Man. Its scary how many parallels there are between the Ted/Robin relationship and my own life. Some of the stuff they've gone through is like word for word verbatim with what I've been through with this girl I know. Including the "back to normal" stuff. It just doesn't work. There is no such thing as normal when a guy loves a girl and she doesn't love him back.
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MalReynoldsThe Hunter S Thompson of incredibly mild medicinesRegistered Userregular
Robin looks less hot because Cobie Smolders did something to seriously piss off the wardrobe department.
She looks really muscular now, which has thinned out her face alarmingly, too.
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I really didn't care for this episode. After 7 seasons it feels like they're hitting a point where they are just hitting the same points over and over.
I really didn't care for this episode. After 7 seasons it feels like they're hitting a point where they are just hitting the same points over and over.
aside from Marshall being really creepy, I enjoyed this one a lot.
What i found kinda funny about Marshall was that i had ran across some Bob Sagat stand up from a way back and he had a bit about talking with your friends about chicks you are banging after you get married. "See my wife over there? I totally nailed her last night!"
I think tonight's episode was pretty funny, it kept with past storylines and progressed the Barney/Quinn storyline further. Albeit it just feels like that one is getting pushed into overdrive very quickly without anything really pushing it.
At least we got confirmation that Ted
will have a kid by 2015. Which by proxy means mom, so yeah it's something.
I also liked the positive outlook for Ted. I think they went too far back in time and hit the joke of the future more times than they needed, but their guesses at the future were great.
The tag at the end with Barney having sex with Quinn in the stormtrooper suit was awesome.
A long way to go for a fart joke, but totally worth it
I laughed, then the scene with the wife leaving at the end.
I liked it a lot.
I feel like people are so pissed off at how long it's taken to get to the mother that they are overly critical of other aspects. I liked this episode in general, not stellar but definitely provided some good moments.
I think I've figured it out. The reason why they've put off Ted meeting the mother for so long.
They're waiting for the actress who plays his daughter to get old enough so that it isn't creepy for her to play the mother too.
Almost there...
That link leads to a GIS of Lyndsy Fonseca. This being the internet, there's a fair bet that it's marginally NSFW.
I still think, if they want to do it right, that they need to introduce the mother in the season finale of this season. Even if the show runs for another 3 years, they need to bring the mother into the show stat. Just make her a permanent cast member. Find someone who works really well with the current cast and extend it.
Adding a new cast member (Amy) to Big Bang Theory has done wonders for revitalizing that show. The same could happen for HIMYM if they find the right actress to play the mom. Just bring her in and make her a regular part of the ensemble until the show runs its course.
Well, unless she's a one night stand at Barney's wedding that gets pregnant, like next year's season finale is the latest. Though I tend to agree with you.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Did anyone else notice how blatantly Barney hides his left hand in the 2015 scene? He was making some odd gestures to make sure his ring finger was never shown.
I thought the show's plan was for the series' finale to be Barney's wedding, which is where Ted meets the mother. Which makes sense: the show is "how I met your mother", so they end when Ted meets the mother.
I still think, if they want to do it right, that they need to introduce the mother in the season finale of this season. Even if the show runs for another 3 years, they need to bring the mother into the show stat. Just make her a permanent cast member. Find someone who works really well with the current cast and extend it.
Adding a new cast member (Amy) to Big Bang Theory has done wonders for revitalizing that show. The same could happen for HIMYM if they find the right actress to play the mom. Just bring her in and make her a regular part of the ensemble until the show runs its course.
I honestly don't think they can ever introduce the Mother as an actual character, because they've spent too much time and effort building up the idea of her that no reality could ever live up to that idea. The best they can do is briefly introduce her at the very end, then fade to black, Sopranos-style. Let all the fans come to their own ideas of what she's like.
I still think, if they want to do it right, that they need to introduce the mother in the season finale of this season. Even if the show runs for another 3 years, they need to bring the mother into the show stat. Just make her a permanent cast member. Find someone who works really well with the current cast and extend it.
Adding a new cast member (Amy) to Big Bang Theory has done wonders for revitalizing that show. The same could happen for HIMYM if they find the right actress to play the mom. Just bring her in and make her a regular part of the ensemble until the show runs its course.
