Series Last Forever Review- I am going to get maimed for this (Spoilers)
I’ve been afraid to express my opinion over vocal majorities, but I cannot sit quietly while Ted’s name stands under The Scrappy. I for one like the finale, and there are lots of people who do, they just aren’t as loud as those who hate it for some reasons I see and some that I think are highly exaggerated.
The Mother is a baby machine and Ted is a horrible person for moving on after six years of mourning her death? I think the finale established pretty well that having Tracy die was the last thing Ted would’ve liked to happen. In fact, after Ted told the story and his kids came to the conclusion that it was just an attempt to get their permission for asking out their Aunt Robin, it took some convincing before even he accepted it. With his response of “What, I just call her?” it seems to me like he hadn’t given it much thought, and his decision to approach her with the smurf penis was obviously made on the spot.
Also, Robin gets sentimental about letting Ted go for a very brief period of time and that’s it. I never really got the impression that she regretted every life decision she ever made that led them to not being together. And Barney falling in love with his daughter is absolutely hated from what I’ve seen on the internet. Why!? Yeah, so Robin couldn’t provide him with a kid, but that doesn’t mean Barney didn’t genuinely feel for her! And did people want him to fucking throw the baby on the ground!? Anything besides what I saw happen with Barney in the heartwarming scene with his daughter would’ve derailed his character even further, which people were already complaining about to begin with, so accept that Barney's true love is his daughter. Robin had nothing to do with his kid, so drop it!
As for Lily, she hardly had any loose ends to tie up. They got home from Rome, she gets pregnant, and obviously that’s portraying women in a weak way. That part is definitely stretching it.
Look, obviously they didn't nail this finale. The entire ninth season takes place at Robin and Barney’s wedding and their divorce is undermined. But people hate the sinking of their ship so much that I believe a majority of the finale hate is just looking for things about it to loath besides the divorce. Yes, I would’ve preferred if Tracy stayed alive too, but don't blow everything out of proportion with the Unfortunate Implications.
Series It's the most overrated sitcom since Friends...
Which makes sense, given that it feels like little more than Friends 2.0. The characters are just about the same, the dynamic is just about the same - to the point where, for clarity's sake, I will refer to this show as 2.0, and Friends as 1.0. The only real differences are:
A) Better actors. 1.0 only had great talent in the form of Matthew Perry (David Schwimmer was okay too, but nowhere near as good.) Here on 2.0 we have Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, and Cobie Smulders.
B) A stupid gimmick that barely ties everything together - it's the story of one guy explaining how he got married.
Over the course of eight years and counting?
Uh, no. That concept strains credulity beyond the breaking point. I'm all for Willing Suspension Of Disbelief, but that really only applies where it's actually necessary - like, in genre stories, not sitcoms fueled by canned laughter. This is not to say, of course, that all multi-cam sitcoms are bad because they have canned laughter. It's only when the canned laughter is the only laughter in the room that it's a bad thing. I tried the first episode and, while the 2030 opening was funny, after that it went downhill fast, no matter how many supposedly funny things the four talented actors mentioned above would do. Knowing that even now, eight years later, the answer to the series' basic concept hasn't been answered, I wisely decided to give up. (I have recently heard that the next season, the ninth, will be 2.0's last. All I can say is...THANK GOD!)
The main reason why I can't stand this? Because 1.0 did the same sort of jokes 10-20 years ago, and it really wasn't funny then, either.
If I were responsible for making something like this, I would probably do it in a two-hour Apatow-like comedy film (and probably without the excessive raunch, which only Two And A Half Men and 21 Jump Street really get away with.) The comedy would actually be funny, too, and it would feel a little more real. This is why so many people watch Chuck Lorre's creations - they're not quite a reflection of reality, but they're closer to it than this dumb, gimmicky miscreation.
Series Why Last Forever Failed
I'm not gonna say what everyone has said about this already and why the finale failed to impress fans, but to add my own reason why it failed. Personally the biggest problem is that the finale was planned for an audience that have long since changed their worldviews on the show's pairings. Through some may argue otherwise, I figured the creators were not driven by their own Ted/Robin shipping—had the show never been picked up, Ted would have just ended up with Victoria and that's that, but the fact that Ted and Robin was popular during season 2 CBCT may wanted to "reward" the audience for their emotional investment by having the mother die in the end so the audience could get what they wanted.
