Pilot (How I Met Your Mother)

"Pilot"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 1
Directed byPamela Fryman
Written byCarter Bays
Craig Thomas
Production code1ALH79
Original air dateSeptember 19, 2005 (2005-09-19)
Guest appearances
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"Pilot" is the pilot episode and the first episode of the first season of the American television sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and directed by Pamela Fryman, the episode originally aired on CBS on September 19, 2005.[1] The episode takes place in 2030, as a future Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. It flashes back to 2005 to a younger Ted (Josh Radnor) who meets Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), a reporter who he becomes smitten for. Meanwhile, Ted's lawyer friend Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) plans on proposing to his girlfriend Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher.

The episode introduces several of the show's storytelling tools, including the framing device of future Ted as the narrator, his children, and many flashbacks to the past, present, and future. Future Ted reveals early the ending of a possible relationship story when he tells his children that Robin is not the mother, but "Aunt Robin". When asked if he regretted revealing that Robin ultimately becomes Ted's platonic friend in the pilot episode, Thomas explained they stick by the decision because they did not want the show to be about "will they or won't they" like Friends and that, despite their chemistry, it would have been criminal for Ted to decide he was ready to find someone and to have it happen so quickly.[2] He and Bays said that the show is about how "Ted meets the perfect woman, and it's [still] not his final love story."[3]

Bays and Thomas, who had previously become writers for the Late Show with David Letterman,[4] based the show off their time in New York City with their friends, with Ted being based on Bays and Marshall and Lily based on Thomas and his wife.[5][6] The interior shots for the episode was filmed at the CBS Radford in Los Angeles, making it the only episode of the show to be filmed at the studio.

The pilot received generally positive reviews from television critics. It was viewed by 10.94 million viewers.

The phrase olive theory is most known for its appearance in this "pilot" episode.[7] In the scene, Ted tells the story of his first date with Robin to Lily and Marshall.[7] Ted states that since he does not like olives but his date does, they are compatible.[8] Lily and Marshall add on that the olive theory works in their relationship, as Marshall always gives Lily his olives.[8] However, it is later said that Ted only pretended not to like them to make Robin happy.[8]

  1. ^ "How I Met Your Mother - Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot". TV.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-12. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  2. ^ Ryan, Maureen (May 14, 2006). "'Mother' strives to be a sitcom with substance". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 11, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference stransky20130513 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "TV Summer School: How to Create and Run a Successful Sitcom". E! Online. August 6, 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  5. ^ "Alyson Hannigan – "How I Met Your Mother" Sitcom – William S. Paley TV Fest". Whedon. March 28, 2006. Archived from the original on November 24, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  6. ^ ""How I Met Your Mother" Making Of". YouTube. Oct 22, 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Pilot." How I Met Your Mother, created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, season 1, episode 1, CBS, September 19, 2005
  8. ^ a b c Ramella, Brynne (2014-03-06). "A Wishlist for the End of 'How I Met Your Mother'". Vulture. Retrieved 2024-10-26.