A Classic How I Met Your Mother Episode (Sort Of) Predicted Cobra Kai
One of the funniest running gags in "How I Met Your Mother" is how Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) always roots for the bad guys in movies and shows. He thinks King Joffrey was a "fair and wise ruler" in "Game of Thrones," and cheers on Hans Gruber all throughout "Die Hard." It's a joke that sort of makes sense for Barney, an amoral agent of chaos who should probably be in prison, but it's the sort of thing you can spend all day pulling apart the logic of. How far does Barney's villain worship go exactly? Does he root for Frank Booth in "Blue Velvet" too, or for Hans Landa in "Inglorious Basterds"? I sure hope not!
Thankfully, "HIMYM" limits its examples of Barney's villain worship to less serious movies. Most notable is "The Karate Kid," where Barney roots for the blonde bully Johnny (William Zabka) instead of scrappy underdog Daniel (Ralph Macchio). In season 4 Barney explains his reading of the film, saying, "It's the story of a hopeful young karate enthusiast whose dreams and moxie take him all the way to the All Valley Karate Championship. Of course, sadly, he loses in the final round to that nerd kid, but he learns an important lesson about gracefully accepting defeat."
It seems like a one-off joke, but four seasons later the real William Zabka shows up to Barney's bachelor party, thanking him for showing that someone else "finally" understands what "The Karate Kid" is really about. It's one of the best moments of Barney's life, thrown into one of the best episodes of season 8. Zabka would go on to regularly make appearances in season 9 of the show, even becoming Barney's best man for a little bit there.
A lot of fans credit this storyline for predicting "Cobra Kai," a popular TV series that debuted in 2018 and followed up on the lives of Daniel and Johnny from "The Karate Kid." In this show, Johnny is indeed portrayed more sympathetically than he is in the original film. However, "How I Met Your Mother" did more than just predict this new TV show; it also played a small role in getting the show produced in the first place.
The 'Cobra Kai' showrunners have fond thoughts about 'HIMYM'
In a 2020 interview, the "Cobra Kai" co-creator Josh Heald credited "How I Met Your Mother" for keeping "The Karate Kid" in the public consciousness, helping to prove that a TV spinoff could really be profitable. As he explained:
'We certainly appreciate the parallel fandoms that this show has, whether it's the 'How I Met Your Mother' storyline — which was amazing — we get asked all the time about that YouTube video if Daniel was the real bully ... All that stuff just kind of buoyed us a little bit when we were conceiving the show and comparing the storylines to pitch the show because it made us feel confident that we weren't the only ones, and we didn't think we were, but it was nice to see other creators have 'Karate Kid' on the mind."
"Cobra Kai" was initially greenlit by YouTube Red in 2017, just a couple of years after "HIMYM" wrapped up its run with its (underrated!) series finale. Although the show technically has nothing to do with the hit CBS comedy, it is funny to watch it and think about how Barney Stinson would probably love it. Or perhaps now that Johnny's being portrayed sympathetically, Barney might feel betrayed and start rooting against him. It's hard to say for sure; all we know is that Zabka himself is grateful for what "HIMYM" did. Neil Patrick Harris recently interviewed the actor for his website, where Zabka explained how big a deal "HIMYM" was for him.
"After decades of being cemented in pop culture as the '80s 'bad guy,' fans were suddenly sympathizing with me, and even rooting for me," Zabka explained. "All the love and goodwill I felt from that has continued to this day and certainly added fuel to the 'Cobra Kai' fire!"