 |
| "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 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his group of friends in New York City's Manhattan. As a framing device, Ted, in 2030, recounts to his son, Luke, and daughter, Penny, the events from September 2005 to May 2013 that led him to meet their mother. How I Met Your Mother was a joint production by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television, and syndicated by 20th Television.
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 the best friend of 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. Lily is also the only member of the original main cast of the series 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 series creators 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 CBS's 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 November 19, 2007.
"Ten Sessions" is the 13th episode of the third season of How I Met Your Mother, and the 57th episode overall of the series. It originally aired on March 24, 2008 on CBS. The episode was written by series co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, and directed by Pamela Fryman. In the episode, Ted is repeatedly rejected by his dermatologist Stella for a date, so Stella's receptionist, Abby, becomes interested in him.
"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.
The first season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS in the United States on September 19, 2005, and concluded on May 15, 2006. The season was directed by Pamela Fryman and produced by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. It consists of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length.
"Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" is a song performed by Neil Patrick Harris and the cast of the comedy series How I Met Your Mother from the 100th episode "Girls Versus Suits". Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for writing the song.
"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.
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.
"The Rebound Girl" is the 11th episode of the seventh season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 147th episode overall. It aired on November 21, 2011.
"Symphony of Illumination" is the 12th episode of the seventh season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 148th episode overall. It aired on December 5, 2011. The episode is a continuation of the previous episode, "The Rebound Girl".
"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 Season 8. 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 CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 184th episode overall. This was the episode that finally introduced the titular character of the Mother, played by Cristin Milioti.
"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" is the series finale of the American sitcom television series How I Met Your Mother. The episode, written by series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and directed by Pamela Fryman, serves as the 23rd and 24th episodes of season nine, and the 207th and 208th episodes overall; the episode's two parts are classified as two separate episodes. 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.
