The TV Season is halfway over, with pretty much every show having had it’s “fall finale.” (When did that even become a thing, anyway?) At the season’s midpoint, I’ve decided to weigh in with my unsolicited opinions on the shows I’ve been watching, in order of the night in which they air.

SUNDAY
The Simpsons is still amazingly funny. This season has had some truly great episodes, “The Food Wife,” “The Book Job,” and “Holidays of Future Passed” all come to mind as modern-day classics. Of the MacFarlane shows, I still maintain that American Dad is the funniest of the lot. The Cleveland Show has its moments on occasion, and Family Guy has just been really tough to watch lately. Suddenly it’s become much more of a preachy and heavy-handed show and less of a funny show. I’m enjoying Allen Gregory so far – it’s pretty unique, utterly bizarre, and weirdly entertaining.

The Walking Dead has had more than it’s share of issues this season, as my buddy Brett has already wonderfully outlined. There’s been far too much talking, the Sophia storyline dragged on way too long, and the fact that Herschel never mentioned that he found a little girl is going to be tough to explain when the show comes back. Boardwalk Empire on the other hand, had a superb second season. The last three episodes in particular each had some pretty shocking and tough to watch moments, but I mean that in the best way possible.
HI
MONDAY
HIMYM has continued to prove this season that it can be funny and yet still pack an emotional punch There has yet to be any major movement on Ted actually, you know, finding the damn mother, but that’s just going to have to wait until the series ends, so whatever. We watched a few episodes of the new Charlie Sheen-less Two and a Half Men, and that was all we could take. The show was always low-brow and silly, but the simple fact is that Sheen was an infinitely better lead than Ashton Kutcher. Oh well.

Terra Nova I have mixed feelings on. The pilot was full of potential, but then the show’s mythology quickly took a backseat to ridiculous one-off episodes. I mean, an amnesia storyline in episode 3? Really? Things have picked up lately, but the pacing feels unnecessarily slow at some times, and insanely rushed at others. I’m writing this before the season (series?) finale, and I am still curious to see where they tale the story… and if the ratings will justify a second season for the big budget show. My guess is no.

TUESDAY
Parenthood is an amazing show, and one of the series I most look forward to. That said, there were some pretty big plot holes this year that kind of took me out of the show. Namely, the parents of the kid that Alex punched pressing charges against Alex. Underage kids were drinking at their house; why on earth would they want to involve the authorities? Haddie was drinking there – wouldn’t it have been simpler for Adam and Kristina to remind the parents of that small but important fact right away? And then later in the season, Sydney can’t figure out the rules of Charades, but she knows how to play chess? Huh? These are minor gripes, but I only nitpick because I love the show so much, and the fact that it feels so real and genuine is one of it’s greatest charms; watching that fall away just bums me out. Still, I love that Julia and Joel have a meaty storyline, and hey, Drew has a girlfriend! Yay!

Then there’s Glee. Ah, Glee. I keep on watching this show, yet I’m not totally sure why. There is so much potential for great stories with all of these characters, but it seems like so many of these plot threads just get left by the wayside, never to be mentioned again. Maybe I’m just expecting too much for a show where a bunch of people in their mid- to late- 20’s play teenagers that know the words to every song ever written and can dance in perfect unison without a single rehearsal.

I also tried to get into Ringer due to my love of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but I just couldn’t. Waaaaaaaaaaay to soapy for my tastes. Sorry, SMG, I love ya, but I think now that Smallville is gone, I am officially done with the CW.

Come back next week for Part 2!

After contract negotiations between Fox and the show’s actors and producers hit a wall and threatened to end the show, an agreement has been reached,and the show has been renewed for not just one, but TWO more seasons after this one! In other words, The Simpsons will live to see their 25th season! Hooray!

And while 25 seasons is an unprecedented run, I love how showrunner Al Jean refuses to say that the show should end there, instead aiming to make it an even 30.

I’m quite convinced that anyone who says the show has gotten stale over the past few years simply isn’t watching. The show has had some fantastic episodes recently, and I’m a firm believer in the show going on for as long as humanly possible.

And so are the people who make the show – after the news hit about the renewal, this promo started making the rounds, which features an update on the song “They’ll Never Stop The Simpsons.”

