Whether you like it or not, TV studios love to churn out a reboot – despite not having the best reviews. So, to find out they were doing a How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM 2005-2014) spin-off, I will admit, I was very dubious. But did that stop me from watching it all in one weekend, during the buildup to exam season? Of course not.
This time, it's all about How I Met Your Father, which, to me, just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
This time, it's all about How I Met Your Father, which, to me, just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Much like its original, we see an older woman talking to her son about, you guessed it, how she met his father. Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire, Younger) plays the younger version of Sophie, a photographer living in New York with her best friend Valentina (Francia Raisa). Having bad luck on the dating scene, she uses Tinder to make her way through all the single men in New York. But it's only when she gets in an Uber that she meets Jesse (Chris Lowell) and Sid (Suraj Sharma), where she creates lifelong friends that help her out along the way. Wow, I even cringed writing that!
For comfort's sake, it also follows pretty much the exact same basis as its predecessor: Jesse and Sid live in Ted, Lilly and Marshall's old apartment; the main character who is desperately struggling to find love; a couple who belong together and are getting married (Sid and Hannah); a bar that the group hang out in all the time; the main character and their new friend who secretly like each other; constant strange jokes about how awful New York living can be; and a really well dressed one in the group, who just loves to suit up!
After 10 half hour episodes, Sophie hits big decision time, casually bumping into Robyn Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) from HIMYM. Now a hugely famous news reporter, Robyn has a drink with Sophie to give her some advice on love and friendships, all from experiences we witnessed in the mid 2000’s. Very much cheesy reboot behaviour!
As a sitcom, expect chaos, awkward laugh tracks and just all-round comfort watching. Not shying away from themes of love, online dating and just straight up sex, this is yet another relevant sitcom that someone is bound to relate to. So, with very little to have to digest (it's one of those you can stick on in the background while doing uni work), it's one to watch, but not in a hurry. If you are a diehard HIMYM fan, I’d stay away if I were you!