How I Met Your Father co-creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger discuss the show’s second season, which will include more standalone episodes.
The co-creators of How I Met Your Father promise more standalone episodes in season 2. Premiering on Hulu in January, How I Met Your Father serves as a spinoff of How I Met Your Mother. The series took after its predecessor’s format, unfolding in two different timelines, with Kim Catrall portraying the older version of Hilary Duff’s Sophie. Viewers go on a journey with the protagonist as she attempts to find the love of her life. And, over the course of ten episodes, viewers are also introduced to Sophie’s group of friends – Valentina (Francia Raisa), Jesse (Chris Lowell), Sid (Suraj Sharma), Ellen (Tien Tran), and Charlie (Tom Ainsley).
The gang got into a fair bit of hijinks in the early episodes of How I Met Your Father. However, given its episode count and sitcom-length running time of around 22 minutes, much of the focus was around establishing the mystery of who the father would be. Each episode would end on a cliffhanger, giving the Hulu comedy more of a serialized feel and leaving not as much space for standalone adventures.
It’s something that co-creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger addressed in an interview with TV Line. Talking about How I Met Your Father season 2, which has already been ordered, and which will feature 20 episodes, the duo promise to allow the central mystery to breathe and give the group a chance to hang out instead. Berger, specifically, mentions that there were ideas they never had the opportunity to include in HIMYF season 1. You can read their quotes below.
Aptaker: “It will give us a chance to let our mystery breathe, and to do episodes that are more about everybody hanging out and having a crazy night together.”
Berger: “We had a bunch of those [story ideas] for Season 1 that we couldn’t do because we didn’t have enough space for them.”
The limitations of How I Met Your Father were evident in a few ways. To take Leighton Meester’s character, Meredith, as an example, she appears in half of season 1, but it’s often for one scene with little to no dialogue. A second season, with more time and space to explore, could dig deeper into the character. It could also show the main characters in scenarios with relatively low-stakes, rather than always fixing a huge crisis in their personal or professional lives. While those big moments are certainly important, it’s even more vital for a sitcom to know when to take a step back and not make every episode a matter of life or death.
Friends, for example, is one of the most globally beloved sitcoms and some of its most memorable scenes had little to do with long-term plotting. Fans, for the most part, remember the standout, singular moments from the show. The same is true for How I Met Your Mother, which built up its arsenal of running gags and rich history thanks to standalone episodes. It sounds like How I Met Your Father season 2 will follow in that vein.
Source: TV Line
About The Author
