WARNING. Spoilers...

Many things change throughout How I Met Your Mother's seven seasons.  Ted goes through a string of relationships that all end. Both Ted and Marshall try to find jobs that won't be a disappointment. Lily undergoes a (early) mid-life crisis and moves away for a while, and Robin slowly decides that her job maybe shouldn't be the center of her life, but rather there's a little room for serious relationships. Finally, Barney learns about what he truly wants out of life and realizes that it may just be Robin.

As you can see, the show goes through loops and tunnels that lead the viewers on an ever-changing fantastic journey. This keeps the show refreshing and new. On the other hand, somethings, like the set, don't change such as the bar, MacLaren's Pub, and Ted's apartment. These create a comfortable and familiar setting where the viewers feel welcome in. Sometimes it seems so recognizable that one feels like they've even been in the Pub or the apartment. That's another mark of a TV show well done.

How I Met Your Mother also excels in its ability to create situations where viewers can easily relate to. There are a myriad of episodes where when I go back and watch them, I think to myself, "Wow that could really be me in his/her shoes." For example, in the sitcom's pivotal events like marriages and career paths, everyone wants it to go according to plan. Everything has to be perfect and there can't be any surprises. The characters slowly learn that the process will never be flawless, but there's always a lesson to be learned. They should focus on the important aspects like being able to marry "the one" should trump those miniscule marriage details, and how failures in life help guides people towards their intended path. For Ted, that road might just lead him to his wife.

Finally, since Monday was the next season's premier, I feel I should touch on that too. Right off the bat, this season has a new approach. With this final season wrapping up this momentous show, frankly they have a lot to cover. They wasted no time in the first episode. Instead of a casual, storytelling meander of most episodes, this one got the ball going with how Barney and Quinn won't work, and at the end of the episode, Ted's future wife stands a mere ten feet away from him, and we almost see her face.

For you How I Met Your Mother fans, what do you think? Will the mystery mother appear soon?

Pilot

Why are TV shows so entertaining? Why do we devote hours upon hours amusing ourselves by watching the scripted lives of others? The present world we live in is filled with reality TV, sitcoms, game shows, and endless entertainment. And let's face it, its awesome.

The first show I fell in love with was The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. With its raunchy humor, goofy characters, lovable cast, and endless episodes, it was my view of the perfect show. That was over 7 years ago, and my love of sitcoms has only increased. In this blog, I hope to delve deeper into some popular TV shows, like How I Met Your Mother, Community, Game of Thrones, and Burn Notice, describe deeper themes and discuss my favorite things about them.

How I Met Your Mother is a loose sitcom that revolves around a core group of five friends who live in New York City. The metaplot is about the main character, Ted, telling his children the entire story of him meeting their mother. But each episode tracks the myriad of adventures the group share. One of the great things about the show is that most are able to relate to at least one of the characters: the married couple (Marshall and Lily), the playboy (Barney), bachelor (Ted), and bachelorette (Robin). Each season covers a year, from 2005 to 2011 (so far), as well as special episodes dedicated to holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.

One of my favorite things about the show, and a key to its success, is the shroud of mystery and humor surrounding Barney. He has an abundance of ridiculously unrealistic scenes of hitting on women at the bar. He has this knack for single pickup lines that get results. In real life, the actor, Neil Patrick Harris is gay, which makes his character in the show that much more amusing. On top of that, his true job at GNB (Goliath National Bank) is never revealed, but many episodes hint at his company being in conjunction with North Korea and trading with slightly shady organizations. He spends his work days waging a "food war" against bosses in other nearby skyscrapers that involve trying to outdo each other in contaminating their foods, drinks, and offices. Other (rather questionable) habits of Barney include laser-tag, strip clubs, gambling with the Chinese in high-stakes mahjong-like games. As a viewer, I got to know the full Barney throughout the seven seasons, and had mixed feelings of respect, scorn, amusement, disregard, and finally approval towards him.

Barney Stinson also serves as comic relief when the show brings up its many rather heavy life lessons. His antics lighten the mood and end many episodes on a positive note. But as he grows to be a better person, he actually becomes the voice for lessons in relationships and life. But more on that later.

Get ready for this blog, because it's gonna be legen.... wait for it...