No other sitcom is as gleefully inventive as How I Met Your Mother. The basic setup is familiar stuff: Five charming, good-looking twentysomethings pal around New York City seeking love and happiness. But many episodes have a narrative trick. For example, when his friends try to persuade Ted (Josh Radnor) from going on a date with the doctor removing the butterfly tattoo he got while drunk, their justifications send the show careening back and forth among three interconnected flashbacks. Other episodes repeat scenes from different perspectives, or leap forward, or interrupt scenes to provide necessary exposition. None of this is groundbreaking, but it is consistently smart and clever--and when combined with crisp comic dialogue and zippy performances, it's pure sitcom delight. This is a show that manages to make a gang's in-jokes actually funny. Season Three is absolutely essential for any fan of the show, because this is the season we actually meet the title character; after two years of preamble, the mother to Ted's unnamed kids finally appears! But there are abundant other reasons to get this season, including Marshall (Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) buying a crooked apartment, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) getting the yips and getting slapped, and the return of Robin Sparkles, Canadian teenybopper alter-ego of Robin (Cobie Smulders). There's a wee bit of unfortunate stuntcasting (though she doesn't embarrass herself, Britney Spears still sticks out by dint of sheer inescapable celebrity), but it's a minor flaw in an all-around superb season. Add in an abundance of commentaries, featurettes, music videos, additional scenes, and How I Met Your Mother: Season Three is clearly a must-have for fans and a great introduction for newcomers. --Bret Fetzer



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Stills from How I Met Your Mother: Season Three (Click for larger image)