Tuesday, January 4, 2011

How I Met Your Mother: Season 6 Episode 13 - "Bad News"

Hello TV Addicts and happy New Year! I know it has been awhile and we are still in a bit of a TV hiatus, but I feel compelled to write about last night's How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM to the more obsessed fan). One of my favorite things about HIMYM is that they are always able to tie in punchlines from previous episodes in this season or from 5 seasons ago and the fans will remember and appreciate it without hesitation. This episode did a great job at utilizing that tactic while still setting the stage for future events. That is when the show fires on all cylinders. I didn't mind the past couple seasons where the critics and fans were crying for the show to end, but I can clearly see that the quality of the show has greatly improved this season and is reminding me of its season 2 glory days. Anyway, I just wanted to jot a few things down about the episode and see if anyone else out there watched and has any thoughts. Sorry folks, I know it's not Fringe, The Event, Walking Dead or even LOST but I like me some good COMEDY too! So, while we're waiting for our serialized TV to return this is what you get!  Let's dive in:



  • How fitting was it that we finally get to see Barney's doppleganger and he's a FERTILITY specialist?! That was fantastic. First of all, the fact that Lily and Marshall made a pact that they wouldn't try to have a kid until they found Barney's doppleganger made it even that much better. I forget the logistics of what happened before but I think Marshall lied that they saw him because he wanted to have kids, right? And of course, Lily needing to have Barney and Dr. Stangel in the same room was great too. I just love the fact that each one of the main cast members have a doppleganger in New York City. This ranks 2nd only to the Slap Bet for me for running gags on the show! (oh man, I forgot about the GOAT too!)
  • I'm glad that, in the end, both Marshall and Lily turn out to be fertile. They were getting dangerously close to FRIENDS territory if they went into the "childbearing problems" storylines. But they still had some fun with it. Marshall being uncomfortable in the "donor room" and then heading home to "make the deposit" only to encounter his parents at his home when he had been neglecting to give them any bad news. Always sitcom magic. But who knew that Lily coming clean on what Marshall was trying to do would turn out to be such a pivotal moment in the show for Marshall's character? Yes "Older Ted" (AKA Bob Saget) informed us that Marshall would appreciate what Lily said for the rest of his life, but we weren't antcipating any crazy plot twists at that point. Minus the "blowdry your hair" bit (which was hysterical in its own rite), Marshall finally knew his father never was disappointed in him. This little bit of knowledge became much more relevant at the end of the episode.
  • Let's not forget the whole Robin and Ted storyline! Bringing back that crazy news anchor, Sandy Rivers as the anchor at Robin's new World News gig was fantastic. Here's a fun trivia fact for you all. Did you know that the actor that plays Sandy, Alexis Denisof, is Alyson Hannigan's (Lily) real-life husband? I had no idea until I looked him up to write this! Anyway, the storyline led to a greatest hits montage of all of Robin's best gigs. If getting the name "Sherpoopsky" wasn't enough, they brought Robin Sparkles back! Just great stuff.
  • Anyway, the comedy was at an all time high. We knew that when Marshall got the bad news that he wasn't fertile, that it was really Barney portraying Dr. Stangel (the beard looked way faker than the doppleganger beard!) and that Marshall would be fine. But when they started laying on thick how happy Marshall was and that he was really expecting "bad news" we knew something bad was right around the corner. And sure enough, that conversation between Marshall and his father and instigated by Lilly would turn out to be his last. Even though I saw and feared it coming, my jaw still dropped and I welled up as the camera stayed on Marshall and Lilly a little longer than we thought it would. Whew rough stuff.  

While it was a powerful episode, I can't believe the show killed off Dauber!!! (come on, I'm not so old that people don't remember the show COACH am I?) In his brief stints on the show, he was perfect as Marshall's father. But I'm sure this sets up a nice story arc for Marshall and Lilly's journey into parenthood. Perhaps they'll have a boy and name him Marvin after his father. Poor kid! (no offense to any Marvin's out there! There still is Marvin Candle which is a fabulous name!)