I honestly don't think they can ever introduce the Mother as an actual character, because they've spent too much time and effort building up the idea of her that no reality could ever live up to that idea.
Plus, the show has proven itself to be lousy at dealing with Ted's women over long stretches (Stella, Zoey, etc.). Even if the introduction was great, the show would find a way to make us hate her in the long term.
I still think, if they want to do it right, that they need to introduce the mother in the season finale of this season. Even if the show runs for another 3 years, they need to bring the mother into the show stat. Just make her a permanent cast member. Find someone who works really well with the current cast and extend it.
Adding a new cast member (Amy) to Big Bang Theory has done wonders for revitalizing that show. The same could happen for HIMYM if they find the right actress to play the mom. Just bring her in and make her a regular part of the ensemble until the show runs its course.
I honestly don't think they can ever introduce the Mother as an actual character, because they've spent too much time and effort building up the idea of her that no reality could ever live up to that idea. The best they can do is briefly introduce her at the very end, then fade to black, Sopranos-style. Let all the fans come to their own ideas of what she's like.
I would laugh my ass off if they never show her face and just have Future Ted announce that's when he met her...
All that only after the gang spends 24 mins of the episode punching Tony and Stella in their faces as payback, of course. (I will never let that asshole and lying bitch off the hook for that movie. I'll always have your back, Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville)
This is a rant, so it's kinda long, not particularly structured, and overall not fun. But if anyone who loves this show, or at least likes Season 7, could read it and tell me whether I'm just missing the point of this year, or put things in perspective vis-a-vis the show in general, that would be cool.
Does anyone know what actually happened to this show? Was there a covert hostile takeover of the writer's room? Because until Season 7 the show did, to me at least, have a sense of identity, or, if it wavered, an episode once in a while to get it back on track, but those last twenty-something episodes have been a trainwreck that no one bothered to attend to.
The show started out with buckets of charm that dissipated over the years and turned into a romantic comedy with a high concept. I know its storytelling gimmick is controversial, but I always loved it. But for this storytelling gimmick to work, you actually have to use it, and care about it. Season 7 feels like an entirely different series to me. Aside from jokes that are so, so poor that, when watching it, I always try to come up with the most obvious, weak or juvenile joke in a scene and see whether the writers use it - they usually do. Or characters so bland and uninteresting, and at the mercy of arbitrary plotting, that they leave me tired. What is the show about, at this point? I'm not interested in debating whether the mother should be revealed now. Just make the journey to the finale interesting. There has been substantial character growth/change over the seasons, and that has been my reward for watching. So far, the show is treating that - in my opinion - great history, with utter disregard. This Season could be best described, I think, as hollow.
I always imagined a huge white board in the writer's room, carefully plotting out at least the Season, and paying careful attention to the show's history (because that's what was the case over the past six, or at the very least the first four, years). Season 7 seems like a trial-and-error game in which they let the intern come up with an idea and see how it turns out, only that it actually gets aired. Barney's "relationship" with Nora, not having any purpose other than delay plot development (I know TV lives off of plot development delays, but those delays should, again, at least be interesting), Robin's relationship with Kevin, basically the same issue (there was not an ounce of chemistry there, let alone character development. More like character entropy with Robin), Marshall and Lily moving out, disrupting the show's logistics and making for some bland, bland television, Barney breaking off one relationship for Robin to pursue another relationship that very much feels shoved in at the end of the season and thereby is paced way too quickly (meet.love.movein.marry.divorce within 12 episodes, I pressume). There's a lot more issues I'm sure, I just don't feel like going back and analyzing the season. I'm just incredibly disappointed at whatever the showrunners are currently doing with what once felt like their labour of love. So I'm hoping that, in reality, they have secretly been replaced and could come back for the show's eighth, and probably final, season.
And, yeah, Season 8 will probably be the last, since Jason Segel has been interested in leaving for a while, the characters' stories are exhausted anyway, it's time for Ted to meet his wife for timeline purposes alone and Barney's Wedding can hardly be delayed for yet another season.
They said the end of the season will be finding out who Barney marries, not necessarily that the wedding will be this season. Expect this show to go past eight seasons. It's still getting absurd ratings.
