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How I Met Your Mother Season 4 Episode 7

Not a Father's Day

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8.6

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 11/10/08

Barney creates a holiday to celebrate not being a father. Meanwhile, Lily and Marshall are considering having a baby, but Lily first wants advice from Ted and Robin.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (12)

Barney makes up a holiday

8.0

By Lostindharma, Dec 10, 2012

After two serious episodes it was nice to have a funny one. At the start of the episode Barney receives some news that he might be a father. What quickly at first is thought to be a serious episode, turns funny when you find out that Barney is not a dad. Barney takes this situation and makes a holiday of it. Not a father's day is enjoyable. What is also is enjoyable is his cheerleader theory. I think there might be some truth in it.

Maybe it's due to Barney's situation or the fact that they had been together for a while but Lilly and Marshall begins talks about having a baby. They use Robin and Ted as a moderators. Both had different viewpoints and both were funny. If you had been watching you will know who is pro baby and who is in this case afraid of babies. Robin's scenes with the babies were pretty funny. When Lilly and Marshall decide to try to have a baby, Marshall quickly realizes that he won't be able to be with the child due to his job and tries to change Lilly's mind. When Marshall is at his job Lily comes to the office but is drunk. Lilly being drunk was hilarious. I think this Lily at her most drunk. On a small note I liked that Dan Lauria was one of the employees at GNB.

While this episode was not as good as other episodes this season, it still had some laughs.moreless
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Barney gets a call from a girl who thinks she's pregnant.

8.5

By Jon_MW_14, Aug 23, 2011

"Not a Father's Day" is a great How I Met Your Mother episode. I love the beginning of this episode where Barney explains The Cheerleader Effect, where a group of people look hot, but as individuals, each one has a flaw. I love how a girl calls thinking she's pregnant with Barney's baby. I love how Barney is excited once he finds out that she's not pregnant. The only thing I didn't care for was "Not a Father's Day". It was just stupid and not funny. I love the Lily and Marshall plot of wanting to have a baby. I love how Lily gets so drunk that she acts like a baby and Marshall has to take care of her.moreless
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Worst How I Met Your Mother episode ever

3.0

By wuatenigenu, Jan 18, 2011

First of all I have to say I absolutely LOVE How I Met Your Mother: The writing along with the acting is incredible in my opinion. But this might really be the worst episode of this show I've ever seen. Lily and Marshall see themselves confronted with the decision whether to have a baby or not. Barney cracks some mediocre jokes and Ted continues to be whiney and cheesy. The writing of this episode is comparable with Two And A Half Men : Overacting and unfunny slapstick included.

I can not understand the people here giving it good grades. It was awful.moreless
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Lily decides she wants to have a baby.

3.5

By thefanof, Jan 08, 2011

Okay, I will attempt to come up with some positives for this episode. Barney in church talking to God, Barney's shirts and Dan Lauria from The Wonder Years as Nolan. The bad? Just about everything else.

Robin with her unbearable attempt to be Tina Fey and the even worse Lily being the centerpiece of this episode. Remember last season's debacle with the Lily's painting? The same episode where Ted had the red boots?

Not only was it bad but this episode officially jumped the shark for How I Met Your Mother, if it had not already. Lily running around drunk during the business meeting and Marshall dressing up in wigs pretty much sent Fonzy on his jet ski over the water.moreless
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Lily thinks about having a baby...

10

By mcpheever22, Jan 08, 2011

Many think that this episode is Jumping the shark, but the writers are kind of forced to make Lily pregnant due to her real life pregnancy.

