Pilot

In the year 2030, Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) sits his daughter and son down to tell them the story of how he met their mother.

The series begins in 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27-year-old architect living with his two best friends from his college years; Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher and aspiring artist. Lily and Marshall have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall finally 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 (Neil Patrick Harris), whom he met in the restroom at a bar four years earlier. Barney is a serial womanizer who concocts elaborate con games, usually involving costumes and fake identities, designed to bed women, only to lose interest in them immediately afterward.

Ted begins his search for his perfect soul mate and meets an ambitious young reporter from Canada, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), with whom he is instantly smitten. After hitting it off, and after a successful date which concludes with Robin being called away for a news story, Ted decides to take the plunge and make his move. He symbolically steals the blue French Horn from the restaurant of their first date, and heads to Robin’s apartment with the gang (“Suited up”, much to Barney’s delight). Things are going great until he inexplicably tells Robin that he loves her, prematurely destroying his chances with her. After a lingering goodbye, and with the afterthought that he may or may not have missed “the signal” (missing out for the second time on his first kiss with her), we then return to the future Ted telling his children that that’s how he met their… Aunt Robin.

The Conversations:

• Future Ted: Kids, I’m gonna’ tell you an incredible story – the story of how I met your mother.

  Son: Are we being punished for something?

  Future Ted: No.

  Daughter:Yeah, is this going to take a while?

  Future Ted:Yes.

• Future Ted: That, kids, is the true story of how I met your Aunt Robin.

  Son: Aunt Robin?

  Daughter: I thought this was how you met Mom?

  Future Ted: Will you relax? I’m getting to it. Like I said, it’s a long story.

• Ranjit: Actually, I’m from Bangladesh.

  Barney: The women hot there?

  Ranjit: Here’s a picture of my wife.

  Barney: (whispering) A simple no would’ve sufficed.

• Robin: I think I like your olive theory.

  Ted: I think I like your new French horn.

  Robin: I think I like your nose.

  Ted: I think I’m in love with you.

• “Hi, have you met Ted?”

  —Barney’s classic wingman line

• Barney (To Ted) :”You suited up! This is totally going in my blog!”

 

About Episode:

1. This episode was nominated for the 2006 Excellence in Production Design Award for Television – Multi-Camera Television Series.
2. This episode won the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series.