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How I Met Your Father Editor on Legacy/Original Voice Balancing Act

Editor Russell Griffin spoke with Bleeding Cool about balancing respecting HIMYM while expanding the franchise with How I Met Your Father.

Russell Griffin is a lifelong fan of sitcoms and wants to contribute creatively to how he can behind-the-scenes writing, producing, directing, and editing. A huge opportunity arose when Hulu came calling on How I Met Your Father, the spin-off of the long-running CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. As an editor, Griffin worked on several projects across film and television, including Nick at Nite's See Dad Run, Nickelodeon's Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn, Disney's Raven's Home, Spectrum's Mad About You revival, Netflix's Pretty Smart, and Family Reunion. As the title suggests, HIMYF follows Sophie (Hilary Duff) and her close-knight group of friends who are figuring out who they are and what they want out of life in the age of dating apps and limitless options. Griffin spoke to Bleeding Cool about how he landed the role of editor, paying respect to its predecessor while creating a new voice, if he felt any pressure, sitcoms that influenced him, and expanding himself creatively.

Creating Sophie's World in "How I Met Your Father"

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'How I Met Your Father?'

Griffin: I've always been a big fan of the whole 'How I Met Your Mother' universe. When 'How I Met Your Father' came about, it was a natural fit. I love what they've done there in creating the character in the world that they exist in, and I see this spin-off with such great people. It's something I couldn't resist.

With HIMYF, there are some expectations to kind of match its predecessor. As an editor, was there an attempt to create its own identity, or did you emulate the previous show as much as you can?

It's a little bit of both. You wanted it to make it in its world and its universe, but you want to pay homage to the history that's come before it. Our showrunners, Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, were fantastic in creating their world and also living within the same universe that it was created from.

You've also dealt with a separate reboot or reimagining with 'Mad About You,' did you feel pressure to recreate the format of the show? Did the experience with that series help with 'How I Met with Your Father?'

Dealing with intellectual properties that are so beloved, you certainly have a big responsibility to make sure to pay homage to that and to keep things going fresh, yet you also want to make sure that you're good. There's a little bit of pressure, but not too much. It's all a loving environment.

You've had like a long history with TV, and you got your start with films. Tell me how you settled into your style creatively.

Starting, you make your way and find your style. It informs editors about what they've watched as well as how they grew up wanting to get into editing. From my influences of 'Cheers' and 'Friends' and all those great sitcoms, you enjoy emulating what you've seen before and creating a new thing you're working on.

I see you've also directed and produced as well. Is directing something more that you want to do in the future, or do you prefer editing?

I would love to do both. I enjoy directing. It's another passion of mine, but also editing is my passion. Directors like Jimmy Burrows or getting to work with Pam Fryman right now, these legendary directors have certainly inspired me to do my own. When I'm editing, I'm also approaching it from a director's standpoint. It helps me inform both disciplines to be a good editor, makes me a good director, and vice versa.

You brought up 'Cheers' and 'Friends.' Were there other shows and sitcoms that influenced your work?

Absolutely, 'How I Met Your Mother' and then 'Frasier,' these great sitcoms from the '80s and '90s everybody loves. The list could go on and on, and I'm happy there's another resurgence of these types of sitcoms, what we call multi-cam sitcoms, where you think of the traditional audience members in bleachers watching this show and living it like it's a virtual play if you will.

Was there another genre you're kind of hoping to do in the future, or do you feel right at home with sitcoms?

I would love to do dramas, but my bread and butter and my passion is the sitcom. That's not to say that sitcoms can't aspire to be more than laughs. My favorite episodes of my favorite sitcoms are the ones that impact you emotionally, going above and beyond the laughs, pratfall, or a gag. It's something that's character-based and deals with emotions. Those are the best type of sitcoms is the ones that are almost more like dramas than themselves.

One of the best ones from Bill Lawrence I can think of is 'Scrubs' as a classic case of blending the two where it's so grounded that it's not beyond implausible and it's so organic.

They're doing the same thing with 'Ted Lasso' and 'Shrinking.' These are great shows that can tug at your heartstrings as well.

How I Met Your Father, which also stars Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, and Kim Cattrall season two part two returns on May 23rd on Hulu.

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