'How I Met Your Father' Seems to Be Missing This 'How I Met Your Mother' Staple

In the nine seasons that it was on the air, How I Met Your Mother came to define a new generation of CBS sitcoms. The show quickly endeared itself to millions of viewers worldwide, and its perfectly-picked cast delivered countless laughs, memorable moments, and a legacy that endures almost a decade after it ended.

Given the fact that it has been so long since HIMYM wrapped, Hollywood is ready to breathe some new life into the story with a spinoff titled How I Met Your Father, airing on Jan. 18, 2021, on Hulu. So, what do we know about the spinoff show and how it relates to HIMYM? Does How I Met Your Father have a laugh track like the original show? Keep reading for a breakdown of the known miscellaneous details about the new program.

As of right now, it appears as though How I Met Your Father has deviated slightly from the HIMYM formula by not including the original show's signature laugh track. When we take a look at the official trailer for the program, there's not a single laugh track utilized in its entire nearly-two-minute run time. Given how frequently HIMYM employed laugh tracks, to have shown almost two minutes of footage without a single one is pretty indicative that the spinoff show does not include them.

In mid-2021, there was a healthy discourse over on the HIMYM Reddit page about whether How I Met Your Father should include a laugh track or not. When polling closed it seemed as though fans were pretty closely tied in their opinions. With 145 people voting that the show should include a laugh track, 176 voting that it shouldn't, and another 120 votes indicating that they'd make a decision after viewing the pilot episode, it seems fairly evenly split all three ways.

Of course, How I Met Your Father isn't tied to the typical CBS sitcom format, as it is entirely helmed by Hulu and therefore under their creative direction. While CBS might have a penchant for including laugh tracks on its shows, Hulu, being a more modern entity, hasn't really utilized the age-old filler in its programs as frequently.

How I Met Your Father is a direct successor to HIMYM, but none of the original show's cast was tapped for the Hulu spinoff. The new program sees Hilary Duff starring as Sophie, Francia Raisa as Valentina, Tom Ainsley as Charlie, Tien Tran as Ellen, Suraj Sharma as Sid, Kim Cattrall as future Sophie, Christopher Lowell as Jesse, Josh Peck as Drew, and many others.

Be sure to check out the first episode of How I Met Your Father when it premieres on Hulu on Jan. 18, 2022.