You know what’s crazy? The original song appeared in a clip show in the show’s 13th season. And now they’re able to update it ten years later! If you’re curious to hear the first version of the song (and frankly, why wouldn’t you be?), give it a listen:

It’s been a while since I weighed in on my thoughts on TV’s finest programming, so without further ado (or Apu, if you prefer), here are some quick thoughts on the current season through the halfway point. Beware of spoilers.

The Simpsons – Still funny after all these years, The Simpsons continues to be funny, occasionally touching, and culturally relevant. (Their triumvirate of jabs at Fox News got some positive and negative coverage.) I’m not sure about how I feel about their pretty racy Katy Perry gag, not because it wasn’t funny, but because it seemed like the kind of thing that would have felt more at home on Family Guy. And speaking of…

Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad! – I lump these three shows together because they are pretty similar in tone, though I do stand by my assertion that of the three, the funniest and best written remains the under-appreciated American Dad! Cleveland has its moments, but it still feels like a Family Guy clone (as did American Dad before it found its own footing). And Family Guy has been pretty inconsistent – the murder mystery premiere was pretty lame, but the recent Christmas show had some good moments. Which proves that they CAN tell a story well, if and when they choose to actually do so.

Boardwalk Empire – Does it feel pretty similar to The Sopranos? Sure. But was it pretty damn entertaining anyway? Yup. There is plenty of gratuitous violence and nudity, but the characters and stories are really well fleshed out. And though I wasn’t totally sure about buying Buscemi in a lead role, his supporting cast goes a long way at making the world seem real.

How I Met Your Mother – HIMYM is still making funny observations about life in clever ways, like the “Where’s the poop?” bit and “The Mermaid Theory.” And while I do wish that Ted would actually start to come close to maybe perhaps finding the damn Mother already, the show’s use of flashbacks and flashforwards are still used to great effect. My main complaint with this season so far is the Zoey storyline – I’m just not feeling it. We know she’s not the Mother, so it feels like the show is just spinning its wheels.

The Event – Look, I’d love for TV to have another Lost-esque show on the air. But you can’t force a square peg into a round hole, and despite starting off promising, The Event got really lame really fast. Too bad.

Parenthood – Why aren’t more people watching this show? And why does it so frequently got pre-empted by The Biggest Loser? Parenthood is an amazingly well-written and well-acted show, with a realistic depiction of family life. Check it out! It’s honestly a lot better quality than…

Glee – Sure, I love the music. But this season it just seems like the writers are trying to shoehorn as many songs as possible into every show. I get it – iTunes downloads are what makes the show profitable, but when there are 7 songs and no story, the show suffers. And for every interesting storyline – like Kurt being bullied – there are many more retreads – Emma breaks Will’s heart by getting married, Rachel and Finn fight, Sue turns evil then good then evil again.

South Park – SP had a strong fall season, with the Jersey Shore spoof and Randy’s obsession with Food Network being standouts. The Coon arc could have been a two-parter instead of a trilogy, but the payoff at the end made it all worth it. Mint Berry Crunch!

30 Rock – Still brilliant. Tracy still gets a never-ending stream of hysterical and quotable lines. The humor works on every level, and the meta stuff never crosses the line of being “too meta,” if that makes sense.

The Office – Also going strong in Michael Scott’s final season. I have to say that after each episode I become more and more convinced that the honorable thing to do is to end the series on a high note with his departure, but the odds of that happening seem slim.

Community – Another under-rated show that is very funny. Their parodies are always spot-on, and the show seems to be embracing the whole cast now instead of being focused primarily on Jeff and Britta. Although it does seem that every episode has a theme about what great friends all of our characters are.

Fringe – Damn this show is amazing. The whole Olivia/Fauxlivia storyline played out beautifully over the first half of the season, and the upcoming battle between the two universes looks very promising. I personally don’t mind that the show is being moved to the “death slot” of Friday nights since we DVR everything anyway, but at least the new promos show that the producers are willign to make light of their new night.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – This has to be some of, if not the, best political commentary around today. These are war stories, but they also focus on corruption, greed, and the behind the scenes machinations of the military-industrial complex. Heavy stuff for a kids show on the Cartoon Network, right? Well, there are plenty of fights and lightsaber battles, too, for good measure. And even though the last few episodes have been Galactic Senate-heavy, the second half of the season looks to heavily feature action – and Darth Maul’s brother!

