The following is our list of the Top 20 episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” as of the end of the seventh
season. The list is chronological by season, starting with the first. Enjoy!

1.  Season 1, Episode 3:  Sweet Taste of Liberty

Ted: "Fine, we'll go lick the Liberty Bell"

Summary:

Barney convinces Ted that he needs to break his normal routine of going to the same bar
every night. He takes Ted to JFK to pick up girls, using a fake story about being businessmen
returning from a trip to Japan. They eventually end up in Philadelphia, where Barney persuades
a reluctant Ted to lick the Liberty Bell.

Why it Made the List:

“Sweet Taste of Liberty” really sets up how crazy Barney is, how he has the ability to pull Ted
into his misadventures, and to what lengths Barney is willing to go to in order to get laid. The
episode explores the Ted / Barney relationship and helps explain why Ted keeps Barney around,
despite his various flaws.

2.  Season 1, Episode 14:  Zip, zip, zip

Robin teams up with Barney for some laser tag

Summary:

Ted and Victoria are hitting their stride as a couple. After initially waiting, Ted and Victoria
pick a night to have sex before she leaves town for awhile. They go to Ted’s apartment, which
is supposed to be empty, and get busy. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Ted, Lily and Marshall
bailed on their nine-month anniversary trip plans and stayed home instead. They hide in the
bathroom to avoid being found out, and must stay there while Ted and Victoria get hot-and-
heavy in the living room.

Meanwhile, Robin decides to be Barney’s “bro” for the night, joining him for a cigar and a drink
at a bar (suited up, nonetheless), and for a game of laser tag later on. When they head back to
Robin’s apartment, Barney mistakes Robin’s excitement for playing the board game “Battleship”
for a sexual euphemism and starts getting undressed. In the awkwardness that ensues, Robin
admits to Barney that she has feelings for Ted.

Why it Made the List:

“Zip, zip, zip” packed a whole lot of important material into one episode. First, we get to see
how great Robin and Barney are together (setting up their future relationship). Then, Robin
reveals that she actually does have feelings for Ted, which is sure to complicate his recently
blossoming relationship with Victoria. Plus, Lily and Marshall wrestle with the problem of
being out of “firsts” in their relationship – certainly something that every long-term couple can
relate to. Lily and Marshall being locked in the bathroom leads to some great comedy, as does
Robin being Barney’s “bro”. This one is an all-around solid episode.

3. Season 1, Episode 15: Game Night

Barney gets an origin story episode, and not all of it is pretty...

Summary:

The gang gets together for game night, in which Marshall introduces a new game that he created – Marshgammon. Marshall uses the game to find out more about Victoria, who Ted brought along. Lily reveals that someone gave her a tape to give to Barney, who tries to destroy it upon finding out who it’s from. Despite Barney’s protests, the group watches the tape, which reveals a long-haired, hippy-looking Barney crying into the camera.

Later, at MacLaren’s, Barney tells the sad tale behind the videotape, but only in sections as each friend reveals their most embarrassing stories. We find out that Barney became the playboy he is today because of a failed relationship with a girl named Shannon, who left him for a suited alpha-male named Greg. Also, just recently Barney reunited with Sharon, who is now raising Greg’s kid on her own. In an ending fit for Barney’s character, he gets closure on the whole tragic storyline by having sex with Shannon.

Why it Made the List:

“Game Night” was the episode that really turned Barney into a dynamic character. Up to this point, he’d been a monotonous player who only had one agenda – to get laid as much as possible. But here we find out that there is actually a reason for the way he is, and that he wasn’t always how he is now. Seeing the way that Barney was with Shannon gives us hope that someday he may be able to ditch his womanizing ways and settle down with the right girl.

Another reason “Game Night” made the list: Marshgammon. Marshall’s complex creation has the entire group confused, and to make matters worse, one of the rules is that a player has to drink if they ask, “What?” Hilarious.

