The benefit of a sequel series is that it can draw the audience from the original and be creative with the same formula. How I Met Your Father has brought the outline of the main character searching for the One alongside their friend group from How I Met Your Mother, with the Hulu series a significant way into its first season by now.
The problem of being inspired too much from How I Met Your Mother is that negative elements can also be adapted. Hilary Duff’s series has done well on its own, but there have been mistakes that are hard to miss. These can be rectified going forward and the best way to know the issue is to see where the similarities between HIMYM and HIMYF lie.
One-Dimensional Love Interests
There were several one-time How I Met Your Mother characters whose purpose was to seemingly be the best for Ted but just weren’t enough to make him feel fulfilled. Victoria was perhaps the most likable love interest, yet there wasn’t anything to her other than the fact that she was a nice person.
The same goes for How I Met Your Father, where love interests like Drew, Ian, and Hannah are present, with none of them having any real personality other than being stereotypically nice. One-dimensional love interests don’t get fans involved as much and viewers have become smarter now to understand which characters have depth and who don’t.
Characters Placed As A Designated Couple
It’s common for shows like How I Met Your Father to have characters already together when the series begins for at least one romance to be a mainstay. The downside is that the characters are limited because they don’t get to be on their own since their romantic partner is always by their side.
It happened with Marshall and Lily in HIMYM, where Jason Segel even threw a jibe at the show for burdening him with the same stuff. HIMYF has Val and Charlie together, who would be better suited by themselves for some time because neither character really knows themselves, and being in a relationship prevents them from exploring that.
Unneeded Hints To The Future Spouse's Identity
Since they’re the protagonists, HIMYM’s Ted and HIMYF’s Sophie are similar in personality, in that they throw various hints during their narration about the identity of the future spouse. However, Ted became the butt of the fandom’s jokes for constantly teasing about the Mother, yet never delivering on it.
Sophie consistently brings up points about how certain things are related to the father, only for them to apply to multiple characters, which means the hints are just red herrings. Diving too much into this aspect can threaten to make Sophie out to be like Ted and undermine her character’s journey.
Changing Established Canon To Fit A New Plot
How I Met Your Mother went overboard into this aspect in later seasons, where Future Ted would constantly change something he mentioned earlier, such as claiming he’d moved on from Robin but chasing after her again or Barney’s repeated claims that he wanted a real relationship but then pursuing more debauchery.
How I Met Your Father has done similar in the way Sophie keeps bringing in new candidates for the father, with a later episode retconning the premiere to reveal that Sophie met Drew and other men in that episode who could be the father. Elements like this can frustrate viewers because they have to regularly alter their understanding of the show.
The Kids' Lack Of Interest In Listening To The Story
Fans can only hope that How I Met Your Father doesn’t deliver a downer ending as the original did, which was made worse considering Ted’s kids weren’t interested in the story. Many have pointed out how insensitive it was since the Mother was dead the whole time.
Sophie’s son is similarly uninterested in learning about how his mother met his father, and fans will again be angered if it turns out that Sophie isn’t with the father anymore. The kids’ lack of interest doesn’t make sense if their parent is deceased or not around, so it would be better if HIMYF depicts Sophie’s son as more involved.
Reliance On Cutaway Gags
Cutaway gags were a stape of How I Met Your Mother’s, where the comedy was delivered by a character making a claim and the next frame showing the scenario they’re talking about. However, it ventured too much into the slapstick territory at points, especially when single-camera shows have changed viewers’ perception toward comedy.
How I Met Your Father hasn’t cutaway gags nearly as much as the original, but these can still be found at various points in each episode. Not only does it seem like a rehash of How I Met Your Mother’s technique, but it’s also a feature that modern audiences don’t connect with as much.
Bringing In A Potential Romance Within The Group Early On
One of the age-old rom-com tropes found in How I Met Your Father is the “Will They?/Won’t They?” element that is clearly going on between Sophie and Jesse. The two had a connection right from the premiere that they’re attempting to dismiss. The same thing happened with Ted and Robin, who ended up dominating later seasons with this aspect.
The problem with such a trope is that it jumbles the group’s friendship dynamic to make them heavy-handed. Sophie and Jesse will be better off staying apart for a while in order for fans to really understand how they function as friends since Ted and Robin’s later friendship is considered to be better than their romance.
Underusing Certain Duos
Shows with friend groups frequently make the mistake of having characters who are only together when everyone is present, such as Marshall and Robin in How I Met Your Mother. The downside is that certain fans like such duos and don’t get enough of their friendship, as Marshall and Robin’s moments were few and far between.
How I Met Your Father has established duos like Sid and Jesse, and Sophie and Val, but the rest are alienated to an extent. It would be better to have frequent combinations like Sophie and Sid or Ellen and Val so that the group can come across like a true group of friends, rather than people who just hang out for no reason.
Wasting Time On Romances That Are Doomed To Fail
Ted, Barney, and Robin all had romances that the show tried too hard to make appear as if they were endgame, but fans weren’t convinced. How I Met Your Father has also saddled characters like Hannah, Drew, and Ian, who are there just to fill in episode runtimes but don’t have a realistic shot of being true love interests.
Romances without any direction just rack up the dating count for the characters, and many noted how Ted seemed like the real problem when he complained about his long dating history. Needless love interests also undermine the times when actual romances show up because viewers don’t expect them to last either.
The Protagonist Doesn't Think They're Complete Without Love
Audiences today don’t prefer protagonists who can’t live without being in love and are more suited toward characters who are happy with their independence. Ted became something of a parody of himself when he constantly fell in love with a new woman, even getting dubbed as “Classic Schmosby.”
Sophie was shown to have gone on 88 Tinder dates, with her friends even making fun of her. The pursuit of love seems to become a joke when the main character is so obsessed with it, so How I Met Your Father would do better by having Sophie be happy with who she is instead.