tek's rating: meh and a half (but subject to change)

How I Met Your Father, on Hulu
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This is a sort of sequel to/gender-flipped remake of How I Met Your Mother. A few attempts to create such a show were made prior to this, but this is the first one to be produced. I really wanted to like it, because I loved the original series. But I'm afraid I hardly like it at all. Still, it's grown on me slightly since the first episode, when I wasn't even sure I'd keep watching. But now I figure I might as well stick it out for the ten episode first season, and then see how I feel if it gets renewed.

Set in 2022, it stars Hilary Duff as Sophie, who is also played in the year 2050 by Kim Cattrall. Unlike the original series, in which we saw older Ted's kids but only heard Ted, in this series we see older Sophie but only hear her son, who listens to her story via webcam. Sophie lives in New York City with her best friend, Valentina (Francia Raisa, whom I know from Grown-ish). In the first episode, Sophie meets Valentina's new boyfriend, Charlie, a British man who comes from a wealthy family, but was disowned by them for dating Valentina. Also in the first episode, Sophie has been communicating online with a guy named Ian, who started out as a Tinder date. They finally meet in person, but Ian tells her he's going to Australia for his job. And Sophie, Valentina, and Charlie meet some new people who immediately become friends with them, and they all start hanging out together. They include Sid, who owns a bar called Pemberton's; Sid's best friend and roommate, Jesse, who has become cynical about love ever since an embarrassing video of him proposing to his girlfriend Meredith (Leighton Meester) and her dumping him went viral; and Ellen, Jesse's lesbian, adoptive sister who is recently divorced and constantly seeking a new girlfriend. Jesse and Sid live in the former apartment of Ted, Marshall, and Lily from the original series.

Unlike the original series, where the mother's identity isn't revealed until the final season, in this series we know the father is one of the men she met in the first episode. So it could be Ian, Sid, Jesse, or Charlie. (Obviously the son listening to the story in 2050 knows who his father is, but of course he doesn't spoil it for viewers.) So it's not really about Sophie and her son's father meeting, but about how they eventually get together. I do think it would be really weird if it were Charlie, since he's dating Valentina. And to a lesser degree it seems unlikely to be Sid, who in the first episode got engaged to his girlfriend, Hannah. However, she's working in L.A., and it's difficult for them maintaining a long distance relationship. Also there's Drew (Josh Peck), the vice principal at the school where Jesse works as a music teacher (in addition to his Uber-driving gig). Sophie and Drew start dating in the third episode. It's revealed that they actually met very briefly at the bar in the first episode, so I suppose he could also be the father, though that seems really unlikely to me. Also in the third episode, Charlie and Ellen become roommates.

And I guess I don't know what else to say, for now.


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