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How I Met Your Mother - Series Finale - Official Alternate Ending + Poll

Sep 10, 2014

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252 comments:

  1. klutzy_girlSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:12 PM

    This is infinitely better than the real ending and this is what they should have used. Even more pissed now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Babar SuhailSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:18 PM

    Ugh, that original ending. Why couldn't they have shot two endings with the kids as well and used the one that fit better when the show was to end?

    ReplyDelete
  3. SupermakSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:20 PM

    glad they didn't air it, this was just a good ending, i liked much better the one they aired, it was more profound and meaningful even if sad than this one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Babar SuhailSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:21 PM

    Just saw that you had this scheduled, sorry. The habit of posting HMYM stuff right away came back, so I didn't even bother checking before posting. Would have emailed you this but I am on my cwll and that would me too much work (yes, I am that lazy, lol).

    ReplyDelete
  5. oddball87September 6, 2014 at 7:22 PM

    God damn, I wish that was the real ending. That train platform scene was pretty perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  6. DEADTERMINATORSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:22 PM

    Back in season 2, HIMYM wasn't a big hit. It was always on the bubble if I remember correctly. They probably figured that they had 1 or 2 more seasons in them and the original ending would have still fit with the show at that time.

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  7. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:24 PM

    This one is much better, it fits what the show became after season 3, and makes a lot more sense. Not to mention it doesn't contradict everything we've saw about how Ted and Robin don't work and doesn't just write the Mother off with a unnamed illness. Hell it even salvages season nine and it being based on Barney and Robin's wedding, by implying they were alright in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  8. DEADTERMINATORSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:26 PM

    I'm kind of torn on this ending. On one hand, it is pleasant and is probably the ending I'll use in whenever I rewatch the series. On the other hand, it didn't really make me feel anything, which for better or worse the original ending absolutely did. With better execution of the episode and the season preceding, I believe the original ending would have been the best choice.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Babar SuhailSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:30 PM

    Too bad they thought of this after the fan backlash and just to get people to buy the box set.

    ReplyDelete
  10. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:32 PM

    Yeah that is incredibly annoying. That is more or less a gimmick to get people to buy the set. Still at least we got this for those of us that despised the original ending.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Tomáš PetríkSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:32 PM

    This! This is the ending. This is how the show ended. Nobody's gonna talk me out of it. There was no other ending. Nope. I mean... what other ending? This one, right? Obviously, as there is no other ending. Ted and Tracy are happy. Together. Alive. Both of them. Yes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. shizmcgrizzSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:33 PM

    Damn it this is so so much better. Even though they still ruined Barney and Robin I think if this aired i could still stand to watch reruns.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Tomáš PetríkSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:35 PM

    But they hinted that Barney and Robin got back together. They said that things fall apart and things get back together, while showing Barney and Robin smiling at each other at Ted and Tracey's wedding.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Morrigan_2575September 6, 2014 at 7:36 PM

    That's the ending that should have aired, IMO.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Babar SuhailSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:37 PM

    I am actually looking forward to the 18 minute of deleted footage from the finale more than this ending. I hope those of us who don't intend on buying the box set get to see that.

    ReplyDelete
  16. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:39 PM

    It'll be leaked online somewhere, probably on youtube. I'm just going to wait for it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. shizmcgrizzSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:40 PM

    Yeah that's true but, there was still a whole season of their wedding only to be divorced 10 minutes later, and all the character development they flushed down the toilet with Barney.

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  18. KokySeptember 6, 2014 at 7:40 PM

    I never thought I could get more angry about how they ended the show, but they managed to do it. WHY COULDN'T THAT HAVE BEEN THE OFFICIAL ENDING????

    ReplyDelete
  19. Babar SuhailSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:41 PM

    The season 8 deleted scenes never made it to youtube, so I'll desperately be searching tumblr for the finale deleted scenes.

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  20. Babar SuhailSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:51 PM

    Because C & C are stubborn *insert curse word here* and couldn't think of using another ending than the one they had originally come up with.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Michaela KollinSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:52 PM

    Yup. I'm definitely pretending that this is how it ended.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Lord NikonSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:55 PM

    Still not ending i was expecting but hey it works better then the previous one.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Caitlin RiceSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:56 PM

    After watching this, I'm even more annoyed. It may not be the more emotionally gut punch of an ending, but it doesn't feel like a slap in the face either.

