Robin: While Robin is not a fan of relationships she always had a more basic understanding of human relations then Barney. She wasn't single because she loved to be free wheeling, she was single because being tied to someone meant a responsibility that she might not be ready for or ever want, and seeing her toe that line with Barney of being polite and serving the things that matter to her (like not going to theme restaurants) gave her a really strong story. (and indication that Ted might not be for her)

Barney: Barney for the first time introduces a dating rule on the world that the world repeats back to him. "Lemon law, it's going to be a thing" Defends the rule with callous glee and lies on the phone like a champ. "WHY? Why did he think he could build his own helicopter?"

MVP: This is a tough one. On a single line Ted and Lilly are tied, and Barney introduced a dating rule that even though it led to his ultimate rejection, the institution of that rule pleased him more. Since Ted was involved in the eponymous duel, he gets his first win.

Season count:

Ted - 1
Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 2
Lilly - 1
Guest (Ellen the matchmaker) - 1

Continuity:

• Lilly getting stabbed did not seem to have any long term implications
  
• Lemon Law never came up again even though some of our principals have gone on some bad dates.
  

Suit Ups: 0 (6)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 1 (6) Barney got Robin a date.
Barney: Many dates that he 'Lemon Lawed' so no new conquests, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Lilly is worried about a life of mayonnaise filled salads.

HIMYM 107: Matchmaker

Ted goes to a matchmaker to find his true love with science, turns out she is already engaged. Robin, Marshall, and Lilly deal with the burgeoning existence of the Cockamouse. Barney keeps losing his drinks to Lilly

Ted: Ted goes off the deep end trying to meet a woman that a computer says is his perfect match regardless of the fact that she in engaged. He is a bit of a selfish ass sometimes... but god does he hate phonies. He is not deterred in his search 'because if a cockroach and a mouse can find love in this crazy world, why not him.'

Marshall: Marshall is at his best when he is defending the fantastic. "If by 'like the loch ness monster' you mean totally real and awesome then yes." "Oh come on you have to give me aliens."

Lilly: Lilly kept stealing Barney's drinks and then has weird sympathy for the Cockamouse. "they'll do lab experiments on it. That's so mean! Shouldn't we just beat it to death with a bat?"

Robin: Robin as the skeptic starts in this episode and she gets to see the majesty of the flying cockamouse. The panic of throwing a drink on it was pretty funny.

Barney: Barney gets to sprinkle lines through everyone elses story lines and gets Ted to go to matchmaker by telling him that his boat is sinking. Simple scheme Barney is usually the most fun.

MVP: Ellen the matchmaker takes the MVP as a guest in this episode. She implores Ted to be gay, maybe a little bi, to keep her 100% success rate. Her failure leaves her so dejected that she pours bourbon over ice cream, a method that Robin will use when she becomes unemployed and she gave it one last try showing Ted's picture on the street getting a lead on a transvestite who thought Ted looked like John Cusack and his/her favorite movie was 'Say Anything'. So guest MVP before Ted or Robin, this will surprise no fans of this show.

Season count:

Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 2
Lilly - 1
Guest (Ellen the matchmaker) - 1

Continuity:

• Ellen will have been bought out by the next time we see Love Solutions
  
• Marshall has been shown to be a true believer for the first time in aliens, loch ness, ghosts and the Bermuda triangle.
  

Suit Ups: 0 (6)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 0 (5)
Barney: Once again Barney trying to score and us not meeting anybody, slow start, but it will pick up, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Ted fights the spectre of change with a sword

HIMYM 106: The Slutty Pumpkin

Ted holds out hope to reunite with the 'Slutty Pumpkin'. A girl he met years ago at a Halloween party on the roof. Marshall and Lilly go all out to win a costume contest at Maclaren's while Robin does not go all out to get along with her new boyfriend. Barney tries to get Ted to give up the Halloween ghost.

Ted: Ted's romantic notions are on full display as he tries to recreate the scenario of meeting the Slutty Pumpkin. In the process he turns down an invitation to the Victoria's Secret party blithely stating that "we can get rejected by supermodels any night". Ummm dude, NO YOU CAN NOT. No MVP for you.