4. Season 2, Episode 9: Slap Bet

Barney reacts to being slapped across the face by Marshall

Summary:

When Robin makes it clear that she does not want to go to the mall, the rest of the gang try to figure out why. Marshall hypothesizes that she was married at a Mall in Canada, and Barney suggests that Robin did pornography in Canada. They agree to a Slap Bet, in which the winner of the bet gets to slap the loser, and appoint Lily as Slap Bet Commissioner.

Eventually, Robin admits that she did get married in a mall, so Marshall slaps Barney. But it is later revealed that Robin lied, so Lily awards Barney 3 slaps on Marshall (for being prematurely slapped). Barney gets a hold of a video of Robin who appears under the alias of Robin Sparkles. He plays the first few minutes of the video, which seems to suggest that it is a porno. Barney pauses the video before anything risqué can happen and slaps Marshall for having won the bet. But Robin continues playing the video, and it turns out that it is not porn but in fact an embarrassing music video. Due to Barney’s erroneous slap on Marshall, Lily gives him two choices: to be slapped 10 times in a row right now, or to be slapped 5 times from now until eternity at whatever time Marshall chooses. Barney chooses the latter, setting up the long-running Slap Bet joke for future episodes to come (in which it is wonderfully revisited).

Why it Made the List:

“Slap Bet” is easily one of HIMYM’s greatest episodes. The Slap Bet ends up being a long-running joke that they excellently revisit in future episodes with phenomenal timing. This episode gave birth to “Slapsgiving”, the Slap Countdown, Marshall’s “You Just Got Slapped” song, and many other well-placed slaps randomly scattered through the following seasons.

“Slap Bet” also introduced us to another HIMYM classic: Robin Sparkles, and her hit song, “Let’s Go to the Mall”. The show revisits the Robin Sparkles joke a number of times, most notably for her follow-up song, “Sandcastles in the Sand,” which appears in the Season 3 episode of the same name. “Let’s Go to the Mall” was so popular with the show’s viewers that it actually made it onto the real-life videogame “Just Dance 3”. Two classic HIMYM jokes in one episode means it has to make the Top 20 list.

5. Season 2, Episode 21: Something Borrowed

Barney finally weds Marshall and Lily after a long day of wedding disasters

Summary:

On Lily and Marshall’s wedding day, a number of unfortunate events occur that ruin any chance of having the perfect wedding. Lily’s problems include her ex-boyfriend, Scooter, showing up to the wedding (her family invited him), her veil being ruined, the flowers not showing up, and the harp player going into labor. Marshall’s mishaps include accidently getting his hair bleached (the tips) and then shaving off a long strip of his hair in a sudden panic.

Marshall and Lily are ready to call off the wedding, but Ted saves the day by suggesting they have the small ceremony they always wanted outside, away from all of their guests. Barney was recently licensed to marry people, so under a tree outside, Barney weds Lily and Marshall in front of just two people – Ted and Robin. The wedding reception at the very end of the episode carries into the season 2 finale, “Something Blue.”

Why it Made the List:

“Something Borrowed” marked the marriage of a legendary couple, one of the greatest TV has ever seen. I also liked that the episode redefined a “perfect wedding” to be a simple ceremony in front of best friends, minus all the commotion of the big event in front of the whole family.

“Something Borrowed” also established Ted’s leadership role, and how at the worst of times he has the ability to pick up the rest of the group and right the ship, which is seen in future episodes. All-in-all, this was just a feel-good episode that focused on Lily and Marshall and temporarily put aside the relationship drama of the other group members.

(SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FINALE)

Last night’s hour-long season finale of “How I Met Your Mother” featured a birth, an engagement, and the shocking-reveal of a future wedding between Barney and (gasp!) Robin. After seven seasons, HIMYM writers just can’t seem to move on from the Barney-Robin-Ted love triangle, and boy am I tired of it. The finale wasn’t a total bust though, with Lily finally giving birth to Marvin WaitForIt Eriksen and Ted driving off into the sunset with Victoria (wedding dress and all). In fact, I’d say that the episode as a whole was rather satisfying except for that last 10 seconds, which left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Everything seemed to be going so well as the episode began. Lily was finally having her baby after what felt like an eternity of pregnancy, and Marshall was able to bound into the delivery room just in the nick of time. After Marvin was born, Robin and Ted talk in the waiting room and have a long-awaited talk that patches up their fractured friendship. Not only do they set things straight, but Robin encourages Ted to chase after Victoria (yes Ted, please do!). After Ted’s out-of-the-blue phone call to Victoria, she agrees to meet him at MacLaren’s. When they meet up, Victoria is in a wedding dress and explains to Ted that she’s about to get married. Ted’s got a tough decision to make, but in the end he chooses Victoria.

Meanwhile, things with Barney and Quinn are getting better too. After the trip to Atlantic City, Barney returns home to find that Quinn hasn’t left him as he feared. They take a vacation together, and in the airport Barney (rather extravagantly) pops the question. Quinn says yes, and it seems that Barney’s playboy days may have finally come to a close. And this is where I wish the episode had ended, but…

Barney and Quinn go to Lily and Marshall’s apartment to tell them the good news. As Lily, Quinn and Marshall head into the baby’s room to change his diaper, Robin and Barney are left alone. Robin looks like she’s about to cry even though she claims she’s happy for Barney and Quinn. Oh no, not this again, pleeease don’t fall back on the Robin/Barney/Ted triangle again, please! But of course, in the closing moments of the finale, we flash ahead to the wedding and who is it marrying Barney? Robin, not Quinn.

After seven seasons of Robin bouncing back and forth between Ted and Barney, and a number of fake-outs and almost getting back together with them, I am so utterly tired of the love triangle between the three of them. I’ve lost count of how many times Ted has declared his love for Robin, then regretted it, then they almost get back together, then they have sex once but it’s a huge mistake, and so on and so forth. The same goes for Barney and Robin. I’m tired of Ted and Barney finding great girls that aren’t Robin, and then ultimately losing them because they still have feelings for Robin. Enough already! Can’t we all just move on? I’m tired of being led on by the HIMYM writers to believe that Barney or Ted finally found a great non-Robin match for themselves (or Robin a suitable non-Ted / non-Barney), only for the chick to get ditched five episodes later for – who else? – one Robin Scherbatsky.

Victoria is awesome, one of Ted’s best girlfriends throughout the series, so let’s hope to God that she sticks this time. I’m worried that once we get to that wedding scene of Barney marrying Robin, there’s still a chance that Robin will defect back to Ted and screw up a great relationship he was with Victoria or some other flavor-of-the-season. And I’m not looking forward to watching Quinn and Barney’s engagement crash and burn – I liked Quinn, she had a lot of spunk and didn’t take Barney’s crap. Still, I would have been okay with the “twist” ending of Barney’s bride not being Quinn if it had been Nora instead of Robin. Nora and Barney always had great chemistry, and the ending still would have been “shocking” without reverting back to the Robin problem.

Who knows what next season has in store for us, but here’s to hoping that Ted and Victoria actually work out and that the Barney / Quinn demise is quick and painless. I hope we get to that Robin / Barney wedding as soon as possible (maybe midway through the season) and that it goes over without any issues. Because sooner rather than later, HIMYM is going to be ending it’s run, and is it too much to ask that the characters enjoy a season without breakups and heart-break?

Neil Patrick Harris made a guest appearance for charity on “The Price is Right,” where he had a unique bonding experience with a contestant: he was tackled.

Contestant Destiny Ramsey got a little excited to see the “How I Met Your Mother” star, and upon hearing the famous “Come on down,” Ramsey hugged and tackled Harris, according to the Boston Globe.

Harris was not mad, however.  In fact, he thought it was funny.

Actor Neil Patrick Harris and his partner, celebrity chef David Burtka, have become fathers to twins, a boy and a girl, born to a surrogate mother on October 12.

Harris announced this exciting news on Twitter, “All of us are happy, healthy, tired, and a little pukey.”

The proud dads named the babies Harper Grace and Gideon Scott.

