General Questions | S1E15 "Game Night"

General Questions | S1E15 "Game Night"

How We Made Your Mother · 2025-07-17

In this General Questions episode, the team brings back Chris Harris (writer of the HIMYM episode “Game Night”) to answer fan questions and explore deeper elements of storytelling from the early seasons. They discuss how HIMYM balanced large, event-style episodes with character development, whether Chris was intentionally given “scope” episodes like “Subway Wars,” and how character traits (like Marshall’s love of games) were assigned in the show’s early, more flexible days.

They touch on the importance of continuity in a serialized sitcom, the organic nature of callbacks, and the evolving creative relationships between writers, actors, and the broader crew. They also reminisce about fan theories, including a popular one about who left Robin the welcome mat, and offer a behind-the-scenes look at the collaborative dynamics that shaped HIMYM’s signature tone and complexity.



Questions From Fans:



Can you talk about putting together the scope versus the character?




How did you decide how many episodes you and Carter would write and how many you would give away?




Were you planning ahead for continuity details, like Barney mentioning the Peace Corps before his backstory was revealed?




What was the inspiration for Marshall’s love of making board games? Was that knowingly a character trait you were building?




In the writers’ room, how did continuity work? Was it a hive mind, or did someone “own” the show’s memory?




Who gave Robin the welcome mat—Ted or Barney? (posed via fan questions)




GET YOUR MERCH!

We’ve got HWMYM merch, which is now just a FEW CLICKS AWAY.



CRAIG’S BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!

Head over to CRAIG’S WEBSITE to pre-order your copy of That’s Not How It Happened today.



And if you’re a business with big orders to fulfill, Amplifier is there to help growing consumer brands and influencers create a unique experience for their customers during the fulfillment process. Visit AMPLIFIER to learn more, and name-drop How We Made Your Mother for special pricing for your emerging brand's program.



CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:

Official Website (Send us your audio and written messages)

Substack (Join the mailing list, get announcements, and read more from Josh and Craig)

Instagram



HOW YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Donate to our ongoing campaign to support congenital heart disease research

AND MORE:

Josh’s “Museletters” on Substack

Josh’s Official Website

Josh on Spotify

Craig’s Official Website (with links to his published writing)

Alek’s “Dead Fathers Society” on Substack
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How We Made Your Mother

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, a groundbreaking sitcom that ran for 208 episodes on CBS from 2005-2014, unfolds entirely as a flashback, using a time-bending narrative structure that spotlights the lives of five friends navigating love, friendship, dating, careers, failure, and success in New York City. The show has remained vibrantly alive in our collective pop culture memory, with fans around the world still sharing stories of how HIMYM is not just a hilarious comedy but also medicine for the soul in hard times. Now, JOSH RADNOR (who played “Ted Mosby”) has teamed up with series co-creator CRAIG THOMAS to explore, episode-by-episode, the mystery at the heart of what has made this show so durable and beloved. It’s time – much like the older, wiser narrator Ted does in the show – to look back on this adventure that occupied a pivotal decade of their lives: how the show changed them, how it changed its fans, and how it changed the culture. With plenty of special guests joining us along the way, this podcast will use HIMYM’s trenchant themes as jumping-off points for larger discussions about life, loss, and love. This is HOW WE MADE YOUR MOTHER: A flashback podcast for a flashback show.

¿Donde puedes escuchar?

Apple Podcasts Logo Spotify Logo Podtail Logo Google Podcasts Logo RSS

Episodios