'Mother' thrives on chemistry among friends
There was nothing extraordinary about the premise of ''Friends." The show's success was all about the characters, the cast, their chemistry, and, of course, their hair. Mousse, thy name is Rachel. And Ross. And Chandler.
''How I Met Your Mother" is being touted by CBS as the new ''Friends," and -- brace yourself for a rarity -- there's validity to the hype. And that's not just because, like ''Friends," the sitcom revolves around a gang of 20-something New Yorkers who live above their financial means. It's because ''How I Met Your Mother," which premieres tonight at 8:30 on Channel 4, introduces a likable ensemble of actors who immediately establish a happy volley. Like ''Friends," this is not a big-themed series so much as a bunch of little character jokes and relationship confusions getting batted around by an able cast.
Actually, there is a big concept to ''How I Met Your Mother," in that each episode is framed by an unseen father (voiced by Bob Saget) narrating his history to his two kids. But those brief segments, set in 2030, are quite secondary to the bulk of the show, which takes place in 2005. The sitcom is really one long flashback as the older Ted recalls his innocent youth, when he searched for love after his best friend decided to get married. It's a weekly half-hour of romantic anthropology.
The young Ted (Josh Radnor) is the Ross of the piece. He's awkward but good-hearted, and he blunders into dicey situations out of fear and enthusiasm. On his first date with Robin (Cobie Smulders), for example, he tells her he loves her, which even he realizes is kind of creepy. Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) is Ted's irritating buddy who loves to give advice about women, despite the fact that they recoil from him and his misguided confidence. Marshall (Jason Segel) is Ted's roommate, whose engagement to Lily (Alyson Hannigan) has triggered all the action.
The show has a warm vibe, hokey as that may sound. It gives its actors enough room to personalize their characters, and their enjoyment seems clear. Harris may be something of a surprise to viewers used to seeing him as Doogie Howser. His Barney is a loud fop who likes wearing slick suits and getting barber shaves. Self-important and tone deaf, he's the kind of guy who announces, ''This is totally going in my blog." In his first scene tonight, he describes a change in his tastes: ''Lebanese girls are the new half-Asians."
Segel is also fun to watch, especially for those who know him as a similar character in ''Freaks and Geeks." His Marshall is a big, sweet guy riddled with childlike fears. And Hannigan, from ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer," makes Lily into Marshall's deadpan caretaker. Hannigan stays in the background, and fills it nicely in her quiet way. As the ensemble continues to evolve, the writers could easily give her character more definition.
The gang spends a lot of time at a bar, which is the show's stand-in for Central Perk from ''Friends." And there they hold urgent, intimate little meetings about the shifts in Ted's love life. Like good friends, they'll be there for one another (when the rain starts to pour).
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com.