Harris is a first-time father and his partner Burtka also has a twin boy and girl from a previous relationship.

Harris and Burtka entered a domestic partnership in 2004.

Congratulations!

It’s the biggest movie event of the year — The Academy Awards. From the outrageous dresses to the long speeches, the wins and the losses, Blast reporter Ned Prickett is keeping you updated.

Got to say, starting out with a big musical number featuring Neil Patrick Harris — freaking brilliant. Is it just me or is he slowly taking over the world? And Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin absolutely killed. They hit all their marks with aplomb. They were snarky, but not in a mean way and picked their targets well. In an awards show were most of the awards are considered sure things, Martin and Baldwin are keeping things fun and breezy, even while making racial jokes, Nazi jokes and pot-shots at Meryl Streep.

And on to the first award of the night — Best Supporting Actor. Christoph Waltz has been the favorite since the day “Inglorious Basterds” opened. If he doesn’t win it will be a big shot. Last year’s Best Supporting Actress winner Penelope Cruz is presenting and shockingly she looks gorgeous.

No suprise there. Best Supporting Actor goes to Christoph Waltz. Long considered the favorite, Waltz started the night off well with a classy and eloquent acceptance speech. Penelope Cruz and an Oscar, “uber bingo” indeed. Stay tuned for more Oscar updates!

Yesterday, I was browsing through some Twitter pages. I was watching How I Met Your Mother at the same time, so, naturally, I went on to Neil Patrick Harris’ page to see what he’s been talking about/been up to/see if he’s said anything about Glee.

This was the first tweet I saw. I’ve anonymized the Twitter handle of the person NPH was talking to for reasons that will soon become apparent. “@anonymous No trouble at all, actually. Those who aren’t understanding have more to learn.”

Now, I don’t know the Tweeter in question, and I’m sure you don’t either. But I’m a nosy person, and I wanted to know what they were talking about. That’s why I love Twitter; it let’s me be a creep without anyone knowing (unless I write a blog post about it ).

So, I read the next tweet, also addressed to the same person: “@anonymous Stand tall. Be proud of who you are. Don’t break promises. Want to learn. Represent well. But more than anything, be safe.”

This one was even more intriguing than the first. So, I clicked on it and scrolled down the Tweeter’s profile to see what NPH was helping him with.

Here’s what I found, across three tweets: “@actuallynph hey do you have any advice for someone coming out as gay? my family wouldnt understand and im a musician in australia, so theyve been pretty proud of me so far. I’m nearly 18, i know im young i dont know who to go to everyone i seem to know is either fake or full of shit and i admire you so much that i thought i’d ask you.”

Got to love NPH. Legen…wait for it…dary role model.

It should be no surprise to any “How I Met Your Mother” fans that the identity of Ted Mosby’s wife has still not been revealed, but once again we feel closer than ever to finding out who carried Ted’s children. As Ted announces in his usual end-of-show-monologue, “This was the year I was stood up at the altar, got in a fight with the crazy bar tender, and was beaten up by a goat. A girl goat at that, but it was the best year of my life.” It seems once again that the season’s culmination of events has lead Ted to finally be in the right place and the right time to meet his future bride.

After failing to land his first gig as a solo architect, Lily asks Ted why he doesn’t just give it up and just try something else. The episode, titled “The Leap” comes from Ted’s metaphorical leap from his “life plan” depicted by a literal leap when the fivesome (Marshall, Robin, Barney, Lily and Ted) finally have the guts to jump from the roof of their apartment to the roof next door “" something it has taken them years to gain up the courage to do. So Ted decides to quit his architecture firm and become a professor and we are told that his future wife was in his first class, and four seasons later the story is still “just beginning”.

The harsh thing is that the search for Ted’s future Mrs. Mosby has become little more than just a title for the show. The epic quest has been overshadowed by a force much greater and deep down (or maybe not even that deep) fans of the show hope that Ted delays meeting his wife as long as possible because it means more time to watch the hilarity that is Barney Stinson’s life.

