All I can say is, "Thank you for the laughs!" This show took me through a broad spectrum of emotions.
Now to give a thorough review: Seasons 1-5 were brilliant. They were full of inside jokes, funny college flashbacks, laugh out loud antics, relatable relationship mistakes, and even some "d'awww" moments. The show was the kind of stuff that made you wish you had friends as awesome as Ted, Robin, Barney, Lily, and Marshall! Writing, dialogue, and character development was sharp and the characters, though set in their ways, seemed to always be put in the right comical situations.
My gripe with Seasons 6-9? The show just got long in the tooth. There wasn't enough fuel to sustain it; it was running on fumes. Jokes were being recycled mercilessly, flashbacks and scenarios started to get more and more far fetched and less funny, and Ted's relationships became far less interesting (Jeannette anyone?). The characters' idiosyncrasies which had charmed and entertained me in seasons 1-5 were now boring me. Long story short, the show lost its freaking mojo. Instead of enjoying each episode and wondering what would happen next, I would trudge through episodes half-heartedly just waiting to find out "How He Met the Mother." I think the breaking point was when Ted decided to go back to Victoria for the third time...I had just about had it...Seriously? The end of season 8 and all of season 9 were in my mind complete garbage. The writers, actors, and viewers gave up in my opinion. The timeline of season 9 (mostly taking place the 55 hours before the wedding) was just borderline torturous. Speaking of the absurdity of the final two seasons, Daphne? That was such a dumb distraction from the main plot. Although the whole show was built around distractions from the plot, they just stopped being funny...Daphne is a prime example.
One of the biggest mysteries of the show is what the hell happened to Marshall's character? He started out being witty, funny, and although slightly obsessed with Lily (who could blame him?), he was his own man! By the end of the show he was reduced to the role of saying a stupid one liner every episode (which were never funny). He lost his edge. By the time the show wrapped up and he became a Supreme Court Justice, I really did not care. Big Fudge? More like Big Dud.
THE ENDING (Pure personal opinion here with no technical basis)
I really, really liked the Mother aka Tracy. I think she is incredibly beautiful and I would want her to be the mother of my next child...That awkward statement aside...WHY OH WHY did she have to die? She was the ONE for Ted. The show wrapped up season 9 (easily the worst) by making us fall in love with her, informing us she died in the last 4 minutes of the show, and THEN hastily (6 years in 10 seconds) showing us Ted moving on to Robin...Really? Robin and Ted SUCKED as a couple. No, Robin SUCKED as a partner. I liked Robin separately, but Ted was too good for her! Long story short, I'm really butt hurt that Tracy was dead.
THE ENDING (Technically speaking)
God, it was so rushed and poorly crafted.
Due to the pressure that networks like CBS, FOX, and NBC put on TV shows to perform in certain time slots, it was only natural that the ending to "HIMYM" would end up being botched. The show was of course incredibly funny, but once viewership started to drop (people lose interest over time), the show was relegated to a different time slot until it was probably given a cancellation notice. A show like "HIMYM" which meanders as much as it did the first half of its run was forced to "resolve" its plot relatively quickly to the build up which is why IMO the final season was as disappointing as it was.
Overall I want to thank "How I Met Your Mother" for giving me a TON of laughs. I totally downloaded "I Would Walk 500 Miles" and still get a smile every time it plays! I also have to say that the show somehow always managed to assemble the most incredibly gorgeous women that I have ever seen in starring and supporting roles. I have many good memories from the show, but I just wish the last few seasons were one of them. The last 50 episodes definitely were tough to get through.
I'd definitely recommend this show to a friend, but more for casual watching than binge watching.
Now to give a thorough review: Seasons 1-5 were brilliant. They were full of inside jokes, funny college flashbacks, laugh out loud antics, relatable relationship mistakes, and even some "d'awww" moments. The show was the kind of stuff that made you wish you had friends as awesome as Ted, Robin, Barney, Lily, and Marshall! Writing, dialogue, and character development was sharp and the characters, though set in their ways, seemed to always be put in the right comical situations.
My gripe with Seasons 6-9? The show just got long in the tooth. There wasn't enough fuel to sustain it; it was running on fumes. Jokes were being recycled mercilessly, flashbacks and scenarios started to get more and more far fetched and less funny, and Ted's relationships became far less interesting (Jeannette anyone?). The characters' idiosyncrasies which had charmed and entertained me in seasons 1-5 were now boring me. Long story short, the show lost its freaking mojo. Instead of enjoying each episode and wondering what would happen next, I would trudge through episodes half-heartedly just waiting to find out "How He Met the Mother." I think the breaking point was when Ted decided to go back to Victoria for the third time...I had just about had it...Seriously? The end of season 8 and all of season 9 were in my mind complete garbage. The writers, actors, and viewers gave up in my opinion. The timeline of season 9 (mostly taking place the 55 hours before the wedding) was just borderline torturous. Speaking of the absurdity of the final two seasons, Daphne? That was such a dumb distraction from the main plot. Although the whole show was built around distractions from the plot, they just stopped being funny...Daphne is a prime example.
One of the biggest mysteries of the show is what the hell happened to Marshall's character? He started out being witty, funny, and although slightly obsessed with Lily (who could blame him?), he was his own man! By the end of the show he was reduced to the role of saying a stupid one liner every episode (which were never funny). He lost his edge. By the time the show wrapped up and he became a Supreme Court Justice, I really did not care. Big Fudge? More like Big Dud.
THE ENDING (Pure personal opinion here with no technical basis)
I really, really liked the Mother aka Tracy. I think she is incredibly beautiful and I would want her to be the mother of my next child...That awkward statement aside...WHY OH WHY did she have to die? She was the ONE for Ted. The show wrapped up season 9 (easily the worst) by making us fall in love with her, informing us she died in the last 4 minutes of the show, and THEN hastily (6 years in 10 seconds) showing us Ted moving on to Robin...Really? Robin and Ted SUCKED as a couple. No, Robin SUCKED as a partner. I liked Robin separately, but Ted was too good for her! Long story short, I'm really butt hurt that Tracy was dead.
THE ENDING (Technically speaking)
God, it was so rushed and poorly crafted.
Due to the pressure that networks like CBS, FOX, and NBC put on TV shows to perform in certain time slots, it was only natural that the ending to "HIMYM" would end up being botched. The show was of course incredibly funny, but once viewership started to drop (people lose interest over time), the show was relegated to a different time slot until it was probably given a cancellation notice. A show like "HIMYM" which meanders as much as it did the first half of its run was forced to "resolve" its plot relatively quickly to the build up which is why IMO the final season was as disappointing as it was.
Overall I want to thank "How I Met Your Mother" for giving me a TON of laughs. I totally downloaded "I Would Walk 500 Miles" and still get a smile every time it plays! I also have to say that the show somehow always managed to assemble the most incredibly gorgeous women that I have ever seen in starring and supporting roles. I have many good memories from the show, but I just wish the last few seasons were one of them. The last 50 episodes definitely were tough to get through.
I'd definitely recommend this show to a friend, but more for casual watching than binge watching.