TV Preview: Surprise CBS hit follows unconventional production path
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Monty Brinton, CBSStarring in "How I Met Your Mother" are, from left, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris.
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When: 8:30 tonight, KDKA.
Starring: Neil Patrick Harris.
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Surprise hit sitcom has a 'Mother' of an ensemble
CENTURY CITY, Calif. -- If you don't like potty humor, it's probably best to quit reading now because this is all about a sitcom scene that takes place in a bathroom.
Nothing particularly racy was happening on Stage 22 at Twentieth Century Fox in early December, when tonight's episode of CBS's "How I Met Your Mother" (8:30 p.m., KDKA-TV) was filmed. But the scenes, featuring stars Alyson Hannigan (as Lily) and Jason Segel (as Marshall), are all about the need to, uh, go.
So why, if Lily has to go, is she crossing her legs and refusing to relieve her bladder? Simple. She's never done it in front of boyfriend Marshall, and they can't leave the bathroom or they'll disturb buddy Ted (Josh Radnor), who's making out with a new girlfriend on the living room sofa.
"I want to keep some of the magic alive," Lily says, explaining herself.
After Marshall makes declarations of love more fitting in a film about a soldier going off to war, Lily finally succumbs.
In one take, Hannigan goes to sit on the toilet, waiting for the cameras to cease filming. "You gotta say cut!" she says, laughing. In another take, she turns to the toilet, pretending that she'll do her business standing like a guy.
Good cheer is easy to come by this day on set. It's a Friday, and filming will end by 4:30 p.m., an early escape for cast and crew. It's also the holidays, and Christmas and Hanukkah lights decorate the cameras.
But what makes "Mother" particularly unique in the space of TV comedies is that it's successful at a time when most new sitcoms are not. It's also a unique hybrid.
In the early days of television (think: "I Love Lucy"), sitcoms were filmed with three cameras in front of a studio audience. Later, the single-camera comedy ("Malcolm in the Middle," "Arrested Development," "Scrubs") came along and did away with the studio audience and laugh track, allowing more opportunities to film on location.
"Mother" shoots on a sitcom soundstage that was once home to "Dharma & Greg," but the bleachers for an audience have been removed. Still, it's filmed like a traditional sitcom, which these days actually has four cameras rather than three.
Craig Thomas, who created "Mother" with Carter Bays, said the filming format was born out of necessity. The pilot episode contained 60 scenes, far more than most 15-scene sitcoms.
"It became clear that if we were to load in an audience, they would have to sit there for, like, 72 hours straight. We'd have to hydrate them and feed them," Thomas said. "It was too ambitious, but that was the rhythm we wanted for the show."
Filming the pilot without a studio audience resulted in what the creators, studio and network felt were more true-to-life performances from the show's cast. But without audience reaction to offer guidance, "You really have to learn to trust your instincts," said Pamela Fryman, the show's director.
It might seem that would lead to less on-set rewriting than on traditional sitcoms, but Thomas said that's not the case. When there's a studio audience present, there's always pressure to keep the energy up and keep the taping moving. On "Mother," there's more time to do multiple takes and try things in new ways.
On this episode, several little things -- whether an actor is sitting or standing, a quick glance that wasn't in the script -- are added on stage to enhance the comic effect.
Longer versions of finished "Mother" episodes are screened on monitors for an audience that sits in bleachers on the nearby "Stacked" soundstage. Their reactions are recorded and used as the laugh track. Jokes or lines that fall flat are cut until the episode hits CBS's target running time (about 21 minutes).
Multi-camera sitcoms have a pre-tape day and a shoot day, while "Mother" films for three days each week, making it both less conventional and more expensive. The network and studio were willing to foot that bill, perhaps out of desperation. TV comedies have not fared well in recent years as mainstream viewers rejected the critically acclaimed "Arrested Development," and so many other comedies ("Rodney," "The War at Home") have barely registered.
But last fall, NBC's "My Name Is Earl" became an instant hit, and "Mother" received positive reviews and decent, still rising ratings. Given the current climate that was a surprise, as was the show's network home, CBS, not the first channel you look to for a sitcom with a cast of twentysomethings.
"We didn't think it was right for CBS," Thomas acknowledged. But CBS was looking to draw more young viewers, and "Mother" was a show executives thought might help accomplish that goal. "I think we just brought this pitch in at the right time, and as a result, they've been incredibly supportive."
The series is narrated by an older Ted in the year 2030 (voice of Bob Saget), who's telling his children the story of how he met their mother. But it's taking him a long time to get there: In the pilot, viewers were surprised at the end of the episode to discover that Robin (Cobie Smulders), Ted's love interest, is not the mother of his children. Will producers save that revelation for when ratings begin to drop?
"You mean sort of a 'break glass in case of emergency?' We don't think of it that way at all," Thomas said. "We do have a plan in mind of how to do it, but we're remaining mum about it."
Back in the bathroom, Segel tries different reactions in several takes as Hannigan prepares to take her seat on the toilet.
"I try to range between strong, stoic support and being near tears and collapse at the thought of it," he said. "I believe the near tears will win out [in editing]. I prefer near tears because I think it's funny to see a man cry."
First Published February 6, 2006 12:00 am
