How I Met Your Father Finally Addressed Its MacClaren’s Question

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Warning: Contains spoilers for How I Met Your Father season 1.

In How I Met Your Father, the group never went to MacClaren’s bar, a set that was central to the original series, How I Met Your Mother, but it was never explained why. How I Met Your Father has made plenty of nods to the series it is a spin-off from, whether by subtly addressing some of How I Met Your Mother’s controversies or through more direct references and easter eggs. However, How I Met Your Father has also had to walk a delicate line to ensure it can be seen as a successful show on its own merit, and not simply a rehash of the older series.

In How I Met Your Mother, the gang primarily inhabit two key sets for the majority of the show’s 9 season run. The first is the apartment that Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), Marshall Erickson (Jason Segal), and later Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) share. The second is the bar located directly downstairs from the apartment building, MacClaren’s, run by Carl MacLaren (Joe Nieves) with the help of Wendy the Waitress (Charlene Amoia). During How I Met Your Father’s first 9 episodes, the new group of characters never set food in MacClaren’s or pay any reference to the iconic bar’s existence.

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How I Met Your Father’s ignoring of MacClaren’s bar has been somewhat of an elephant in the room throughout the season 1 run, given that How I Met Your Mother’s other key set makes an appearance. As Jesse (Christopher Lowell) and Sid (Suraj Sharma) now live in Ted and Marshall's old apartment, it is clear that Jesse and Sid live directly above the old MacClaren’s, and unless it has closed down it is weird that the group never enter or discuss it. However, in the