When the producers of “How I Met Your Mother” talked about adding a new character for its 100th episode, they didn’t mention that they would cast an actress as established as Rachel Bilson. The former “The O.C.” star has been hired for a one-time stint, although many believe that she would fill in the pivotal role of the mother.

In September, Executive Producer Craig Thomas told EW that in celebration of the milestone, the show will get some serious “mother action” during the episode. He added, “It’ll be the closest Ted’s ever come to [discovering who she is]. He’s getting a step closer every episode this season, and episode 100 [we] kind of go bananas with it.”

Thomas’ production partner Carter Bays also shared the same kind of clue regarding the episode, saying “Ted will also get as close to meeting the mom as he’s ever before. I don’t want to give it away, but he gets so tantalizingly close, it’s ridiculous.”

For one thing, Bilson’s rep has confirmed that she won’t be a recurring role. Thus, the possibility of Bilson being the mother is not yet crystal clear.

MARSHALL AND LILY TRY TOO HARD TO IMPRESS BARNEY AND ROBIN ON THEIR FIRST DOUBLE-DATE, ON “HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER,” MONDAY, OCT. 12

“The Sexless Innkeeper” - When Lily and Marshall realize that Robin and Barney are the perfect double-date friends, they try too hard to impress and come on too strong, forcing Barney and Robin to try to break up with them, on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Monday, Oct. 12 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SERIES REGULARS:
Ted………………………………………. Josh Radnor
Marshall…………………………………. Jason Segel
Barney………………………….. Neil Patrick Harris
Lily…………………………………. Alyson Hannigan
Robin ………………………………. Cobie Smulders

RECURRING CAST
Narrator…………………………………… Bob Saget

GUEST CAST:
Joe…………………………………….. Phillip Wilburn
Paul…………………………………………. Trey Ellett
Geri………………………………….. Kristen Sullivan
Ranjit……………………………… Marshall Manesh
Suzy………………………………….. Sarah Edwards
PY………………………………………… K.T. Tatara
Shea………………………………. Maura McCarthy
Hostess…………………….. Nikea Gamby-Turner
Maiden…………………………………. Julianna Guill

WRITTEN BY: Carter Bays & Craig Thomas
DIRECTED BY: Pamela Fryman

CLICK HERE to download “The Sexless Innkeeper” Right Now

Barney decides to return to his compulsive womanizing ways, after his brief foray into monogamy with Robin crashes and burns…

[CLAIRE] Late 20s, this beautiful girl is intrigued by Barney, who’s wearing a scuba diver’s suit. Taken aside by Lily and told some of Barney’s tangled history — she’s even more intrigued. When Barney breaks down and confesses that he’s terrified of dating women as himself (and not as some fake character), she agrees to go out with him as himself — an outcome that Barney has planned his entire day arranging…GUEST STAR (1)

[SHELLY] Late 20s, this sweet young woman is a teacher who works with Lily. She agrees to have a meet-and-greet date with Ted at the bar — only Barney gets there first. Manipulated into believing that he’s a famous billionaire explorer and a highly eligible bachelor, she goes back with him to his apartment — an episode that leaves both Ted and Lily intent on revenge…GUEST STAR (3)

[ROBERTA] Late 20s, an attractive girl, she meets Barney at the Empire State Building, and breaks down in tears when he lies, telling her that her boyfriend isn’t showing for their date. Needing a shoulder to cry on, she goes back with him to his apartment — and takes the opportunity to steal Barney’s Playbook — for Roberta is a plant, sent by Lily to capture the Playbook.sptv050769..GUEST STAR (5)

[GIRL] Late 20s, this very attractive girl falls for Barney’s latest ploy: that he’s a secret astronaut with Secret NASA, the kind the government never talks about…1 scene (4)

[GIRL 2] Late 20s, this girl in the bar is deeply impressed when Barney tackles the infamous Ice Pick Killers (aka Ted) right in front of her…1 scene (5)

Download “The Playbook” Episode Free

The day Ted, Marshall and Lily finally learn about Barney and Robin’s relationship has finally arrived! How I Met Your Mother returns tonight for its highly anticipated fifth season with an episode that’s fittingly entitled “Definitions.”

