‘How I Met Your Father’: HIMYM Without the Laughs (Lizzie McGuire Does New York Would’ve Been a Better Idea)

Seventeen years ago, Bob Saget began telling the story of how Josh Radnor’s Ted met the mother. Last week, Kim Cattrall poured herself a glass of wine before beginning to tell her son about the night Hilary Duff’s Sophie met his father. On top of its twist, Hulu’s How I Met Your Father (HIMYF) differs from CBS’s How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) in one major way: it has yet to make audiences laugh. And no, its laugh track isn’t meant to be ironic. 

To reiterate: HIMYF stars Disney Channel’s Duff as Sophie, who, like Ted, is a hopeless romantic living in New York City. While there’s no womanizing, albeit hilarious Barney Stinson, the show’s pilot sees a couple get engaged ala Marshall/Lily and introduces a love interest ala Robin. Aside from the diverse cast, the setup is pretty much the same as it was in 2005. 

Pamela Fryman, who directed most of HIMYM, returns for HIMYF. Unfortunately, writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger’s (Love, Simon) talents just don’t translate to the multi-cam gimmick as well as Craig Thomas and Carter Bays’ did. Watching the first few episodes of HIMYF is like drinking warm beer or wiping your ass with coffee filters. It gets the job done but it’s not as enjoyable as it should be. If there’s one thing HIMYF’s 5.1 IMDB score proves, it’s that ‘Lizzie McGuire does New York’ would’ve been a better idea. 

In the early days of Disney+, the House of Mouse announced that it would revive creator Terri Minsky’s Lizzie McGuire. The sequel series would’ve followed Duff’s beloved character turning 3-0 while returning to California after living in NYC. Ultimately, Minsky left the revival due to creative differences with Disney, which resulted in McGuire moving on to HIMYF—which warrants an intervention warning against sequels, spin-offs, and reboots. 

While cancellation seems inevitable, HIMYF could very well survive on cameos from the original cast, a familiar apartment, and a pair of swords. Or, maybe we’re just in the “legen…” portion of the series, not-so-patiently waiting for the “dary!” 

Cover Photo: Hulu

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