It’s not much of a secret that Neil Patrick Harris steals the show in almost every episode “"- backed up by the fact that he is the only cast member to receive acting nods from the Emmys and Golden Globes. From day one we have watched as he bed hopped his way through Manhattan and fist bumped after every inappropriate quip. This season we were treated to a different side of Barney as he gradually accepted he was feeling more than just carnal lust for a female. I spent the fourth season of “How I Met Your Mother” with absolutely no interest in Ted’s quest for true love but enthralled by the fact that Barney was falling head over heels for Robin Scherbatsky.

I, along with millions of other “How I Met Your Mother followers,” were hoping for just one moment during last night’s finale. All season long legions of fans have been tuning in for teasing bits of the Barney and Robin love debacle, hoping against all logical hope that some day we’d be offered sweet relief. We watched as he tried to reform his promiscuous ways, saved her from being deported and awww’d through every jealous tanrum he threw when Robin paired up with any other male. In typical “How I Met Your Mother” fashion they finally gave us what we had been crossing our fingers for”¦ kind of.

The set up has been building for episodes now, but the biggest implication of Barney and Robin becoming a reality was two weeks ago when Barney tore up his list of sexual conquests, saying that his days of male whoredom were over and questioning, “What now?” right as Robin walked into the bar. Hearts were a flutter when the finale began with Barney asking for Ted’s permission to officially tell Robin how he feels.

We are let down when we find out that Robin overheard the admission and decides to “pull a Mosby” by telling Barney that she’s in love with him so he will run away. Luckily, Barney pushes the issue, but as two typical commitment-phobes, no concrete resolution is met. I felt some satisfaction in Robin’s admission that she really did have feelings for Barney and the kiss was epic. The union was never made official though which downplayed the awesomeness the pairing was supposed to inspire.

I’m hoping next season will put all of our minds at ease and I am interested to see how much longer they can post pone Ted meeting his children’s mother (how long have they been sitting on that couch listening to him talk now anyways?). In “How I Met Your Mother” terms this finale was typically legen “" wait for it, wait for it”¦yeah, just going to keep waiting for it.

Credits: Conceived and Written (six weeks later than he shoulda) by-Marc Shaiman Directed and Staged by: Adam Shankman Produced by Adam Shankman, Marc Shaiman and Mike Farah Edited by Bradly Schulz and Drew Antzis Cast (in order of appearance) California Gays and The People That Love Them Jordan Ballard, Margaret Cho, Barrett Foa, J.B. Ghuman, John Hill, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Rashad Naylor, Nicole Parker Proposition 8′ers and The People That Follow Them Prop 8 Leader- John C. Reilly Prop 8 Leader’s #1 Wife- Allison Janney Prop 8 Leader’s #2 Wife- Kathy Najimy Riffing Prop 8′er-Jenifer Lewis A Preacher- Craig Robinson Scary Catholic School Girls From Hell-Rashida Jones, Lake Bell, Sarah Chalke The Frightened Villagers Katharine “Kooks” Leonard, Seth Morris, Denise “Esi!” Piane, Lucian Piane, Richard Read, Seth Redford, Quinton Strack, Tate Taylor, Brunson Green Jesus Christ Jack Black A Very Smart Fellow Neil Patrick Harris Piano Player Marc “Marc” Shaiman —- Co-Choreographer: Anne “Mama” Fletcher Recorded and Mixed by Frank Wolfe & Greg Hayes Director of Photography: Michael Barrett Camera Operators: Jake Szymanski, Bradly Schulz and Drew Antzis Production designer: Nelson Coates Costume designer: Shanna Knecht Costume assistants: Leslie Schilling, Annalisa Adams, Elizabeth Abate Hair: Laura Sanchez Make-up: Shauna O’Toole, Atticuss Sharp Production sound: Bradford Craig Music editor: Lisa Jaime Music assistant: Brian Naguit Snacky: “Snacky” Special Thanks to Adam McKay for the nudge

Proposition 8 opposition in Boston