Marshall: Pirate jokes, looking weirdly hot in guyliner, and saying he has plenty of sex with his parrot. Yes it is Halloween, and he gamely defends the Ewoks, who while I personally don't defend wholeheartedly, have never ever bothered me, and when I watched the movie when I was 7 were really great. Also penguins are apparently like little Ewoks.

Lilly: Lilly was a cute parrot and again is the guide for others relationships. She ate food off another guys fork to avoid the awkward and engaged in the sickeningly cute exchange with her fiance over the dish off (an argument over who got the better dish, which since they should have had everything at Maclaren's by now, should have been settled long ago) I did love using the parrots voice to repeat things. 'BRAH Sad Commentary'.

Robin: Robin is not good at being a couple and she will call a guy out IN FRONT OF HER FRIENDS WHO WERE SIDING WITH THE GUY. Yeesh

Barney: Walks in to the apartment in slow motion to Kenny Loggins in a flight suit. He called Ted 'Dangerous' to which Josh Radnor doesn't even try to not laugh. He uses 3 costumes to get one girls number and then after she calls him on the gimmick, he says he'll just call her anyway because 'He's a master of disguise'. Awesome, I am flippering you off.

MVP: Lilly was in contention but it is Barney all over.

Season count:

Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 2
Lilly - 1

Continuity:

• Robin says she can't be in a couple because she never played team sports. Only tennis, but we learned in Best Prom Ever that she never went to prom because it was the same weekend as field hockey finals. In season 4 we also know that she made out with one of her hockey teammates.
• Barney uses magic that involves a flint for the first of many times.
• Marshall needs to help Lilly go to the bathroom because it is an elaborate costume, but we later learned that Lilly has never peed in front of Marshall. I guess he could have helped her undress and then left, but still.
• Ted thought about peeing off the roof because the line to the bathroom was too long, but I thought the party was on the roof? Could he not go to his own apartment?
  

Suit Ups: 2 (6) Flight suit up and penguin suit up
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 0 (5)
Barney: Barney worked really hard to get a number, but once again, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Ted tries to get a date from Ellenor Frutt and a computer

HIMYM 105: Okay Awesome

Robin gets Ted and Barney into the exclusive nightclub 'OK' with her minor celebrity while Marshall and Lilly attempt to mature in both friends and excursions.

Ted: Ted is the center of this episode and expresses the difficulty of engaging not only with women, but just with people in the high intensity meet markets of night clubs. A well executed point with the sub titles and music, except for the fact that every woman he meets has the exact same sensibility and sense of humor as him so he can flirt effortlessly (I need to live in a TV show) so Ted gets no fake sympathy from me. The Ted highlight was fighting to buy a beer and then the sticker shock of paying 34 bucks for 2 beers.

Marshall: Jason Segal's unabridged joy when dancing is so god damn contagious I am almost tempted to buy 7 or 8 beers and then maybe possibly think about going out in the middle of a dance floor and moving in a weird spastic manner, so that rocks. He also had to jump out of a third story window to escape the 'adult' party that he didn't quite fit in. 'Come on guys, it will only be awkward if we let it be awkward'. Also he had a conversation with Barney outside the beat of the music that lead to him inadvertently dropping some Ecstasy with no other notable side effects.

Lilly: Lilly tried to act older except for the fact that she had no desire to be older. She still likes downing beer and mixing it up with adults even though she works with kids. This is a contrast to the much more matronly Lilly that has been developing over the years who is trying to guide all her friends into relationships and maturity in the future. She did make the same 3 story drop that Marshall did to escape the dull.

Robin: Robin's false bravado is starting to bloom, but we still haven't seen the best of Cobie Smulders except for the fact that she did pull her shirt up briefly in this ep.

Barney: Women are like fish, they are attracted to shiny objects. "It's more like when do my strategies NOT work... either way the answer is 'about half the time'" quite possibly my favorite math/scoring joke of all time. Finally Barney grinded on his never to be seen again cousin for the entire night. "THAT PLACE HAS GREAT SALADS"

MVP: Marshall dancing versus Barney's 1 liners.... dancing wins

Season count:

Marshall- 2
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 1
Lilly - 1

Continuity:

• Once again, Barney never mentioned his cousin ever again
  

Suit Ups: 0(4)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 0 (5)
Barney: No mentions of any girls for Barney so 5 episodes in it is still, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Ted is attracted to strategically placed holes.

