Greta Gerwig is definitely having a better 2025 than we are, as her directorial pair of Netflix Narnia movies is officially in progress. But the successful ‘Barbie‘ creator probably wouldn’t have been here if she had gotten the success in her unreleased ‘How I Met Your Mother‘ spinoff, ‘How I Met Your Dad.’
Before becoming the directing genius she is now, Greta tested her luck in acting back in 2014. But as fate would have it, after starring in the Pilot episode as the lead of ‘How I Met Your Dad,’ CBS decided to take a pass. Speculations regarding CBS’s decision haven’t cooled off yet. So, what exactly went wrong in the Pilot? Greta herself has even opened up about it.
The Big Fall Of Greta Gerwig’s ‘How I Met Your Dad’
It will probably be anyone’s first guess that ‘How I Met Your Dad‘ copied the OG ‘How I Met Your Mother‘. Sorry to break your bubble, but no. Even though the spin-off followed the exact blueprint of the original show, this time, the narrator is the mum, Sally, aka Greta. But much like Ted Mosby, Sally is also seen narrating the story to her child. The only difference is that there is no child on the screen, and she is typing out the story.
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Intending not to have any correlations with its parent series, ‘How I Met Your Dad‘ went too far. Only minutes into the Pilot episode, and we see so much happening. Sally breaks up with her snobby husband, goes on a date set up by a friend, and ends up with a guy named Frank. To everyone’s shock, instead of building on the “who is the father” mystery, they revealed his identity in the first episode only. And, the father was none other than Frank!
Cracks probably started to appear when the audience met the diverse cast setup. It takes us through the progressive plot where we see a 27-year-old woman renaming one-night stands as “nail-a-male”. Plus, there’s only one white straight male in the whole group. Perhaps the show arrived at the wrong time, and the audience simply didn’t have the appetite to take it all in.
Undoubtedly, there’s a lot to like about ‘How I Met Your Dad‘ from the Pilot episode. But there’s just nothing to look forward to when the episode ends, other than some bizarre questions. Where’s Sally’s kid? Why’s she using a typewriter to communicate in 2014? Even though these problems were fixable to some extent, what came next probably wasn’t. Maybe that was the reason CBS had to pull the trigger.
The Cancellation Ended Up Being A Boon
The final nail in the coffin for ‘How I Met Your Dad‘ came when Greta revealed to Colbert about audience testing in Las Vegas. The audience was given knobs, where they had to turn the knob to the right if they liked it and to the left if they didn’t. According to her, the audience apparently turned the knob to the left every time Greta appeared on screen.
In case you missed it: Greta Gerwig Talks About The Possibility Of ‘Barbie’ Sequel, Promises Another “Big, Original, Bold Idea”
However, poor reception wasn’t the only reason CBS decided to part ways. Later, when the network proposed some changes to the creators, they backed out, citing extra shooting costs and uncertainty. But the creators, Bays and Thomas, had the option to shop around, but even that didn’t work. Two years later, the full script of the pilot leaked, and four years after that, the whole episode was revealed. Turns out, the audience had the same reaction.
Greta had no other option but to move on from the big failure. But it turned out to be a boon for her in the future. She eventually became a solo director after this and came up with her first feature, ‘Lady Bird‘, which she directed and wrote. Not long after, she came up with her biggest hit yet, ‘Barbie‘. ‘Barbie‘ is now available for you to stream on Netflix!