Smallville – You gotta give it to the team behind Smallville – they are doing all they can to make this season memorable. Storylines are moving at a furious pace, and the Lois-Clark relationship has never been so fascinating, and as much as I loved Lana, her romance with Clark pales in comparison. Having less main characters has given the show much more focus, although I do miss Chloe. And it’s been nice seeing some old familiar faces, with the appearance of Lionel Luthor particularly well done. (Although I have to wonder why Earth-2’s Clark is named Clark also – the Kents named their adopted son after Martha’s maiden name, so it seems strange that Lionel would pick the same first name. Whatever.) I’m looking forward to more guest stars in the second half, as well as seeing more of Darkseid and his minions. The show has a nasty record of flubbing season finales, but I will hold out hope that it can nail the series finale.

A bunch of my favorite TV shows have been renewed for new seasons – here is a quick round-up.  (Yes, some of these are old, but so what?)

Fringe was just given the go-ahead for a third season, which is fantastic news.  The show’s ratings have been down thanks to its hyper-competitive timeslot, but the stories this season have been phenomenal, and the show is really coming into its own.  If you’re not watching it, you should be!

Smallville, which has seen every season since #7 potentially be its last, has gotten a pick-up to continue for a Season Ten.  As a fan of the show, I have been hoping for years that it would come to an end; it’s not that I don’t love it, I just think that based on the concept of the show – Clark Kent growing into the hero he will be – needs to eventually come to its logical conclusion.  For years, the show seemed to be dragging its feet, but no more.  The show still has its issues, but it has proven that it still has legs, and I am excited that they will continue for another year.  I still stand by my assertion that the show does need to come to a satisfactory conclusion, and that the showrunners should negotiate an end that will leave them and the fans happy.

NBC picked up the three Thursday night shows we watch, The Office, 30 Rock, and Community, for additional seasons.  Similarly to Smallville, The Office, as much as I love it, needs to end at some point as well.  What on earth is this documentary crew still doing in Scranton?  Are they *ever* going to take all of this footage and make it into something?  Or are we supposed to now think that the cameras are there as an ongoing reality series?  Has that ever been established?  I still like the show, and I’ll keep watching it, it just seems like it’s gotten a little too silly for its own good.

Community is also pretty funny, and while I can’t see it staying on the air forever (community college is only for two years, right?), another season is good news.  And 30 Rock is pure brilliance, and they need to keep that show going as long as they can keep Alec Baldwin on it.

How I Met Your Mother got a green-light for a sixth season, which is also great news, but once again, the show is going to need to come to an end based on the premise of the series.  Eventually, Ted’s gonna have to meet the Mother, and all of the story lines will have to pay off.

Big Love was given an order for a fifth season, which isn’t terribly surprising given that the show pulls in pretty solid numbers for HBO.  This season seems to be moving at a breakneck pace, which is a nice change from a lot of the other scripted shows on the air that seem to plod along.

And for what it’s worth, here is my official opinion on these shows that are still “on the bubble:”

24 – I could go either way on this one.  The show is still entertaining, but the formula has gotten a bit stale.

Heroes – Yeah, I have stuck with this show despite swearing off it several times.  I didn’t finish this past season, but now with the last few episodes on FiOS’ On Demand, I am planning on it.  The show is also past its prime, so I wouldn’t be heartbroken if it went off.

Scrubs – They never should have brought Scrubs back from the dead after last season, but to cancel it now would just be extra insulting.

V and FlashForward – Both of these shows have potential to live for a few seasons, if the writing can stay strong.  I personally have a little more faith in V, but I’m looking forward to seeing how both shows play out their seasons.

Every December, a ton of “Best of the Year” lists pop up everywhere, and they can get old pretty quick, but I’m digging the “Best of the Decade” lists that I’ve been seeing lately. So I figured I’d jump on that particular bandwagon, and so I now present my list of some of the best pop culture trends of the past ten years.

Funny Music from Artists Besides Weird Al
Don’t get me wrong – my obsession with Weird Al Yankovic, the king of parodies and musical comedy, is still strong as ever. And he had a great decade in his own right, with the fantastic albums Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood, as well as his several Internet Leaks songs and videos. But he also had some competition in the funny music department. Tenacious D’s first album is side-splittingly funny. Though the movie and its soundtrack were less hilarious than they could have been, the genius of their first batch of songs more than makes up for it.