Cheating, refs, and the fact that one does not stop the other.

OK, so here I am blogging. There will be trucks and trucks and truck loads of posts about TV and what I think of certain shows. I am a baseball fan and a volleyball coach and fan of sports in general. I have a left political view but of all these things that describe me I will never add anything to the world with these posts. I do not report, I do not break news, I have no sources outside of what everyone else who trips upon this site has, which is the TV and internet. So I won't properly source stories I am commenting on, but withleather.com is the first place I hit this story.

By now the fact that France's Thierry Henry had a double handball on a play on which there was already an offside to make a pass for the winning score over Ireland is big news. This will bring to the forefront a discussion about replay, purity of the game, and the constant battle of purity versus technology. Now the first thing I have to say is, what technology does anyone possibly need to figure out this should not have been a goal. This was human error, and egregious human error that should not have been made by what should be the top officials in the game on a very high stage of the game. I am by no means a purist, but replay is not needed to fix this. There are three people on the field whose only job is to make sure this does not happen. My only belief that replay should be involved is that a goal was scored and it would cost the game no time to look at that play and fix it. The ball went into the goal, play stopped, an on the spot call was not needed for flow of the game. Soccer is a dynamic game that is based on movement and calls and fouls need to be called on the spot to keep the game moving, but that was not necessary on this play, fix it and restore faith to the nation of Ireland.

UPDATE: No real update but a much better take on the event from 538 a political website.

HIMYM 104: Return of the Shirt

Ted chooses to reexamine his past after a shirt that he had disregarded now looks good on him. Robin has a career crisis and falls into Barney's web of degradation for money. Marshall and Lilly do things as well.

Ted: This is the first episode (of many) that show for all the romantic notions of one Ted Mosby, he really isn't all that great a guy sometimes and telling a girl he wants to be with that self respect is over rated, is... troubling.

Marshall: OK, when Ted was first showing the group his new old shirt, he says 'Hot top bro, is it new?' Now I accept a lot out of TV friendships and dialog that simply would not happen in real life, but no man has, will, ever, should write down that sentence. But he is right, ineffable is a very good word.

Lilly: Lilly started out strong by asking if it was yesterday already and giggling at the word booger. The rest of the episode she was Ted's break up coach for how to make a woman feel, which was funny and true except for the fact that no one in her entire life has ever broken up with her. But still her hitting Ted per syllable is always funny.

Robin: Robin's life finally comes front and center. We see her having issues with her career and her place on a tiny news station doing tiny news and sneaking the word 'nipple' on the air and eventually giving in to honking her own breasts on the air. Before she was able to do Barney's ultimate dare she realizes that as easy as it is to be jaded by your job, someone else always thinks it is fantastic and so you owe it to them to do your best... and then she fell in horse shit... and it got in her hair.

Barney: Barney doing the Ickey shuffle with a weird foley tap sound for his shoes was very funny except for the fact that there is no way that anyone at that table would care about Ickey Woods. Ted grew up in Cleveland, Marshall Minnesota and their team allegiances should be set. They went to school in Connecticut and if the characters in this show are just two years older then me, it makes them ten or eleven, when the Ickey shuffle was a national phenomenon for 9 weeks and then the Bengals lost to the Niners. Funny callback to a long forgotten fad, just not with this crew. Goonies references make more sense. Also, I do now yell "FRIENDSHIP OVER" over trivial things.

MVP: It was a battle between the ladies, but Lilly chuckling at booger and providing the voice for this episode beats falling down.

Season count:

Marshall- 1
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 1
Lilly - 1

Continuity:

• Years later when Ted would account for the times he was in a fight, he did not account for this beat down. Maybe it was because it was done by a girl, maybe it gets folded into the break up, but clearly this was more then a frustrated punch on the arm from an ex.
  

