I’m usually a year or two or ten behind the times.

I’m just now watching How I Met Your Mother and it’s been off the air for awhile. But thanks to Netflix I can watch an episode on my lunch break. I’m up to the beginning season 6 now.

I’m enjoying it a lot.

It’s a “Friends” for the new millennium. Five friends instead of six. In New York City. Hanging out at a bar instead of a coffee house. One couple already formed at the beginning of the series.

I’m not a complete hermit. I know two of the others end up married. And I know Ted does eventually meet and marry the girl of his dreams. I don’t know how it ends though (and please don’t tell me). I know faithful fans either loved or hated the ending, and that it was a bit of a surprise. I know the producers and writers defended the ending, saying they had planned to end it that way from the beginning and they stuck to their vision. I have a suspicion how it ends, but I don’t want to know for sure until I get there.

For those, like me, who are behind in their pop culture viewing, I’ll give a quick synopsis.

In the year 2030, Ted is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. He goes back to 2005 and recounts many other stories, mostly of the women he dated who turned out not to be “the one.” He’s an architect who becomes a professor. His roommate is Marshall, who gets engaged to Lily in the first episode. Then there’s the friend Barney, a real jerk with a soft heart, played by Neil Patrick Harris who should have won an Emmy for this role. He’s seriously amazing. Then there’s Robin, the woman Ted fell for in season one, but who ends up one of his best friends.

Ted hasn’t met “the one,” yet, but there have been hints. I now know she carries a yellow umbrella, he met her at a wedding, and he used to date her roommate.

Some of the dialogue is very adult. Enough that I’m shocked they got away with it on primetime.

Overall, it’s a funny and fun show that I’m enjoying a lot. Occasionally, I’ll even stretch my lunch break and watch two episodes.

What are you currently catching up that you missed in the past?