This is a rant, so it's kinda long, not particularly structured, and overall not fun. But if anyone who loves this show, or at least likes Season 7, could read it and tell me whether I'm just missing the point of this year, or put things in perspective vis-a-vis the show in general, that would be cool.
Does anyone know what actually happened to this show? Was there a covert hostile takeover of the writer's room? Because until Season 7 the show did, to me at least, have a sense of identity, or, if it wavered, an episode once in a while to get it back on track, but those last twenty-something episodes have been a trainwreck that no one bothered to attend to.
The show started out with buckets of charm that dissipated over the years and turned into a romantic comedy with a high concept. I know its storytelling gimmick is controversial, but I always loved it. But for this storytelling gimmick to work, you actually have to use it, and care about it. Season 7 feels like an entirely different series to me. Aside from jokes that are so, so poor that, when watching it, I always try to come up with the most obvious, weak or juvenile joke in a scene and see whether the writers use it - they usually do. Or characters so bland and uninteresting, and at the mercy of arbitrary plotting, that they leave me tired. What is the show about, at this point? I'm not interested in debating whether the mother should be revealed now. Just make the journey to the finale interesting. There has been substantial character growth/change over the seasons, and that has been my reward for watching. So far, the show is treating that - in my opinion - great history, with utter disregard. This Season could be best described, I think, as hollow.
I always imagined a huge white board in the writer's room, carefully plotting out at least the Season, and paying careful attention to the show's history (because that's what was the case over the past six, or at the very least the first four, years). Season 7 seems like a trial-and-error game in which they let the intern come up with an idea and see how it turns out, only that it actually gets aired. Barney's "relationship" with Nora, not having any purpose other than delay plot development (I know TV lives off of plot development delays, but those delays should, again, at least be interesting), Robin's relationship with Kevin, basically the same issue (there was not an ounce of chemistry there, let alone character development. More like character entropy with Robin), Marshall and Lily moving out, disrupting the show's logistics and making for some bland, bland television, Barney breaking off one relationship for Robin to pursue another relationship that very much feels shoved in at the end of the season and thereby is paced way too quickly (meet.love.movein.marry.divorce within 12 episodes, I pressume). There's a lot more issues I'm sure, I just don't feel like going back and analyzing the season. I'm just incredibly disappointed at whatever the showrunners are currently doing with what once felt like their labour of love. So I'm hoping that, in reality, they have secretly been replaced and could come back for the show's eighth, and probably final, season.
And, yeah, Season 8 will probably be the last, since Jason Segel has been interested in leaving for a while, the characters' stories are exhausted anyway, it's time for Ted to meet his wife for timeline purposes alone and Barney's Wedding can hardly be delayed for yet another season.
Barneys wedding is in itself a delay! This isn't 'How Barney got married to a random secondary character who noone cares about'. If Barney gets married, then it's YET MORE plot baggage to drag the series into slow motion. They had their chance to save it with both the Slutty pumpkin AND with the return of the baker. Either could have been the mother and tied in nicely to everything.
American sitcoms will never have a meaningful and cohesive story, because as long as they get great ratings, they will just keep making them. The only thing that can stop them is if the cast leaves or if the show starts to fail. With shows like HIMYM or any other ensemble comedy, I just enjoy them episode to episode, and keep watching as long as they make me laugh or I like the characters. HIMYM will just keep going until NPH or Jason Segel decides they're done with it, and then they'll put together some stupid way Ted met the mother, the end. The only thing that will matter is that the group was funny while it lasted.
American sitcoms will never have a meaningful and cohesive story, because as long as they get great ratings, they will just keep making them. The only thing that can stop them is if the cast leaves or if the show starts to fail. With shows like HIMYM or any other ensemble comedy, I just enjoy them episode to episode, and keep watching as long as they make me laugh or I like the characters. HIMYM will just keep going until NPH or Jason Segel decides they're done with it, and then they'll put together some stupid way Ted met the mother, the end. The only thing that will matter is that the group was funny while it lasted.
I certainly agree that the journey is the experience, but the problem is that it has begun to feel forced. There was just as much randomness and flailing in the earlier seasons but it seemed natural. At this point it just feels that Ted needs to cut to the chase.
