‘Kids, let me tell you about the time Uncle Barney starred in a Christmas movie.’
It’s not every day that you get to watch ‘legen-wait-for-it-dary’ TV shows that stay forever in your heart. It doesn’t matter whether you hate or love the ending; these stories follow you EVERYWHERE.
Same is the case for the actors who starred in How I Met Your Mother. More specifically, Neil Patrick Harris, aka Barney Stinson. The actor has a new Christmas film coming out this November, and it has a funny connection to HIMYM.
The film, titled 8-Bit Christmas, stars Harris as the adult version of Jake Doyle, who narrates the tale about his childhood to his daughter. Does this ring a bell to you? Because that’s exactly how HIMYM starts.
The series is narrated by an older version of Ted Mosby, voiced by Bob Saget, as he tells his kids the story about how he met their mother.
Cinema Blend’s Eric Eisenberg pointed this similarity out, and Harris’ face lit up as he laughed when the realization dawned upon him,
That’s so funny! I didn’t even think about that. That’s so funny. I sort of took it much more in a Christmas Story narrator mode, but yeah, you’re totally right, with voiceover adult talking to kids about a story from the past.
Saget lent his voice for 206 episodes of HIMYM, with only the finale being narrated by Josh Radnor. Harris complimented Saget further, adding,
If I can have the longevity of a Bob Saget and only maybe with a quarter of the filth, I will be a very successful person indeed.
Well, thankfully, 8-bit Christmas is just a movie – unlike HIMYM, where the kids had to listen to Ted rambling about his exes for nine whole seasons. The two projects also differ in the type of story being narrated.
As you might be aware, Ted Mosby sometimes went a little too overboard with the details about his love life, often traumatizing his kids in the process. Whereas 8-Bit Christmas is strictly PG and tells the story about a young kid who desperately wants to win a Nintendo in the 1980s.
If you’re longing for more HIMYM content, the spin-off series, How I Met Your Father, comes out this January on Hulu. Hilary Duff’s Sophie narrates the tales of her youth to her son, with Kate Cattrall playing the character’s older version.
New Line Cinema’s 8-Bit Christmas debuts exclusively on HBO Max on November 24, 2021.
About 8-Bit Christmas
8-Bit Christmas is a new Christmas film from New Line Cinema and HBO Max. Michael Dowse directed the film from a screenplay by Kevin Jakubowski, based on his book of the same name.
The film stars Neil Patrick Harris and Winslow Fegley as the adult and young Jake, respectively, alongside June Diane Raphael, David Cross, and Steve Zahn.
It takes a humorous and heartfelt look back at the adventures of childhood. Set in suburban Chicago in the late 1980s, the story centers on ten-year-old Jake Doyle’s herculean quest to get the latest and greatest video game system for Christmas.
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