10 TV Shows That Failed Spectacularly In Their Final Season
6. How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother's ninth season stings all the more because the showrunners basically nailed the seemingly hardest part - casting The Mother.
Season eight ended by revealing that the Mother aka Tracy would be played by Cristin Milioti - a charming and likeable actress who would surely help carry the final season through to its inevitably happy conclusion.
But of course, it wasn't to be - HIMYM's series finale revealed that Tracy later died of a terminal illness, before the show ended with Ted (Josh Radnor) finding his happily-ever-after with Robin (Cobie Smulders).
It was a shocking twist ending which felt cruel and unnecessary, all the more so given both the popularity of the Mother and the fan consensus that Ted and Robin simply weren't a good fit.
Considering that this required Robin and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) getting divorced at the end of a season set entirely around their wedding weekend, it only rang all the more sour as a result.
The vitriol for the series finale in particular was potent enough that an alternate ending was released on DVD in which the Mother mercifully lived.
All the same, that final season severely tainted the series' legacy, because after how heavily its central gimmick leveraged itself on a satisfying final destination, it was ultimately anything but.