Also of note from the CBS upfronts is that Medium will air at 9pm, opposite Dollhouse.

Hilary | May 20, 16:59 CET

HIMYM = good news :)

With any luck the writers will get someone to come in and slap Ted for being a whiny *insert expletive here* :D

cdm22 | May 20, 17:03 CET

I started watching for Aly but have really grown to love all the characters. I'm surprised I'm a fan of a sitcom. For me that is legenda...wait for it...

alexreager | May 20, 17:03 CET

I don't think it is good for HIMYM to lose The Big Bang Theory as a lead in, but we shall see. And I'm sorry to hear about Medium, it has been a guilty pleasure but I can't watch it or tape it if it is up against Dollhouse!

embers | May 20, 17:08 CET

Aye, I thought it stumbled a bit - particulary with Ted's character - this past season, but still had plenty of bright spots. They just (to me) lost a little bit of the balance of the ensemble. I adore NPH, and he's spectacular in it, but the show doesn't do as well when it's nearly always the Barney show. ;)

kalia | May 20, 17:08 CET

I went to grade school with Jenna Elfman.

narky | May 20, 17:16 CET

They did show himym at 8pm once this season and it bombed in that slot, which makes me very suspicious as to why they'd move it there.

NuVanessa | May 20, 17:17 CET

Re: Medium, it's interesting how many networks now seem to be putting new stuff on Friday nights.

Leaf | May 20, 17:26 CET

I agree with the concerns about the 8pm slot. But the show's entering its fifth season, so realistically it should be able to lead off the night. The new comedy sounds kind of awful, by the way:



Ted definitely veered too close to douchebag for me this year. I think they were trying to set up the idea of him being unhappy with his job and the eventual career change. I hope he goes back to occasionally-pretentious-but-mostly-cool Ted next season.

jkalderash | May 20, 17:28 CET

Ugly Betty has moved to 9pm om Friday too. Not the player it once was, and probably in its final season, but still, one more change.

Hilary | May 20, 17:28 CET

i'm sorry to see big bang theory get moved. i always thought that the two shows together made for a great hour of television before i popped over to the "peacock" as the variety article put it, for heroes. as for HIMYM, while i thought the season wasn't as "laugh out loud" funny, i actually really liked the development of characters. however, i do agree with kalia in that there was a loss of balance in the series, which was unfortunate for the show, but very much a happiness for the actors, as both cobie smulders(sp?) and alyson were pregnant, so basically they spent their time dropping in, covered by large bags, guitars and anything else the show could put in front of them.

fun fact tho, they actually filmed the season finale before they filmed the first ep of the season, knowing that alyson was likely to give birth during the season and cobie was getting much bigger in her belly (i can't find a way to phrase that that doesn't sound awkward), which is why cobie in the finale didn't look pregnant at all. i did love the little joke in the finale that i think was fairly intentional where lily tried to dissuade marshall from jumping by going "i'm pregnant!" "really?!" "no you idiot." it made me smile.

kefka | May 20, 17:30 CET

Ahh... interesting about filming the finale early. I wondered how they'd worked it when Alyson popped back on after being gone for what I thought was the rest of the season. :)

lisaspo | May 20, 17:48 CET

Well, that's certainly a better way to handle it than the awkward "here comes Aly in a mumu, carrying a coat and a large bag in front of her stomach and sliding into the booth at the bar and then sliding out and waddling away" technique that they used the week before!

Oh, and yeah, the Jenna Elfman sitcom sounds terrible... like a crappy version of "Knocked Up."

Septimus | May 20, 18:19 CET

I haven't really been aware of HIMYM's ratings, but I never heard it was in trouble at all, so I didn't know to worry. It is disappointing to hear that Two and a Half Men, which is deeply and importantly bad, is the network's biggest comedy hit. I will never understand what people choose to watch.

I've generally thought that HIMYM's second two seasons were a little weaker than the first two. Still very funny, but the arc progress has slowed to a crawl. It's just been lacking the balance that made seasons 1 and 2 such great TV. The finale definitely redeemed that somewhat though.

Revolver | May 20, 18:41 CET

HIMYM was in the 8pm slot for the first 2 1/2 seasons. It will be fine there.

marpocky | May 20, 19:09 CET

"It is disappointing to hear that Two and a Half Men, which is deeply and importantly bad, is the network's biggest comedy hit. I will never understand what people choose to watch."

Not only is it CBS' biggest comedy, it's the #1 comedy on all of TV. THAT'S the real shame.

marpocky | May 20, 19:10 CET

Himym wasn't in the 8pm timeslot for the first 2.5 seasons.

NuVanessa | May 20, 19:40 CET

fun fact tho, they actually filmed the season finale before they filmed the first ep of the season
Not quite correct - they filmed it in January, when they were filming some of the mid-season eps. They couldn't possibly have filmed it before the first episode of the season in case Aly gave birth as her pregnancy wasn't announced til November and they were back in filming in late July. ;)

Revolver - it wasn't in trouble, you were right not to worry! It's had some of its series high ratings this season.

