Ellen Gray: What's in that kiss on 'Mother'?

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. 8:30 tonight, Channel 3.

WHEN IS A kiss the kiss of death?

It's a question that has to be on the minds of some fans of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," which last week ended with a lip-locked Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders).

Stuff like that seemed to happen a lot on "Friends," where the only opposite-sex hookup apparently considered verboten was between siblings Ross (David Schwimmer) and Monica (Courtney Cox).

But "HIMYM," thank goodness, isn't "Friends."

And having seen the CBS sitcom survive everything from the Robin-Ted (Josh Radnor) relationship (and breakup) to a much-hyped Britney Spears cameo, I'm inclined to give Barney and Robin the benefit of the doubt.

Harris, a gifted comic actor whose toxic bachelor, Barney, is the funny version of the guy David Spade usually plays, is more than capable of adding dimension to the character.

Though the Barney caricature is surprisingly faceted already.

Smulders' character's backstory, meanwhile, includes a teenage stint as a Canadian one-hit wonder. (Last week's kiss was preceded by the world premiere of the show's second "Robin Sparkles" video, an over-the-top production involving the beach, a robot and "Dawson Creek's" James Van Der Beek.)

But though we may think we know a lot about Robin, whose lack of interest in settling down would appear to match Barney's, I'm not sure the show's writers have as strong a handle on her character as they do on Barney's, making any closer relationship between the two at least as as risky as it might be comically rewarding.

If your idea of drama is a bunch of teens and twentysomethings sharing close quarters 24/7, then PBS has a series for you.

Yes, PBS.

"Carrier," a 10-hour series that premiered last night and will air nightly through Thursday (9 p.m., Channel 12), takes place on the USS Nimitz, a place where the action tends to be of the real-world variety, even if many of the participants wouldn't be out of place on "The Real World."

You think things get tense when attractive young people share sumptuous apartments in cool cities?

Imagine what it's like aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier at sea with more than 5,000 souls aboard. Average age: 19.

Everything from the guy who won't sort laundry, and the young woman who undergoes the Navy's equivalent of grounding for getting caught with alcohol, to racism and sexual misconduct gets touched on in the four hours I've seen of "Carrier," which makes it clear that don't-ask-don't-tell extends beyond the ship's gays and lesbians.

Romantic relationships of all sorts are discouraged, but when people work together, stuff has a way of happening, anyway.

Not everyone on board's a youngster, of course, and the documentary series, which was filmed during a six-month deployment in the Persian Gulf, gives plenty of face time to those for whom the Nimitz isn't just an alternative to a fast-food job.

What's remarkable about "Carrier," beyond its very un-PBS-like soundtrack, isn't that it shows people most of us would still think of as kids occasionally acting their age - it's that most of those so-called kids are handling some of the most adult responsibilities our society has to offer with a spirit that puts most of their "reality" show counterparts to shame. *

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.