Then there’s Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island crew. The videos for Lazy Sunday, D*ck in a Box, I’m On a Boat, and others are brilliant in their lyrics and their visuals, and the digital shorts have been some of the best stuff on Saturday Night Live in recent years.

And who could forget the brilliance of Flight of the Conchords? Their two seasons on HBO, their two albums, and their EP were full of catchy, quotable, fantastic, and hysterical songs. I cried a little bit (on the inside) when I heard the show was officially done. Hopefully they’ll keep putting out music into the next decade.

The Renaissance of the Serialized Drama
The aughts may be remembered as the decade when hour-long, serialized dramas came back with a major vengeance. The best of the bunch has to be Lost – a show that not only blows your mind every week, but it has you obsessing in between episodes, talking over theories and trying to guess what it all means. The season 1 and 3 finales are two of my personal favorites in a standout series.

While the writing may not be as strong at 24 as it is on Lost, it’s still an extremely entertaining show, and it’s made Jack Bauer an instant kick ass pop icon. Sure, it’s cheesy when he screams “Dammit, we’re running out of time!” yet again, but it’s hard to resist the show’s real-time Die Hard feel. Then there’s Smallville, which has gotten much better at telling long stories over multiple episodes instead of just relying on freak-of-the-week episodes. And Fringe straddles the line of stand alone episodes with a greater mythology, and so far has been doing a great job of both. I also have high hopes for FlashForward and V, but it will remain to be seen how well those shows pay off long arcs, but they’re both off to good starts.

Even when theses kinds of shows haven’t worked all that well (Dollhouse, Terminator, Heroes) or when they were good concepts that were canceled too soon (Eli Stone), it’s still good that network executives are giving their audience some credit, understanding that we have patience, and can appreciate the kind of story-telling where everything isn’t all wrapped up in a tidy package in 42 minutes.

There is a great, albeit very long article about this topic at GQ.com with the guys from Bad Robot – I recommend it if you have a half-hour to kill.

Sit-coms Are Amazing Again!
It wasn’t just hour-long dramas that rocked the decade; the sit-com was reintroduced as a medium of clever comedies, and not just full of pratfalls and one-dimensional characters. Arrested Development was able to use bad puns, sight gags, kissing cousins, and The Final Countdown to great effect for powerful belly laughs. The British version of The Office gave us an amazing new brand of painful and awkward humor that would live on in the American series, as well as Ricky Gervais’ show Extras. 30 Rock is written so brilliantly and the jokes come so fast I find myself having to constantly rewind back to listen to jokes again. How I Met Your Mother gave a new twist to the story of urban singles looking for love. And we got 8 great years of Scrubs – even if Season 9 leaves a little to be desired.

The Superhero Is Cool Again
It seems like ages ago, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past that superhero movies weren’t really anything to get that excited about. Then in a single decade, we got four fantastic films in the genre: Superman Returns, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man. (I know I’m going to get mocked for making those the ones I single out… but I just can’t get behind Spider-man. I tried, really, I did. And I enjoyed X-Men and X2, but I don’t know if they were amazing.) Too often, superhero movies were considered formulaic drivel, and could be released, hated, and forgotten about quickly. But the aughts made them not only bankable hits, but films that both nerds and critics agreed were actually good. I’ve defended Superman Returns so many times I’ve lost count, so I’ll just make this quick – it had its fans, and its share of people who hated it, but I loved it, so it goes on *MY* list, OK? The rebooted Batman films were also incredible, and they made that world so dark and believable it’s hard to not be foaming at the mouth for more sequels. And even though I knew nothing about Iron Man, I thoroughly enjoyed that film as well. Sure there have been some bad superhero movies in the past ten years, but the good ones were so great, it almost doesn’t matter.

The Apatow Movie Method
If some strange pop culture villain put a gun to my head and demanded I name the funniest movie of the past ten years, it’s a safe bet that I’d answer Superbad. I was laughing out loud a lot when we first saw that flick, and every time I’ve watched it since, I have the same reaction. That’s impressive considering I know the jokes that are coming. I also feel similarly about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year Old Virgin. And Anchorman and Talladega Nights and Walk Hard and any movie that had Apatow’s name attached to was guaranteed to be at least funnier than your average comedy. Of course, Judd himself didn’t always have much to do with every all of the above movies, but his influence can be felt in them – and others where he had no involvement whatsoever, like I Love You, Man; there are outrageous moments, painful moments, and things that are ridiculous enough to make you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, but they still keep themselves grounded in such a way that you buy what’s happening. Movie comedies will probably continue to evolve, but these movies will always make me laugh.

