Tuesday, May 15, 2012

I'm Starting to Not Care How You Met Their Mother

I knew the writers and producers of How I Met Your Mother would do this. Not reveal Robin (Cobie Smulders) as Barney's (Neil Patrick Harris) bride but string us along for an entire season only to continue the wedding next season. Although I did figure Barney's bride would be one of three people, Robin, Quinn (Becki Newton) and Nora (Nazanin Bonidai) and I really didn't think Barney would marry Quinn. I was also bothered by how the two-part season finale were just two separate episodes edited to become one. The hour-long episode was called "The Magician's Code" but had nothing to do with the magician's code until the second half-hour.

I was excited for season seven of HIMYM because I felt season six was once of the worst seasons they've ever had and that was coming off of season five which I considered the worst. Season seven did nothing to help with my belief that the show needs to end. The producers have the power to end the show themselves but I will get to that later. This season was a step above the previous two seasons mainly because things actually happened (Robin dating Kevin [Kal Penn], Lily and Marshall (Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel) moving to the 'burbs then moving back and Barney's relationships with Nora and Quinn) and didn't feature that dreadful Zoey (Jennifer Morrison). God, I hated Zoey.

I enjoyed the last episode because Lily is no longer pregnant but unfortunately now has that baby to lug around in every episode and Victoria (Ashley Williams) is back. The scene in the first season when Ted (Josh Radnor) hunts down Victoria at her bakery is my all time favorite television moment.
My whole problem with the wedding background plot is that the producers have been dragging this plot out since the beginning of season six and it promises to continue at least one episode into season eight. Hell, it could be drug out even more since the wedding takes place in the future. This show was once cute, well-written and very original but has, the last two to three seasons become just your standard sitcom. I don't know if it's because it's been on so long or what but I'm finding it becoming a chore to watch an episode. Don't get me wrong, sometimes they have really good episodes--typically the season premieres and finales are the best with two or three episodes sprinkled throughout the season and that's why I don't understand why the producers don't have a fixed end date for the show.

The producers constantly, when asked if they are going to end the show after X season, say it depends on the ratings and the network. What? You can choose to end the show yourself. As long as you are not under contract to do two, three more seasons, you can end the series with the eighth season and I think people would love you for it because a lot of fans are probably getting sick of having this dragged out and I would rather a good show end before it just becomes a shambling mess of the greatness it once was.

On the plus side, the show has to end by 2015 because that's when Ted's daughter is born and he has to have met the mother by then.