Meg Ryan is following in Bob Saget’s footsteps. No, she’s not hosting a new incarnation of America’s Funniest Home Videos, but she has been tapped to provide the weekly voiceover for the How I Met Your Mother spinoff, aptly titled How I Met Your Dad. To answer your other question, a few episodes of Web Therapy and a lot of hanging out. That’s what she’s been up to lately.
The pilot hasn’t officially been picked up to series, but with the incredible run of How I Met Your Mother, some early buzz about the script and the casting of indie darling Greta Gerwig, a full season has always seemed like a pretty sure bet. Meg Ryan, whose presence was confirmed by Deadline, will only help those chances, and more importantly, she should bring a lot of tangible value to the project itself.
That’s the thing about Bob Saget. He was the perfect choice to be older Ted because he has an everyman quality to his voice. He never sounds like he’s trying too hard, but on rare occasions, he can inflect meaningful emotion into his voice. Meg Ryan is the same way. She doesn’t have the world’s most distinctive voice and doesn’t come across as overly dramatic when she isn’t trying to be. In short, she sounds like someone who could be telling a really, really, really long-winded story for the next decade.
Not a ton is known about where How I Met Your Dad will go except that it will follow an entirely new cast of five characters. There’s the main female, a gay brother, a wild child BFF, the gay brother’s husband and a love interest boss. So, anyone hoping to get the real mother’s side of the story can forget about it. That being said, Gerwig should be a bit of an ace in the hole. She’s extremely talented, and the balance between the characters actually sounds pretty ideal on paper. Obviously, however, you never know exactly how a cast will gel until you see real honest to God footage, which won’t happen for any of us who don’t find ourselves in a focus group until the show officially gets picked up.
That’s right. I’m acting like it will get picked up because why not? There are few things CBS loves more than a sure thing. Chuck Lorre would be a good example of that. So, if they’ve learned to trust the HIMYM producers over the years, it seems highly likely they’ll give the newest effort a real shot.
We’ll keep you updated on this project’s progression over the next several months. If nothing else, let’s hope it marks the start of the rekindling of Ryan’s career.
