This future-set frame is officially the show's "present day", and How I Met Your Mother exploits this framing device in numerous ways: to depict and re-depict events from multiple points of view; to set up jokes using quick and sometimes multiple flashbacks nested within the oral retelling; to substitute visual, verbal, or aural euphemisms for activities Ted does not want to talk about with his children (sexual practices, use of illicit substances, vulgar language, etc.).

How I Met Your Mother was inspired by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas' idea to "write about our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York", where they previously worked as writers for Late Show with David Letterman, among others.

[11] In multiple interviews Bays and Thomas have stated that "a pretty famous actress"[12] turned down the role of Robin, who they revealed in February 2014 was Jennifer Love Hewitt.

[12] Although Ted is initially smitten by Robin in the pilot, it is quickly established at the end of the episode that she is not the mother, which Thomas said was done so they would not repeat the "will they or won't they" Ross and Rachel storyline from Friends.

This includes Neil Patrick Harris' skills with magic, Jason Segel's passion for songwriting, Alyson Hannigan's absent-mindedness while pregnant, and Josh Radnor's intellectualism.

Thomas has stated that Future Ted is an unreliable narrator, since he is trying to tell a story that happened over 20 years earlier;[21] this has been a plot point in several episodes including "The Goat", "Oh Honey", "How I Met Everyone Else", and "The Mermaid Theory".

[29] There also was a complication with the writing of the show because of actress Alyson Hannigans absence due to her pregnancy; in response, the writers had to create episodes that did not include one of the five main characters.

One of the series' traditions involved giving guest roles to actors from various Joss Whedon productions, many of whom co-starred with Hannigan on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[41] After producers secured a ninth season, they implemented plans to secretly cast the titular future mother, with Cristin Milioti eventually winning the role, having bested at least two other contenders.

The series begins in September 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 an aspiring artist.

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 quickly falls in love.

The season ends with Ted returning to the apartment, the morning after spending the night with Robin for the first time, to find Marshall sitting in the rain with Lily's engagement ring, devastated by their sudden break-up after nine years.

It is revealed that Barney has a gay African American half-brother named James (Wayne Brady) and, unaware that his mother lied to him, believes that Bob Barker is his father.

Marshall is fighting his temptation to take a corporate job with high pay and focusing instead to follow his dream of becoming an environmental lawyer to protect the world from pollution.

This culminates in a "two-minute date", which incorporates small talk, dinner, a movie (manson hand of fate), coffee, two cab rides, and a goodnight kiss.

Barney struggles with his feelings for Robin as his company shifts him to the management team of a new acquisition, Goliath National Bank (GNB), where Marshall has accepted a position as a lawyer.

After Barney finally sleeps with his 200th woman (and rubs it in the face of the childhood bully who taunted him into pursuing it), he begins to question the purpose of the remainder of his life, leaving him more certain of his feelings for Robin.

Ted begins his job as a professor of architecture, standing in the middle of a classroom – although the mother was present, it turns out to be an economics class as he's in the wrong lecture hall.

However, he encounters opposition when he meets Zoey Pierson (Jennifer Morrison), a woman who is protesting against GNB for selecting a decrepit hotel, the Arcadian, to be torn down for the headquarters.

The season concludes with everyone traveling to Barney and Robin's wedding, including the mother of Ted's children (revealed on screen for the first time and portrayed by Cristin Milioti), who is seen buying a train ticket to the venue and holding her yellow umbrella.

Alluding to the first episode, the finale ends with Robin, as she looks out of her apartment window to see Ted holding the blue French horn, smiling with tears in her eyes.

"[51] Tom Shales of The Washington Post gave the season a lukewarm review, saying it's "a little better than most other sitcoms, past and present -- especially those featuring wacky urban friends in their twenties experiencing the bittersweet mysteries of life.

"[52] Melanie Macfarlane of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave the season a positive review, saying the show "may not break any comedic ground, but it's the sort of comfortable, reliable hitter CBS needs on Monday nights.

[85] On November 15, 2013, it was announced that CBS and the series' producer 20th Television would launch How I Met Your Dad, a woman-centric variation executive-produced by Bays, Thomas, and Emily Spivey.

On December 14, 2016, it was reported that Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger were set to write a new version of the previous spin-off's pilot, re-titled How I Met Your Father, with Bays and Thomas serving as executive producers.

[121] On March 6, 2017, it was announced that following signing new contracts with 20th Television that would see both Aptaker and Berger being promoted to executive producers and co-showrunners on This Is Us alongside Dan Fogelman, their completed spec script for How I Met Your Father would be placed on the back burner in light of their new duties.

[122] On August 8, 2017, Fox chairman Dana Walden told Deadline that the studio was set to try a third attempt at a spin-off with different writers due to the unavailability of Aptaker and Berger.

[127] On August 30, 2021, Daniel Augustin joined the cast in a recurring role, replacing Brandon Micheal Hall, who exited the project due to scheduling conflicts.