Ever since Barney told Robin how he feels about her in How I Met Your Mother’s fourth season finale, I’ve been imagining what will happen to these two if they got into a relationship, officially. Barney, the show’s resident playboy, isn’t exactly the type who would put a label on his affairs but this time, he’s seeing not just any other girl… it’s Robin!

Still, I’m having a hard time picturing Barney being all romantic and cheesy just because he’s with Robin now. But I’m not alone on this one. Barney himself is struggling with that thought and when the gang finds out about his relationship with Robin, both Barney and Robin hesitate to define what they have.

As you’d expect, Marshall and Lily encourage Barney to have “the talk” with Robin, even suggesting that it would only take five minutes and that he can have sex afterwards. Ted, on the other hand, is not in favor of having “the talk” because he simply believes that Robin is already Barney’s girlfriend. It’s a hilarious scene, which you can check out below, and it finds Barney defying the rules he created.

Meanwhile, Ted is anxious about teaching his first lecture at Columbia. He’s very nervous and is not used to speaking in front of so many people so he decides to maintain control of his students by releasing his “inner douche.” Unfortunately, this approach backfires miserably.

Lily’s father is coming to How I Met Your Mother, series creator Carter Bays tells TVGuide.com exclusively.

“We’re going to meet Lily’s dad later in the season. He hasn’t been cast yet,” Bays says. “It will sort of explain a lot about Lily: why she is the way she is, why she’s kind of a control freak.”

Avid fans will recall that Papa Aldrin was not seen at Lily and Marshall’s wedding in Season 2 — and there’s a reason for that, Bays says.

“He was not at the wedding. It’s a bit of an estranged relationship and he’s going to come back into her life,” Bays says. “We find out he wasn’t the best dad. It’s sort of at the root of why Marshall’s very gung-ho about having kids and Lily not so much.”

Lily’s dad will appear in the season’s Thanksgiving episode and Bays says the Mother crew is currently looking at “a lot of people” for the “fun part.”

Season 5 of How I Met Your Mother premieres Monday at 8/7c on CBS.

Who do you think should play Lily’s dad? And what do you think happened between father and daughter?

TED PUTS HIS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ROBIN TO GOOD USE WHEN HE TEACHES BARNEY A CLASS ON HOW TO DATE ROBIN, ON “HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER,” MONDAY, OCT. 5

“Robin 101” - When Robin fears that Barney is cheating on her, she soon discovers that he is spending his evenings with Ted learning everything there is to know on how to date her, on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Monday, Oct. 5 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SERIES REGULARS:
Ted………………………………………. Josh Radnor
Marshall…………………………………. Jason Segel
Barney………………………….. Neil Patrick Harris
Lily…………………………………. Alyson Hannigan
Robin ………………………………. Cobie Smulders

RECURRING CAST
Narrator…………………………………… Bob Saget
Son……………………………David Henrie
Daughter……………………Lyndsy Fonseca

GUEST CAST:
Mandy……………………………… Heather Nichols
Sandy…………………………..Christine Tonnu
Candy…………………………….Olga Fonda
Shin-Ya…………………………… Kazu Nagahama
College Girl…………………Sophie Simpson

WRITTEN BY: Carter Bays & Craig Thomas
DIRECTED BY: Pamela Fryman

WHILE ON A BLIND DATE, TED DISCOVERS HE HAD BEEN FIXED UP WITH THE SAME GIRL SEVEN YEARS EARLIER, ON “HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER,” MONDAY, SEPT. 28

“Double Date” - While on a blind date, Ted realizes this is actually his second first date with the same girl, and seven years later they still have nothing in common. Meanwhile, Barney takes Marshall out on the town, much to the dismay of Robin, on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Monday, Sept. 28 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SERIES REGULARS:
Ted………………………………………. Josh Radnor
Marshall…………………………………. Jason Segel
Barney………………………….. Neil Patrick Harris
Lily…………………………………. Alyson Hannigan
Robin ………………………………. Cobie Smulders