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  24. julia yamadaSeptember 6, 2014 at 7:56 PM

    How can this be the alternate ending???

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  25. elle j.September 6, 2014 at 8:01 PM

    I would like to know how in the world Bays and Thomas could look at this alternate ending, compare it to the aired ending, and then decide to go with what we saw on screen. Amazing at the lack of understanding and foresight that went into that decision. How in the world could they decide to not go forward with this alternate ending!? It was the ideal way to not only end HIMYM, but to also summarize it. As perfect as this alternate ending was, the damage was done by the aired ending and it cannot be undone. Then again, was this alternate ending really a viable choice at the time the series finale aired? Are Bays and Thomas trying to pull a fast one and edited this revised ending only to include it as an extra to boost DVD sales and not lose viewers in the syndicated market. If that's the case, that's even more dishonest than how they chose to end this show.

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  26. MurderMondaysSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:03 PM

    Seriously, this ending is just sunshine-and-rainbows garbage.


    People are just upset that they didn't get the ending they wanted. I mean, the real ending sucks because we saw Ted and Robin didn't work? Come on now. We also saw Barney and Robin didn't work but they got back together without resolving any of their issues and most people didn't have a problem with that.


    Ted and Robin didn't work YEARS before they got back together. After Ted's wife died they were both completely different people looking for different things than they were past. Robin had had her dream career and Ted had found(and lost) the love of his life. They weren't suddenly soulmates. They were just two people who loved each other who were looking for someone to share their lives with.


    It's a great ending and I'll be sticking with it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. fynqarSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:07 PM

    A million times better than the one aired, but it's still not worth the money that they want from us. Also, as everyone can see, there was no extra footage that they could use for this alternate ending. The funny thing is that the creators even got to put in at least one jab with the whole necklace thing in the montage.

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  28. melbyeSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:10 PM

    The last episode aired on March 31 which is close enough to April 1st so we can pretend that the aired ending was a April Fool's Joke. This is the true ending. Two words, Armin Tamzarian

    ReplyDelete
  29. JJSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:26 PM

    No, no there is now way this ending would work because its not all about Robin you guys. Didn't you know this is the How I Met Robin show. Screw Tracey who is adorable, funny and an awesome wife and mother. The show is all about Ted and Robin. They just needed to overcome all those darn obstacles in life like engagements and marriage to Barney, wive's like Tracey, having kids you know all that inconvenient stuff of life to get to their one true goal: letting Ted and Robin bone again together. Ted's wife was created for the sole purpose of giving Ted the kids he wanted that Robin couldn't have because of fertility issues. Christ if they wanted Ted and Robin together so bad why didn't they have the two of them get together and adopt some kids? Or play it off like they had fertility treatment and she was miraculously able to have the two kids. I would have even bought that ending more then I did the original ending and I actually would have thought it was kind of cute if done right.


    Seriously though they should have gone with this video ending and said screw this Ted/Robin ending. Why they didn't go with this ending instead of so catering to the Robin and Ted fans I don't know.

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  30. JJSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:29 PM

    I know right its funny they put it on the DVD like that is going to make the many of us who hated the ending and final season want to buy the dvd for period. Much less for that much money. Like they didn't know someone was going to find a copy of the ending and upload it for the internet instead of everybody wasting money on a dvd season.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Mister J81September 6, 2014 at 8:31 PM

    Amazing how one episode can ruin an entire series. I too cant watch reruns, knowing he ends up with the first love interest introduced in the first ep makes the whole journey pointless.

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  32. N27September 6, 2014 at 8:37 PM

    I don´t mean to offend anyone but this ending doesn´t fit.
    I can understand that this has a nice feel-good Happy Ending but narratively it´s pretty pointless because to tell that story, you could have had only season 9 and it would have made sense.
    Apart from that, this ending only makes sense if season three would have been the first. In this case, the whole Robin-Ted thing would than have been something similar to Jerry - Elaine on Seinfeld. Two friends have dated each other but getting back together is so highly unlikely that no one would consider it. Granted.
    But that´s not how the show was told.
    The fact that the show started with Robin meant that she was meaning something important to Ted and must have had an impact on the whole story, whether you like the outcome or not.
    Otherwise the question in the pilot would have been: Why now? Why starting the story when he meets Robin? Because Ted establishes in the pilot already that he is looking for THE ONE for quite some time, so we could have started years earlier. We even meet Robin because he thinks she is the one and now knowing the official ending, she kinda is.
    You can´t leave the first two seasons out of the equation and therefore the ending above doesn´t fit the whole story (either, for some people).