That's why the best sitcoms don't bother to even attempt a cohesive story: Seinfeld and Arrested Development are the best comedy ever made.
I agree, both about not trying to have a story, and about those two shows. Of the shows on air right now, my favorites are Modern Family, Happy Endings, Community, and Parks and Rec, and all of them are just about an ensemble being funny, with no promise of some future sentimental ending.
I also don't agree about HIMYM needing to cut to the chase either. I just ignore the stuff where they're trying to force the story, and laugh at Barney and some of the other characters when they're being funny.
I disagree about sitcoms benefitting from not having a story. Tell any story over years accumulating hundreds of hours and it quantity will always win over quality. I think that How I Met Your Mother was often actually really successful in crafting a story. There were some character arcs I enjoyed, and the ways it experiments with storytelling through its flashback narrative are sometimes pulled off really well. Or have been, in the distant past. I'm not expecting an epic, but for its first four years, HIMYM was well on its way to tell a great romance in an interesting way. The eponymous story arc has been pretty much neglected since then, but if they had condensed the tale to five years or so, they might have told a story well. That it collapsed over eternal continuation is certainly not particular to it being a sitcom.
It's really a curse how TV is an amazing opportunity for long term storytelling, but you can only pull it off when you're somewhat safe ratings-wise, and when you actually are you usually outstay your welcome.
I still think Season 8 will be it for HIMYM. Barney's upcoming wedding may not be the wedding, or the finale might deal with it but twist it in a way as to delay until Season 8, or Ted falls through a time vortex. But I cannot see Jason Segel continuing on much longer, NPH has more projects than he can count going, including twins, Cobie Smulders might be about to break into movies, Josh Radnor has been doing his own thing on the side... I think I even recall the HIMYM creators pitching new shows. I know the network is the deciding factor, and maybe they would force a ninth season even though one or two key players declining to sign on for further episodes, but that would definitely kill the show, in terms of (an already dead) plot as well as ratings.
Anyways, I guess the general tone regarding HIMYM is "meh." by now. I still maintain that it could have been a really cool product - a funny sitcom that actually told a story. Season 7 is neither funny nor telling a story. At least not one that makes much sense.
In terms of actually laughing and having fun, I would definitely not recommend HIMYM past season 3, I guess (and then maybe 6 again). That's what I would point you to Parks and Rec for.
Honestly, if you want to laugh anymore just watch Happy Endings or Parks & Rec. HIMYM is just the show you watch because you've been watching it for years.
I forget where, but I read a recent article about how some TV shows would be better off without certain characters. Ted came in at #2 on that list and I couldn't agree more. Last night's episode was good...but this show's writers are typically so lazy and predictable that the only thing that really saves the show is Neil Patrick Harris, and to a lesser extent Jason Segel.
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I think the problem with this season is that the writers forgot it was supposed to be a comedy so it's more character driven this season, which doesn't really work for the show and its kind of bumming me out. It's doign a good job of developing characters that I like, and I do like the addition of Quinn and her being with Barney. I just think the show needs to focus more on being funny for 30 minutes with a bunch of friends hanging out than trying to tell stories about everybody's lives and growing up every week.
If they slap us in the face in the same fashion as last season...
I will be mad.
MAD.
What they really need to do is give us Vengeance on Stella. That was the point when the show broke, when they decided that her fundamentally greedy and flat out evil decision was actually Teds fault and that he needed to atone for his sins. After that point there was no direction for the show to go on it's primary course since there was no way to make us believe that. And then they keep digging them deeper by showing how great her life is going.
They need an episode where she shows up at Teds door (after the gang reads a news article saying how she and her husband lost all her money and are divorced again), begs for forgiveness and he slams to door in her face and breathes a sigh of relief. Then you cut away to the kids and say, "And that kids, ends the period of my life where I was too weird to meet your mother. Things get better from now on, you'll see". You could do it in the same episode as Barneys wedding to give us something good to end the season on.
They need an episode where she shows up at Teds door (after the gang reads a news article saying how she and her husband lost all her money and are divorced again), begs for forgiveness and he slams to door in her face and breathes a sigh of relief.
