(L-R) Josh Radnor; Craig Thomas.Photo:Jerod Harris/Getty; John Lamparski/WireImage
Jerod Harris/Getty; John Lamparski/WireImage
How I Met Your Motherended its triumphant run nearly 11 years ago after nine seasons.
As fans continue to give the show new life amid the streaming age, series alumJosh Radnorand co-creatorCraig Thomasare also ready to revisit the show that started it all — and that’s where their new rewatch podcast,How We Made Your Mother, comes into play.
“With plenty of special guests joining us along the way, this podcast will useHIMYM’s trenchant themes as jumping-off points for larger discussions about life, loss, and love.”
Thomas, who co-created the series alongside Carter Bays, tells PEOPLE the idea for the flashback podcast for the flashback series came from Radnor’s wife, clinical psychologistJordana Jacobs.
“Of course, some of Josh is like Ted, and other things of Josh are not like Ted. Josh is a really good actor who inhabited that character wonderfully, but Josh is also his own person,” he continues. “So I think Josh was really happy to meet, and fall in love with and marry somebody who didn’t come in with 208 episodes ofHow I Met Your Mothermemorized.”
Thomas notes that Radnor’s wife “Jordana wisely pointed out, ‘At some point, I want to see this thing that you did for 10 years of your life.’ And Josh said, ‘Yeah, totally!'”
In the years sinceHow I Met Your Motherwrapped, Radnor tells PEOPLE how he and Thomas have “maintained a really close friendship, and we go out to dinner once or twice a year, and we talk about everything.”
Eventually, said conversations often led to reflections on the beloved CBS sitcom where they “just go deep on analyzing the weirdness of this show we made together for so many years and what a long tail it’s had in terms of people continuing to discover it, and its relevance seeming to be pretty steady in the culture,” theHappythankyoumorepleasedirector explains.
Radnor hopes that the pair’s podcast endeavor is “even interesting to people that aren’t obsessed withHow I Met Your Mother, or have only seen a couple episodes.”
“I think it’ll still be a fun listen,” he says.
(L-R) Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan on How I Met Your Mother.CBS via Getty
CBS via Getty
All these years later, Thomas is aware that the series has “become this thing that’s so much bigger than we could have imagined,” he says, especially as fans of all ages continue to discover (or, rewatch) the show amid the streaming age.
Yet, amid a rise in nostalgia content and a slew of rewatch podcasts, why is now the right time forHow I Met Your Motherto enter the rewatch podcast game?
“There’s a couple of round numbers coming up, where we just hit one, and we’re coming up on another,” says Thomas, referencing the acclaimed comedy’s recent 10th anniversary of its series finale airing in March 2014 and the 20th anniversary of its debut episode premiering in September 2005.
“There’s something about those round numbers, 10 and 20, that feel like real markers. And the show itself is about time and nostalgia and reflecting and looking back, looking forward,” Radnor explains. “So there’s a lot of stuff baked into the podcast that parallels the ethos of the show, because Craig and I are approaching the age that older Ted was when he told this story to his kids. So it just felt like the right moment to look back.”
(L-R) Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, and Neil Patrick Harris attend the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ press line during Comic-Con International 2013 at Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California.Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty
Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty
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Adding to this, podcast producer Alek Lev says: “How I Met Your Motherseemed like it was going to be a television comedy in the classic sense. There were multiple cameras, there was a living room set and a bar set, and it was about half an hour. But from the very first episode, in style, structure, and substance, it was always different.”
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How We Made Your Motherwill debut on March 10 everywhere podcasts are streamed. In the meantime, all nine seasons ofHow I Met Your Mothercan be streamed on Hulu and Netflix.
source: people.com
