How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is a sitcom currently on its sixth season, shown on CBS. The story is set in present day New York and tells of five friends struggling through their relationships and careers. The show is in a flashback format, each episode is told as a story from the main character Ted Mosby to his children in the future, under the pretense of him explaining how he met their mother: each episode showing a little more of how he became who he was in order to meet and marry her. Because of this format, the show is full of little bits that all link episodes across the seasons to each other, with running gags and other little future hints set in earlier episodes.
How I Met...Ted Mosby
Ted Mosby is played by Josh Radnor and is somewhat the lead of the show, though it is mostly an ensemble format. Most of the episodes are from his point of view, as they are all him telling stories. He starts off as an architect, single in his late 20s and desperate to settle down and start a family. On his quest to find his future wife he dates a lot of women, many for only one episode but some reaching short arcs. Almost all of these relationships end in disaster as he continues his quest. Almost marrying his doctor in a long episode arc, he is jilted as she goes back to her ex-boyfriend and baby daddy but eventually he sees her again, and he boyfriend gets him a job as an Arcitecture Professor at a local university where the future mother is a student. Each episode is a step closer to finding her, though past Ted doesn't know this yet.
How I Met...Robin Scherbatsky
Robin Scherbatsky is played by Cobie Smulders and was the last addition to the group of five. Ted meets her in the first episode and falls in love with her, though she is a lot more cautious. They date on and off for a few years before deciding they are not meant to be together. She later also dates Barney, but they too decide to call it quits despite having a lot more in common, due to not being good for each other. She is a Canadian living in New York and working as a News Anchor, then later the host of a morning show.
How I Met...Lily Aldrin
Lily Aldrin is played by Alyson Hannigan and meets Marshall and Ted in college where she immediately starts a relationship with Marshall. They get engaged in the beginning of the show after being together almost ten years, and eventually get married much later, after breaking their engagement so Lily can pursue her dream of being an artist then getting back together. Lily works as a kindergarden teacher.
How I Met...Marshall Eriksen
Marshall Eriksen is played by Jason Segel and meets Ted when they are assigned as roommates at college and they have been best friends ever since. He is a lawyer for a morally ambiguous company to make money to buy an apartment and after his wife, Lily, revealed her ridiculous credit card debt, despite wanting to work as an environmental lawyer.
How I Met...Barney Stinson
Barney Stinson is played by Neil Patrick Harris and is a big ladies man. With the exception of Robin, he rarely dates a woman more than once and mostly just wants to sleep with them. No one is entirely sure of his job, because he won't tell anyone, but he is very well-payed and more than a little morally corrupt. He met Ted in a bar and tried to use him to help him get a date, though Ted messed it up for him, and they have been friends ever since. Despite being a bit of a jerk, he is loyal to his friends, so they managed to like him anyway!
