Neil Patrick Harris made a major name for himself after appearing in CBS’ How I Met Your Mother. His role as Barney Stinson significantly contributed to the sitcom’s massive success. Although the series primarily focused on how Ted Mosby met with his wife, Harris’ character was an integral part of the series’ humor and tonality.
How I Met Your Mother had an iconic and huge cast that made the show so memorable. It featured a very prominent friends group with Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby, Harris’ Barney, Cobie Smulders’ Robin Scherbatsky, Jason Segel’s Marshall Eriksen, and Alyson Hannigan’s Lily Aldrin. They also earned huge paychecks for their roles. But Harris later went on to admit that he did not think the entire cast deserved to earn the same amount.
Why did Neil Patrick Harris deny equal salary with his HIMYM co-stars?
Even before joining How I Met Your Mother, Neil Patrick Harris was a significant name in television after his lead role in the medical sitcom, Doogie Howser, M.D. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for the series. HIMYM elevated his career more as the fans loved him as Barney Stinson and knew nobody could ever do the role better than him.
When Neil Patrick Harris went to The Howard Stern Show in 2014, he revealed many tidbits about the show. As the host asked him if he was happy with the $250,000 per episode pay, he replied positively. Harris added that the rest of the cast also received the same salary and somehow he did not agree to it.
The Harold & Kumar actor revealed that the cast could either do separate negotiations or negotiate as a whole. Even though the latter could harm the healthy working relationship between the cast members, Neil Patrick Harris claimed that it did not feel good “to have solidarity with someone who has done less.”
It seemed like we all had individual careers that we had nurtured up until that point. And so when you end up with an agent and a manager and an attorney, you have relationships with them and they’re hardcore fighting for you financially for your future… It wasn’t like I was trying to take someone else’s money. I just wanted my team to fight as hard as they could for me for my next season’s worth.
However, the salary structure changed in the last season as Screen Rant reports that Harris received $400,000 per episode in the final season whereas the rest of the cast got $225,000 per episode. Neil Patrick Harris stated that by the final season, everybody in the show had proven their worth. They already did 8 seasons together and wanted to end it on a positive note with the ninth.
Why did How I Met Your Mother end so controversially?
After the successful completion of 9 seasons and 208 episodes, when How I Met Your Mother finally concluded, the fans did not welcome it very positively. A massive section of the fans criticized the ending for reuniting Ted Mosby with Robin Scherbatsky and sidelining the Mother, Tracy McConnell, played by Cristin Milioti.
One of the primary controversies surrounding How I Met Your Mother was that it did not give the audience much time to process the Mother’s death. Although the fans felt the ending of their long-running favorite show, the desired impact was missing. Sadly, it was because the finale was shot as early as in Season 2.
According to a report by Screen Rant, the show revolved around Ted Mosby narrating his life experiences till his meeting with the Mother across 9 seasons. As a result, they could not let the child actors’ age become a factor. This major aspect did not let the show progress the plot according to the fans’ reception to the storylines as done by most sitcoms.
How I Met Your Mother can be streamed on Hulu.
