How I Met Your Mother. The title and central hook for the long-running CBS sitcom turned from tantalising mystery to pleasantly diverting subplot to mind-numbing stupidity over the course of nine seasons. Viewers met the central five patrons of MacLaren's Pub in the Pilot, following them through success, failure, break-up, marriage, and, most often, hilarious asides. Framed as a story of how the protagonist Ted Mosby met his children's mother, an unassuming sitcom grew into a collection of catchphrases, killer callbacks, complex plots, heartbreaking slices of reality, and whirling flights of fancy. Viewers were ecstatic to finally steal a glimpse at the Mother at the end of an admittedly rocky eighth season, and the ninth season geared up for an incredibly ambitious series of events that would close out the saga of Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney in suitably legendary fashion. Alas, several fatal mistakes caused the ending to rank amongst the most polarizing on TV in a long while (okay, there's Dexter, but, just, okay?). The finale in particular drew harsh criticism from most circles and fierce backlash on what had been an amazing show with a few minor missteps. People could only ask, most likely just like Ted on many occasions, "What if?" Well, here you have 10 simple fixes that could have saved the ending...