A lot of people think HIMYM is going downhill...due to its more dramatic tone towards the end of season 3 and now season 4. I see the change in tone, but it isnt a bad thing. The show is probably going to end soon and i think its important to start making the show a little bit more dramatic instead of just random silly crap over and over because the characters are getting older and more mature and ted is probably very close to meeting the mother

With that said I thought this episode was, not the best of the season but not the worst. There were a few moments that just fell flat on their faces but there were a lot of moments that shined. Good episodemoreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Josh Radnor	Ted Mosby
Neil Patrick Harris	Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan	Lily Aldrin
Jason Segel	Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders	Robin Scherbatsky

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Lindsey Stoddart	Charlotte	Guest Star
Daniele Watts	Lori	Guest Star
Dan Lauria	Nolan	Guest Star
Bob Saget	Voice of Ted, 2030	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (12)
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- Ted: Parenthood will come naturally.
  Robin: Of course you think it comes naturally, you're basically a dad already!
  Lily: You're a total dad!
  Ted: What are you talking about?
  Robin: Come on, Ted. Think about it. You tell super corny dad jokes...
  Ted: (Flashback) Shredded tweet. (Laughing) Oh, man! Shredded tweet!
  Robin: You lecture us, like when we broke your stupid ship-in-a-bottle...
  Ted: (Flashback) I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.
  Barney: She did it.
  Robin : Shut up!
  Robin: And you do that thing all dads do with waitresses...
  Waitress: Hi I'm Laurie, I'll be your waitress this evening...
  Ted: Hi Lori, I'm Ted, I'll be your customer this evening. Before you go, can you tell what you get when you cross a canary and a lawn mower? (To the gang) No hints.
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- Robin: (to Lily) We made all these arguments, and a sock makes the decision for you?
  Ted: I guess that was the sock-out punch, huh, Robin?
  Robin: Shut up, Dad!
  Ted: You shut up, baby hater!
  Robin: Babies are scary, okay? They have giant eyes! And the soft spot? If there's going to be a self destruct button, put it somewhere it won't accidentally get pressed!
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- Marshall: Baby, it's breakfast time in China.
  Lily: Yeah, it is!
  Marshall: Not a euphenism... wait, what would that even mean?
  Lily: I don't know, hot buns, sour pork, there's something there.
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- Barney: Why can't there be a day for people who are single and like it that way?
  Marshall: Well, now you just sound like a chubby girl on Valentine's Day.
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- Ted: After I got off the phone with Marshall, I was putting your phone back in your purse, and I found something.
  Robin: I have a permit for that! And the other thing is a gift.
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- Lily: Marshall and I were going to have "dinner", and I thought I was ready to have "dinner". But now I'm not sure. Am I ready to have "dinner"?
  Ted: Well, I had a late lunch, so I could wait on dinner.
  Lily: "Dinner" is a baby.
  Robin: Lily, that's horrible!
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- Lily: Ted, you may be single and childless, but you're totally a dorky dad.
  Ted: I don't think I like your tone, young lady.
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- Barney: Lily, no part of Barney Stinson does less than 110%. If one of my Michael Phelpses got loose, he's goin' for the gold!
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- Robin: Anytime you even hear the word kids you get two little lactation stains on your shirt.
  Ted: Thank God you're not a mom. You are such an ice queen, any baby nursing from you would get brain freeze!
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- Marshall: (looking inside Barney's 'Not a Fathers Day' card') It appears to be some sort of Asian hooker.
  Barney: Yes, because on Not a Fathers Day, you get a Thai you'd actually wear! Wordplay five!
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- Barney: Latest 'Not a fathers day' brainstorm—a pregnancy test, but instead of a little blue line, there's a little blue Barney going like this. (puts his thumbs up)
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- Barney: God, it's me, Barney. What up? I know we don't talk much, but I know a lot of girls call out your name because of me. Awesome.
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NOTES (6)
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- The episode won Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series.
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- The German episode title is "Der Nicht-Vatertag", the French title is "La non-fête des pères", and the Italian title is "La festa del non papà", all exact translations.
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- International Airdates: Germany: December 19, 2009 on ProSieben; United Kingdom: January 21, 2010 on E4; Czech Republic: November 2, 2010 on Prima COOL
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- Music: Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle", sung by Barney
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- The www.notafathersday.com website Barney mentions exists, redirecting to a section of the Fox shop where episode-themed merchandise can be purchased.
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- This episode was originally titled "Jeremy's Sock", but was changed before airing.
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