How I Met Your Mother: Cast & Creators Live at the Paley Center

The creators and cast of How I Met Your Mother discuss the idea for the show, the relationships between the cast, and the balance between cuddliness and snarkiness. This William S. Paley Television Festival evening honors How I Met Your Mother, a comedy series narrated through flashbacks from the future about a man telling his children how he met their mother when he was young. Barbara Dixon (director, The Paley Center for Media, Los Angeles) welcomes the audience and introduces Joe Adalian (television editor, Variety), who moderates the following panelists: series creators/executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas; executive producer/ director Pamela Fryman; and cast members Alyson Hannigan (Lily Aldrin), Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson), Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby), Jason Segel (Marshall Eriksen), and Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky).The panel discusses where the idea for the show came from, the casting process, including Segel’s previous work on Freaks & Geeks and why Hannigan wanted to do a comedy after her dramatic role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the relationships between the cast members on set, the show’s title and theme song, and how the show maintains a balance between cuddliness and snarkiness.