Fast-paced tourney quarterfinals: Awkward. vs How I Met Your Mother

We’re running a tournament to find the show that’s doing fast-paced storytelling the best. But for each round, we want to know what you think. Vote below!

There’s plenty to love in both Awkward. and How I Met Your Mother. Of course, they’re both extremely breezy and windy sitcoms on television at the moment, and they’re both known for revisiting a storyline well or two. But which one of them does it best?

In a sense, Awkward. is an extremely fast show for the sake of being a fast-paced show. The way in which some of the characters can burn through their own dialogue is masterful, but also kind of just a quality that’s injected into it for who-knows-what-reason. Don’t get me wrong, I’m someone who loves a good joke-machine, and there’s no denying that Awkward. is doing that, these days, Awkward. is doing it best. And while I don’t particularly care about the criticisms of teens speaking too quickly in TV shows and movies, at times it can feel like an element added because it’s being marketed to teens.

But still, I love it.

However, you have How I Met Your Mother, which can also, admittedly, give you whiplash because it wants to. But that element is always grounded in whatever joke. There’s never a time that How I Met Your Mother goes in and out of different time periods without it servicing a laugh or a major plot point. Heck, the entire concept of the show commands its crazed nature.

I know that Awkward.‘s voice is in its insanly fast way of having people speak and shifting its storylines one way or the other. But whether someone is speaking at an inanely quick rate on Awkward. or Jenna is choosing another beau this season, it never feels as complete and ingrained as an episode, or a season, or the entire series of How I Met Your Mother has. Yes, HIMYM has taken a long time to get to the end (though I’ve enjoyed the entire journey), and perhaps they never had this planned all along, but for a show to be eight years old and to feel like it’s been mapped out since day one: that’s an incredible feat. To do it the windy way it does it, that’s something else entirely.

Winner: How I Met Your Mother