Alyson Hannigan

TV Review: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER - SEASON 1 SEASON FINAL - "Come On" Something ends and something begins on the Alyson Hannigan CBS comedy GRADE:

STARS: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan WRITER: Carter Bays & Craig Thomas DIRECTOR: Pamela Fryman

RATING: NR DISTRIBUTOR: Airs Monday May 15th on CBS at 8:30pm ET/PT Published: 5/15/2006 Send this review to a friend.

By: SEAN ELLIOTT Associate Editor

Well, something ends and something begins in the season finale of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. I’ll try to review this without being too much of a spoiler, so please bear with me.

The finale of the show, "Come One," is the usual blend of comedy and humor. I really want to know why this show isn’t filmed in front of a live studio audience. The canned laugh track on the series makes me crazy. Of course, I hate canned laughter in any size way shape or form. The premise behind the finale is, you guessed it, Ted trying to get back together with Robin.

The show is a decent sitcom. I’m not a huge fan of sitcoms in general, and this one can’t make up its mind whether it wants to be an out and out comedy or a drama. Admittedly, it is fairly true to life in the fact that comedy often arises from drama, but this show hasn’t quite hit its stride in terms of the writing.

The actors are all great, and they have developed a chemistry that works very well for both the comedic scenes and the dramatic ones. Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan are honestly two of my favorites on the show, just because they get whatever lines and plot contrivances they are given to deliver. Their co-stars are ok, but Harris and Hannigan are seasoned acting pros, and it shows in their effortless performances.

The BEST and I mean absolute best thing about the season finale is that this episode incorporates not one, not two, but three BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL alumnus. Alyson of course being the first, Alexis Denisof (Alyson’s real life husband) being the second, and just for this episode Amy Acker joins the cast as a Native American studies major that Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) used to date.

Denisof, as before with the character of Sandy, pulls of that unique blend of slime and charm, that makes the character endearing to watch, and part of you secretly hopes he will end up with Robin (Cobie Smulders). Acker comes to the series playing a woman named Penelope who tries to teach Ted (Josh Radnor) how to do a rain dance. The result is the flowering of Acker’s comedic talents, and the surprise bonus of seeing her back in her pigtails.

The finale of the show is worth watching for fans of the Whedon-verse, if for no other reason that to think wistfully about the two series of the past couple years that we’ve grown to truly adore and miss. This episode puts three of the main actors from those series back on the screen for us for a brief moment in time for a few more laughs and tears.