Why "How I Met Your Mother" Is The Most Creative Thing On TV Right Now

Ever since Friends ended back in May 2004, sitcoms started to copy the format that Martha Kauffman and David Crane used back in 1994--get in a group of actors, make them be friends on a tv show, put them in a familiar location (coffee-shop, bar, diner, etc.) and earn loads of money making people laugh.

Except, it's not really that simple. And that's why so many TV shows failed (miserably) after Friends. They were either trying too hard to become Friends, or just not trying hard enough.

Then in the fall of 2005 (yes, that long ago!), Carter Bays and Craig Thomas created How I Met Your Mother, a show whose title explains what the past 9 years of our lives have been about. Ted Mosby, in 2030, sits his two teenage kids on the couch and starts telling him the story of he met their mother.

And then we flashback to present-time.

It's been one hell-of-a-ride with this show. The ensemble cast is pretty much the perfect group of friends to hang out with (or, in this case, to look at) and the realism that this show tries to show is incredibly amusing to watch. There are no sitcoms out there right now with such "realistic" yet entertaining plotlines as this show.

Now we get to the good stuff, the stuff that really drew me in. The creativity. No show out there is as creative as the ideas that come out of Carter Bays and Craig Thomas (who, by the way, claim that this show is based on actual events from their lives). HIMYM isn't afraid to take risks, to make us cry and laugh at the same time, to be so crazy yet real all in once place.

Recent episodes like last season 8's "The Time Travelers" which aired on March 25th 2013 show that creativity and beautiful writing is what drives this show the most. 

A Biography for Danny Trejo

Danny Trejo is an American film actor born on May 16, 1944. He has appeared in many films, usually as a villain or antihero. His most memorable films include "Con Air," "Desperado," "Heat," and "Machete." Trejo frequently collaborates with film director Robert Rodriguez.

Trejo was born in Los Angeles and is the son of Dan Trejo and Alice Rivera. Robert Rodriguez is Trejo's second cousin, although neither man was aware of this relationship until they filmed "Desperado." Trejo spent much of the 1960s in California prisons and became a champion boxer for the welterweight and lightweight divisions In San Quentin Prison. He also joined a twelve-step program during his incarceration and says that he has been sober since 1969. Trejo enrolled in Pitzer College in Claremont, California, upon his release from prison but left after one semester.

He was speaking at a recovery meeting in 1985 when one of the attendees invited Trejo to watch the filming of "Runaway Train." He got a job as an extra, and screenwriter Edward Bunker recognized Trejo as a former inmate of San Quentin, where Bunker had also served time. Bunker offered Trejo a job training star Eric Roberts to box. Director Andrei Konchalovsky was also impressed by Trejo and offered him a more prominent role in "Runaway Train."

Trejo has since appeared in many films with A-list actors such as Charles Bronson, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, and Robert De Niro. He typically plays small roles, which allows him to routinely appear in five or more films per year. Major films in which Trejo has played a significant role include "Blood In, Blood Out," "Marked for Death" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico."

His first leading role was Machete Cortez in the 2010 action film "Machete," which was followed by the 2013 sequel, "Machete Kills." Trejo originally appeared as Machete in a trailer for "Grindhouse," a B-grade action film directed by Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino. The trailer was originally intended as a spoof, but it became so popular that Rodriquez decided to make a film based on the character of Machete.

Best Horror Movies for Halloween

No Halloween is complete without blood-red candied apples and horror movies. Some horror flicks are so good they stick in the mind for a lifetime. This list is sure to induce spine-chilling, spooky fun this Halloween.

"Psycho"

A no-brainer for a Halloween movie list is the classic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film "Psycho." Starring Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, the film is praised by critics as a work of art in cinematography. Marion Crane is a secretary who embezzles a large sum of money from her boss. She goes on the run, taking refuge on a stormy night at the remote Bates Motel. The lodging is deserted due to a detour from the main highway. The motel is owned by a shaky young man named Norman Bates and his domineering and mentally ill mother. "Psycho" is a twisted and murderous tale one might think could only be concocted in a mind such as that of Hitchcock. Unfortunately, Hitchcock got his inspiration from the true story of Ed Gein. A truly perverse man, Gein enjoyed digging up human remains to fashion into tools. He wore the skin of corpses like clothes. The movie "Ed Gein," released in 2000, is also a great Halloween movie.

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

Ed Gein inspired another classic thriller that's perfect for Halloween, the 1974 film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Marilyn Burns plays Sally Hardesty and Paul A. Partain plays Sally's brother, Franklin. On a trip to their family homestead, the siblings and their three friends become stranded without gas. They stop at a house to find help but instead find a chainsaw murderer and his cannibalistic family. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was remade in 2003.

"The Shining"

It would be inappropriate to mention twisted stories without crediting Stephen King for his tales of suspense and horror. Of the many King plots from which to choose, "The Shining" and its creepy cast is the best choice for a spooky Halloween movie night. The 1980 film, based on King's 1977 novel, stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance and Shelley Duvall as Jack's wife, Wendy. Jack accepts a job as the off-season caretaker of the Outlook Hotel. Jack, Wendy, and their son are to take care of the hotel during the winter months when the snows are so deep no one can reach the place. This also means the Torrance family can't leave. As it happens, the lodging is built on a Native American burial site, and the previous caretaker, overcome with cabin fever, slaughtered his family before committing suicide in the grand hotel.