cobie smulders

A heart-shaped box of chocolates can be used for many things: To tell someone you love them. To cheer someone up who's down in the dumps. Or to cover up your private parts when you're sitting naked in a room expecting one person but then another person shows up!

Yes, friends, just look at this clip as a public service announcement from the folks at 'How I Met Your Mother' (Mon., 8PM on CBS). Or would that be pubic service announcement? At any rate, it never hurts to have a box of chocolates around for just such occasions.

Watch the video after the jump.

(S05E15) I've noticed that the last few episodes of 'HIMYM' have largely taken place in the "home booth" at MacLaren's. I know it's the 21st century version of the couch at Central Perk, but the world of 'Mother' is a lot bigger than that these days. And, besides, Cobie Smulders and Alyson Hannigan aren't pregnant anymore; there's no need to hide their baby bumps under the table anymore.

That being said, it's a great place for two of this show's signature "bits" to start: 1) Absurd arguments, and 2) Incessant ball-busting. We saw both of these this week, with Ranjit thrown into the mix to make things more interesting. What really made this episode wasn't just the Rabbit/Duck argument, though; it was the subtle direction shifts that made loyal viewers think Ted was going in one not so good direction, when he was really going in a worse -- but more fun! -- direction.

Cobie Smulders was so starstruck by Tim Gunn of 'Project Runway' that she fumbled her words when he guest starred on the 100th episode of 'How I Met Your Mother,' she said on 'The Bonnie Hunt Show' (weekdays, syndicated).

"I was starstruck. I was, like, flubbing ... my words," Smulders said. "He's just sweet and he's so genuine."

Watch the video after the jump.

(S05E14) Wouldn't everyone want to analyze their love lives with Jim Nantz?

Even if you haven't been as lucky in the sack as Barney Stinson, having an accomplished play-by-play guy talk about the ups and downs of your romantic escapades lends things a bit of gravitas and class.

However the 'HIMYM' writing team came up with the idea of how a nervous Barney recounts his perfect week in his own head, it was an inspired move, as it gave the episode the right narrative pull and really did put you in the position of a fan, pulling for him and making sure he didn't get jinxed. Did I just say that word?

If you have ever worried that How I Met Your Mother might be canceled by CBS before the identity of "mother" is revealed, this bit of news should bring you great relief. CBS has renewed How I Met Your Mother for a sixth season. I give all fans of the comedy permission to join me now in a hearty "Hooray!"

In all seriousness, this is great news. Two years ago, a renewal for HIMYM wasn't a sure thing. The decision wasn't made until well into the spring. So, clearly, CBS has a new attitude about the Carter Bays-Craig Thomas creation, not to mention liking their work enough to give Bays-Thomas a rich new contract and the opportunity to make another sitcom.

(S05E13) This was one of those episodes that seemed like it would be more fun than it actually was. The stories seemed to be potentially amusing, and there were some funny moments. But this was definitely on the lower side of the ledger as far as this season's episodes are concerned.

Which one of the stories did I like better? Hm... the Jenkins one, but only by a little bit. It was fun seeing Amanda Peet playing someone who was even more alpha male than Robin, and envisioning Peet doing some of the things Marshall described Jenkins doing wasn't exactly unpleasant. Oh, and it introduced us to Big Fudge, who I hope plays more Skee-Ball as the seasons go on.

(S05E12) After I wrote my gushing preview of this episode, I went back and re-watched it, hoping my first impression was correct. It turned out that it was, but for a very different reason than I thought. The 100th episode of HIMYM didn't have everything that makes the show such fun for its fans: there was no time-shifting, and not a lot of misdirection. It just told two straight-ahead stories that were really funny and gave us confidence in how things are going to play out going forward.

Oh, and it had a song-and-dance number that was fun as hell.

If you're a fan of How I Met Your Mother -- and if you're reading this, you likely are -- the video preview of Monday's episode probably got you pretty excited. After all, it's Neil Patrick Harris and the cast, singing and dancing about Barney Stinson's love of suits. What's not to like, right? If you were wondering, though, how the rest of the episode was, I'm here to tell you that it's the best episode of the season, and maybe the best episode we've seen in a couple of years.

Come with me after the jump and I'll explain. No worries; there won't be any spoilers in this post.

Congratulations, 'How I Met Your Mother'!

The Emmy-nominated show is hitting a huge milestone -- their 100th episode -- and they're celebrating rather appropriately with a big song-and-dance number and plenty of guest stars (Mon., Jan. 11, 8PM ET on CBS). AOL TV visited the set while they were shooting the big show to get the scoop on what to expect straight from the stars and creators. What we ended up getting was so much better ...

