 |
| "Bad News" | |
|---|---|
| How I Met Your Mother episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 13 |
| Directed by | Pamela Fryman |
| Written by | Jennifer Hendriks |
| Production code | 6ALH13 |
| Original air date | January 3, 2011 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Bad News" is the 13th episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and their 125th episode overall. It aired January 3, 2011. TV Guide listed "Bad News" in its list of 2011's Top TV Episodes. [1]
After several months of trying to conceive without success, Marshall and Lily are referred to a fertility expert. As they tell Ted the news at MacLaren's, Barney arrives and announces to Ted and Marshall's dismay that he needs a partner for a laser tag tournament.
Lily goes to her appointment with the fertility expert, Dr. John Stangel (Neil Patrick Harris), who looks exactly like Barney, save for a beard and dark brown hair. Lily assumes he is Barney in disguise and confronts Barney, but Marshall says they were together the whole day. He skeptically attends Lily's next appointment, but to his surprise, also becomes convinced that Stangel and Barney are the same person. Barney arrives, acknowledges the similarity, and leaves. After some misunderstandings, Lily finally sees Barney and Stangel in the same room together and is satisfied that they are two different people.
When Lily's tests reveal that she is extremely fertile, Marshall considers that his sperm may be the problem. He decides to get his sperm tested but is unable to produce a sperm sample at the doctor's office. He returns home to produce the sample, only to find that his parents have dropped by for a surprise visit. He reluctantly tells them his concerns about infertility, but they reassure him that they love him no matter what.
Meanwhile, Robin's new job at World Wide News has started badly. The network's lead anchor is her old Metro News 1 colleague Sandy Rivers. He tells the entire office that they had sex and tells increasingly embarrassing stories about her to her co-workers. After an especially humiliating day, Ted helps Robin confront Sandy at his apartment. Ted learns that Sandy is bald and wears a toupee; he snaps a picture, and tells Robin to show their office. At work the next day, Robin pulls out her old Robin Sparkles jacket, embracing the mockery and moving on rather than humiliating Sandy.
Having spent the entire day anticipating bad news, Marshall receives good news about his fertility from Stangel. While outside MacLaren's, he tries to call his father, but there is no answer. Lily pulls up in a taxi and tearfully informs Marshall that his father was rushed to the hospital after having a fatal heart attack. A shocked and grief-stricken Marshall weeps in Lily's arms, saying "I'm not ready for this."
The twist ending of Marshall's father's death was the result of show co-creators and producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas' desire to explore the issue of the characters experiencing such a loss. [2] Bays said that "these kind of moments happen when you don't expect them. We wanted to shock the audience the way the characters were shocked. So much of what we love about the show is the relatability of it, and we try to create characters and stories that people see themselves in. As we've ticked off every milepost of young adulthood, sadly this is another one of those mileposts". [3] Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan themselves were kept in the dark about the final scene. Segel said the original script had Lily saying she was pregnant, but on the scene's actual shooting day, the producers revealed that the scene would turn out differently. He and Hannigan worked out a plan wherein Segel would only know that his cue to react would be on Hannigan finishing her line with the word "it". The scene was done in only one take. [4]
Throughout the episode, numbers appear on ordinary objects counting down from 50 to 1. This is a countdown from the beginning of the episode to the eventual bad news, which is told right after the "1" is shown. As the final scene of the episode closes, a parking meter is in the background displaying a red "expired" state. The countdown was an idea taken from the 1988 film Drowning by Numbers ; through the course of that film, the numbers 1 to 100 appear in order, sometimes seen in the background, and sometimes spoken by the film's characters. [3] According to Bays, the countdown was used to give an early signal to the audience that something big was about to happen at the end of the episode. [2]
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Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C rating. [5]
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a rating of 9.5 out of 10. [6]
DeAnn Welker of Television Without Pity graded the episode an A. [7]
This episode achieved the second highest ratings of season 6, bringing in 10.15 million viewers, [8] just behind the episode "Last Words" which attracted 10.51 million viewers. [9]
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 2005 to March 2014, follows main character Ted Mosby and his group of friends in New York City's Manhattan. As a frame story, Ted recounts to his daughter Penny and son Luke the events from September 2005 to May 2013 that led to him meeting their mother.
