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How I Met Your Mother: The Complete Season 5
Release Date: Available now
Studio: Fox
Packaging/Materials: Three-disc DVD case
Year: 2009-2010
Rating: NR
Running Time: 9:20:00
MSRP: $39.98
THE FEATURE
SPECIAL FEATURES
Video
1.78:1 anamorphic
Standard definition
Audio
Dolby Digital: English 5.1
Stereo
Subtitles
English SDH, Spanish, French, Mandarin
Variable
The Season: 4/5
When CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother" premiered in 2005, it presented an interesting, though possibly unsustainable, narrative tack. In 2030 middle-aged Ted Mosby (presented only in vocal form by an uncredited Bob Saget) decides to tell his teenage children how he met and fell in love with their mother. But fully embracing the notion of "it's not what it's about, it's how it's about it," the show kept her identity a mystery and filled its episodes with often indirectly related misadventures of 20-something Ted (Josh Radnor) and friends Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders). While at times feeling too coy or outright manipulative in order to sustain the mystery, the show is commendable for putting a spin on the standard sitcom/romcom formula. Its slightly racy and sometimes absurd brand of humor - personified by the show's most popular character, Barney - also goes a long way towards forgiving the writers' rather liberal interpretation of the word "how." In fact, if not for the supporting characters and their respective foibles and fates, the show would have reached its limit long ago. As it is, the series has become a hilarious and poignant fusion of "Friends," "The Wonder Years" and "When Harry Met Sally." If you've yet to see the show, I can't recommend it enough - it's really one of the best sitcoms to come out of the post-"Friends" and "Seinfeld" era.
"How I Met Your Mother: Season 5" includes all 24 episodes from 2009-2010 season, whose major story threads included Robin and Barney coming to terms with their feelings for each other, Ted starting a new job as a college architecture professor, and Marshall and Lily further settling into married life. Though continuing to deliver laughs with its often random situational humor, the season also seemed to deviate from its core purpose - revealing the ultimate object of Ted's affection. Not to say there weren't little glimpses - literally just an ankle at one point as Ted finds himself dating and then breaking up with his future wife's less popular roommate, played by Rachel Bilson. Indeed, it seemed there was more in the way of attractive female guest stars than substantive clues to the Mother's identity, with visits from the likes of Bilson, Carrie Underwood, Stacy Keibler, Jennifer Lopez, and Amanda Peet. Still, for clinging so closely to its situational comedy roots, the show remained one of the more entertaining and outright funny options in prime time, exemplified by its 100th episode, which made use of Harris's significant song and dance talents. With the sixth season underway and its first episode delivering on the promise of forward movement in the Mother Mystery, "How I Met Your Mother" should remain one of the stronger prime time comedies in the 2010-2011 season.
Video Quality: 3.5/5
Contrast, black levels and color are consistent with the show's weekly high definition broadcast, though detail of course takes a hit in the downconversion to standard definition. Overall sharpness is decent, though it tends to be hazy in wide shots and there are some noticeable moments of compression noise and aliasing. More than likely if the number of episodes per disc had been pulled back to five or six, we'd see fewer compression artifacts. However black level compression, which tended to be an issue in previous releases, seems resolved now, and color depth appears unaffected.
Unfortunately, the fifth season is only being released on DVD, thus making the fourth season the sole Blu-ray release for the series. Since these decisions are usually driven by money, I'm assuming the high definition release of the Fourth just didn't sell well enough to justify a release on both formats for the Fifth. Personally I'm not that upset about it, but collectors wanting consistency will likely have more to say on the subject.
Audio Quality: 3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is dominated by dialogue and as such sounds very clean and intelligible. Surround and LFE channels perk up with the show's theme song and additional music - though bass activity in music can get sound a bit too "thumpy." There's some surround channel directionality with things like swoosh pans, but on the whole it's a center channel experience.
Special Features: 4/5
Commentaries tend to be the most in-depth items, though the behind the scenes footage for "Super Date" and the 100th episode are quite interesting and worth repeat viewings. Though the number of extras has been trimmed down considerably compared to previous seasons, they remain highly entertaining.
Commentaries
Episode 5 -- Duel Citizenship: Cobie Smulders and Chuck Tatham talk about the Canada-themed episode in light of their own Canuck citizenship.
Episode 12 -- Girls vs Suits: Craig Thomas, Pam Fryman and Neil Patrick Harris discuss details of filming the musical number and reflect on the significance of reaching 100 episodes.
Episode 14 -- The Perfect Week: Joe Kelly, Craig Gerard and Matt Zinman discuss the career path of an aspiring staff writer for the show and the details of writing the episode.
Bloopers (8:55)
Music Videos
Super Date (2:25): Ted sings about the features of a multi-activity date. From Episode 17 "Of Course."
Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit (3:05): Barney proclaims his love and devotion to his favorite outfit. From Episode 12 "Girls vs Suits."
Best Night Ever (1:38): Marshall sings about making plans, accompanied by Nuno Bettencourt from the band Extreme. From Episode 4 "The Sexless Inkeeper."
The Making of "Super Date" (2:28): Behind the scenes angles show how the one-take musical number was staged and choreographed.
"The Wedding Bride" Trailer - Extended Version (2:06): The complete trailer for the meta-movie lambasting Ted and a past relationship.
Behind the Scenes of the 100th Episode (8:37): Follows the production during recording sessions, table reads, dance choreography, and rehearsals.
Series Recap (2:40): A montage of series' high points, set to a song titled "Daughter's Lament," written by show fan Tally Deushane.
Recap
The Season: 4/5
Video Quality: 3.5/5
Audio Quality: 3.5/5
Special Features: 4/5
Overall Score (not an average): 4/5
One of the more entertaining and outright funny prime time comedies gets respectable audio and video treatment and an entertaining - albeit noticeably trimmed down - set of special features.