The highlights? Neil Patrick Harris dishes about Barney's big musical performance; Alyson Hannigan reveals she's "kind of obsessed" with one of the big-name guest stars; Cobie Smulders talks about the Barney-Robin relationship aftermath; Josh Radnor teases how close we'll get to meeting Ted's future wife, the show's long-awaited 'Mother,' in this episode; and Jason Segel admits that just reading the episode's script made him emotional: "I almost started crying!" Awww.

Creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were not as forthcoming, though. "We might as well spoil it," Bays says with a grin. "As of right now, Ted dies." OK, that's so obviously not the case, but maybe Marshall and Lily will be making a big life change soon ... or, if you listen to Jason Segel, maybe not. "Marshall would be a fantastic father, he'd love the kid. It's literally the logistics of Jason Segel, holding a baby, that they're afraid of."

Yep, they're all just as funny in real life. There's a reason the show has lasted this long ... watch our set visit video to see it all.

(S05E11) You know you have a good episode going when Harvey Fierstein is cast as one of the female character's "smoking voices," and that's only the third funniest thing that week.

Sure, it was great to hear Harvey's painful-sounding voice coming out Alyson Hannigan's mouth after a few days of smoking. It seems like it would fit well with her character; you know that she's only a few years from calling people "dollface," whether she's smoking or not.

But what carried the episode was seeing a new side to the gang that we haven't seen before, and how they all deal with it. Oh, and it was also good to see some new footage of Ted's kids, even if they're both visibly older.

(S05E10) I'm really starting to think that Carter Bays was telling the absolute truth when he told Mike Ausiello that the writers threw the Barney-Robin relationship into the trash heap. He wasn't being coy about a future plotline; I get the feeling that the writers wanted Single Barney over Relationship Barney and wanted to make sure they got there as quickly as possible.

Why else would we see an entire episode of Barn trying to get laid while wearing Marshall's old overalls? Here's the problem, as others have mentioned: we've seen how much of a good guy Barney can be. So seeing him back to his old tricks seems a bit emptier than it used to, doesn't it?

(S05E09) Let me start off by stating that any HIMYM episode involving the famous slap bet between Marshall and Barney is going to be funny. Just the act of Jason Segel's exaggerated slapping and Neil Patrick Harris' equally exaggerated pratfall in reaction is enough to get me rolling. I just wish the slaps weren't telegraphed so much in advance.

You have to remember that tonight is a sequel to the original Slapsgiving from two years ago. As sequels go, it's not bad; not as good as the original but satisfying nevertheless. But you knew at some point, Marshall was going to say "That's four!" and Barney was going to rub his face. So we have to examine the journey to get there. That journey started off well, but got a little predictable. Still didn't make the slap itself any less funny.

(S05E08) Could it be that, after the whole season five build-up to the Swarkles relationship, everyone would more or less go back to normal by episode eight of season six? It seems that way, and I don't know how I feel about it.

Relationship Barney wasn't that pleasant to watch. Some of his patented awesomeness tried to come through but he was increasingly becoming a content guy, which is no good for comedy. But to see him immediately snap back to the way he was pre-Robin was equally jarring. Maybe that's the way it has to be for Barney ... I don't know. But, as funny as the exploration of Barn's playbook was, it felt like the last two dozen or so episodes never happened.

Oh, and it seems like Robin's quickly moving on too, so it's not all on Barney ...

(S05E07) During most episodes of HIMYM, you tend to forget that this whole show is told from the perspective of Old Ted, who's telling his kids the longest, most boring meet-up story in history of the world. Bob Saget's narration often just goes in one ear and out the other, like the background music. But there are some episodes where the storytelling aspect of the series is firmly in place, with the exaggerations, changes, and bad memories often associated with this activity.

This was one of those episodes. Was Barney really that fat? Was Robin really that haggard? Did Archisexture really accidentally "fly" into Ted's VCR? Of course not. But those whoppers from Old Ted were what made this episode so entertaining. That and Alan Thicke. But Alan Thicke always makes things entertaining; he's Alan Thicke, for crissakes.

(S05E06) The thing that always amazes me about this show is that how Old Ted is perfectly content to tell his kids about all the tawdry things he or Barney did back in those heady days of the mid-to-late-'00s, but every so often he realizes who he's talking to and substitutes a clean term for a dirty term. I'd imagine this inconsistency is done on purpose by Bays/Thomas and their writers; why have Old Ted pull back on his stories unless there's a laugh to be had?

This is how we got the references to "sandwiches," for instance. And this is how we got the running joke about bagpipes tonight. I liked how it was just a joke in the background and didn't really reference any major story. The major stories, though, were both pretty funny this week.