Suit Ups: 0(4)
Wait for it: 0 (2)
Have you met....: 0 (5)
Barney: Talked about the various types of sex that women give when breaking up but no girls were mentioned. So we still stand at, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Ted gets a date with the girl from Glee

HIMYM 103: Sweet Taste of Liberty

Ted gets talked out of the regular rut-ine of going to Maclaren's by Barney. Barney's plan consist of hitting on woman at the airport, and adventure that goes awry and culminates in the two of them licking the Liberty Bell. Lilly and Robin have their first girls night out and experience the difference between being engaged and being single. All the while Marshall is fighting his better demons to stay home and study while all his friends are out having adventures and fiances are getting hit on.

Ted: This show is all about Ted and his relationships, the ones that will define his life, so establishing the importance of Barney in his life while at the same time having him say things "Yes he is that lame" was fun to watch. Seeing Ted get swept up in the fun and immediately angry when it falls out shows the guarded fun Ted has with his very good, but not best friend, Barney. Plus Ted saying "Don't you dare go up that escalator! or that subsequent escalator!" was funny but very derivative of a Family Guy joke I had laughed at years previous.

Marshall: A real strong outing for Marshall, who is singing to himself at home and accidentally sings to Ted to answer the phone. "Ka-chong Marshall parking only" "I'll sock him in the kisser" and his other dismissive statements to Lilly before singing that his relationship is built on trust. All of this was strong but his excitement to get in on any plan that he was driving to Philadelphia and did not know why, is why Marshall is always first in the best friend race.

Lilly: I simply do not accept a world where men ignore Allison Hanigan. Premise failed. Besides that even if these guys only goal was Robin, they would still talk to both of them because ignoring the girl you are interested in's friend does not exactly help you talk to her.

Robin: Ok, now the premise of someone choosing Cobie Smulders of Allison Hanigan can hold water, but Robin is starting to come into her own as a friend of this group, although she doesn't bring the laughs (yet, the writers certainly got more comfortable with giving Robin fantastic stuff to do as time went on, do we even know if she is Canadian yet?)

Barney: OK, well Barney used empty (except for condoms and a power bar) luggage to hit on women, he is an international business man, and he let us know that cute girls are not from Buffalo. This is the early stage of this series, but I enjoy Barney's bravado while earned also acutely aware of the real world. When he gave Ted the speech about living his whole life with the seat belt sign on but quickly and politely demured to the flight attendant, when he shows true fear and childlike defensiveness to being taken in by airport security, that aspect of Barney has been lost over the years, because, well relentless ego, is also very funny, but slightly less human.

MVP: Not even close, this is Barney. It could have been won on the two pictures he sent Marshall to convince him to go.

Season count:

Marshall- 1
Ranjeet- 1
Barney - 1

Continuity:

• Marshall is singing the things he is doing, which while not shown a whole lot I guess he will do a whole lot because it will really annoy his friends in 2 years
  
• Marshall stood up the guy he thought was hitting on Lilly only to be relieved that he was in fact not because he had never been in a fight before. I guess he is either not counting his fights with his brothers in ep 410 or is terrified of strangers. (ok they forgot about this episode when they did 410
  
• The first mention of the "hoopty assed Fierro"
  

Suit Ups: 1(4) Snowsuit up in fact
Wait for it: 1 (2) And I hope you're not allergic to milk because the next word is dairy
'Have you met...': 0 (2)
Going in my blog: 0 (1)
Have you met....: 0 (5)
Barney: Still 1 confirmed, Barney did say that when he climbed out of the bag on airport security it in fact 'worked' so as it stands now, 1 confirmed, 1 possible


Up next: Ted revisits a past relationship with Cut Throat Bitch

The Other Guy Looks at 101 & 102

If I arrive late to a TV show party, then I try to catch up as fast as possible. I inhaled 'The Wire' in a month and 'How I Met Your Mother' in about 3 months. I confess that it's all a blur at this point, but like a television amnesiac, certain sights and sounds will jog my memory.

