Number of seasons: 9 Number of seasons it should have had: 7 How I Met Your Mother is now unfortunately infamous for its unsatisfying finale, which essentially tore up years of character development and foreshadowing in favour of a conclusion which pleased no one. The ending, unchanged from 2006, maintained an inflexible commitment to much older versions of the regular characters which was a poor reward for almost a decade invested in their lives, and threw away the goodwill amassed by Cristin Miliotis heart-rending performance as the Mother. The shows final years also stretched its flimsy premise to the limit. It became a running joke that Teds children were essentially held hostage to their fathers reminiscences, and in-story, Robin and Barneys relationship was treading water while Lilys character began to skew towards grating rather than opinionated. When in doubt, the series revisited Teds doomed relationship with Robin, in order for Ted to move on for the umpteenth time. In hindsight, How I Met Your Mother had been on a road to nowhere for quite some time, and its ending was immutable since season two. At least an earlier cancellation might have dulled the pain.
