The first season of ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

'', an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

created by

Carter Bays Carter Loard Bays (born August 12, 1975) is an American author, composer and television showrunner. Bays co-created the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' where he served as showrunner, writer and executive producer for all nine seasons. Bays ...

and Craig Thomas, premiered on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

in the United States on September 19, 2005, and concluded on May 15, 2006. The season was directed by

Pamela Fryman Pamela Gail Fryman (born August 19, 1959) is an American sitcom director and producer. She was the principal director of the television series ''How I Met Your Mother'', directing 196 of the show's 208 episodes. Early life Fryman was born and g ...

and produced by Bays & Thomas Productions and

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television, Inc. (formerly known as TCF Television Productions, Inc., 20th Century-Fox Television and 20th Century Fox Television) is the television studio arm of 20th Century Studios, owned by Disney Television Studios, a division of the Di ...

. It consists of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The season introduces

Ted Mosby Theodore Evelyn Mosby is a fictional character and the protagonist in the American sitcom '' How I Met Your Mother'', portrayed by Josh Radnor. He serves as the show's narrator from the future, voiced by Bob Saget, as he tells his children ...

(voiced by former ''

Full House ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...

'' actor

Bob Saget Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and television host. He portrayed Danny Tanner on the sitcom ''Full House'' (1987–1995) and its sequel '' Fuller House'' (2016–2020). ...

) in the year 2030 as he sits his daughter and son down to tell them the story of how he met their mother. The story begins in 2005 with Ted (

Josh Radnor Joshua Thomas Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014). He made his writing and di ...

) as a single, 27-year-old architect living in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

with his two best friends from college:

Marshall Eriksen Marshall Eriksen is a fictional character on the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'', portrayed by Jason Segel. Series co-creator Craig Thomas explained that he based Marshall and Lily on himself and his wife Rebecca. Character overview The ...

(

Jason Segel Jason Jordan Segel ( ; born January 18, 1980) is an American actor and writer. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' from 2005 to 2014. He began his career with director and producer Judd ...

), a law student, and

Lily Aldrin Lily Aldrin is a fictional character in the CBS television series ''How I Met Your Mother.'' Lily is portrayed by American actress Alyson Hannigan. She is married to Marshall Eriksen and is best friends with Ted Mosby, Robin Scherbatsky, and Barne ...

(

Alyson Hannigan Allison Lee Hannigan (born March 24, 1974), known professionally as Alyson Hannigan, is an American actress and television presenter. She began her film career with supporting roles in the comedy films '' Impure Thoughts'' (1986) and '' My Step ...

), a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes. Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his self-appointed best friend

Barney Stinson Barney Stinson is a fictional character portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris and created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014). One of the show's main characters, Barney is known fo ...

(

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received List of awards and nominations ...

). Ted begins his search for his perfect mate and meets an ambitious young reporter,

Robin Scherbatsky Robin Charles Scherbatsky Jr. is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series ''How I Met Your Mother'', portrayed by Cobie Smulders. Robin is the on and off love interest of Ted Mosby ( Josh R ...

(

Cobie Smulders Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS series ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in th ...

), whom he quickly falls in love with. The first season garnered mixed-to-positive reviews, despite this the show appeared on several television best lists. The first season garnered an average of 9.47 million viewers per all 22 episodes in the U.S. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 2005–2006 American television season, ''How I Met Your Mother'' ranked 51st out of 156, according to the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

system.

Production

''How I Met Your Mother'' was inspired by creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas's idea to "write about our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York", where they previously worked as writers for ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

''.

Filming

Every single episode of the season was directed by

. She went on to direct all but 12 episodes of the series.

Casting

The first season features a cast of five actors who receive

star billing Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of the companies, actors, direct ...

portrays Ted, a young architect who is searching for his future wife.

and

portray Marshall Eriksen and

, respectively, a newly engaged couple.

plays

, an ambitious reporter whom Ted falls for.