    ReplyDelete
  33. fynqarSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:37 PM

    It's simple: because there was nothing to compare. There was never an alternate ending before the final episode aired and didn't like it.
    This alternate ending, for all purposes, is just to try and get the people that didn't like the finale to buy the DVD set. For all we know the creators didn't even had anything to do with making this
    alternate ending. It could have easily been edited by the studio responsible for the DVD.

    ReplyDelete
  34. N27September 6, 2014 at 8:42 PM

    You nailed it.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Lola KHSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:56 PM

    Wow..this was so much better than the one used.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Małgorzata / willankaSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:56 PM

    Maybe you could add a poll to that post aksing whether viewers liked the original or this alternative ending better? I was more of a casual HIMYM viewer but I didn't like how the show ended.

    ReplyDelete
  37. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 8:57 PM

    See I'd agree, if it weren't for the show putting so much effort into showing why Ted and Robin don't work, or having Ted get over Robin. Or three seasons of Barney and Robin drama and one devoted entirely to their wedding. Or if it weren't for introducing and making Tracy such an enduring character. And then just out of the blue no real reason other than laziness, killing off a character and ignoring all that writing, development and build-up but hey I guess changing 3 minutes of an hour episode is just so damn hard.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Michu1945September 6, 2014 at 9:01 PM

    OMG. Remove original ending by some program and then add this one. You'll be very happy.

    ReplyDelete
  39. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:05 PM

    That's not true. Carter and Craig said that they created both endings before the finale aired.

    ReplyDelete
  40. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:07 PM

    Craig and Carter said that they came up with both endings before the finale aired. They just chose to go with the original ending they had in mind rather than this ending for the airing.

    ReplyDelete
  41. fynqarSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:09 PM

    There's a difference here. One thing is for them to have thought about another way to end the show. Another thing is for them to actually have written an alternate ending or even just have planned it with an outline or something similar.

    ReplyDelete
  42. N27September 6, 2014 at 9:17 PM

    I agree. I absolutely agree that so much on the show was weakly crafted as a whole picture. I´m not saying that the other ending was perfect. It´s just that this ending doesn´t fit better than the original ending.
    It just makes a lot of people feel better but that`s not how an ending should be. It should fit the story.
    The fact that Barney and Robin had such a strong emphasis in the last seasons and that Robin and Ted don´t work to a degree was, in my opinion, was presented so intensively because Carter and Craig must have feared that people would guess the ending (what a friend of mine actually did a couple of years ago). But still they were hinting something for Ted and Robin like Marshall and Lily´s longtime bet about them, where Lilly writes them off and Marshall says "Not yet."
    I think that the ending works, they just didn´t write the way to it properly.

    ReplyDelete
  43. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:18 PM

    But we have here a brand new narration from future Ted accompanying the re-edit, which tells us that they did actually write an alternate ending.

    ReplyDelete
  44. N27September 6, 2014 at 9:19 PM

    We just don´t know when they wrote it.

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  45. DarqueModeSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:22 PM

    Feels like the equivalent of fan-fiction.


    Watered down and generic...
    Trying to appeal to everyone instead of fitting the designed plan of the series.


    Hard to respect showrunners that kowtow to the audience.

    ReplyDelete
  46. start_wearing_purpleSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:22 PM

    That's exactly how I feel. Essentially How I Met Your Mother is a very long romantic comedy... about Ted and Robin.

    ReplyDelete
  47. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:23 PM

    We know they filmed it before the finale aired, so they had to have written it before that. So it doesn't really matter at what point during Season 9 that they wrote it.

    ReplyDelete
  48. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:25 PM

    To be fair, the aired ending didn't fit the designed plan of the series either. This ending weakens the endings of Vesuvius and The Time Travelers. The aired ending weakened the endings of Right Place, Right Time, The Leap, No Pressure, Farhampton, and Something New.


    The showrunners didn't kowtow to anyone. They edited the finale in both ways before the finale ever aired. They're just including something on the DVDs that they had already created. What's the harm in that?