That will never happen because they did their, innocuous, borderline casual, version of that at the end of Season 4, I think, where Ted opted out of his "evil" speech upon seeing Stella's happiness. Sure, Stella deserved much worse than her happy ending, and Ted better than what he got from the moment he entered the relationship in the first place. But I don't dwell on that story, I don't need those characters back in any capacity.
But the more I think about HIMYM, especially its current state, the less I want to think about it. Only thing I wonder is why it's still getting fine to good reviews. Then again, so is TBBT.
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She looks really muscular now, which has thinned out her face alarmingly, too.
"Readers who prefer tension and romance, Maledictions: The Offering, delivers... As serious YA fiction, I’ll give it five stars out of five. As a novel? Four and a half." - Liz Ellor
My new novel: Maledictions: The Offering. Now in Paperback!
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Yes, she did.
aside from Marshall being really creepy, I enjoyed this one a lot.
Steam ID: Good Life
I totally saw the twist coming.
At least we got confirmation that Ted
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2, because the mom will be pregnant for 9 months.
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I laughed, then the scene with the wife leaving at the end.
I liked it a lot.
I feel like people are so pissed off at how long it's taken to get to the mother that they are overly critical of other aspects. I liked this episode in general, not stellar but definitely provided some good moments.
The mother is the least of the show's issues now.
They're waiting for the actress who plays his daughter to get old enough so that it isn't creepy for her to play the mother too.
Almost there...
That link leads to a GIS of Lyndsy Fonseca. This being the internet, there's a fair bet that it's marginally NSFW.
Edit: I meant "...isn't as creepy..."
Adding a new cast member (Amy) to Big Bang Theory has done wonders for revitalizing that show. The same could happen for HIMYM if they find the right actress to play the mom. Just bring her in and make her a regular part of the ensemble until the show runs its course.
I honestly don't think they can ever introduce the Mother as an actual character, because they've spent too much time and effort building up the idea of her that no reality could ever live up to that idea. The best they can do is briefly introduce her at the very end, then fade to black, Sopranos-style. Let all the fans come to their own ideas of what she's like.
Plus, the show has proven itself to be lousy at dealing with Ted's women over long stretches (Stella, Zoey, etc.). Even if the introduction was great, the show would find a way to make us hate her in the long term.
I would laugh my ass off if they never show her face and just have Future Ted announce that's when he met her...
All that only after the gang spends 24 mins of the episode punching Tony and Stella in their faces as payback, of course. (I will never let that asshole and lying bitch off the hook for that movie. I'll always have your back, Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville)
Does anyone know what actually happened to this show? Was there a covert hostile takeover of the writer's room? Because until Season 7 the show did, to me at least, have a sense of identity, or, if it wavered, an episode once in a while to get it back on track, but those last twenty-something episodes have been a trainwreck that no one bothered to attend to.
The show started out with buckets of charm that dissipated over the years and turned into a romantic comedy with a high concept. I know its storytelling gimmick is controversial, but I always loved it. But for this storytelling gimmick to work, you actually have to use it, and care about it. Season 7 feels like an entirely different series to me. Aside from jokes that are so, so poor that, when watching it, I always try to come up with the most obvious, weak or juvenile joke in a scene and see whether the writers use it - they usually do. Or characters so bland and uninteresting, and at the mercy of arbitrary plotting, that they leave me tired. What is the show about, at this point? I'm not interested in debating whether the mother should be revealed now. Just make the journey to the finale interesting. There has been substantial character growth/change over the seasons, and that has been my reward for watching. So far, the show is treating that - in my opinion - great history, with utter disregard. This Season could be best described, I think, as hollow.
