<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> List of How I Met Your Mother episodes </Td> </Tr> <P> The first season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS in the United States on September 19, 2005 and concluded on May 15, 2006 . The season was directed by Pamela Fryman and produced by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television . It consists of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length . </P> <P> The season introduces Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) in the year 2030 as he sits his daughter and son down to tell them the story of how he met their mother . The story begins in 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27 - year - old architect living in Manhattan with his two best friends from college: Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes . Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his self - appointed best friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris). Ted begins his search for his perfect mate and meets an ambitious young reporter, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), whom he quickly falls in love with . Robin, however, doesn't want to rush into a relationship and the two decide to be friends . Ted begins dating a baker, Victoria, but when she moves to Germany for a culinary fellowship, Ted leads Robin to believe that she broke up with him . As a result, Victoria breaks up with Ted and Robin begins to distance herself from him, though they eventually reconcile . As her wedding date approaches, Lily begins to wonder if she's missed any opportunities because of her relationship with Marshall and decides to pursue an art fellowship in San Francisco, breaking her engagement in the process . At the end of the season, Marshall is seen looking desolate and miserable, while Ted and Robin agree to pursue a relationship . </P> <P> The season was met with mixed reviews . On the review aggregation site, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 56% of critics gave the show a positive review, giving it a "rotten" score . Despite the mixed reviews, the show appeared on several television best lists, including Time Magazine and Chicago Tribune . The first season garnered an average of 9.47 million viewers per all 22 episodes in the U.S. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 2005--2006 American television season, How I Met Your Mother ranked 51st out of 156, according to the Nielsen ratings system . The pilot was watched by 10.94 million viewers, while the finale was watched by 8.64 million viewers . </P>

How i met your mother season 1 ted's girlfriend