The first season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS in the United States on September 19, 2005, and concluded on May 15, 2006.

The season introduces Ted Mosby (voiced by former Full House actor Bob Saget) in the year 2030 as he sits his daughter and son down to tell them the story of how he met their mother.

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).

Ted begins his search for his perfect mate and meets an ambitious young reporter, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), whom he quickly falls in love with.

How I Met Your Mother was inspired by creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas's 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.

The consensus reads: "How I Met Your Mother begins with a distinctively likable ensemble, intriguing storytelling hook, and an endearingly sweet sensibility right out of the gate -- but the jokes elicit more smiles than laughs and the series' sentimentality may divide more hearts than it conquers.".

[17] Including it on his annual "Best of Television" list, James Poniewozik of Time observed that "just a few episodes into the show's run, the writers know these characters inside and out".

Club also called the premise "a winner" and the actors "appealing", but complained that the show stuck too closely to standard sitcom one-liners,[18] as did Doug Elfman of the Chicago Sun-Times, who disparaged the script as little more than a series of "cheap jokes".

[19] Robert Bianco from USA Today was more upbeat, praising the "fine cast" and "humorous script", and calling the show the "most inventive" of new series that year.

[20] Charlie McCollum of The San Jose Mercury News writes that How I Met Your Mother was a prime candidate for replacing Friends in the sitcom category, praising the show as "something with real wit and considerable charm".

He praised the writers for "giving a fresh spin to bits and pieces of the sitcom formula" and the cast for "hitting on all cylinders from the very first scene", predicting that the show could be an unexpected creative breakout with audiences.