However the audience changed and a lot of people who used to ship T/R stopped watching the show because their plot went nowhere and because the show kept saying that Ted and Robin did not work, furthermore the rest of the audience either shipped Swarkles or watched solely to find out who the mother was, thus whenever Ted went back to Robin felt very, very awkward. Thus the fanbase of the show drastically changed from one pairing to another and thus the imposition of this ending made it a very bitter pill to swallow in order to please a Vocal Minority that professes to not even watching the show anymore in contrast to the fanbase itself, which appreciated the show for what it is no matter how much flak it got for Seasonal Rot and wanted the show to end happily with all three pairings Happily Married. Thus the ending no longer worked because the fanbase stopped rooting for Ted/Robin a long time ago and the most popular pairing has changed. Even worse is that the audience could have been prepared for this ending, but the show made no effort to. A key problem is focusing the ending on the wedding itself, when they could have just done half of the season on the wedding and the other half on the events of the finale stretched out, in order to better prepare us for the ending or to justify why Ted should have ended up with Robin, and probably have avoided the Unfortunate Implications that the creators unwittingly triggered. Since this was not done, the finale felt like very badly written fanfiction very much out of place with the rest of the show in order to please a small group that themselves became less enthusiastic about the show in the first place.
Series Last Forever-The Finale
At the time of typing this review up I just finished the Finale after quickly burning through the last season. And well to quickly sum up the finale disappointing. That's all I really have, I mean yeah there's a lot wrong with it especially from a character development and devolving stand point. But I'm somebody who burned through the entire series just last year, watched the second to last season as it aired and now the last season in a night.
The first thing I'll note is that the end, I mean the actual true ending (last 5 minutes of the episode) was written WAY before this final season was even penned. It was also filmed WAY before the last season was filmed (something you can easily tell by how young David Henrie is in scenes.) Which leads to what I feel is the biggest problem with the finale. It's something I call "Already completed ending syndrome". To qualify for "already completed ending syndrome" a show/game/other media needs to on awhile or at least enough time for characters to have significant character development, however the finale ending feels like it was written for character near the beginning or maybe the middle of the story. Jokes and elements from the beginning make a sudden reappearance for no explained reason, characters jump down several levels of character development, and in some cases (like HIMYM) the ending would have made sense years ago.
For those who have seen the Finale you can probably tell what I'm talking about. So the main reason I think many people are mad at the ending is because it was written many years ago. It's an ending the writers wanted from the beginning rather than what the characters deserve from all their character growth.
Series Not What I Was Expecting
I checked this show out because my friend Jonny told me to. I wasn't really expecting much, just common sitcom cheese. I was however, pleasantly surprised at what I saw. The concept was interesting, the characters were appealing, and the jokes were all around funny. I've seen most of it by now, and while it has its problems just like every other show on TV, I think it's great.
For one, the concept of making the show a sitcom may have been what drew me away. There have been some great sitcoms in the past (none of which I've actually watched, I'm just going by what I've heard), but there's no denying that there's been a noticeable drop in quality in recent years. I can only name a few good ones going on at the moment that don't operate solely on overused cliches, groan-inducing jokes, and characters that irritate me, and How I Met Your Mother is one of them.
One of the main reasons that it stands apart from other shows is all of the continuity. This, of course, stems from its unique concept of being told twenty five years before the start of the series' events. All of the continuity gives it a feeling of reality, despite other smaller details that don't, such as life-changing obstacles becoming minor plot points. I also like the show's characters. A good show always contains likable characters, and while the fan base is divided about some, namely Lily and Barney, I happen to like them all. I like that they have defining personality traits without being exaggerated to the point where they are reminiscent of cartoon characters, except for probably Barney, and yet Neil Patrick Harris is still one of the show's main attractions in my opinion (along with Jason Segel of course). I think my favorite character might be Ted, because he's a Nice Guy, The Woobie, a Butt Monkey, and The Determinator all in one character, and the show does a good job to equally balance out those characteristics.
