List of How I Met Your Mother characters
The main characters are: Ted Mosby, a romantic searching for "The One"; Barney Stinson, a womanizer; Robin Scherbatsky, a journalist who moved to New York in 2005; and Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrin, a long-term couple. Although the show is based around The Mother, her first appearance is not until the season eight finale.
How I Met Your Mother (season 1)
The role of Barney was initially envisioned as a "John Belushi-type character" before Neil Patrick Harris won the role after being invited to an audition by the show's casting director Megan Branman. Harris's character was widely reported to be the breakout character, with "Variety" calling him "the major breakout" and "Boston.com" noting that his character was the "most buzzed about element of the show". Robert Bianco from "USA Today" observed that Harris "sparkled" in his role, and further praised Hannigan's performance as equally "delightful" as her role in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".