How I Met Your Mother: Pilot

"Pilot"
	Series How I Met Your MotherSeason 1, Episode 1
Air date	September 19th, 2005
Writers	Carter Bays; Craig Thomas
Director	Pamela Fryman
Producers	Carter Bays; Randy Cordray; Pamela Fryman; Rob Greenberg; Liz Schmidt; Craig Thomas
Starring	Josh Radnor; Jason Segel; Cobie Smulders; Neil Patrick Harris; Alyson Hannigan
	Episode guide
Previous; —	Next; "Purple Giraffe"

"You know ever since college it's always been Marshall and Lily and me. Now it's gonna be Marshall and Lily... and me. They'll go off, get married, start a family, and before you know it, I'm that middle-aged bachelor their kids call "Uncle Ted.""

―Ted Mosby

"Pilot" is the first episode of season one of the comedy series How I Met Your Mother. The episode was directed by executive producer Pamela Fryman and written by series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. It first aired on CBS on Monday, September 19th, 2005. In this episode, Ted Mosby grows apprehensive about the notion of his best friend and roommate, Marshall Eriksen, getting married. He goes to a bar to vent his frustration and meets a young woman named Robin Scherbatsky. The two go on a date, but Ted blows it when he blazenly declares that he is in love with her.

Synopsis[]

In the year 2030, a man named Ted Mosby sits his teenage children down on the couch and decides to tell them the protracted tale of how he met their mother.

In the year 2005, Ted's best friend and former college roommate is Marshall Eriksen. Marshall is preparing to propose to his longtime girlfriend Lily Aldrin and tests out his proposal on Ted. Ted then calls his other best friend, the rich and womanizing Barney Stinson. They agree to meet up at their favorite drinking establishment, MacLaren’s.

Ted arrives and Barney is slightly disappointed in him that he failed to "suit up". Ted speaks about his apprehension over losing Marshall to his marriage to Lily, saying that he will now feel like an outsider. Barney tries to cheer Ted up by engaging in one of his many favorite pastimes, a game he likes to call "Have you met Ted?".

Himym 1x01 004 — There's nothing like kitchen floor sex.

Meanwhile, Lily returns home from her job as a kindergarten teacher. She shows Marshall her shirt which now bears a purple hand print upon her right breast, declaring that a five-year-old got to second base with her. Marshall tells her that he is cooking dinner for her, but he begins acting nervous as he ponders his upcoming proposal.

Back at MacLaren's, Ted has a drink with an attractive young woman named Yasmin. Instead of engaging in the traditional small talk however, all Ted does is express his apprehension over his friends getting married. Yasmin reveals that she is dating the bartender, Carl.

Meanwhile, Eric finally proposes to Lily who accepts with great enthusiasm. To celebrate, they have sex on the kitchen floor of Ted's apartment - something Ted explicitly forbade Marshall from doing. Afterward, Marshall cracks open a bottle of champagne, but the cork flies off and hits Lily in the face.

Himym 1x01 006 — Meet Robin Scherbatsky.

At the bar, Ted gives up on Yasmin and Barney steers him in the direction of another attractive young woman - Robin Scherbatsky. After a hasty introduction, Robin tells Ted that she is a reporter for Metro News 1. Ted asks her out, but Robin has to work. She agrees to go out with him on the following evening.

Ted and Robin go on their date and have a really nice time. Ted is overjoyed to find that Robin fulfills several of his personal requirements out of a potential future girlfriend: she loves dogs, can quote lines from Ghostbusters and hates olives. After the meal, they walk back to her place, but Robin gets unexpectedly called away on a work assignment.

That evening, Ted returns to his apartment early and tells Marshall and Lily about his date with Robin. They all go downstairs to McLaren's where they meet up with Barney. Barney is still frustrated that Ted has once again failed to wear a suit. More importantly however, they all gang up on Ted for not kissing Robin when he had the chance. Ted is sick of all of his missed opportunities and decides to find Robin and kiss her.

