How I Met Your Father promises to be an updated take on the format of the original hit, and with Hilary Duff in the lead and a whole new set of stories to tell, it could well end up being significantly better than the original. How I Met Your Mother may have been hugely popular, but it ended with a controversial finale, and it isn't aging well, either, so this new 'spin-off' has the opportunity to learn from its predecessor's mistakes.
Despite the fact that How I Met Your Mother has problems, though, there's no denying that there was a lot of sitcom magic here - otherwise it wouldn't have made it to nine seasons and a spin-off in the first place! So while How I Met Your Father can improve on some things, which elements of the original should carry over to the new show?
Multiple Time Periods
One thing that How I Met Your Mother does particularly well is the inclusion of multiple time periods. The gang's stories before their time in New York is shown with flashbacks to their childhoods and college years (and of course, Robin's time as a teen popstar in Canada), but the show also flashes forward on a regular basis, showing the gang's future. Combined with the premise of a story of the past told by an older version of the main character, HIMYM plays with time with incredible skill, and it helps the show stand out.
Running Gags
While every episode has its own funny moments, one of the best things in How I Met Your Mother is the running gags. From the pineapple to the goat, the slap-bet to the bro code, the doppelgangers to the voiceovers, running gags keep continuity and give the fans something to borrow in their own lives, too. (An easy way to spot a major HIMYM fan is to say that out loud and see who salutes!) To keep the magic of the original, How I Met Your Father will definitely need some gags of its own.
Musical Numbers
Most sitcoms would struggle to pull off a musical number, but How I Met Your Mother does it well - and 'Girls Vs Suits' is a fan-favorite episode. It's not just the full-on musical that works, though. Throughout the original series, background music is actually written for the show, and can be just as funny as the dialogue. Robin's songs as Robin Sparkle just top it off, and the spin-off will have to find a way to include music like this.
Personal Growth
Unlike many sitcoms, that see characters devolve into caricatures of themselves over time, How I Met Your Mother did a solid job of showing real character development and change.
This kind of approach to characters (and the ability to balance it with the more ridiculous moments) is one of the things that the show did best, and stopped it becoming completely unrelatable.
New And Old Friends
How I Met Your Mother has a central group of friends that shift and change with time - Marshall, Lily, and Ted may have met in college, but Barney and Robin are new additions to the social circle, and both Robin and Lily disappear for periods of time when life gets in the way of spending time together. It's nice to see something with a little more balance, and How I Met Your Father will hopefully keep a balance of new and old friendships and evolving social dynamics.
Emotional Moments To Balance Comedy
How I Met Your Mother may be a comedy, first and foremost, but it also does incredibly emotional episodes well. From dealing with Barney meeting his father to Robin realizing she can't get pregnant, to the gut-punch of an episode that led up to Marshall's father's death, these emotional moments kept the show grounded. How I Met Your Father should keep this in mind, and make sure that the zany style is balanced out by addressing real and important emotional issues, too.
Easter Eggs For The 'Mother'
While fans were frustrated that the titular mother didn't get much screentime, they did love seeing the Easter Eggs and moments where she almost crossed paths with Ted.
The yellow umbrella, him meeting her roommate, the close misses and the almost-mets were one of the best parts of the series, and this would definitely be fun to carry forward.
At Least One Established Couple
There's a tendency in sitcoms about twenty-somethings for everyone to start out single, and it was refreshing to see How I Met Your Mother launch with one firmly established (and newly engaged) couple instead. Admittedly, they do break up for one summer, but they are essentially together for the entire show, and are a fan-favorite pairing. It would be nice to see this balance in the new series, too, with various characters in different areas of their dating lives.
Challenging Gender Norms (Sort Of)
Admittedly, How I Met Your Mother has a long way to go in terms of homophobic and transphobic 'jokes', and adding real diversity when it comes to gender and sexuality, but they did start to challenge outdated norms, and it would be good to see the spin-off continue this (and hopefully take it much further). From Marshall's open sensitive side to Robin's disinterest in being a wife and mother, to Ted's open search for love and the positive treatment of Quinn as a sex worker, there were definitely some positives here that other sitcoms could copy.
The Basic Format
This is a bit of a gimmie, as the basic premise of the spin-off is that it will follow the same format as the original, but it's still worth mentioning. Having a sitcom set up so that a character is narrating the events of the show, from the future, allowed for really creative and hilarious writing (like Ted's narration over frozen moments to add commentary, or the times where he just can't remember someone's name). It's still a unique format for a comedy like this, and will help the spin-off stand out.