I'm personally glad it's away from The Big Bang Theory, as it means I won't have to suffer the last five minutes of that debacle before settling down to HIMYM any more.

(And the reason it tanked at 8pm the one time it aired there this season was exactly because of that - it was the ONE time it aired there this season, and CBS pretty much forgot to tell anybody. The only reason the 'net at large knew is because of fans stumbling across it on CBS's network press site.)

RachVG | May 20, 19:42 CET

What RachVG said.

The show was never in risk of cancellation, also. The studio already had a commitment to produce another season regardless for contractual reasons, so if the network had abandoned it the show would have just shifted to Fox.

gossi | May 20, 19:47 CET

I think CBS got a big wake-up call on the potential of HIMYM when the show's producers negotiated such a huge price for the syndication rights. That led the Eye, I suspect, to realize what a possible goldmine it had on its hands.

And interestingly, if you click on the link to HIMYM in the Variety story, it takes you to a dedicated page for the show, and when you scroll down to the cast, the first name listed is not one of the regulars, but rather Morena Baccarin, who appeared in all of one episode a couple of years ago.

Shiai | May 20, 19:53 CET

thanks for the correction on alyson's pregnancy, i thought it was at the beginning, but clearly, as shown, was shot much earlier in her pregnancy.

shiai: if you look carefully, he's only got about 3 minutes of screentime, but in the same ep with morena baccarin, tom lenk makes a guest appearance as her coworker at the coffee shop.

kefka | May 20, 20:19 CET

Big Bang was cleary the best of the 3 this year. HIMYM lost it's magic this year, hopefully it'll get it back. I had a feeling this place would hate Two & Half Men. It's gotten a little stale, and reuses alot of jokes. But It still makes me laugh everytime I watch it, and that's all that is important when watching a comedy.

seermagicx | May 20, 22:02 CET

Isn't the point of a comedy to be funny? Where is the humour on The Big Bang Theory? I've never once even cracked a smile when watching that show.

I personally think HIMYM had a really strong season. The Barney & Robin storyline has been so well played, and the way the writers used Aly's pregnancy as part of the comedy instead of trying too hard to hide it when they knew all of the viewers knew was really fresh and funny. Three Days of Snow and Benefits were two of the best episodes they've ever done.

RachVG | May 20, 22:11 CET

I find Big Bang Theory funny, but HIMYM has had a much stronger year (IMHO). Compare the development of the Barney/Robin romance, in which hints and revelations occurred slowly over the course of the season, to Leonard/Penny, which honestly came out of nowhere in the last two episodes. Sure, we knew Leonard had a crush on her, but she didn't seem to have any interest back until she hooked up with Leonard's friend. In contrast, the Barney/Robin romance was pretty lopsided, but she had her own interesting character arc, and there were little hints along the way that she had feelings for Barney, too. Plus, BBT milked the Sheldon/Penny dynamic WAY too much (and I love those two, but it seriously felt like every episode centered on them!). HIMYM gave every character a decent story this year - except Lily, although she was pretty crucially involved with Barney's crush on Robin.

jkalderash | May 20, 22:30 CET

ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE sounds like Knocked Up redux. And I hated that movie the first time I saw it. Later on, I had a chance to see it again in a different frame of mind. It's not so bad.

madmolly | May 20, 22:58 CET

How odd. Accidently On Purpose has the same plot as this year's Without a Trace.

redeem147 | May 21, 01:11 CET

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I don't like Chuck Lorre shows in general (he is the creator and executive producer of both Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory) because I think the comedy is always based on contempt for the characters. They all play one unlikable extreme against another, with no one to relate to. Big Bang: nerd vs idiot. 2.5 Men: douche vs dork. Dharma & Greg: Dysfunctionally liberal and free spirited family vs dysfunctionally conservative and uptight family. And so on.

Revolver | May 21, 01:12 CET

Newspaper film critic - sounds like one of those quaint job titles from times historical.

peacemonger | May 21, 02:17 CET

I adore BBT and HIMYM. Absolutely the two best sitcoms on TV today. Both are laugh out loud funny and in no way show contempt for the characters. So glad they are both doing so well and will be around for a long time.

TamaraC | May 21, 04:06 CET

Glad to see HIMYM back in the 8:00 slot where it started. It consistently did better than BBT anyway.

John Darc | May 21, 04:46 CET

BBT simply isn't funny. I've seen about 6 eps of this (4 at a recent con) and I don't think I laughed once.

HIMYM does make me laugh. Which is kind of the point really!

Bob D | May 21, 15:25 CET

I like both shows, just about equally. I love the comic book store scenes in BBT and I love Barney.

madmolly | May 22, 02:50 CET