Anyway, I didn't have much to say about the episode but I at least had to comment on such a pivotal episode of the show. Also, after the holiday episode, I must give props to some readers who may have suggested that Ted might be Robin's best man at the "Future Wedding" that has been teased. It came closer to being true in that ep. Perhaps it will be a Barney/Robin wedding with Ted as Robin's best man? It would only be better if Barney's half brother was his best man and the Reverand that he keeps calling Dad officiates the wedding. Good stuff! Maybe they can offer me a writing job? :-)

So that's all I have for now. Fringe is out hiatus until January 21st which is actually a week earlier than it was supposed to be. I'm going to do my best at recapping the show over the weekends with its Friday slate. But please people, for the love of GOD, please watch it! The show is fabulous. The Event, well, it's off the air for quite a bit more. (end of February? Beginning of March? yikes) I still fear for its chances of survival but we will see. In the meantime, I'll pose this question to you fellow TV Addicts. Do I dare watch THE CAPE? And if so, should I bother recapping or commenting on it? I will be watching Shameless and Episodes on Showtime but I don't know if they'll warrant commentary yet. Let me know what you think and what you thought of HIMYM! In the meantime, I'll see you the next time I'm inspired to write something!

21 comments:

MJ said...

It was that Lily sooo wanted to start getting preggers that she saw a hot dog vendor and thought he looked like Barney, which he did not and Marshall did not think so, but went along with it.

Hah! You didn't mention the countdown ! I never pick up on it really til today but everyone was talking today about how the show counted down from 50 to 1, one being the end. Don't know why.

I for one was shocked by the sad ending - did NOT see it coming. I know the ep was called bad news, and they mentioned bad news several times, but dang ! RIP Dauber (yes, I too am old enough to remember Dauber)

Loved Robin's story too. This ep had it all going on !

This links states them : http://tv.popcrunch.com/how-i-met-your-mother-countdown-to-bad-news-himym-video/


Yeah - I knew that Denisof was her hubby in life cause they met on Buffy and married shortly after Buffy ended. LOL

Episodes looks brilliant ! Can't wait for that one.

As for Cape - well it's only on from jan. 17-feb. 21 so I'll be looking at it. Was ont he fence til I heard Summer Glau will be in it. ;-D

Mike V. said...

@MJ -

Thanks for the clarification on Lily and the Barney doppleganger. Totally remember now!

Hmmm...you know I did notice a "6" on Barney's book...but I totally didn't catch it as a whole countdown. I'll have to check that out and...Good times!

Oh I was shocked by the ending too...I just saw it coming when they were building it all up and when Marshall said "I really expected Bad News"....all i blurted out was "ohhh no!!!" And then it came. Whew it was rough stuff. (nice on DAUBER!)

Ahhh...see...I never watched Buffy so there is no way I would have known about Denisof. Makes total sense though.

Yeah on Episodes...me too. I was a huge fan of Friends, so anything with LeBlanc on David Crane attached, I'm gonna have to at least check out. And the concept is hysterical too with all of these crazy British imports. Ironically, its companion show SHAMELESS "is" a British Import too! lol

Yeah, I don't see any way around watching THE CAPE, but I'm going to reserve judgement before I start any writing on it! I did hear about Summer Glau as well. Of course, you're a Firefly groupie so that means more to you than me! lol But I do know her as a Terminator!

MJ said...

Wow - you remembered that I like Firefly ! LOL

What will really tickles me about Episodes is that there was a fab sitcom from England called Couples, it was made over here then and was just awful ! So I know I will be thinking about that. You'd love Couples - cross between Friends and Seinfeld really.


Hear about the Mega Millions? You gotta read this ! Too funny. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/bizarre&id=7880455

Mike V. said...

@MJ - Yeah I remember. I think it came up when I wrote something up about V and I noticed the guy was from Knocked Up and Death at a Funeral and not Firefly lol But then it recently came back up with Chuck!

Speaking of V - it was a little better last night. Plus, the last few seconds made the future of V promising. Not that I remember much about the 80s show. I did watch it!

Yeah, I used to watch the US version of "Coupling" and when it was airing, BBC was airing the original version and I definitely found it much funnier. It's crazy how many shows the US has imported, but Coupling was certainly a disaster! The Office is one of the success stories even though it soon needs to be put out of its misery!

I definitely heard about the Mega Millions! Check out the tweet from Damon Lindelof that I retweeted on the right hand column of this blog! That is absolutely hysterical! I know every time I play the lottery I look for how many of "the numbers" I get, but I never have actually decided to play them. That is hysterical that so many people actually do!

MJ said...

I saw definite improvement in V last night. Faster pace, a little more excitment/urgency. That was cool to bring on Diana - had heard about it though so was not surprised. Read they are going to go to interesting places with Diana and that our 'rebel forces' will actually be battling this season instead of just meeting at the church each week. I watched the original mini-series, then some of the show in the day.