I always imagined a huge white board in the writer's room, carefully plotting out at least the Season, and paying careful attention to the show's history (because that's what was the case over the past six, or at the very least the first four, years). Season 7 seems like a trial-and-error game in which they let the intern come up with an idea and see how it turns out, only that it actually gets aired. Barney's "relationship" with Nora, not having any purpose other than delay plot development (I know TV lives off of plot development delays, but those delays should, again, at least be interesting), Robin's relationship with Kevin, basically the same issue (there was not an ounce of chemistry there, let alone character development. More like character entropy with Robin), Marshall and Lily moving out, disrupting the show's logistics and making for some bland, bland television, Barney breaking off one relationship for Robin to pursue another relationship that very much feels shoved in at the end of the season and thereby is paced way too quickly (meet.love.movein.marry.divorce within 12 episodes, I pressume). There's a lot more issues I'm sure, I just don't feel like going back and analyzing the season. I'm just incredibly disappointed at whatever the showrunners are currently doing with what once felt like their labour of love. So I'm hoping that, in reality, they have secretly been replaced and could come back for the show's eighth, and probably final, season.
And, yeah, Season 8 will probably be the last, since Jason Segel has been interested in leaving for a while, the characters' stories are exhausted anyway, it's time for Ted to meet his wife for timeline purposes alone and Barney's Wedding can hardly be delayed for yet another season.
Barneys wedding is in itself a delay! This isn't 'How Barney got married to a random secondary character who noone cares about'. If Barney gets married, then it's YET MORE plot baggage to drag the series into slow motion. They had their chance to save it with both the Slutty pumpkin AND with the return of the baker. Either could have been the mother and tied in nicely to everything.
I certainly agree that the journey is the experience, but the problem is that it has begun to feel forced. There was just as much randomness and flailing in the earlier seasons but it seemed natural. At this point it just feels that Ted needs to cut to the chase.
I agree, both about not trying to have a story, and about those two shows. Of the shows on air right now, my favorites are Modern Family, Happy Endings, Community, and Parks and Rec, and all of them are just about an ensemble being funny, with no promise of some future sentimental ending.
I also don't agree about HIMYM needing to cut to the chase either. I just ignore the stuff where they're trying to force the story, and laugh at Barney and some of the other characters when they're being funny.
It's really a curse how TV is an amazing opportunity for long term storytelling, but you can only pull it off when you're somewhat safe ratings-wise, and when you actually are you usually outstay your welcome.
I still think Season 8 will be it for HIMYM. Barney's upcoming wedding may not be the wedding, or the finale might deal with it but twist it in a way as to delay until Season 8, or Ted falls through a time vortex. But I cannot see Jason Segel continuing on much longer, NPH has more projects than he can count going, including twins, Cobie Smulders might be about to break into movies, Josh Radnor has been doing his own thing on the side... I think I even recall the HIMYM creators pitching new shows. I know the network is the deciding factor, and maybe they would force a ninth season even though one or two key players declining to sign on for further episodes, but that would definitely kill the show, in terms of (an already dead) plot as well as ratings.
Anyways, I guess the general tone regarding HIMYM is "meh." by now. I still maintain that it could have been a really cool product - a funny sitcom that actually told a story. Season 7 is neither funny nor telling a story. At least not one that makes much sense.
In terms of actually laughing and having fun, I would definitely not recommend HIMYM past season 3, I guess (and then maybe 6 again). That's what I would point you to Parks and Rec for.
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I will be mad.
MAD.
What they really need to do is give us Vengeance on Stella. That was the point when the show broke, when they decided that her fundamentally greedy and flat out evil decision was actually Teds fault and that he needed to atone for his sins. After that point there was no direction for the show to go on it's primary course since there was no way to make us believe that. And then they keep digging them deeper by showing how great her life is going.
They need an episode where she shows up at Teds door (after the gang reads a news article saying how she and her husband lost all her money and are divorced again), begs for forgiveness and he slams to door in her face and breathes a sigh of relief. Then you cut away to the kids and say, "And that kids, ends the period of my life where I was too weird to meet your mother. Things get better from now on, you'll see". You could do it in the same episode as Barneys wedding to give us something good to end the season on.
That will never happen because they did their, innocuous, borderline casual, version of that at the end of Season 4, I think, where Ted opted out of his "evil" speech upon seeing Stella's happiness. Sure, Stella deserved much worse than her happy ending, and Ted better than what he got from the moment he entered the relationship in the first place. But I don't dwell on that story, I don't need those characters back in any capacity.
But the more I think about HIMYM, especially its current state, the less I want to think about it. Only thing I wonder is why it's still getting fine to good reviews. Then again, so is TBBT.