How I Met Your Mother made a splash in the sitcom scene that's been hard to replicate. But Hulu's How I Met Your Father finds a way to build off of the premise of telling a meet-cute story driven by the entangled relationships in a fresh way. Staying true to the spirit of the original, How I Met Your Father hits the right notes of nostalgia, with references that are sure to please fans, and the show updates relationships and storylines for a modern audience.
How I Met Your Father follows a group of New Yorkers on their quest to find love in the big city. Sophie finds and loses the love of her life on Tinder, and finds a new group of friends in Jesse and Sid during the rideshare on her way to meet her crush for the first time. Her roommate Valentina has brought home the disowned trust-fund Englishman Charlie to round out the group, along with Jesse's sister Ellen. Together, the friends manage long-distance relationships, the struggles of monogamy, and being vulnerable after heartbreak.
Fans of How I Met Your Mother will find many aspects of the sequel series familiar. How I Met Your Father focuses on a close group of friends in New York City with a regular bar, and the opening credit roll filled with saturated photographs of the group is a nice update of the How I Met Your Mother's iconic sequence. These callbacks give How I Met Your Father a sense of nostalgia that makes even the new characters feel familiar.
A welcome addition to How I Met Your Father is the inclusion of queer relationships. While the original series focused solely on heterosexual relationships, the sequel includes a lesbian character in the main cast and follows her quest for love as well. To its credit, How I Met Your Father also examines the relationships between siblings, offering up yet another new lens for examining human connections. These changes strengthen the series, not only in terms of representation but in the types of stories that How I Met Your Father can tell.
How I Met Your Father succeeds in presenting sitcom situations centered on relationships that aren't just about lack of communication. Characters are honest with each other about what they're looking for in a relationship, and when the subjects are complicated and people need some time to figure out how to speak their mind or even what they want, it doesn't spell disaster for the group. It's oddly comforting to find a sitcom that doesn't lean into the low-hanging fruit, that lets love stories be messy but still hopeful.
Most importantly, the emphasis on new and maybe healthier relationships doesn't distract from the humor. How I Met Your Father's writing is on point, from subtle jabs at the cost of living and niche jokes about New York City culture to one-liners and poignant moments without easy conclusions.
Some parts of the series don't land as well. Where the late Bob Saget brought a sense of gravitas to the series, his segments were focused on the children he was telling the story to while he remained an off-camera voice. How I Met Your Father makes the child a voice on the telephone and focuses instead on the future version of Sophie, played by Kim Cattrall, who appears to be a lush wine-mom in an empty, technological future. These over-the-top scenes distract from the interesting interpersonal drama and comedy of the rest of the show.
It's also clear that the characters in How I Met Your Father need some time to establish their rapport. The early episodes feel stilted at times as characters wait for the laugh track to die down to voice their witty comebacks, and the rhythm of each scene isn't always there. But the characters are interesting enough that it seems worthwhile to give How I Met Your Father the time it needs to settle into the character dynamics that will make it truly shine.
How I Met Your Father is also missing some of the long-standing storylines and inside jokes that made viewers truly love How I Met Your Mother. Iconic bits like the slap bet, Barney's catchphrases, or even foreshadowing with the yellow umbrella all served to reward long-term viewers and tie the show into a cohesive whole. So far, How I Met Your Father is missing these moments -- but like the character rapport, these will likely come in time.
Overall, How I Met Your Father is an unexpectedly successful follow-up to How I Met Your Mother. The original show hasn't aged well, but the sequel series recognizes these faults and addresses them, crafting a more respectful comedy that shows that finding love in New York City can still be funny in 2022. With a little more time to settle into plot lines and character dynamics, How I Met Your Father is sure to gain a following.
How I Met Your Father's first two episodes premiere on Hulu on Jan. 18. New episodes will release weekly on Tuesdays.