, Ted's self-appointed best friend and a womanizer, is played by

. Season one also introduced several recurring cast members, including

Lyndsy Fonseca Lyndsy Marie Fonseca (born January 7, 1987) is an American actress. She began her career by appearing as Colleen Carlton on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', on which she starred between 2001 and 2005. Thereafter, she h ...

and

David Henrie David Clayton Henrie ( ; born July 11, 1989) is an American actor, writer, and director. He is noted for playing Ted Mosby's future son Luke on ''How I Met Your Mother''; Justin Russo in ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' and its sequel '' Wizards B ...

as Ted's children, and Ashley Williams as Victoria, Ted's love interest for the second half of the season. The season one pilot episode was recognized by the

Casting Society of America The Casting Society, formerly known as the Casting Society of America (CSA), is a professional association of about 1,200 casting directors and associate casting directors for film, television, theatre, and commercials in Canada, Europe, Austral ...

with a nomination for the Best Comedy Pilot Casting Artios Award. The two drew from their friendship in creating the characters. Ted is based loosely on Bays, and Marshall and Lily are based loosely on Thomas and his wife. Thomas's wife Rebecca was initially reluctant to have a character based on her, but agreed if they could get Hannigan to play her. Radnor and Segel were relative unknowns, but Smulders, another relatively little-known actress, was cast as Robin after

Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress, producer and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel serie ...

turned down the role in favor of ''

Ghost Whisperer ''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010. The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon ( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate w ...

''. Bays and Thomas commented on her casting by saying, "thank God we did for a million reasons ... when Ted's seeing her for the first time, America's seeing her for the first time — the intriguingness of that propelled the show going forward and kept the show alive". The role of Barney was initially envisioned as a "

John Belushi John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...

-type character" before

won the role after being invited to an audition by the show's casting director Megan Branman. Harris's character was widely reported to be the

breakout character A breakout character is a character (arts), character in Serial (literature), serial fiction, especially a member of an ensemble cast, who becomes much more prominent, popular, discussed, or imitated than expected by the creators. A breakout c ...

, with ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' calling him "the major breakout" and ''

Boston.com ''Boston.com'' is a regional website that offers news and information about the Boston, Massachusetts, area. It is owned and operated by Boston Globe Media Partners, publisher of ''The Boston Globe''. History ''Boston.com'' was one of the firs ...

'' noting that his character was the "most buzzed about element of the show". Robert Bianco from ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' observed that Harris "sparkled" in his role, and further praised Hannigan's performance as equally "delightful" as her role in ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

''.

Main cast

(uncredited) as Future Ted Mosby (voice only)

Recurring cast

as Penny (future daughter) *

as Luke (future son) * Ashley Williams as Victoria * Joe Nieves as Carl *

Alexis Denisof Alexis Denisof (born February 25, 1966) is an American actor, primarily known for playing Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and its spin-off ''Angel''. He also had a recurring role on ''How I Met Your Moth ...

as Sandy Rivers *

Marshall Manesh Marshall Manesh (born August 16, 1950) is an Iranian-American actor. Biography Manesh's debut film was ''True Lies'', directed by James Cameron. He has appeared in more than 100 feature films, in television projects, and in more than 40 com ...

as Ranjit *

Charlene Amoia Charlene M. Amoia is an American actress. She is best known for her recurring role as Wendy the Waitress in the sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother''. Her film credits include ''American Reunion'' (2012), ''Authors Anonymous'' (2014), ''Sniper: Speci ...

as Wendy the Waitress

Guest cast

Virginia Williams Virginia Williams (born March 19, 1978) is an American actress known for playing C.J Hargenberger in the Netflix sitcom ''Fuller House''. Early life Williams first began her acting education in New York, earning a B.A. in Theatre Performance ...

as Claudia *

Kelly Stables Kelly Michelle Stables (born January 26, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her television roles, such as Melissa on ''Two and a Half Men'' (2008–2010), Eden Konkler on '' The Exes'' (2011–2015), and Kelly Watson on '' Superstore' ...

