| 100 |
Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker
Romantic comedies depend on appealing actors, and these five are irresistible. |
| 91 |
Entertainment Weekly Henry Goldblatt
We never thought we'd laugh out loud with a laugh track again. [23 Sep 2005, p.81] |
| 90 |
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
This is a cast that jells immediately, hitting on all cylinders from the very first scene. |
| 88 |
USA Today Robert Bianco
The script is humorous, though not hilarious, and the show boasts a fine cast that could, with time, jell into a great one. |
| 80 |
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
How I Met Your Mother is that rare TV comedy that relies more on character than jokes. |
| 80 |
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
"How I Met Your Mother" introduces a level of unpredictability not usually found in comedies. |
| 80 |
Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd
A considerably above-average Generation Y sitcom that manages to be both sharp and sentimental, like "Seinfeld" with feeling. |
| 80 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
Like ''Friends," this is not a big-themed series so much as a bunch of little character jokes and relationship confusions getting batted around by an able cast. |
| 80 |
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
Manages to get the balance of cuddliness and snark just right. |
| 80 |
Cleveland Plain Dealer Mark Dawidziak
What truly makes the Bays-Thomas collaboration smarter than your average sitcom is the storytelling chances taken by the script. |
| 75 |
Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy
You know you're in the presence of a fresh, original sitcom when you don't even mind the laugh track. |
| 75 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
The format is unusual, and the ending of the premiere nicely surprising - but the element that pushes this show into the potential hit category is Neil Patrick Harris. |
| 70 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
Cute but not overly cuddly, there's an authenticity to the relationships in "Mother" that makes it a comedy worth meeting. |
| 70 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland
"How I Met Your Mother" may not break any comedic ground, but it's the sort of comfortable, reliable hitter CBS needs on Monday nights. |
| 70 |
Newsday Verne Gay
Could... become a very pleasant surprise. |
| 70 |
LA Weekly Robert Abele
Time will tell if viewers take to this quintet as completely as they did [Friends'] Central Perk crew... but it seems as if How I Met Your Mother is the most legitimate knockoff yet of that youthful-urbanite juggernaut. |
| 60 |
Washington Post Tom Shales
It is a little better than most other sitcoms, past and present -- especially those featuring wacky urban friends in their twenties experiencing the bittersweet mysteries of life. |
| 60 |
The Onion A.V. Club
The premise is a winner, and the cast... couldn't be more appealing. But the overtly sitcom-y beats and one-liners seem overworked. |
| 60 |
New York Magazine John Leonard
Not so funny but genuinely touching. |
| 60 |
The New York Times Alessandra Stanley
The writing does not yet live up to the show's premise, but the series has potential to improve. |
| 60 |
Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart
A viewer-friendly diversion. |
| 50 |
New York Post Linda Stasi
The plot is clever and there's a nice twist at the end, but the actors haven't found a rhythm, nor have they developed any chemistry. |
| 38 |
Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
The script is just poor. |
| 30 |
PopMatters Michael Abernethy
The comedy that does occur in How I Met Your Mother isn't enough to compensate for its inconsistencies. |
| 20 |
The New Republic Lee Siegel
Cloying [and] lackluster. |
