8 Alternate TV Endings Much Better Than What We Got
6. How I Met Your Mother: The Happy Ending
The real problem with How I Met Your Mother's ending wasn't the fact it killed off the Mother, it was more that it tricked the fans into rooting for all of the wrong things.
Not only did the show try to convince the audience that Ted and Robin are horrible for each other at every opportunity, it based an entire season around the latter's wedding to Barney only to nullify it with a throw-away montage at the end.
The Mother was touted as a happy ending for Ted, and while having her die of cancer at the 11th hour was a shocking twist, pairing him with Robin felt like a betrayal.
An alternative conclusion which wound up on the final season's DVD and Blu-Ray basically plays out like your vanilla happy ending, with Ted getting with the Mother and Barney and Robin seemingly back together. So the same setup, minus the gut-wrenching parts.
Sure, it's sickeningly sentimental, but at least it works and doesn't leave the fanbase feeling like they've been screwed over royally.