Lily Aldrin is a fictional character in the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother. Lily is portrayed by American actress Alyson Hannigan. She is married to Marshall Eriksen and is best friends with Ted Mosby, Robin Scherbatsky and Barney Stinson. Lily is a kindergarten teacher and an amateur painter. In the eighth season, she gets a job as an art consultant. She is the only member of the original main cast, who has not appeared in every episode because Alyson Hannigan took leave after giving birth to her first child.
Robin Charles Scherbatsky Jr. is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Cobie Smulders.
"Pilot" is the pilot episode and the first episode of the first season of the American television sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and directed by Pamela Fryman, the episode originally aired on CBS on September 19, 2005. The episode takes place in 2030, as a future Ted Mosby is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. It flashes back to 2005 to a younger Ted who meets Robin Scherbatsky, a reporter who he becomes smitten for. Meanwhile, Ted's lawyer friend Marshall Eriksen plans on proposing to his girlfriend Lily Aldrin, a kindergarten teacher.
"The Limo" is the 11th episode in the first season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The episode was written by Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil and was directed by Pamela Fryman.
"Slapsgiving" is the ninth episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 53rd overall. It originally aired on CBS on November 19, 2007.
"Mosbius Designs" is the 20th episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 84th overall. It aired on April 13, 2009. In the episode, Ted starts his own architecture firm while Marshall is worried about his own employment situation. The episode also marks the beginning of Alyson Hannigan's maternity leave; Lily appears only in the cold open.
"Subway Wars" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 116th episode overall. The episode was written by Chris Harris and directed by Pamela Fryman.
"Baby Talk" is the sixth episode of the sixth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 118th episode overall. It aired on October 25, 2010. It was directed by Pamela Fryman and written by Joe Kelly.
"Blitzgiving" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 122nd episode overall. It aired on CBS on November 22, 2010 to an audience of 8.73 million viewers. It was written by Theresa Mulligan Rosenthal and directed by Pamela Fryman.
"Last Words" is the 14th episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and the 126th episode overall. It aired on January 17, 2011.
"Legendaddy" is the 19th episode of the sixth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother and the 131st episode overall. It aired on CBS on March 21, 2011, to an audience of 8.03 million viewers.
The seventh season of the American television comedy series How I Met Your Mother was announced in March 2011, along with confirmation of an eighth season. The seventh season premiered on CBS on September 19, 2011, with two episodes airing back to back, and concluded on May 14, 2012.
"Tailgate" is the 13th episode of the seventh season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 149th episode overall. It aired on January 2, 2012.
The ninth and final season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS on September 23, 2013, with two episodes, and concluded on March 31, 2014. The show was renewed for the final season on December 21, 2012, after cast member Jason Segel changed his decision to leave the show after the eight season. Cristin Milioti, who was revealed as "The Mother" in the season 8 finale, was promoted to a series regular, the only time How I Met Your Mother added a new regular cast member. Season 9 consists of 24 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length.
"Something New" is the 24th and final episode of the eighth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 184th episode overall. The episode aired on CBS on May 13, 2013. This was the episode that finally introduced the titular character of The Mother, played by Cristin Milioti.
"Mom and Dad" is the tenth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 194th episode overall.
"Daisy" is the twentieth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 204th episode overall. It was written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, directed by Pamela Fryman, and aired on March 10, 2014.
"Last Forever" parts 1 and 2 are the 23rd and 24th and final episodes of the ninth season of the American sitcom television series How I Met Your Mother, and the series finale of the show as a whole. The episode, written by series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and directed by Pamela Fryman. The episodes are the 207th and 208th overall. It originally aired in the United States on CBS on March 31, 2014, and was watched by 13.13 million viewers in the United States.