Loaded with irresistible laughter and filled with outrageous fun, there’s just one word for the hit comedy How I Met Your Mother: Awesomeness!
From dating dilemmas to career conundrums, the recently engaged Ted and his feisty friends find themselves at the crossroads of young adult life. While newlyweds Marshall and Lily contemplate parenthood, single gal Robin explores the advantages of having “friends with benefits.” Meanwhile, the irrepressible, opinionated Barney continues his hilariously dogged pursuit of the fairer sex. As for Ted, his Miss Right is out there, but amid bar brawls, blizzards, and buck-naked strangers, how will he ever find her?
The fourth season of the charming sitcom How I Met Your Mother (or HIMYM to fans) remains as inventive yet as heartfelt as ever. The writers pull off all kinds of narrative tricks, and though events are sometimes absurd, they never feel gimmicky–the show has a solid grip on its characters and keeps everything grounded in their ongoing lives. Devoted womanizer Barney (Neil Patrick Harris, riding a wave of popularity in the wake of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) can’t understand why he’s having actual feelings for Robin (Cobie Smulders), whose career as a TV anchorwoman is floundering. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) struggle with holding on to their youthful passion under the pressures of getting older. And Ted (Josh Radnor) struggles to follow through on his engagement to Stella (Sarah Chalke)–a relationship that (spoiler alert!) capsizes midway through the episodes. While the season-long story lines are carefully teased out, each episode is flush with clever or daffy ideas, among them a list of Canadian sex acts, Barney trying to pick up hot chicks while disguised as an 80-year-old man, multiple interventions (culminating in an intervention intervention), Marshall’s charts and graphs, Barney’s fake family, wooo! girls, the cheerleader effect, the front porch test, and the Naked Man, among many others.
Attentive fans will be rewarded with a wealth of small references to past episodes. Though there are moments when the fundamental premise–that this is all part of an unbearably long story that a future Ted is telling to his children–feels obnoxiously stretched (toward the end of the season, one episode in particular builds up to a false revelation), for the most part HIMYM is a sterling example of a well-sustained sitcom; the characters have successfully grown over the four seasons without losing everything that made them funny in the first place. The number of extras is surprisingly small–only a few show commentaries, an enjoyable group interview, and an extended version of Barney’s video resume. –Bret Fetzer
Stills from How I Met Your Mother: Season Four (Click for larger image)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Buy “How I Met Your Mother: Season Four” For Only $19.75
January 31, 2006
#1
i hate this show. every person is a horrible
actor & watching this is liking the sound
of fingernails on a chalkboard. shows like
norm & til’ death get cancelled while this
garbage [nasty] show gets to stay on the air.
it shows the lack of depth of people today
that they think this is funny! watch the
big bang theroy or classic shows like the
odd couple or barney miller for real laughs!
January 31, 2006
#2
The vendor that I purchased this from was awful, I still have yet to receive my product and the vendor has to respond to me. Worst amazon.com expereince I have ever had.
January 31, 2006
#3
This is a very funny show, with excellent writing. Come on already and let us at least see who their mother is. I am just like those two kids on the couch waiting and getting bored to death of the delay. Still a legendary show though. Suit UP!
January 31, 2006
#4
How I Met Your Mother in Season Four is just as good as the first three seasons with some really interesting and funny episodes
A major part of the season deals with Ted and Stella’s relationship after they get engaged. Ted has a problem when Stella wants him to move to New Jersey and the gang tries to talk him out of moving. As the wedding draws near Ted tells Stella that he invited Robin and Stella gets mad because she does not want a significant ex to be at the wedding so Ted invites Tony, Stella’s ex. This turns out to be not a good idea as it turns out that Stella gets back with Tony.
Barney deals with his feelings for Robin in Season 4. He is jealous at Ted because after coming back from Japan Robin lives with Ted for a while. While living with him they become friends wit benefits so that their bad habits wont get on each others nerves.
Barney helps Robin though by making her a great audition tape that gets her a job as an anchor for a 4 am show. He also helps Marshall get a job as in house council at GNC (the bank he works for.)
Marshall and Lilly are debating on wither or not they should have a baby.
Near the end of the season Ted runs into Stella and Tony who help him find a job. During this time Tony breaks up with Stella, but eventually work things out. Tony and Stella and move to California where a few years after Tony writes a screen play about the triangle that gets made into a popular movie. Tony also helps Ted get a job as a professor at the local university and the season ends with Ted telling his kids that their mom was in his class.
January 31, 2006
#5
Not the best season of the show, but remains funny and interesting throughout, Season 4 brings the audience one step closer to Ted finding the mother of his children.
However, as the quality of the equipment used to film television shows is nowhere near film standard, the 3 bluray discs reveal clearly the limitations of the production. If you have seen movies on bluray before, you can tell in less than 10 seconds that the resolution and clarity of the show is nowhere near bluray standard. Purple fringing is very bad in daylight scenes, and dark scenes are extremely grainy. Contrast is also generally quite weak.
However, the added resolution does bring out alot of details (the bluray resolution is literally too high for the production) that you don’t see in the earlier seasons on DVDs. Neil Patrick Harris’ very expressive face pops out in almost every scene he’s in, while all the hard work the production crew has put into every set is clearly revealed in every frame.
If you have a bluray disc player, do spend a little more on this version istead of the DVD. Although there’s only one English track (in DTS-MA 5.1) and limited subtitling, watching Ted and his friends looking for love, the perfect job, the perfect burger (and sex) on your high definition TV will never be the same again.