The biggest complaint to date is that the show has overstayed its welcome and that Ted is just rambling to his kids at this point, and I know the show has to end eventually, but I'm happy with its length, because it has stayed consistently funny throughout, and it's one of those shows that you don't want to end, but you can't wait for the Grand Finale (which you know there's gonna be one).
Series A Surprisingly Entertaining Show
It's a sitcom about how a guy met his future wife, and as of eight and a half seasons, he still hasn't. And yet it's still an entertaining show. Why? Because it's one of the few sitcoms that uses its format in an interesting way. Being a story told through flashbacks, the writers are able to use a lot of callback jokes and even call forward jokes to parts of the future that we've already seen. It also has a strong continuity for a sitcom, and even eight seasons later, a gag can be remembered, like the sword duel. But even disregarding that, the show has a firm base with its characters. Barney, of course, is one of the main attractions, but Neil Patrick Harris isn't the only strong actor of the bunch. Josh Radnor can actually hit those emotional scenes really well, and is able to pull off some good comedy when given the right material. I think it says something when you find out the script for the scene in 'The Final Page' where he's telling Robin to go after Barney never called for him or Cobie Smulders to cry. Cobie is great too, and I look forward to seeing her more in the Marvel movies/Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. Jason Segal has a strong comedic talent, but can do good emotional stuff when needed. Alyson Hannigan is probably the most down-to-earth out of all of them, but incredibly funny at the right moments. But the really great thing is that they all mesh together, and really feel like a family. How fitting that in a show about relationships, chemistry is a large part of what makes it good. Sure, it's not an award winner, and it's not very artistic (though I challenge anyone to watch 'The Time Travelers' and not feel a little sad). But at the end of the day, it's fun, and it provides lots of laughs. It's one of the few sitcoms that gets the comedy part right.
Series I'm Just Here fo Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris
As the title says, I only watch this show because Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris are among my favorite actors. Everyone else is just...bland and boring. I can't really summon up any other strong feelings about the show. That is not a good thing. Even hatred would be better than straight up apathy. None of the other characters are interesting enough for me to care about at all. I don't really think its a coincidence that Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris are the only actors to have careers outside of the show.
Series It was something special
I recently caught a reel on Instagram where Josh Radnor, who played Ted in How I Met Your Mother, relays an encounter with a Spanish fan who gushed about what made the show special to him: surprisingly, the framing device. Seeing the protagonist reminisce on his mid-20s made the fan realise that he is currently making those memories he too will later remember fondly, allowing him to feel more present in his life.
Considering how often people like to rag on the show's admittedly ridiculous premise — a guy narrating a story to his kids about how he married his unseen wife for an entire decade — it was a fresh perspective to hear, and it made me think about what makes HIMYM so consistently appealing to me even after all these years.
One aspect that always stands out among American sitcoms is how sincerely sentimental HIMYM is, without being overbearingly cloying (for the most part). There are plenty of good laughs, but at its core, it's a romance. The show celebrates that period of transition to "full adulthood" many of us go through in our 20s: trying to find love in the big city, hanging out with the same old friends at the same old bar, losing yourself to every random flight of fancy that comes along. However, the further we delve into Ted's journey, the bleaker it becomes as we begin to feel the weight of his stagnation and hopeless failure to find the elusive "One". The constant teases to the Mother's identity may get tiresome after so long, but the hype eventually paid off with a satisfying reveal.
Okay, other stuff to like: The authentic chemistry between the leads blows many other sitcoms out of the water. Barring some moments of Early Instalment Weirdness, the continuity is rewarding for long-time viewers. The indie rock soundtrack absolutely slaps.
Did it ever jump the shark? Well, making the entire final season focus around a highly anticipated wedding between the two most popular characters, only to unceremoniously annul it in the finale, was probably not the brightest idea. The finale itself is indeed terribly rushed, but with better build-up from the rest of the series, smoother execution of its ideas and fewer problematic quirks (yes, all the female main characters feel too defined by their ability / willingness to birth children and it's weird), I genuinely believe it could've gone down as one of the better codas to any mainstream TV show.
Honestly though, I'm sick of how the controversial ending has completely overshadowed the rest of the show's legacy. Even if you hated it with a seething passion, it must be because the rest of the show was pretty great, right? Why not focus on that?