How I Met Your Father

There are enough good things about the show to think it’ll work eventually, but it might never click on all cylinders like the parent show did at its peak.

The series replicates HIMYM’s narrative inventiveness, but it’s the chemistry between its leads the new series tries hardest to recreate. ... Part of the problem is, without the core chemistry (which may take a few episodes to work out), the new show so far also lacks the clever plot overlays we came to expect from Carter Bays and Craig Thomas’ original series.

If old episodes of HIMYM feel like comfort food in 2022, HIMYF feels less like an updated recipe than the prepackaged Trader Joe’s version. It’s good enough to pass in a pinch, but not quite good enough to surpass the real deal.

This Hulu series feels particularly stale, with its modest wrinkles failing to offer enough to merit starting a new relationship.

It's a familiar sitcom with familiar beats, and stars a particularly familiar lead who brings a nostalgic vibe to an essentially wistful enterprise. "How I Met Your Father" is for anyone who grew up on Duff's "Lizzie McGuire" or "Drake and Josh" (Josh Peck joins in a later episode) and may be wondering right now why romance is so tragically out of reach circa 2022.

Hulu’s How I Met Your Father has a strong cast, but lame jokes and an excess of schmaltz make it fall short of the original.

Father overstuffs itself with elaborate backstories, yet it's barely clear why the ensemble wants to hang out together. Contrivances pile up.

“How I Met Your Father” misses all of that spark and feels like watching the copy of a copy of a copy. It’s enough to fulfill a nostalgic craving in the most superficial sort of way, but far too flimsy to do anything else.

We've seen this story before and better versions of it since life moved on, making the writers' choice to retrace its dated habits so odd.

There’s a lot of light and snacky fare out there, but HIMYF feels more akin to a reheated, juiced-up leftover.