June 9, 2011
![[How I Met Your Mother (image: CBS)]](/s/1318/images/editor/inpage/himym.jpg)
Hello, Wesleyan!
We just wanted to use this Wesconnect opportunity to send a quick thank you to all the Wes alums who’ve taken the time to check out How I Met Your Mother, the little T.V. show created by myself (Craig Thomas) and Carter Bays (both class of ’97) which airs Monday nights at 8 P.M., only on CBS! (See how I snuck that in there? Learned that move in Shameless Self-Promotion 322… Best Wes course I ever took!)
So, what are the “Wesleyan connections” in How I Met Your Mother? Well, first sit back and let me tell you a little story I call, “How I Met My Wife…”
At Wesleyan.
(Wow, that was a much more succinct version than the one on our show…)
See, Carter and I based three of the main characters, Ted, Marshall and Lily (played by Josh Radnor, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan) on Carter, myself and Rebecca Alson-Milkman (class of ’98) and had them meet at Wesleyan, much like ourselves. Over six seasons, we’ve written in many a reference to our beloved alma mater (Have you caught them, Wesleyan? Really? Okay, pop quiz: name them all. I’m waiting… You know what, I don’t believe you, let’s just move on!)
All the Wesleyan references have been made with love. Among them: Marshall and Ted became best friends for life during a near-fatal frosh year road-trip in the snow; Lily and Marshall fell in love at first sight in a Westco dorm hallway; and Neil Patrick Harris’ character, Barney, had a formidable work nemesis named “Clark Butterfield” from the firm of “Nicholson, Hewitt and West.”
On the slightly less positive side, College Us (as depicted in flashbacks) may come across just a tad intellectually pretentious, they may have sported some ill-advised hairstyles, and they may have, once or twice, imbibed of too much alcohol (or “sandwiches,” for those of you who really follow the show’s inside jokes) and behaved like, well, total jackasses.
All of this is, I assure you, entirely fictional. Entirely.
As our series enters its seventh season—which premieres Monday nights in mid-September, only on CBS (thanks again, Shameless Self-Promotion 322!)—we’re reminded of how important Wesleyan has been in our lives, and continues to be. How I Met Your Mother has been picked up for two more seasons (through season 8!), so stay tuned for even more (mostly-fictional) Wesleyan shout-outs.
And please, take notes.
There will be a quiz.
Craig Thomas ’97
Executive Producer/Co-Creator, How I Met Your Mother
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