Pilot (19 Sep. 2005)

It's the year 2030 and an older Ted Mosby is telling the story to his son and daughter about how he met and will eventually marry their mother. This is where we meet for the first time Ted, Lily Marshall, Barney and Robin.

Director:

Pamela Fryman

Writers:

Carter Bays (creator), Craig Thomas (creator),

Stars:

Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Josh Radnor	...	Ted Mosby
Jason Segel	...	Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders	...	Robin Scherbatsky
Neil Patrick Harris	...	Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan	...	Lily Aldrin
Lyndsy Fonseca	...	Daughter
David Henrie	...	Son
Saba Homayoon	...	Yasmin
Marshall Manesh	...	Ranjit
Joe Nieves	...	Carl
Jack Shearer	...	Cab Driver
Monique Edwards	...	Producer
Sarah Loew	...	Dumped Friend
Gary Riotto	...	Waiter #1
Tony Rossi	...	Waiter #2

Storyline

In Brooklyn, Marshall Eriksen, a terribly insecure, sissy but sweet law student, pops the question to his assertive girlfriend Lily Aldrin, in an inadvertently explosive way (with champagne). This makes their year long cahoot, Ted Mosby, anxious that he may be left all alone. His overbearing 'other best friend', Barney Stinson, forces Ted to play a 'pick-up' game in the bar where he has decided to hunt for Lebanese girls. To both their surprise, Ted actually meets a suitable girlfriend, TV reporter Robin. As soon as he sees her on TV, Ted rushes to her apartment (with five dogs) to declare his love - while the others wait in Bangladeshi Rajit's cab- which startles her.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 September 2005 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Bays Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas wrote the pilot's script with single-camera elements, mainly for the multiple scenes and flashbacks.

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Goofs

During this episode, Ted's kids are dressed differently than they are for the rest of the series. The couch and background are also different. (The implication during the series is that, the whole show is meant to be a story being told in one sitting.)

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Quotes

Older Ted: [talking to his son and daughter] Will you relax? I'm getting to it. Like I said, it's a long story.

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Connections

Featured in How I Met Your Mother: Come On (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Back on the Chain Gang"
(uncredited)
by The Pretenders

User Reviews

What a great pilot for a show :)

Completely without spoilers : There's a reason I'm giving the pilot of the show a 10/10. This sets the standard for how the show is going to progress. It's hilarious and introduces us to all the main characters perfectly, we all get a great feeling on who they are and where they are in life. The humour is great, the pilot story is a great introduction to the rest of the series and the characters is a perfect mix where everyone can identify.

Ted himself is a naive romantic, though a bit nevrotic, but just lovable ( this coming from a guy ). He's the perfect lead, but compared to other series where the lead is the most reasonable and sane ... Ted is perhaps the one who really needs guidance. He is flawed, but in a likable manner. His friends are flawed, but they all got the components to learn Ted to overcome his nevrotics and and naiveness.

Have we seen this before? Yes. But not this well executed. A great pilot for a great series, it absolutely shows what the show is all about and really sets a high bar of standard the show has managed to keep up.