Mike V. said...

Yeah I had heard about Diana's return too. I also heard Mark Singer (Synger? Marc? lol) is making an appearance too. Should be a good time. Although, the ratings aren't looking too good. Not sure what they expected though. They renewed it while ratings weren't so hot and then put it on a long hiatus. Makes me wish they gave flashforward another shot! Season 2 had lots of potential. Oh well!

MJ said...

Yeah - I heard about Marc Singer too - but didn't say it in case you hadn't ! LOL

Saw a promo for a new show in June on TNT - Falling Sky ? I think was the title. Looks intriguing - aliens come but instead of like V where they pretend to be friends they come for battle, set off an EMP. And rebels on earth band together to fight them. Could be decent.

Mike V. said...

Yeah I saw the promo for Falling Sky (or whatever it's called). Brought to us by none other than Mr. Speilberg (aka War of the Worlds for TV lol)! Maybe I'll check it out. We'll see!

MJ said...

I've been meaning to ask you - since you also like sitcoms - do you watch Better With You ? It's not bad ! They always have something that makes me laugh out loud. The first few eps were a little weak, but it's been great lately.

Mike V. said...

Hmm, yours is the first compliment I have heard about the show! lol I may have had it on in the background before while waiting for Modern Family but I've never really watched it. Maybe it will be a summer catch-up show. Of course, it will have to wait behind SOA and The Wire! lol Thanks for the recommendation though. I'll take it under advisement!

MJ said...

Last night ep was at the same time funny and very sad ! What a great job they did. Though - have to confess that the Ted/Barney hijinks kinda sucked. Felt like I was watching some 12th graders, and since the whole point is them dealing with growing up finally ... well guess it can't be perfect. Robin and Lilly were especially funny.

Chuck was awesome as usual. Hated the ending on one hand, but think it will take us to great places. The Jindu room was hysterical !

Only just last night watched the 2 premier eps of Cape. It's early yet but think this could be amusing. Heard it will get more SciFi as it goes.

MJ said...

Oh - meant to say that Being Human wasn't bad - very much like the original version. Loved the original, just don't know if I want to watch the same story being told. But it's a great show.

Mike V. said...

Hey MJ, thanks for the commentary as always! Thank God Fringe is back this week. There has been really not much to discuss! Of course, with it being on a Friday it's going to be tough for me to watch live and comment quickly on it. But I'll try my best!

If I had the time I certainly would have done another write-up on HIMYM. Last night's episode was spectacular. I enjoyed their ability to find the funny moments in such a sad scenario. The whole LAST WORDS bit was fantastic. "Rent Crocodile Dundee 3"....the funniest part was that I didn't even know a Croc 3 existed until I "caught it on cable" a few months ago. Of course, I didn't finish it but it seemed to hold up to the other 2 lol Yeah the Ted/Barney stuff was a bit overboard. Robin and Lilly's bits...agreed fantastic. Loved that the girl that Robin got drunk was 15! lol

As for Chuck...totally agree. The episode was awesome and great to see the return of Jeffster, even if it would have been fun to see Lester with a girl for a few eps lol The proposal on a mission seemed fitting for these 2....but I kept having that feeling that it was going to get ruined somehow. Once he popped open that case, I thought they were good to go lol Sarah going underground into Volkov's Org? Makes sense...and I'm interested to see where they'll go with it too. I gotta say though....bringing Morgan into the "spy group" has led to some pretty fantastic scenes where I can't even imagine them doing it without him before. Great growth for the little show that could!

I'm lagging a day behind on The Cape and have officially dubbed it "a treadmill show" lol Unfortunately, this means that I have to slow down my rewatch of FRINGE whenever I have CAPE episode to watch! It's super corny but I can see it getting better....maybe....I dunno! We'll just have to see on this one!

Didn't watch Being Human, never saw the original either. But let's move to Showtime for a sec. Episodes - I know it's not for everyone just yet but I'm loving this show! I just see the potential for where it's going and I'm excited to go there with it. I actually enjoy the american producers that have been communicating with our British writers for the most part. They have had some good lines so far. Looking forward to when I actually know their names instead of just calling them "american producers" lol
Shameless - I'm really loving this one too! Lots of awkward and inappropriate scenes but you kind of get that with the name of the show. It's hysterical lol

That's all I have for now...oh and guess what show I've completely forgotten about and am guessing most other people will too? THE EVENT. Nice work NBC!