    ReplyDelete
  49. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:27 PM

    Which means that the Bob Saget narration from both versions was shot before the finale aired.

    ReplyDelete
  50. N27September 6, 2014 at 9:28 PM

    Well, not neccessarily, but I don´t get the point about when the alternate finale was made? He says they chose their ending and stick to it.

    ReplyDelete
  51. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:29 PM

    You said that we don't know when they wrote the alternate ending. But we do know when they edited together the alternate ending, so therefore it doesn't matter that we don't know exactly when they wrote the alternate ending; we've already been told that they wrote it some time before the finale aired.

    ReplyDelete
  52. N27September 6, 2014 at 9:35 PM

    Correct me if I´m wrong but the footage was the exact same as in the finale. It was just the narration changed. So, to be realistic this is the easiest and cheapest way to produce an alternate ending, which just became apparent after the negative fan backlash. But if you want you can have it your way, because you won`t know and I won`t know ´cause none of us was there.

    ReplyDelete
  53. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:40 PM

    Carter has already said that they did the re-edit before the finale aired, so it wasn't done due to fan backlash (unless you're counting expected fan backlash, which might have been a possibility).


    We know because we have actually been told this...

    ReplyDelete
  54. KamiSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:41 PM

    After the disaster that was official series finale nothing can be perfect but from now on I will think about this as my canon ending. I get that they begun HIMYM with the idea that Robin will be Ted's endgame but things change - it's like Rowling wrote the HP ending only with the characters and motivations known in 2 book or GoT jump from season 2 to let's say, 5 or SPN ending like the angels never existed because that their appearence wasn't planned at the beginning... Eeeh, I'll go and watch some bloopers because I'm getting worked up over nothing again...

    ReplyDelete
  55. N27September 6, 2014 at 9:41 PM

    Where did he say that? Because I only found twitter posts after the finale.

    ReplyDelete
  56. DarqueModeSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:42 PM

    I've never understood the idea of the finale weakening episode endings personally...
    To me those episodes stand on their own as important stages of Ted's evolution. To me the original finale fit perfectly. The show was never about Ted and Tracy. Ted telling his kids the stories about how he met their mother was only a vehicle to tell the viewers about Ted and Robin (and that fun-filled time in the gang's life).


    Just like in my own personal life I have moments where I was blissfully happy with someone (or something) only to later break up or lose them. The fact I am no longer with them or with someone else does not change the way I felt at the time in any way.Not every event on my path of life is meant to be about the final destination.


    I guess it's true they did consider this when filming as you said, but they decided against it for good reasons (in my opinion). I thought its inclusion in the DVDs was not always intended, but came after the fallout of the finale as a means to appease angry fans. That's why I see it as kowtowing.

    ReplyDelete
  57. DarqueModeSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:49 PM

    Right, but we know they never wrote a script for an alternate ending. The alternate ending was an afterthought only.


    Would that afterthought have been included in the DVD set if not for fan backlash? I'm not sure, but I personally doubt it.

    ReplyDelete
  58. SupermakSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:49 PM

    "Watered down and generic...
    Trying to appeal to everyone instead of fitting the designed plan of the series."

    Perfect definition of what this is. And it's no case everyone(almost) seem to like it. xD

    ReplyDelete
  59. lightweightSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:50 PM

    Oh God, so much better, i wish this was the official ending :(

    ReplyDelete
  60. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:54 PM

    Yeah, the creators had always planned to include the alternate ending on the DVDs. They decided that when they were trying to choose between the aired ending and this ending, almost two whole weeks in advance of the finale airing.


    But the story wasn't a vehicle to tell viewers about Ted and Robin. Future Ted specifically says at the end of the episode that that's precisely what he doesn't want viewers (his kids) to get out of the story. Robin had nothing to do with the purpose of the story. Ted wanted to tell the kids a series of stories about how he became "Dad" and who he was before he became that person, using those stories to impart various life lessons to his kids.

    ReplyDelete
  61. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:56 PM

    No, the alternate ending was in consideration for being the actual ending on March 19, weeks before the finale even aired. Carter mentioned this on Twitter months ago.