RECURRING CAST
Narrator…………………………………… Bob Saget

GUEST CAST:

Jen……………………………………… Lindsay Sloan
April………… ………………..Alyssa Smith
Dr. Vikash………………….. Rizwan Manji
Minister Giles…………………………….. Clyde Tull
Judy……………………………………. Molly Prather
Jasmine……………………Alyson Hannigan

WRITTEN BY: Matt Kuhn
DIRECTED BY: Pamela Fryman

How I Met Your Mother’s fifth season will pick up right where the fourth season finale left off now that the cat is out of the bag: Robin finally finds out Barney’s love for her, which she then reciprocates. Sure, we want these two to end up together more than anything but do we really want to see a lot of TV-relationship cliches on this show? Thankfully, series co-creator Craig Thomas assures fans things won’t be cheesy.  


Barney and Robin are going to decipher where their relationship is going when How I Met Your Mother returns for its fifth season on September 21 but that doesn’t mean they can’t have fun while they figure things out. And in Barney’s world, “having fun” means a lot of making out.

Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Barney, describes their bedroom scene “a dirty, dirty inevitability” and “a lusty endgame.” And since Cobie Smulders won’t have to hide her pregnant belly anymore (she has already given birth to her baby girl in May), fans can expect her character Robin to show a lot more skin on How I Met Your Mother this season.

Seeing this picture gets me all excited for the new season of How I Met Your Mother. Still, I can’t help but worry about how this will all affect Barney’s “awesomeness” and legendary antics now that Robin and Robin are a couple. But Harris has an interesting take on the whole situation, hinting that being in a relationship is not going to get him “Mosbyed.”

“He just has so many bad habits as far as strip clubs and shameless flirting goes, I don’t think he’s even contemplated that he would have to curtail any of that,” Harris told Entertainment Weekly. “So that’s an interesting wrinkle. In episode 2, he’s just business as usual — but with a girlfriend. But Barney can’t really exist in business as usual, with a girlfriend. I think the writers have got some good stuff to mine.”

Trying to recapture the glory days of their wild bachelorhood, Ted proposes that he and Marshall take a road trip to their favorite Chicago pizza parlor, but his trip down memory lane hits a huge snag when Lily tags along. Meanwhile, Barney’s needling Robin to become a U.S. citizen, but she can’t seem to overcome her innate Canadian-ness…

[MRS. CRUIKSHANK] This snooty, extremely proper 50-something woman is the owner operator of Crumpet Manor, a very precious Victorian bed and breakfast where Marshall, Ted and Lily stop during their road trip. She describes the sedate fun that can be had at her establishment, while Ted, who is in the mood for greasy pizzas and strippers, squirms…4 speeches & 3 lines, 2 scenes (25)

[WENDY THE CURLER] This very Canadian woman from an all-star Canadian curling team is partying down in the very Canadian Hoser Hut with her very Canadian teammates. They invite Robin along for a very Canadian spree, swilling Canadian beer and attending a Bryan Adams concert.sptv0507069..3 speeches, 2 scenes (36)

[BRUNO] This disheveled looking goombah works at Gazzola’s, a filthy Chicago pizza parlor whose oven hasn’t been cleaned in 100 years. He’s a bit taken aback by Ted and Marshall’s odd behavior, and he doesn’t appreciate it when Marshall inadvertently flashes him a partial moon…1 speech & 2 lines, 2 scenes (37)

[LUCY] This quintessentially Canadian counter girl, who works at a donut shop in Toronto, depresses Robin when she assumes that Robin is an American…3 speeches & 1 line, 1 scene (39)

[TURBANED MAN] Barney assumes this Middle Eastern-looking man is foreign, but he’s actually from Florida…1 line, 1 scene (48)