The 'Pilot' is memorable because it followed the standard romantic comedy formula of how characters fall in love (in this case, Ted having a love at first sight moment over Robin) and just saying, "Nope. That's not how it works on this show." I think "Haaaave you met Ted" was great, but if they started the "Legendary" and "Wait for it" here (I forget) then I was tired of those jokes from the start. Both HIMYM go-tos took a while for me to come around on, as "Legendary" is just a douchey thing to say and "Wait for it" along with "I know, right?" are both phrases I 1) thought had dropped out of the zeitgeist years ago ('The West Wing' did "Wait for it"!) and 2) view as hacky. But just as 'The Office' resurrected an ironic version of "That's what she said," HIMYM took stupid hacky phrases and made them its own. Good for them.

'Purple Giraffe' demonstrated one of the strengths of this show: modernizing sitcom tropes. We buy that Ted will contrive to be with Robin because he's a hopeless, sort of pathetic and certainly over-the-top romantic, thereby hiding the sitcom plot's inherent contrivances (multiple parties; multiple coincidences). It just works. Of course, it helps that it has such great characters. I started to think about this during the pilot, but this episode really made me believe that Carter Bays & Craig Thomas really just took their personal lives and television'd it up a bit. Ted & Marshall likely mirrors their friendship, Barney's a guy they knew, Lily is either a composite of their wives/girlfriends/SOs or one woman in particular and Robin represents the woman who intrigued them, probably dated, but ultimately realized they could never work out as a couple. The show is structured and drawn in such a way that I'm convinced the only way it could be done was by shorthand: their lives. Write what you know, after all.

And with that, I turn it back over to Hobbes to keep rolling with his reviews. I'll jump back in after the next two. Maybe we'll write about another show. Or a topic that does not involve moving pictures.

HIMYM 102: Purple Giraffe

All right I'm still figuring out how to write these, I can't recap the whole episode every week, I don't want to give grades, and the reason for my reviews is mainly to nitpick continuity and count stuff that is truly meaningless mainly, it seems like Barney's 200 'sex with' number in the time the show gave us seems low. If this seems pointless and obsessive, Hi, internet, nice to meet you. So I have settled on pointing out our 5 principles best moments, plus any other characters that need a mention and declare an MVP. After that I'll point out any continuity pluses and minuses and then get into the counts of things that don't matter, but do matter enough to count.

Ted: "Who is this? Meredith? Oh Robin", the impossibly quick thinking moment of "I guess I've been saying next Friday all week. It's tonight", and the hilarious run into frame of the Purple Giraffe news story and darting out.

Marshall: Marshall's ability to declare a party success when he has had 4 cans of dip and get over his annoyance at Ted by declaring 'Get French Dip'.

Lilly: Lilly being the girl voice in a group of guys is always amusing. Her declaring Barney a dork when he was 'searching' and asking if the guys got high, just shows that she belongs there to keep the ship on course. If you think I am ignoring 'Horny Lilly' who given an engagement ring is declaring that she forgot to wear panties, well, I am pointing out things I find funny, not awesome, so just rest assured that horny Lilly is always awesome and I noted it, but I am choosing to point out the funny.

Robin: Well she is still just the dream girl and her rewind on her Barney burn was to forced to endear her to the group.

Barney: The fact that there is a woman at every New York party who knows nobody is initially labeled 'Statistic' was funny, but the fact that it had to be punctuated with, "Do you see... where I'm going... huh-with this." well NPH, you make WH sounds funny. Back when Barney was just a regular letch and not the over the top 2 clicks short of Quagmire from Family Guy one night stand ninja that they sometimes made him, 'Sweetie? Really?' was really really good.

MVP: OK NPH has the ability to walk away with this every night, but in the interest of fairness I will look deeper, and 4 cans of dip is a winner MARSHALL

Season count: Ranjeet won an undeclared victory for the Pilot based on superior blocking by the director. So ...

Marshall- 1
Ranjeet- 1

Continuity:

• The first showing of Lilly's inability to keep a secret, a trait that has been consistent
• Why does Robin go to Maclaren's so much? She was ther with her friends the week before when she met Ted and then she was just hangin out there after work to see Lilly and get to know her over a beer? It's established that she lives far away, so I am going to assume the Channel 1 offices are near the apartment.
• It is funny to hear Barney say that he is not sure he likes Robin.

