Modern Family – four shout-out-laughs during the season premiere.
New Girl – hilarious. Nick and Jess are the perfect corky couple. (“I’m not convinced I know how to read. I’ve just memorized a lot of words.” and every other conversation bits between the two).

But what the h*** happened to How I Met Your Mother?
I mean, this has been going on for a few seasons now, but there always seemed to be a few episodes standing out (like the perfect cocktail episode).
But now? One whole season on the wedding?

To me, only Lily still seems like „herself“, the other ones kind of have just given up trying. Ok: the mother. The conversation between Lily and the mother was the only fun thing about those first three episodes. So sorry about that.
(Christin Milioti also looks like a younger dark-haired version of Allison Hannigan, do not know if this was a good choice?)

The Marshall (looking stunning by the way) Story. Again: The only thing fun about that was the phone call when Lily talked to his fellow driverette Daphne. And only because Lily always seemed  like she would love to be an Afro-American woman (remember the episode with her high-school friend Michelle?).

And please – we know that Ted meets the mother in this season. Get it over with the Robin-whining. Nobody wants to see that anymore.
Also, I do not feel the Barney and Robin vibe anymore. Where did they lose their spark?

I deeply hope that the season will surprise us in the future and that we will get the feeling that it was not only a good way to prolong the end of four highly-paid contracts but to solve at least a few riddles that have come up during the show and that they needed more time to tell all the good stories they had in mind.

In their defense: New Girl and Modern Family are only in their mid-fifties and late-nineties, while How I Met Your Mother aired about 100 episodes more and is still going at least half-strong. Let’s hope for the best.