‘How I Met Your Father’ Will Get a Linear Run on Freeform

Kids, did I ever tell you about the time that my streaming series got a secondary run on a linear cable network? Hulu’s “How I Met Your Father” will make its linear debut next month on Freeform, marking the first time the series has been available off of Hulu.

“How I Met Your Father” will bow Tuesday, April 25, on Freeform, starting with the first two episodes, “Pilot” and “Fomo,” at 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET, respectively. Episodes will continue to air back-to-back each week, culminating with the season finale on May 23. Hulu will continue to also offer “How I Met Your Father” episodes for streaming as well.

“How I Met Your Father” premiered in January 2022; the comedy is currently in the midst of a 20-episode Season 2, having returned earlier this winter.

Episodes will continue to premiere each Tuesday on the channel, continuing with the 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. slots each week.

“How I Met Your Father” centers on Sophie (Hilary Duff) and how she met the future father of her son, starting in the year 2021. The story is told from the perspective of Sophie (Kim Cattrall) in the year 2045, as she recounts her exploits with her group of friends in New York.

Besides Duff, “How I Met Your Father” also Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley and Tien Tran. Cattrall is a recurring star, as are Daniel Augustin, Ashley Reyes and Josh Peck.

“How I Met Your Father” comes from the same series DNA as “How I Met Your Mother.” Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger created the series; they also exec produce, along side Carter Bays,  Craig Thomas, Pamela Fryman and Adam Londy. Hilary Duff is as a producer on “How I Met Your Father,” which comes from 20th Television. “How I Met Your Father” landed two Emmys last year, in outstanding cinematography for a multi-camera series, and outstanding multi-camera picture editing for a comedy series.

The linear run for “How I Met Your Father” comes as more streamers are taking advantage of synergy to find secondary windows for their shows. HBO Max has already run some of its series, like “Love Life” and “The Flight Attendant” on TNT and TBS, and last month started airing HBO library content (“Silicon Valley,” “True Blood”) on those two basic cable outlets. Early in their runs, Paramount+’s (then known as CBS All Access) “Star Trek Discovery” and “The Good Fight” received exposure on CBS; more recently, the premiere of HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” redux got a rebroadcast on The CW.

And at Disney, the first episode of Disney+’s “The Mandalorian” aired on ABC, FX and Freeform last month. Also, Disney+’s “The Mysterious Benedict Society” received a run on Disney Channel, and Disney+’s “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” ran on Freeform in January.

Here’s the schedule for how the “How I Met Your Father” episodes will premiere on Freeform: