I've got to think that something major is going to happen for Ted toward the end of this season. Does this show have a set number of seasons it is going to run?
Ted is so inter-twined in all the others lives that he can't move on til they do. He's got Marshall and Lilly back in town, they are happy now, Robin off to a first good career step, she's on the move, Barney apparently over his committment issues and hinting at marriage. Ted will move forward, he was stuck in "college mode" living with some combination of Marshall, Lilly and Robin, heck he was even back in college dorms! He now has his own place, an established career and a house to rebuild. He supposedly meets his wife at Barney's wedding which I think comes at the season finale when they wrap back to the season premier.
All of their contracts end at the end of the next season and Segel has said he is done after that so they better get on wrapping this up.
Segal has quoted it in a bunch of interviews... just Google it. Thomas & Bays said during the first couple of seasons that they were ideally hoping for a six year arc to tell the story. You can see that once it got really popular, they stretched it out... everything since the beginning of season 4 has been like pulling teeth as far as plot development goes. By any qualitative standard the show has now been terrible for longer than it was good. I have stuck with it because I have an attachment to the characters and the story, but I know that in 10 years we will all be sitting around wondering how we ever watched this rubbish. Very similar to Friends - both shows were decent in their first 3 seasons or so, but their real success was not the comedy but building a group of characters that people really invested in. In both cases it let the shows run far longer than they deserve on comedic merits. Also, I want to stab Lily. Seriously. Ever since she ran off on Marshall at the end of season 1 she's got progressively bitchier and self-centred and childlike and all-round annoying.
The whole cast is contracted through May 2013, and Segel was pretty clear in his GQ interview that he didn't intend to stay beyond the current contract: http://www.aoltv.com/2010/06/25/jason-segel-plans-to-leave-himym-in-three-years/ Carter Bays has hinted that he wants to do Season 9, but that he wouldn't if he doesn't have the whole cast.
When in doubt, check Alan Speinwall's archives. January 2012 panel at TCA Some tidbits Lots of other good stuff in that story, but not a ton of definitive ending info since now a ninth season may be in play.
I gave up on this show a couple seasons back. But here's the thing...in Ted's voiceovers to the kids he's always calling her "Aunt Robin." So I don't see how she can be the Mother.
She isnt. That was established back in like the first season and then confirmed when he tries to date the mother's roommate.
OMG! Ted + RObIn = <3 The kids are adopted. Ten more seasons of serial drama to find their real mother.
I remember when I got the screener for the pilot and was so pissed by the end. The only character I liked was Barney but for some reason I kept up with the show and it turned pretty decent. Now I'm just along for the ride until the end.
Same here. I have weeks I enjoy it and weeks I want to find Bays and Thomas and nutpunch them. But I will put the first few seasons on for background noise via Netflix Streaming - it was some good stuff.
I actually find Barney to be annoying. He is just too over-the-top at times. I find Robin, Ted, and Marshall to be most likable although Ted can be boring at times. Robin is probably my favorite character with Marshall coming in second.
I feel the same with Barney, although he isn't as bad when he is in a relationship..... I am glad they got rid of Kevin, he was the Poochie of How I Met Your Mother
And Kal Penn was really a fall back when Michael Trucco got another show which scuttled their plans to have his character become more involved with Robin.
See, I think he was useful in wiping that Ted-Robin-Barney triangle clean, and being the voice of the audience so they could work a lot of the weirdness out. And I think his race was a non-issue - it was more that a B-lister was never going to be a long-term cast member.