Have you met....: 3 (5)
Barney: Sex with 'works with Carlos girl' so that is 1. This will get more detailed and far more difficult as we get into stories in passing, when I believe he is lying for affect, and the sometimes amorphous definition of 'hook up'.

Up next: Ted has this much fun when he was all set to have this much fun

HIMYM 101: The Pilot

Ok, so this is the start of a little project I have in my head. I am going to do a short review of every episode of one of my favorite sitcoms How I Met Your Mother and keep track of some relevant statistics and continuity. I am writing with the knowledge of up to episode 506 so spoilers be warned if you have decided to come 5 years late to the party.

Review: As a pilot, this episode still impresses me with how well it established the universe of the show. Our main character, 2005 Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), is looking for the eponymous mother of the children we are introduced to in the year 2030. 2005 Ted's search intensifies as his loveable best friend Marshall (Jason Segel) proposes to his longtime and only girlfriend Lilly (Allison Hannigan). Good friend, and happily single, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) tells Ted that there is no rush and that being single is awesome. This all sounds fine to Ted except from across the room he falls in love instantly with the comely Robin (Cobie Smolders). A first date and lightning bolts ensue until Ted jumps the relationship gun and tells his love of 24 hours that, yes, he loves her. Robin is properly concerned, but even as she shows Ted the door, gives him one more opportunity that he unwittingly passes on to kiss her. His friends (and cab driver Ranjeet) raz him at the bar about his obstinance, but we see him tell his kids that this is indeed how he met... their aunt Robin. The story of the mother to come until.... well at least after episode 506.

For a pilot the relationships between all the characters is established pretty quickly and easily. Barney is the wingman that revels in the hunt. Marshall is the best friend and the model that Ted wants to follow. Lilly the impossibly perfect girlfriend/fiance and by extension great friend of Ted's. Finally Robin, the dream girl.

Right from the beginning the show is about the evolution of relationships. All in their mid to late twenties we see Ted asking girls out, Barney relentlessly pursuing more carnal relationships, and Marshall and Lilly extending the commitment they made to each other long ago. There is the easy comparrison to another show about 'Friends' that hang out and contemplate their careers and relationships but this show has the conciet that we know the ending, Ted ends up well, and it's not with Robin. Unlike wondering the outcome of Ross and Rachel, this show emphasizes that it truly is the journey that matters, a theme that the show will revisit again and again, along with fate, and it's many, many rules of dating and love. Which brings me to the first rule they brought up, 'The Olive Rule'. Not so much the execution of that rule but that it established that these 4 (soon 5) are trying to figure out coupling as a group. Second, the time shifting discussion of the date at the bar while we are seeing the date, while 'Bob Saget' Ted in the future is telling his kids the story established the fallability of the story teller and allows an expanse of the reality of what we are seeing. All the characters in all time frames reacting with a stunned 'WHAT!' to Ted declaring his love, truly is the unique character that this (almost kinda technically) 4 camera sitcom brings in.

Continuity stuff: the kids are wearing different clothes (so what, pilot)
The wall behind the booth at Maclaren's (see above)
Ted being around for Marshall and Lilly's first time (First time in New York)

Suit Ups: 3
Wait for it: 1 (not done with Legendary, done with De----nied)
'Have you met...': 2
Going in my blog:1

Ok here is the whole reason I started this, in a late 4th season episode Barney declares with joy that he is at 200... as in sex with. So this is the count that I am most curious about.

0 Confirmed Barney partners, none even spoken of in passing

That's that, no ratings, I reserve the right to amend at any time, we'll see where this goes.

Because in the Mid Afternoon...

Everything happens. As I deal with the sporadic employment of my late 20's I have many of mid days available to me. As I tire of trashy TV shows I go to the cable news networks. Whatever is defined as news by afternoon, becomes the fodder of the commentary shows and then the commentary becomes the news, and then the die is cast for the night before it all starts again. Well I am taking back my mid day by defining what is news to me, and most often my news is a waste of time, but it will now be my mid afternoon, so stick around for my musings on TV, life, love, politics, but mainly TV. Buckle in for a pointless journey.