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...
Interesting idea for a blog, Bryan! I don't watch many TV shows, but those I do follow (or have followed devotedly in the past) have a special place in my heart.
ReplyDeleteI've only seen a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother, but it seems like an enjoyable show, and I can tell even from the limited number of episodes I've seen that it's a show that rewards regular viewers. (In this way and a few others, it seems similar to a show I used to watch regularly, Friends, which can seem sort of insipid if you just watch one episode, but has many layers and aspects that become evident when you watch many episodes.)
I'd love to hear you expand a bit on some ways that Barney becomes a vehicle for life lessons at some points in the show's development.
I look forward to reading more of your posts. I watch half of the shows you mentioned religiously. I think you did a good job describing How I Met Your Mother and I hope to read your opinion on the upcoming, and possibly last, season. I also liked the title of this post.
ReplyDeleteHow I Met Your Mother is arguably one of the best shows on television today. I thought that you did a great job portraying Barney's wilder side, but maybe you could have touched more on his development as a character (e.g. his relationship with Robin). He has some very sensitive moments that are very important to the plot.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I thought this was a great post and a great idea for a blog. I look forward to learning about many awesome shows from you.