as Masseuse *

Amy Acker Amy Louise Acker (born December 5, 1976) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Winifred Burkle and Illyria (Angel), Illyria on the supernatural drama series ''Angel (1999 TV series), Angel'' (2001–2004), as Kelly Peyton on ...

as Penelope

Reception

Season one of ''How I Met Your Mother'' received mixed-to-positive reviews from television critics.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, gave the first season a score of 69 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, signifying "generally favorable" reviews. On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 65% of 17 critics gave the season a positive reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The consensus reads: "''How I Met Your Mother'' begins with a distinctively likable ensemble, intriguing storytelling hook, and an endearingly sweet sensibility right out of the gate -- but the jokes elicit more smiles than laughs and the series' sentimentality may divide more hearts than it conquers.". Many critics compared the show to the recently concluded sitcom ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'', with some calling it a "worthy successor" and others a "well-executed ... rip-off". Including it on his annual "Best of Television" list,

James Poniewozik James Poniewozik (; born July 12, 1968) is an American journalist and television critic. He is the chief TV critic for ''The New York Times''. Earlier in his career, he wrote '' Time's'' ''Tuned In'' column for 16 years. Early life Originally fro ...

of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' observed that "just a few episodes into the show's run, the writers know these characters inside and out". However, Poniewozik derided the premise of the show, Future Ted's narration, as a "gimmicky distraction". Hal Boedeker of ''

The Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

'' disagreed, saying that "the twist should keep viewers coming back" and praises the five leads as "irresistible".

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

also called the premise "a winner" and the actors "appealing", but complained that the show stuck too closely to standard sitcom one-liners, as did Doug Elfman of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'', who disparaged the script as little more than a series of "cheap jokes". Robert Bianco from ''

'' was more upbeat, praising the "fine cast" and "humorous script", and calling the show the "most inventive" of new series that year. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said that the show was "pleasant to watch" has "potential to improve", but will not "revolutionize" sitcoms or start a pop culture phenomenon. Charlie McCollum of ''

The San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' writes that ''How I Met Your Mother'' was a prime candidate for replacing ''Friends'' in the sitcom category, praising the show as "something with real wit and considerable charm". He praised the writers for "giving a fresh spin to bits and pieces of the sitcom formula" and the cast for "hitting on all cylinders from the very first scene", predicting that the show could be an unexpected creative breakout with audiences.

Awards

The first season was nominated for four awards, winning two. Both wins were from the

58th Primetime Emmy Awards The 58th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 27, 2006, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET (00:00 UTC) with Conan O'Brien hosting the show. The ceremony attracted 16.2 million viewers, 2.5 ...

, where the show won the Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series and the Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series categories. In addition, the show was nominated for the

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the fans and general public. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls un ...

for Favorite New Television Comedy and was recognized by the

for Best Comedy Pilot Casting.

Release

Ratings

The first season garnered an average of 9.47 million viewers per all 22 episodes in the U.S. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 2005–2006 American television season, ''How I Met Your Mother'' ranked 51st out of 156, according to the

system. The pilot was watched by 10.94 million viewers, while the finale was watched by 8.64 million viewers.

Distribution

CBS premiered the show in the United States on September 19, 2005. Internationally, the show premiered in the United Kingdom on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

on May 7, 2006, and is aired by

Citytv Citytv (sometimes shortened to City, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is a Television in Canada, Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consis ...

in Canada and

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

in Australia. Season one also runs in syndication in the United States. The first season was released on DVD in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

under the name ''How I Met Your Mother Season One'' with the tagline "A Love Story in Reverse" on November 21, 2006, as a three-disc box set. The DVD cropped the original

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

broadcast to a full frame 4:3 format, and no widescreen format has been released. The set was released in Region 2 on May 7, 2007, and Region 4 on January 10, 2007. Every episode in this season is available for purchase from the U.S. iTunes store.

Episodes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:How I Met Your Mother Season 1 1 2005 American television seasons 2006 American television seasons