What if you were a REALLY, REALLY funny ensemble comedy, reminiscent of the best days of Friends, and you were on right after or even right before, the actual best comedic show on broadcast TV? Don't know the answer, just ask any cast member of How I Met Your Mother.
I sat down to the write this review and came to an absolute stop. I really appreciate the good moments Jason Segel, Josh Radnor, Alyson Hannigan and the wonderfully-named Cobie Smulders bring to the show. But, just as The Big Bang Theory revolves around the omnipresent Jim Parsons as Sheldon, so does this show. Neil Patrick Harris' Barney is a tour de farce.
It's almost dismissive to push the rest of the cast aside to just discuss Harris (especially since the vivacious Smulders plays a Canadian), but bluntly, without Harris there is no show. And the key, after reflections, is that Harris' Barney is MORE than a leering innuendo machine, he's human. An overly self-involved human, but a guy who CAN get hurt. That quality, plus his quote-machine style, separates him from Parsons' Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.
I'm old enough to remember Harris as little Doogie Howser, MD. I have fond memories of the show. But Doogie's all grown up and presents a weekly dose of what the outer limits of sex-crazed can look like. Part of the fun is that he's by far and away the most successful member of his little gang of five, forcing the others to continue putting up with his shenanigans. In essence, he's become the engine for the other's to live lives above their current stations. The voice-over of Radnor's character, done by Bob Saget, suggests the grow into their lives later on.
Which is simple enough reason to continue watching. The journey there will be, wait for it, AWESOME! (If you got that joke, why were you reading the review?)
No comments:
Post a Comment