Episode 2 - World's Greatest Burger
13 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Marshall has been out of work for so long that he has become depressed. He channels his energy into finding the best burger in New York which he tasted years ago but hasn’t found since. Regis Philbin joins the hunt and Barney seems obsessed with the Goliath National Bank.
The Good: A story about searching for something is a good hook for viewers. Usually it can be relied upon to make a viewer curious enough to stick around and find out what the answer is. It makes sense that Barney had been plugging the Bank for a good reason.
The Bad: The trouble with How I Met Your Mother is how inauthentic it is. In every way.
Let’s start with the sets of the show. If you look at other comedies like The Office or Entourage you can see how much effort has gone into making each location look and feel like a real place. Even in fellow NBC live audience comedy The Big Bang Theory, the scenes are kept simple and authentic. How I Met Your Mother’s relentless flashbacks and jumps to supposed restaurants looks really fake. A tight shot on Lily and Marshall at a table makes it clear that this isn’t a restaurant, it’s a set. A shot of the gang at a diner table with the cook and kitchen visible a few feet away also looks ridiculous. The show clearly wants to be more than a studio sitcom but doesn’t have the means to be so.
Which is why we get flashbacks. The flashbacks are an attempt to break out of the studio and present a world full of possibilities for plot development and jokes. But the flashbacks make the show seem even less real. It’s far too obvious in each that this is not a genuine glimpse into the past. But worse than seeing obviously 30 year old Marshall in a setting where he is supposed to be 22, is the acting. Ted jumping nervously and saying “Dude, I want one of those burgers right now?” is pathetic. Just as the idea that Marshall would walk all the way to a restaurant in his underwear and Lily wouldn’t stop him.
The acting is pretty bad throughout and it isn’t helped by the writing. I have complained for a long time about the show’s relentless double-entendres. They don’t sound like something anyone would say (except for Barney) and so when they all start verbally fornicating with their burgers it again makes them look like actors reading a bad script and not real people. Marshall’s speech about how good the burger sounds over written as well. Robin never getting to eat her burger is a lame plot and the others look horrible for not giving her their burger to eat. A simple explanation, like her not eating mayonnaise, would have provided cover for why she couldn’t eat one of theirs.
Finally there is Regis Philbin. Of all the celebrities to throw into this concert of inauthenticity, he is the worst. Or perhaps the best as he fits in so well. When celebrities act completely out of character in a comedy it usually makes the whole show look fake. Regis’ opening scene is mildly amusing but as it goes on his inability to sound convincing drags the show down even further.
Comic Highlight: Barney announces that Regis Philbin works out at his gym. The guys go to see him and he is obsessed with the burger. He is pumping iron and punching a bag. He grabs Barney and says “Listen blondey, don’t mess with me! Daddy needs his meat.” As silly as it is, if that had been his only appearance in the show, I would have enjoyed it for the surreal amusement.
How I rate your episode: How I Met Your Mother acts like it doesn’t want to be another studio based sitcom. It acts like it wants to be Arrested Development or The Office and have the freedom to jump around in time to make its jokes and narrative more appealing. Well even on their (presumably) lower budget, the show clearly doesn’t want to put in the effort necessary to reach a level of authenticity that creates good comedy. Instead it continues to meander in its own mediocrity. This story may pass twenty minutes without making you turn it off but it isn’t funny, it doesn’t seem real and shows a shocking lack of either effort or competence.
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