20 Most Paused TV Moments Of The Decade

2. The Mother Is Revealed (How I Met Your Mother - Season 8, Episode 24)

The Moment: At the end of the show's 184th episode, it's finally revealed that The Mother is Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti), who holds a yellow umbrella and bass guitar before asking for a ticket to Farhhampton, where she will subsequently meet Ted (Josh Radnor) and the rest, as they say, is history. Why It Had To Be Paused: Because after 8 seasons of build-up, this was the most monumental and important moment in the show's history up to that point. Plus, in casting a relatively unknown actress as The Mother, audiences wanted to get a good look at the woman who is finally good enough for Ted's lofty romantic ideals. The decision to pick Milioti was a brave one, though it's a shame that the writing staff undermined their own brilliant casting by killing her off in the series finale in order to end the series on a lame romantic reconciliation between Ted and Robin (Cobie Smulders).