After nine seasons, How I Met Your Mother wrapped up its run on CBS back on March 31.  Sadly, the finale will likely color everyone’s thoughts of the series as a whole, and not in a good way.  Back in the early days of the show, with early cancellation a very real threat and with the actors portraying the children getting older, the producers filmed an ending of them reacting to Ted’s story.  Unfortunately, they chose to stick with that ending.

Had the show ended after 2 or 3 seasons, the ending, with Ted explaining that the children’s mother had passed away and them encouraging him to move on with Robin, would have been perfect.  Unfortunately, with the show running 9 seasons, the writers and producers spent so much time and energy keeping Ted and Robin apart that there was no satisfaction in them ultimately ending up together.

The sad thing is that they managed to hit a home run by casting Cristin Milioti as the mother.  The few glimpses we had of her in the final season, which was another misstep I’ll get to in a moment, showed she had amazing chemistry with Josh Radnor’s Ted.  Assuming she was available for more than what she was used, it was a waste to use her as little as they did.  Instead, the entire 9th season was focused on the weekend leading up to Robin and Barney’s wedding.  Which wouldn’t have been bad except the marriage ended about 10 minutes into the final episode.

Looking further back, the show was a favorite from the beginning, and continued to be a strong performer well into its run.  Which makes it all the more disappointing that it ended on such a down note.