Ted and the others leave McLaren's to go find Robin. They take a cab, and Ted has them stop at the bistro so he can steal a blue French horn that Robin had admired when they went on their date. When he gets to her apartment, Robin invites him up and Ted gives her the horn. Romance is brewing and the two begin dancing. Things are looking good until Ted says "I think I'm in love with you". Things grow immediately awkward between them and Ted instantly regrets saying in. Despite this however, he tells her that he loves her a second time. Robin likes him, but the mood is gone. They part company with a handshake.

Ted meets back up with his friends at MacLaren's and tells them what happened. Lily admonishes Ted for giving up, saying that Robin was giving him "the signal" to kiss her and he missed it. The others agree, Ted totally screwed it up. He wonders if he will ever see Robin ever again. Little does he know, Robin will become one of his closest friends.

Cast[]

Principal Cast[]

Actor

Role

Guest Stars[]

Actor

Role

Lyndsy Fonseca

Daughter

David Henrie

Son

Ranjit

Dumped friend

Narrator (voice)

Boyfriend

Man at table

Notes & Trivia[]

This episode is included on disc one of the How I Met Your Mother: Season One DVD collection.

Production code number: 1ALH79

Actor/comedian Bob Saget provides the voice of Ted Mosby of the year 2030, but is never actually seen in the series. He serves as the narrator of the program and is not given screen credit for his participation in the show.

The first episode of the series does not have the opening credit sequence that appears in future episodes.

Actors Randy Spire and Geoff Stevenson are uncredited for their participation in this episode.

Actor Gary Riotto, who plays waiter #1 in this episode, also played a waiter in the "Fanilow" episode of the comedy series Will & Grace.

This episode establishes that Ted Mosby is twenty-six years old in the year 2005.

Marshall is scared to open bottles of champagne.

Robin Scherbatsky owns five dogs.

Robin hates olives.

Allusions[]

Ted compares a blue french horn in a Brooklyn bistro to a Smurf penis. The Smurfs is a comic strip and later cartoon and movie franchise first developed by the Belgian artist Peyo in 1958. Ironically, actor Neil Patrick Harris will go on to play the lead role in the 2011 The Smurfs live-action feature film.

Robin quotes a line of dialogue from the 1984 comedy film Ghostbusters. The line is, "Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say yes!" The line was originally spoken by actor Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore.

Barney makes fun of Lily for looking like a pirate. In episode 1x06, "Slutty Pumpkin", Marshall and Lily dress up as pirates for Halloween and win a costume contest at McLaren's.

Quotes[]

Barney Stinson: Hey, so you know how I've always had a thing for half-Asian girls? Well now I've got a new favorite... Lebanese girls. Lebanese girls are the new half-Asians.

Barney Stinson: Meet me at the bar in fifteen minutes. And suit up!

Ted Mosby: Son, a piece of advice: When you go on a first date, you really don't want to say Smurf penis. Girls don't ordinarily like that.

Barney Stinson: Look at you, you beautiful bastard, you suited up!

Marshall Eriksen: Kiss the crap out of that girl!

External Links[]

References[]

2005; 2030; Barney Stinson; Bartender; Brooklyn; College; Dogs; Florida; Have you met Ted?; Lily Aldrin; MacLaren's Pub; Manhattan; Marshall Eriksen; New York City; New York; Pirate; Robin Scherbatsky; Taxicab; Taxicab driver; Ted Mosby; Waiter

"Pilot"
Series How I Met Your MotherSeason 1, Episode 1

Air date	September 19th, 2005
Writers	Carter Bays; Craig Thomas
Director	Pamela Fryman
Producers	Carter Bays; Randy Cordray; Pamela Fryman; Rob Greenberg; Liz Schmidt; Craig Thomas
Starring	Josh Radnor; Jason Segel; Cobie Smulders; Neil Patrick Harris; Alyson Hannigan
Episode guide
Previous —	Next "Purple Giraffe"