MJ said...

Yeah - I think they have killed the Event - bet we all predicted that. I'll watch when it comes back, but it's probably done already.

Also loving Episodes and Shameless. Almost seems wrong to laugh at Shameless with what goes on - but can't help myself. And Episodes - there is one nameless american producer - think she's in charge of comedy actually - she is the long haired blonde and her facial expressions alone crack me up.

Mike V. said...

Agreed on The Event. Granted, NBC may have already realized this so they took their chance with giving THE CAPE some extra eyes. Who knows??? Guess we'll see how well they promote its return.

YES!! That girl is cracking me up too on Episodes. Hopefully these people get names and more stuff to do. lol And of course it goes without saying...great to see Matt LeBlanc back on TV! I haven't heard good things about Mr. Sunshine but I'll definitely check out Matthew Perry's latest too.

MJ said...

I've heard nothing about Mr Sunshine good or bad.

My husband is enjoying The Cape - but he likes 'campy' more than I do. It's ok so far.

Just watched episode 2 of Episodes and Shameless last night. OMG - roll on the floor funny. Laughing at the Terrets documentary, Brit chick getting terrets at the end - all hysterical. And that whole discussion about sleeping with Merc behind the blind wife's back was great. And HOW have we not mentioned that the one name they keep saying is Merc Lapidus ?? I think of Lost each time !

As for Shameless - that man is willing to suffer alot just to get some home cooking and a bath ! Too too funny. His comments while in jail were great, as was the whole street waving the canadian flag when he got home. Did you catch the very end where the firemen have to rescue him ? Too funny - and I almost missed it.

Looking forward to Fringe friday ! Will watch it this week, but will see next week as I have Supernatural back then. Had planned on watching Fringe and taping Sup but the Fox guy was a total jerk at the Upfronts last week about being against Supernatural that I might just now have to watch Supernatural and tape Fringe.

Mike V. said...

I do know that Jorge Garcia will be a guest star on Sunshine, but I'm really looking forward to the JJ Abrams helmed Alcatraz that will star Jorge in one of the main roles. Next Fall and/or Mid-Season is going to have a lot of shows with potential. And lots of them are coming out of JJ's production company. Should be interesting! I'm remaining optimistic about Terra Nova too which will show the pilot in May but then start the series in September (a la season 1 of Glee)

Anyways...the Cape...it's a perfect treadmill show...that's all I can say. lol

Yeah Episodes was great...the Terrets was a good time and the sleeping with Merc stuff...all great. Nice catch on Lapidus! did you notice all of the shout outs in The cape? There was Linus, the main character is Faraday....and I think there was a trifecta but I can't remember it lol

Shameless - Really enjoying it....the rant in the jail was fantastic lol And yes caught the bit at the end too. If these shows are only going to get better...I'm really excited about it!

Ahhh...good point about Reilly and Supernatural. He did dismiss it lol I'm gonna try to watch Fringe on Friday and write about it Saturday morning if I get a chance. But, as I've been saying...the weekends are tough! I really hope I find time because it's still my favorite show on the air right now! And of course, there is Smallville...which I have to say has been having a pretty solid final season. The only reason I've stuck with the show is to see his final transformation, so it better be worth it! LOL

MJ said...

I have heard that Smallville has been great.

On HIMYM - when they were standing outside the church it reminded me at the beginning of the season when we all debated people at a church and who was getting married. Think this was the scene and instead of a marriage it was a funeral ??

Mike V. said...

Hmmm...I'm pretty sure that Ted is referred to as the Best Man in the "future Church scene" we saw. We know he's going to be best man at his college buddy's wedding and now we know that if Robin and Ted don't ever get married he'll be ROBIN's best man. So I think it has to be one of those weddings, right? I dunno lol

MJ said...

Yeah - you are probably right. I couldn't remember what was said. The church just seemed so familiar.

Fringe tonight - yay ! I'll be watching live. Looking forward to reading the write-up on Monday !

Have a great weekend.

Mike V. said...

So excited about Fringe! I want to watch LIVE but I'm going to have to settle for tonight at some point lol Fridays are going to be really tough!

Hopefully I can get that recap up by Monday. I'm sure I can. lol I should have some time tomorrow to do it but it won't always be the case!