So “How I Met Your Dad” has found its Mother, but The Mother from “How I Met Your Mother” has found a new sitcom gig.
Got it?
Yesterday, amidst much gnashing of teeth and wailing, it was revealed that Greta Gerwig will be the lead in CBS’ “HIMYM” kinda-spinoff “How I Met Your Dad.”
And today, WBTV and NBC announced that Cristin Milioti will play one of the leads in “A to Z,” a new comedy pilot from executive producers Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.
That wasn’t so complicated at all, was it?
Milioti will play the “Z” in the pilot’s title, a public advocacy attorney named Zelda. The pilot follows her relationship with the “A” of the title,” Andrew, from their first meeting to their eventual breakup. And yes, this sounds mighty similar structurally to the world Milioti will be departing when “How I Met Your Mother” ends on March 31.
The character of Zelda is described as “alternately serious and hilarious, Zelda loves being a grown-up and doesn”t understand why anyone over 20 would go see an animated movie or eat ice cream sundaes.” Seriously? No ice cream sundaes? Already, I have concerns. The network character description also says that “Destiny and fate are not in her vocabulary; she believes she controls her own destiny.” Given Milioti’s “HIMYM” background, I’d call that last bit ironic, except that for actors, ideology of one character has nothing to do with ideologies for future characters they’ll play. So it’s not ironic at all. It’s just different.
It has been a pretty good year for Milioti, who has been widely hailed — by me if not by others — as the best part of the highly uneven final “How I Met Your Mother” season. She as also hailed as one of the few traditionally “likable” characters in the Oscar-nominated hit “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Prior to her surprise casting on “HIMYM,” Milioti was best known for her Tony nominated performance in Broadway’s “Once.”