Thursday, August 08, 2013

How "How I Met Your Mother" and "Coupling" are the Same Show

Some years ago, the BBC decided to create their own show to compete with "Friends." Their answer was a show called "Coupling," a funny and clever show about a group of twenty somethings and their awkward sex lives as they try to figure out who they are going to become. It became a big success in the UK, so much so that NBC decided to create their own version, as they had done with "The Office." The attempt was a dismal failure, and that was the end of the experiment.

Or was it?

Not long after, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas emerged with a brand NEW show called "How I Met Your Mother," about a group of 20 somethings and their awkward romances as they try to figure out who they are going to become. Despite the fact that creators of both shows claimed the idea was based on their own lives and relationships, and that both shows experimented with traditional sitcom structure, both shows have only been thought of as "Friends" knockoffs, and no comparison has ever been drawn between "Coupling" and "How I Met Your Mother."

Until now. Follow this little photoessay and judge for yourself.



 That's just the beginning...


And this:



And my personal favorite:


Am I on to something here or not? To the best of my knowledge, the creators of "How I Met Your Mother" have never acknowledged a debt to "Coupling" for inspiring their show, or even an awareness of the prior show's existence. Neither has anyone else. Not to take away from the creative efforts of everyone who has worked on HIMYM, which has turned out completely original scripts as far as I know. But it seems to me some sort of acknowledgement of its clear predecessor is due, no?

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Absolutely! I also think Robin is a perfect mix of Sally & Jane. Another amazing "coincidence" in "the perfect couple" we see Barney's appartement and it is amazingly like Patrick's including a storm trooper!

Anonymous said...

And a lower ground bar where they all hangout....

Petros L. Ioannou said...

Yeah, I can totally see this. I was a fan of HIMYM for years until... that ending... anyway; I just blazed through Coupling in about 2 weeks on Netflix. I never drew those comparisons but I can totally see it. On the other hand the comedy is very indicative of it's era of television, Coupling's comedy is closer to Friends, whereas HIMYM being more modern is a little more risque.

Anonymous said...

I know this is thread necromancy of a sort, but in looking for something else I saw this post and have to point out that Jane isn't Australian, nor is she working for Australians. She's English, in England.

Craig Berger said...

Hmm. I was sure she was Australian. Well, I think the rest holds, at any rate.

Petros L. Ioannou said...

She's actually from New Zealand, the actress that is. The character is English.

Craig Berger said...

Ah, perhaps it was the accent that threw me.