21 behind the scenes facts about 'How I Met Your Mother'

CBS' big hit, How I Met Your Mother, premiered in 2005 and enjoyed a successful run with 9 seasons through to 2014. At the height of its success, it garnered multiple accolades and a legion of adoring fans.

Sanctioned straight from the front office of the Slap Bet Commissioner - Here are 21 interesting trivia facts about the show:

1. If CBS canceled the show early, creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas planned for Victoria to be the eponymous "Mother".
2. Before Jim Parsons went on to star in "The Big Bang Theory", he unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of Barney.
3. Alyson Hannigan (Lily) particularly disliked Jason Segel's (Marshall) smoking habit so much that very few kissing scenes were scripted for the on-screen couple.
4. Quite unusually, the significant others of Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, and Neil Patrick Harris all appeared multiple times throughout the show. Alexis Denisof played Sandy Rivers, Taran Killam (Gary Blauman), and David Burtka (Scooter) respectively.
5. Alicia Silverstone was originally cast as Stella. She later withdrew from the role after learning that Britney Spears was set to play her character's assistant, Abby.
6. The actors who played Ted's children Luke (David Henrie) and Penny (Lyndsy Fonseca) shot all of their scenes during the first season. They had to sign confidentiality agreements after finding out the show's ending during that time.
7. Keepsakes. The cast and crew all took home various props and souvenirs from the show with Josh Radnor getting the Blue French Horn, Neil Patrick Harris receiving the Playbook, and Cobie Smulders keeping Robin Sparkle's blue denim jacket.
8. Conan O'Brien's brief cameo came as a result of his winning a charity auction in support of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. The creators revealed that he intentionally chose to limit the length of his appearance.
9. Unlike most traditional sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother filmed the entire episode first and then showed it to the studio audience after the fact, adding their reactions over the audio in the editing room.
10. Very few references can be found before How I Met Your Mother for the term "Bro Code". Many attribute Barney Stinson as being directly responsible for coining it.
11. Josh Radnor's allergic reaction to dogs is likely the reason that Robyn's dogs were written out the show.
12. The "Mother's" name was first revealed in the episode "Belly Full of Turkey" (Season 1, Episode 9).
13. The main roles of Ted and Robin were initially offered to Scott Foley and Jennifer Love Hewit who both declined the parts.
14. The length of Season 3 was heavily impacted by the ongoing writers' strike at the time.
15. Season 1, Episode 10 - "The Pineapple Incident" was the most watched episode.
16. During Season 4, Smulder and Hannigan were both pregnant at the time of filming.
17. The intro song for the show "Hey Beautiful" was written and performed by the band "The Solids". Creators Bays and Thomas are both in the band.
18. The voiceover for the majority of the show (bar the last two episodes) was narrated by Bob Saget.
19. (Un)Lucky Loser. Victoria was chosen by fans online as Ted's favorite paramour.
20. The various online gambits created by Barney or other websites mentioned in the show such as https://tedmosbyisajerk.com all had real, functional web pages.
21. 196 of 208 episodes were directed by Pamela Fryman.

Quotes from How I Met Your Mother