Alyson Hannigan

The pilot episode for this CBS show is pretty catchy. It’s a pity that the rest of the series doesn’t always live up to its potential.

The hook involves a father (voice of Bob Saget ), 25 years from now, telling his teenage kids the story of... well, you get the idea.

The central character in the ensemble cast, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor ), is a late twentysomething architect looking for love in New York. Spurring his sudden graduation to commitment-readiness is the engagement of his best friend / roommate Marshall (Jason Segal ) and his other best friend Lily (Alyson Hannigan ).

Complicating the search is the pressure put on Ted’s comfort level by his other other best friend, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris ), a shallow horndog who is constantly coming up with wild, over-the-top dating schemes and lame Fonz-like utterances that the show’s creators, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, have dubbed “Barneyisms.”

Then, at the last second of the first episode, Bays and Thomas slip the kids, and the audience, a major curve: TV reporter Robin (Cobie Smulders ), Ted’s apparently perfect woman, is only Aunt Robin, not the kids’ eventual mother. As long as the show stays on the air, we won’t find out who or how Ted’s quest turns up / out.

Bays and Thomas do maintain tension in the first season (out this week on a three-disc set ) by inserting Robin into Ted’s circle of friends and occasionally bringing the two of them to the brink of something.

The dialogue, which at times approaches the smartness of Sex and the City, also sometimes becomes almost unbearably cheesy, although there are a few truly touching moments. The principals and assorted guest stars and supporting players give refreshingly fine performances.

Extras include a “Video Yearbook” making-of / retrospective featurette, a blooper reel and two clip collations.