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.
[8] In 2030, Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) is telling his teenaged son and daughter the story of how he met their mother.
The story flashes back to 2005, where 27-year-old Ted helps his best friend and roommate Marshall Eriksen prepare to propose to his girlfriend of nine years, Lily Aldrin.
At MacLaren's pub, Ted confides to his friend Barney Stinson that Marshall's engagement has made him realize that he wants to get married.
Ted, accompanied by the gang, goes to her apartment, after stopping by the restaurant where they had their first date and stealing the blue French horn that she had admired.
[13] In various interviews Bays and Thomas have stated that "a pretty famous actress"[3] turned down the role of Robin, whom they revealed in February 2014 to have been Jennifer Love Hewitt.
They include: McGee's, a Midtown tavern near the Ed Sullivan Theater where the Late Show is taped; McHale's, a legendary Hell's Kitchen bar which closed in 2006; Chumley's, a since-closed historic Greenwich Village pub; and Fez, another closed bar on the Upper West Side.
In its original American broadcast, the pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother was watched by 10.94 million viewers and averaged a 3.9 rating among adults ages 18–49.
"It's not often that a pilot has the polished feel of a show that's been around for a while, but How I Met Your Mother should be a solid bridge between The King of Queens and the aforementioned Two and a Half Men.