How I Met Your Mother is an American situation comedy that premiered on CBS Broadcasting on September 19, 2005. The show was created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays. As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting their mother, which explains the title and allows for a narration in the past tense. How I Met Your Mother's other main characters are Marshall Eriksen, Robin Scherbatsky, Barney Stinson, and Lily Aldrin. Thomas and Bays drew from their friendship in creating the characters, with Ted based loosely on Bays, and Marshall and Lily based loosely on Thomas and his wife.

During the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, How I Met Your Mother shut down production, but once the strike ended the show returned on March 17, 2008, with 9 new episodes.[1] It was also announced another change in timeslot to 8:30 ET/7:30 CT, flip-flopping from the summer schedule with The Big Bang Theory.[2] The show was renewed for a fourth season by CBS on May 14, 2008,[3] which premiered on September 22, 2008.[4]

In September 2008, it was announced that Lifetime Television purchased the syndication rights to How I Met Your Mother at a rate of $750,000 per episode.[5]