Mosbius Designs (13 Apr. 2009)

Ted's plans to make his own design firm in his apartment hit a snag when his personal assistant begins sleeping with Robin, and Marshall tries to find a way to make himself indispensable at his workplace.

Director:

Pamela Fryman

Writers:

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

Stars:

Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Josh Radnor	...	Ted Mosby
Jason Segel	...	Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders	...	Robin Scherbatsky
Neil Patrick Harris	...	Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan	...	Lily Aldrin
Ryan Sypek	...	PJ
Bo Barrett	...	Guy #2
Edward Flores	...	Food Guy
Stephen Holland	...	Creepy Back Rub Guy
Darren O'Hare	...	Guy #1
Adrian Rice	...	Fantasy Guy
Joel Spence	...	Toy Guy

Storyline

Ted and Marshall are facing job security issues. GNB has been laying off employees of late. To ensure that he is not one of those laid off, Barney feels that Marshall needs to find his "man" niche: something specific that distinguishes him as being a great guy to have around, regardless of job performance. After going through the endless possibilities, Marshall decides to be the "sports guy", the one in the office who runs the fantasy baseball league. This job ends up being more stressful than his real job. After his own layoff, Ted is still trying to get his own architectural firm - Mosbius Designs - off the ground, the company which he is operating out of his and Robin's apartment. Ted seems more concerned about the cosmetics of the company as opposed to finding clients. Robin thinks he's procrastinating on this new phase of his life. Ted and Robin's life changes when Ted hires an assistant named PJ, who ends up doing double duty as professional in Ted's office and paramour in ...

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Plot Keywords:

dolly zoom

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 April 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Bays Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alyson Hannigan makes a short appearance in the cold opening and is not again as it was filmed during her last weeks of pregnancy.

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Quotes

Lily Aldrin: So tell me, what's the difference between peanut butter and jam?
Narrator: And then Barney told the punchline. To this day, it's the dirtiest joke I've ever heard. And no, I'm not going to say it.
Lily Aldrin: I can't be around you anymore.
[Leaves]
Barney Stinson: Aw, come on!
Ted Mosby: Told ya.
Barney Stinson: She'll be back.
Narrator: And we didn't see Lily again for four weeks.

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Connections

References Kamen Rider V3 (1973)

User Reviews

How a good sitcom became a stupid show with pathetic characters.

I stopped watching the show during season 2 but decided to watch this episode because of its entrepreneurship topic. In fact its summary reminded me of the "Ted Mosby : Architect" episode even if I wasn't expecting it to be as funny. The only thing I was afraid of was the usual Marshall dumb arc. To sum things up the episode confirmed I was right in the first place to give up on the show. First the whole Marshall story was as stupid as most of his lines. There's nothing interesting nor funny about him. Second the Ted arc was really disappointing and only a fifteen seconds long scene between him and Robin deserved our attention. At the beginning she said something about procrastination then Ted mentioned how hard it was to actually work freelance and was wondering if he would ever managed to realize his dream. The rest was dead boring and most of the scenes even pathetic. Last but not least I was amazed that the writers managed to turn the beautiful and smart Robin from season 1 into an empty shell. And what about Lily ? We saw her like two seconds and then she just vanished.

Considering how bad this episode was I really wonder why the show hasn't already jumped the shark. It's even sadder when you think of great episodes like "Mary the Paralegal". A few years ago I also remember posting on a forum about how watching it could be seen as a personal development therapy. It used to be so interesting and funny, even creative at times. It seems the writers just gave up on it probably like so many viewers. Enduring its twenty minutes was so painful that I think I will never go back to it, even if the story seems inspiring.

So I strongly recommend newcomers not to waste their time and long time fans to move on because there're far better series out there. What about Being Erica for example ? Its protagonist should help you remember how great our favorite Canadian reporter used to be !