The Pixar Streak
So much has already been said about the brilliance of the Pixar movies, but here it goes anyway: The folks at Pixar are geniuses, and each and every one of their flicks have been funny, beautiful to watch, and full of great characters and stories. Two of the greatest films of the decade in my humble opinion are WALL·E and Up, neither of which sounded like a home-run concept, but were both executed flawlessly. Sure there are other companies doing similar kinds of animation, but those movies always just fail to impress me with their stories, and often times they are so full of timely references that the jokes will be out dated in a few years. Courtney and I have been watching a DVR’d collection of Pixar shorts, and even the company’s short films are crafted with amazing precision and humor. I sure hope my kids love these movies, because I know I’ll enjoy watching them too.

Nintendo Changes Video Gaming
I’m a Nintendo fanboy – always have been, always will be. And I loved the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance. But what Nintendo pulled off with the Wii and the Nintendo DS is truly incredible. Video-gaming is no longer just associated with nerds playing alone in dark basements – it’s now something that the whole family can do together, something that parents don’t dread if their kids want to do, and it’s even something that women actually enjoy. (And are not just pretending to enjoy for the sake of their boyfriends or husbands.) Wii Sports isn’t my favorite game personally, but I love watching people who have never held a game controller pick it up and play with ease. Wii Fit is a really fun way to exercise at home. The latest iterations of the classic franchises have all been fantastic: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii are all incredible games, as are their counterparts on the DS. (I just beat the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks this morning – it’s really fun so far!)

Sure Nintendo has room for improvement – better online capability, HD graphics, etc. But the fact of the matter is what they are doing now works, and it works well, and it works well for a huge chunk of the population.

Better, Clearer, Faster
High definition television. DVR. Portable players that let us watch movies, TV shows, and carry tons of music and photos, too. It’s pretty amazing that when we started this decade, those things weren’t common, and now it’s hard to imagine life without them. It sounds like a sweeping statement, but it isn’t, really. Try to go through a week without using your DVR. Or switch back to a standard definition TV. You’ll be going out of your mind in a week. What are you going to do, record your favorite shows with a VCR? Seriously.

And remember when you had to carry a discman with you to listen to music on the go? You looked strange wearing headphones, and you could only listen to one album at a time! Now you can carry thousands of songs in your cell phone.

And remember dial-up? When it would take a half hour to load a 30 second video clip? Now you can watch entire episodes of TV shows or whole movies on your laptop – or even on your TV – that load in seconds.

It’s hard to imagine so much has happened in ten years, and it’s even crazier that in December 2019, we’ll be looking back at all of this stuff as quaint and old-fashioned.

We aren’t caught up to the show totally, but we are at least done with the first four seasons on DVD! Wo-hoo!

Season 4 of HIMYM was another solid year, and I felt like a lot of ground was made on advancing some big stories – Stella and Ted’s relationship has a clear payoff in terms of getting Ted together with his future wife, and the Robin-Barney romance was handled well; more than once l’ve wondered if in 2030, Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin will be a couple that the Mosby’s and the Eriksen-Aldrin’s get together with. And as usual, all the stuff with Lily and Marshall was great, including their debates on having a child, and the way the producers tried to hide Alyson Hannigan’s real-life pregnancy. (I realize Cobie Smulders was also pregnant for some of the episodes, but she was showing far less.)

I loved watching the gang search for the best burger in the city, the whole running bit about interventions was fantastic, and Courtney and I freaking loved Marshall’s excessive use of graphs. I also appreciated Robin’s frustrations at her friends not watching her television show… Cough, cough.

So now we can move on the current season of HIMYM, and I suspect that we will be watching with everyone else when the identity of the Mother is finally revealed. That moment should be coming soon, and according to the spoilers I’ve heard despite my best efforts to avoid them, it will be, Which is good, because the show is definitely moving in that direction, although the show probably won’t be able to really keep going much past the point where she is introduced. That’s not a bad thing – the series has a specific story to tell, and if they keep extending it out deliberately past that point, they won’t be doing anyone any favors. Except I guess for all of the people they’ll keep employed, but that isn’t enough to appease whiny internet nerds like me.

