20 Facts About 'How I Met Your Mother' That Will Surprise You

Every person who wants to learn about US-UK culture must have heard about the show: “How I Met Your Mother”. It is an American sitcom, created by Thomas and Bays for CBS. The show is about Ted, his groups of friends, and their daily lives. The film was popular for its unique structure, humor, and dramatic elements. It was nominated for 91 awards and received 21 awards. If you are a fan of this show, I still have 20 surprising facts to tell you because I bet you don’t know. Let’s see what they are!

#1. The film was mainly shooted in Los Angeles, not New York City

Source: 20th Century Fox

Set in New York City, How I Met Your Mother follows Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) on his quest to find the love of his life and the adventures of his four best friends. However, the show was mostly filmed in Los Angeles, not New York City.

#2. The cocreator’s assistant lent his name to the characters’ favorite bar.

Source: 20th Century Fox

The name of the bar was McLaren because it was named after the cocreator’s assistant.

#3. The bar on the TV also followed the concept of one real bar in New York City

Source: Richard Cartwright/CBS

Bays, the co-creator of the film, said he had spent a lot of time in one bar in New York City called: “McGee’s” to make the bar on TV look real to the audience.

#4. The hobby of the actor was added to his character

Source: Monty Brinton/CBS

Neil Patrick Harris is one of the main actors, and his hobby is magic, he has even written a children’s book about magic. And this hobby was added to his character, Barny.

#5. Hannigan’s daughter was due to play the child role but it turned out she was too old.

Source: 20th Century Fox

Hannigan acted as Lily, the mother of the film and she had the scene when she had a child on the show. Hannigan wanted her daughter to play her on-screen child. Nonetheless, Hannigan’s daughter was too old to play the child role.

#6. During the filming of season five, 2 main actresses had to hide their pregnancies

Source: 20th Century Fox

You know, filming one season of a show requires a lot of time and it’s hard to avoid when one or two actresses had pregnancies while filming. In this case, it was Smulders, who acted as Robin and Hannigan, who acted as Lily. Therefore, the director had to use a lot of props to hide the actresses’ bellies.

#7. Most of the websites the characters use in the series are real on the internet.

Source: Richard Cartwright/Fox

You think they may use some fake sites but actually, it’s all real. You can check some websites like: notafathersday.com, barneysvideoresume.com, etc.

#8. If the show ended by season one, Victoria would be the mother.

Source: 20th Century Fox

As you saw, Ted had to go through a lot of love affairs to find his true love in season nine, Lily. However, if the show had been canceled early, Victoria would have been Ted’s wife.

#9. David Henrie and Lyndsy Fonseca, who played Ted’s kids, had to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA).

Source: 20th Century Fox

These kids knew the ending of the show before anyone else because they had to film the last film in 2006, eight years before the finale aired, to ensure the actors playing the kids still looked the same. As the result, they had to sign non-disclosure agreements.

#10. The official "HIMYM" Facebook page had posted a photo of the mother so some fans would find out about the mother before they watched the episode.

Source: CBS

When the director tried not to spoil the film, the official Facebook page of How I met your mother accidentally spoiled the film. So some fans would know the ending before watching the finale.

#11. “The Bro Code” does exist

Source: 20th Century Fox

The Bro Code was created by Barney and it has 150 articles. I can list them for you here, don’t laugh please:
Article 28: A Bro will, in a timely manner, alter his Bro to the existence of a girl fight.
Article 45: A Bro never wears jeans to a strip club
Article 150: No sex with your Bro’s ex.

#12. Some of the main actors’ relatives also appeared on the show.

Source: CBS

Harris’s husband David Burtka acted as Lily’s high-school sweetheart Scooter.
Hannigan’s husband, Alexis Denisof acted as Robin’s coanchor Sandy Rivers
Smulders’ husband Taran Killam acted as Derrick and Gary Blauman

#13. Ted made Barney sound extra sleazy and womanizing in his story for his kids to make himself look better in the end.

Source: CBS screencap

Yeah, of course, no father wants him to look bad in the eye of his kids so probably, Ted had stretched the truth a little bit to make himself look better in the end. Because Ted fell in love with Barnet’s ex-wife, Robin so he didn’t want his kids to think badly about him, therefore, Ted decided to make Barney seem extra sleazy and womanizing.

#14. There was almost “How I Met Your Dad” in the works after the “How I Met Your Mother” series.

Source: How I Met Your Mother screencap

The audience may feel very curious about the next series “How I Met Your Dad”. However, the creative works between the writers and CBS couldn’t reach an agreement.The unaired spin-off starred Greta Gerwig as Sally, a recent divorcee on the journey of finding her new love. Now, she is a successful actor and director.

#15. Some lead actors and directors bring home the show’s famous props

Source: CBS

The cast didn’t throw away the show’s props, they brought them home and took advantage of them. Hannigan brought home a little red British phone booth, Smulders brought home the jean jacket, and so on.

#16. There was a real proposal that happened during the filming of the show.

Source: YouTube/Tim Ru via Fox

Did you realize it? It was the proposal made by Russo for his girlfriend, Rugan because Rugan really like the show “HIMYM”.

#17. Britney Spears helped bring in new viewers and saved the show from low ratings.

Source: CBS

Despite appearing just a little bit on season three, Britney Spears had rescued the film from being a flop. Her fans, or anyone who loved her, watched the film and increased the profit for the show.

#18. The theme song of “HIMYM” was created by the show’s creators.

Source: CBS

Bays and Carter were both members of the band The Solids so they can create a catchy song for “HIMYM”.

#19. Jim Parsons was almost cast as Barney instead of Harris.

Source: Chuck Lorre Productions

To choose the best actor for one role, the director had gone through a lot of candidates. Before choosing Harris to act as Barney, Jim Parsons also auditioned for the same role. Although he failed, he advocated Harris and the show.

#20. Jennifer Love Hewitt almost played Robin.

Source: Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images

Another case, but in this case, Hewitt gave up the role to act in another film: “The Ghost Whisperer”.