Being a big fan of television and Netflix, I always try to find a new show to watch. I recently just finished all nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother and can honestly say it's one of the best shows I have seen in a while. Going into it I was skeptical of the show. I first thought of it as one of those shows that was all hype and no substance but once I actually sat down and watched it, I proved that I was mistaken. The show is a great mix of comedy, romance and even a bit of drama as well. After finishing the show the first thing I thought of (besides damn what am I going to watch now) was really how good of a show this was. The story and the characters were memorable along with the show being very quotable (Thank you Barney, for that). Once I finished the show I knew I had to take a look back at it and I've decided to analyze the show based on plot, characters, and story development. So without further ado here is my look at the hit show: How I Met Your Mother.

Plot

The plot of this show is pretty simple on paper; a father telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. Seems pretty simple, right? I remember going in, I thought, you could literally do that all in one episode, how does this show have nine seasons??? Well, you how sometimes you try to tell a story and end up getting off topic? Actually, better question have you ever had an experience where an adult talked for SO LONG that they probably don't even remember what they were originally talking about? This is one of those moments turned into a TV Show. So I guess this is more of a dad telling his kids how he met their mother except that the Mother is barely in the story and it's more of a trip down memory lane of all the stupid stuff that he and his friends did. Now if you look at it that way you would think, why would I want to watch that? But as soon as you watch the first episode, you understand.

Characters

The one thing an audience looks for when judging a TV show, it's the characters. The best characters are the ones that you remember, the ones that you can quote, the ones that take you on emotional roller coasters. All the characters on this show are funny and memorable in their own way. Our main character (and narrator) is Ted Mosby, an architect living in New York who is also a hopeless romantic and obsessed with finding "the one". His best friends are Marshall Erickson and Lily Aldrin who have been dating since they were in college, who have their own weird little quirks but always see past them. They have actually become one of those couples that everyone wants to be (goals.. really?) Robin Scherbatsky, Ted's first love interest when the show begins (SPOILER ALERT: she's NOT the Mother), a workaholic news anchor trying to climb the ladder of success. And then, of course, there's Barney Stinson. The womanizer of the group always finding new ways to seduce women as well as always trying to make the night as he likes to say legen... wait for it... dary.

You would think since these characters are based on basic character types that they would all be all look and no substance. But as the show evolves so do the characters and the best example of this is Robin. At the beginning of the show, Robin was the terribly cliched "dream girl" character and didn't have much to her. But as the show progressed Robin developed a lot more and became her own person and broke beyond the stereotypical cool girl everyone wants to be. She had her odd quirks like her fear of babies, her obsession with guns, her constant Canadian references that go over everyone else's heads and then, of course, there's Robin Sparkles.

A lot of credit can be given to actress Cobie Smulders who was able add more to the character as she grew into the role. The performance of all the actors helped make the characters so endearing even incorporating elements of their personal lives into the characters like Neil Patrick Harris' love for magic or Jason Segal's love of songwriting. Another thing that makes these characters memorable and good is the fact they have flaws and are not the perfect television people that we all want to be. Our main character Ted has flaws and some of those flaws even cause him to even make a few mistakes from time to time. Even Lily and Marshall's seemingly "perfect" relationship has its problems and some that a lot of people can relate to. We have all encountered a Ted Mosby or a Marshall Erickson (God help you if you've encountered a Barney Stinson) and some of us even are a Tedor even a Robin. The audience can relate to these characters and live (or relive) their own experiences through them. It is having well-written characters like this is what has given this show such a loyal fan base.

Overall Story Telling

The single most important thing that keeps people watching is the story telling. While plot sets up where the show is going, who the writers have the show progress is the key component in maintaining viewers. Especially for shows that last as long as nine seasons, your story telling needs to be really good in order to keep people interested for that long. One issue shows have when they're on for a long time is the issue of getting stale and dong what many refer to as "jumping the shark".

I don't believe that How I Met Your Mother ever jumped the shark and I can say with my experience watching the show there was never really a time where I felt that the show dragged on, although I will admit there were some parts of the eighth season that seemed a little dull but besides that, for the most part, this show was able to keep my interest. I remember the first season having so much going it felt like it could have been two seasons. What really kept my interest though was the relationship between Ted and Robin because right off the bat we are told that she is not the mother yet they continue to have that will they/won't they and I was interested in seeing what would finally be their undoing. Also the fact that they kept the titular Mother out of the picture for a majority of the series yet were able to still make us anticipate her and Ted's eventual meeting.

I also loved the shows use of running gags such as the doppelgangers, interventions, the playbook and, of course, the slap bet. The show's attention to continuity and detail are very good. I was very impressed with how they show was able to keep with continuity because I have always felt that it was something that always got messed up especially in sitcoms. Another thing that I believe made the show very good was its good blend of comedy and drama. Having watched shows like Scrubs and others, mixing of elements like comedy with drama has always added more interest in the show as it shows a bit of realism and can bring the sometimes whimsical world back to reality.How I Met Your Mother has had its fair share of emotional moments and a lot them because the writers did a great job of investing the audience with the characters that we felt for them. We experienced all the good and the bad with them and we felt the happiness and pain along with them.

Now I know I may be in the minority here but I was a fan of the final season because I found it interesting how they were able to make events that took place during an entire weekend into twenty-four episodes. The whole build up of that season leading to the eventual meeting Ted and his future wife really kept me interested. Especially with the many flashbacks between the future and the present making the audience more anxious to see how in fact Ted did meet the mother.

But while I am a fan of the final season of the show, I am with the majority of the fans that did not like the series finale. Now I will say that I thought that the episode was a good episode but I did not like the way the writers chose to end the story. Being a creative writing minor, we learn many techniques used in storytelling and one of the big things we have learned is that although it is good to have the ending of your story already figured out, it is also okay to change it as you go along. Without giving too much away, while I can respect the writers for sticking to their original plans, which is not always easy, I felt that in this case it did not suit the show well and especially with how they wrote certain characters and how well they made the audience fall in love with them, the ending just fell flat. But without being too hard on the finale, I will say that I loved the scene where Ted and the Mother finally meet. The music in the background and just the chemistry between the two of them really bring Ted's journey full circle. But just because I am not a fan of the ending, does not mean that the show still isn't one of my favorites. I think part of the reason the audience were so vocal about their dislike for the show's finale was because they loved it so much. They fell in love with the characters and the story was strong enough to keep them invested that they wanted something different from what they got.

In conclusion, is How I Met Your Mother the greatest show of all time? No, I will admit that but it is still a great show and definitely one worth checking out. It has its flaws but you can easily look past them to see a show that left me with a lot of laughs, thoughts, and definitely a lot of quotes. I cannot recommend this show enough. If you need a show to binge watch on Netflix, give this show a watch, you won't regret it, I promise.

I give it an 8.5 out of 10