The Biggest Problem With How I Met Your Father’s HIMYM Cameos

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Although How I Met Your Father pulled off both of its How I Met Your Mother cast cameos well in season 1, the sitcom spinoff needs to avoid one major pitfall going forward. Much like The Conners can’t reference Roseanne without fans of the earlier series being either annoyed or thrilled, How I Met Your Father can’t mention its predecessor How I Met Your Mother without auguring strong reactions. Both viewers and critics alike claimed that the spinoff’s pilot episode felt too much like the earlier show but, ironically, How I Met Your Father's two-part season 1 finale featured cameos from the How I Met Your Mother cast that was well received.

While viewers didn’t want How I Met Your Father to rip offHow I Met Your Mother’s formula, they were surprisingly open to seeing specific characters return from the earlier series. It did help thatHow I Met Your Father waited until season 1’s penultimate episode and initially featured a cameo from a more minor How I Met Your Mother supporting star. However, this approach could backfire in How I Met Your Father season 2.

Related: How I Met Your Father Season 2 Risks Losing What Made The Show Work

The cardinal sin of reboot cameos is bringing back too many minor characters from the original show, thus vaguely implying (but never outright promising) that the main characters will eventually return. This makes it hard to tell whether the spinoff is a new show of its own or a continuation of the earlier series, and can lead to viewers inevitably becoming frustrated when the later, more impactful cameos don’t materialize. The cameos from How I Met Your Mother’s cast were fun in season 1, but they cause a classic reboot issue since too many cameos from the old cast can make the new cast less