Oh, and PS – if anyone has the November 16th episode (last week’s) saved and has any idea of how to export it/burn it/put it on tape, please let me know… Our DVR didn’t record that one for some reason. It’s available online now, but they only keep the two most recent episodes online for free. Eh, worst case we can just buy it on Amazon.

And speaking of Jason Segel, here’s a great video of him performing a song he wrote at a Swell Season concert (the band from the movie “Once.”) It’s funny stuff, though it might not be a great idea to give Courtney his phone number…

Our marathon HIMYM sessions sort of got derailed with the start of the fall TV season, but here and there, we have put another season in the books.

I am still really enjoying the show, even though I kind of feel like this was a sort of uneven season. I think it had something to do with the fact that a lot of stories had Ted with some random girl. And though they led to funny bits – like the girl who was off the charts on the hot-crazy scale, or when he didn’t notice that one wouldn’t stop talking until it was pointed out to him – it sort of made the show feel like a regular sit-com, because I never bought that any of these stories really directly tied into Ted meeting his future wife.

But enough of the over-analyzing. The show is still really funny, and I loved everything with Marshall and Lily’s crooked apartment, and Barney’s feelings for Robin were hinted at subtly enough that when they finally got together, it felt pretty natural – if somewhat creepy. Ted’s relationship with Stella led to some great moments, and more of an arc than was present in the first half of the season. Plus I love Sarah Chalke. And speaking of women I love, it was fun seeing Britney Spears on the show, but man did she look terrible. The show’s had some fun guest stars, and as much as it pains me to admit it, Brit’s was not the greatest.

We also got some hints about Ted’s future wife, and he is now in possession of the yellow umbrella. Oh, and we got to see another Robin Sparkles video, and another great Marshall-Barney slap.

On to Season 4 – hopefully we’ll be able to make some good headway fast, especially considering the World Series should pre-empt a lot of our shows, and I am most definitely not watching any of that travesty.

Put it in the books, one more season of HIMYM has been watched.  The show moves FAST on DVD, especially when its the summer and there’s not much new TV on.  It’s a cliche that TV shows “get into their groove” in their second seasons, but as much as I loved Season 1, I gotta say that 2 was even better.  The writing is tight, little things that happen or are mentioned in one episode have reprecussions later on, and it definitely rewards you for paying attention, which is a nice touch in a sitcom.

But above all else, its just a really funny show.  The characters are relatable, the situations are realistic (mostly), and the dialogue always flows naturally.  And the multi-layered flashbacks are used to great effect.  It was great to see Marshall and Lily work themselves back together and get married, watching Robin and Ted together was fun even though we knew it wouldn’t't last, and every plot about Barney was a gem, from his awesome apartment to his gay black brother to his belief that Bob Barker was his dad.

Now it’s up to Netflix to get us the next seasons.  Season 5 starts at the end of the month, and Season 4 comes out on DVD after that, so I guess it will take us a while before we’re totally caught up.  But my guess is it’ll be worth the effort.

Don’t worry, there will be more house and baby posts soon enough, but having FINALLY just watched Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother on DVD, I felt it worthy of a mention. (By the way, thanks Steve for the DVDs!)

Anyway, it’s a really funny show – why didn’t anyone tell me? OK fine, everyone told me about it, and we’re behind, so sue us. But Jason Segel is hysterical, Alyson Hannigan is great at comedy (she was quirky as Willow, but rarely laugh-out-loud funny), and Neil Patrick Harris has made a one-joke sitcom star with a catch-phrase NOT be annoying, which is a big accomplishment in its own right.

Oh, and the actors who play Robin and Ted are good too.

My only complaint with the show is that the concept leaves for some plot holes: How does Ted know so many details about things that happened when he wasn’t there? And why does he tell them to his kids as part of the story about how they met their mother? And why is he giving them so many details about how he was into another woman that he didn’t end up with? Isn’t that sort of creepy for the kids? Especially since they know her as “Aunt Robin?” And after a few hours, wouldn’t they just get bored and leave? And why does Ted sound so much like Bob Saget as a father? Is that going to happen to me??

But quibbles aside, it’s a damn good show, and it’s been going fast on DVD. Which is good, since we have another 3 seasons to catch up on before the new episodes start…