Hope for the Sitcom

Last season of How I Met Your Mother ended with one of Barney's (played by the brilliant Neil Patrick Harris) catchphrases, "Legen... wait for it." Season three picked up right where he left off, with the "dary." This ability of the writers to carry a running joke is what makes How I Met Your Mother one of the funniest shows on television right now.

The season premiere of How I Met Your Mother aired Monday night at 8 p.m. on CBS. Ted Moseby is still telling his two children the story of how he met their mother (the narration by Bob Saget still feels as extraneous as it did in the first two seasons). Despite the changes this season, namely that Marshall and Lily are married and Ted and Robin broke up, it's the same old show with high fives, suiting up, and hanging out at the bar.

The season premiere featured Enrique Iglesias as Gael, Robin's new boyfriend and Mandy Moore as Amy, a girl Ted uses to try and "win the break-up." This is not a show that needs to rely on big name guest stars. A scene in which the boys have trouble pronouncing Gael would have been just as funny with an unkown sitting at the table.

The highlight of the episode came at the tag where Marshall sends Barney a link to slapcountdown.com. Last season, Marshall and Barney were involved in a slap bet which Barney lost and given the option of ten slaps in succession or five slaps over an eternity, he chooses the latter. Two of the slaps have already been doled out, and three are remaining. The website, which countdowns to the next slap, can be accessed on CBS.com.

The show's creators are promising that the "mother" will finally appear, but by this point in the series, it hardly matters. The amusing characters and running jokes are enough to carry the show even after the mystery of the mother is revealed.