Wednesday, December 07, 2011

How HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER should end

I recently did a post on how I thought MAD MEN should end. It’s kind of fun to think about how to wrap up long running series. One show has a built-in last episode. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. You figure that on the series finale they will finally reveal just who the mother of Ted’s kids is.

But if I know those writers, they won’t just leave it at that. They’re always great about finding one more little ingenious twist. So if they haven’t already, might I offer the following suggestion?

TED HAS FINISHED HIS STORY. (THE AUDIENCE NOW KNOWS WHO THE MOTHER REALLY IS.)  THE KIDS AD LIB, “THANKS, DAD”, “COOL”, “THAT WAS A GREAT STORY BUT IT’S NOW ELEVEN HOURS PAST OUR BEDTIME”. THEY START TO HEAD UP TO THEIR ROOMS WHEN TED STOPS THEM.

TED: Kids, wait. There’s one more thing.

THEY RELUCTANTLY TURN BACK, KNOWING THAT “ONE MORE THING” COULD MEAN ANOTHER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN HOURS.  TED TAKES A DEEP BREATH, THEN:

TED: Telling you all these stories, and reliving those all those memories – all those great nights just hanging out with my buds, all those women that Uncle Barney slept with, all those women that I slept with – Aunt Robin, y’know she’s still smoking hot – it just occurred to me that those were really the best years of my life. And I gave them up.  Why?  For what?  Now I’m trapped in a house telling bedtime stories instead of living them. And I love your mother, but don’t you think it’s kind of weird that practically all of my stories were about other women? So, I guess what I’m saying is… I’m leaving your mother. I’m too young to just give up and settle down. Aunt Robin just got out of an abusive relationship. I’m going for it, kids!  

CUT TO BLACK:

TITLE CARD: Ted will be back next season in HOW I MET YOUR STEP-MOTHER

Whattaya think?  I bet CBS would love it.  Not to mention  all the "Aunt Robin" fans.

23 comments :

  1. Amazing !!!
    Loved it!

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  2. Love it, Ken-- I'm a HIMYM superfan (though don't get me wrong, I'm pretty critical of their, uh, lesser seasons) so this was fun to read!

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  3. I wonder how kids would really react if you told them about all the women you were obsessed with but rejected by before you did meet their mother?

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  4. I love it! Has a touch of that amazing final scene on Newhart :)

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  5. I think the series spins-off to an homage of 1980s sitcom polyamorous horror, Our Two Moms.

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  6. Didn't you post and delete this a couple weeks back?

    I stopped watching HIMYM when the show forgot its own premise.

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  7. Ken, how do you feel about the new rules issued by MLB about how media should dress?

    http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/MLB-issues-dress-code-guidelines-for-media-members-120711

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  8. Pretty sure they can't write any new scenes with the "kids" because they're both 30 by now.

    They should go completely meta and have Ted end by saying "And that's how I met your mother. Have I ever told you about the time I lived in San Francisco with a rock musician and a impressionist and a housefull of kids?" and then from that point on air "Full House" episodes in HIMYM's time-slot.

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  9. Great. Now you just gotta work in meeting the stepmother on Excused and we're there.

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  10. Ken - NY Times just posted that Harry Morgan passed away.

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  11. The next Season should be set a further 10 years into the future and be called, "HOW I WON YOUR MOTHER BACK". That way he can spend all his time talking about all the other women he tried to bang before finally feeling bad at the end of the season eight, buying some flowers, and begging for another chance.

    One thing I noticed about HIMYM is that the more we learn about Ted's perfect woman, the less we relate to him... Or at least, I do. I think part of the show's pull is that he represents all the single, romantic males out there... and their search for "perfect woman".

    However, there's going to come a point where he'll be raving about how his future wife can recite Dante in the original Italian, and we're all going to stop caring.

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  12. Kids, did you ever notice that your Aunt Robin looked really pregnant one season?

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  13. I think it should end with the revelation that the Mother is dead, and that's why Ted is reminiscing/rambling all day and why the kids have been putting up with it.

    A lot of people would hate it, but they might as well go out with a bang and do something truly memorable. Love it or hate it, I don't think they'd forget it.....

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  14. LAprGuy...I thought that was Aunt Lily.

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  15. Jason Segel had an idea that at the end of the last episode, the camera would pan to a window to show a post-apocalyptic wasteland with like, zombies and shit. Sorry, Ken. I respect you and all, but I think that one wins.

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  16. "Say, I just noticed that in the time it took me to tell this story, you kids have grown up and gotten married yourselves. How did you meet your spouses? Ha, never mind, I'm totally not interested!"

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  17. Nice idea. Hopefully Cobie Smulders will have improved her rudimentary acting skills until the spin-off series starts.

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  18. You actually watch Cobie ACT?

    I just watch her breathe...

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  19. More a SISTER WIVES fan myself, but I see where you're going, Ken. Thumbs up~

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  20. You are evil. But it won't be like that.

    HIMYM will end, and then the producers will do HIMYF as a spin-off.

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  21. I could never get into this show.
    The show's entire premise seems to be listening to a guy reminiscing about his frat-style-bros. It reminds me of being trapped at a bar with "that guy", but someone has glued my shoes to the floor and I can't escape.

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  22. Dear Ken,

    I doubt you'll read this old post, but it's quite amusing that you predicted a few of the major story beats.

    Kudos and thank you for your work on some of the most enjoyable (with better-written finales) comedies of all time.

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