    ReplyDelete
  62. EllieSeptember 6, 2014 at 9:57 PM

    My issue with the final wasn't that Robin and Ted got together in the end, or that the Mother dies. My issue was with how crappy the final season was. Trying to fit the entire season around the wedding weekend just didn't work, plotwise. Nice gimmicky idea, but it lead to too many filler stories.


    It was having made us invest all this time and emotion, forcing Robin/Barney down our throats and THEN having them divorce relatively quickly - THAT was what p***** me off.

    ReplyDelete
  63. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:00 PM

    I agree that there were some missteps because of the formatting (especially the way Robin and Barney's divorce was handled), but how could it have been done better? Ted had to meet the mother at the end of the season for the final season to still be about how Ted met the mother, but the final season had to be 24 episodes long (because that's what CBS ordered), and Ted had to meet the mother at the conclusion of Barney and Robin's wedding. How else could they have done all of that in 24 episodes other than the way they did?

    ReplyDelete
  64. DarqueModeSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:03 PM

    I never said it was not in consideration for the finale,.
    I said would that afterthought of an alternate ending have been on the DVDs if not for the fan reaction. Two completely different things.

    ReplyDelete
  65. AnnikaSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:08 PM

    I don't buy it... This alternate ending is just a bunch of old scenes with a new voice over. I'm sure they came up with it, after so many people were pissed at the original finale.

    ReplyDelete
  66. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:12 PM

    But it wasn't an afterthought. They put it together before the finale ever aired. They considered using it instead of the finale we got for the aired version. They decided against it and chose to just put it on the DVDs instead, again, all weeks before the finale ever aired.

    ReplyDelete
  67. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:14 PM

    Why would Carter and Craig lie about this? They told us from the beginning that they edited two different endings together before the finale ever aired, and they decided on airing the other ending instead of this one.

    ReplyDelete
  68. N27September 6, 2014 at 10:14 PM

    Yeah, that was in the link I showed you.

    ReplyDelete
  69. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:15 PM

    Sorry. Didn't check the link. :P

    ReplyDelete
  70. N27September 6, 2014 at 10:18 PM

    I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  71. N27September 6, 2014 at 10:19 PM

    No problem. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  72. MedeaSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:20 PM

    Garbage is the right word to describe this cheesy, disgusting crap. Barney and Robin getting back together? That is misogynist crap! That Gd it did not aired!!!!! I would have vomited for weeks. Now i only vomited once!

    ReplyDelete
  73. DarqueModeSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:20 PM

    If it was part of the original plan to have two endings they would have had a script for the alternate ending. They would have filmed both endings instead of having to edit together footage from the original finale to make an alternate ending.The fact that they did not actually write a script for it means it was not done with forethought. By definition that makes it an afterthought when compared to the planned and scripted original finale.

    The fact it was done before the finale aired means nothing in regards to how the origin of the alternate ending came about.

    ReplyDelete
  74. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:23 PM

    But that's the problem, the original ending therefore makes very little sense, and a twist ending or whatever you'd call it doesn't fit with the series. Hinting means nothing if you constantly write the opposite for over 5 seasons. Even if it was all a misdirect it is the sloppiest, worst written one I've seen in a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  75. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:25 PM

    Sure, by the literal, dictionary definition, the alternate ending was an "afterthought". But it wasn't created because of fan backlash, which is what I assumed you meant by the use of the word.

    ReplyDelete
  76. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:26 PM

    At least it didn't enough the last five seasons of the show, and basically make the entire ninth season worthless unlike the other ending.

    ReplyDelete
  77. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:27 PM

    Which would've been fine, if it weren't for seasons 4-9.

    ReplyDelete
  78. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:28 PM

    Sure, by the literal, dictionary definition, the alternate ending was an "afterthought". But it wasn't created because of fan backlash, which is what I assumed you meant by the use of the word. Why else would it matter if the ending was an "afterthought"?

    If we want to get really technical, even the aired ending was an "afterthought", given that the writers' original plan was to have Victoria be the mother if the show ended up being canceled after one season. What does it matter that the aired ending was the second ending they conceived of or that this ending was the third?

    ReplyDelete
  79. DarqueModeSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:29 PM

    Ahh... Nope.
    Just that they filmed the ending they always planned to, then thought about an alternate afterwards. If they had shot original footage for the alternate ending I would not look at it as an afterthought.


    The fan backlash had nothing to do with the creation of the alternate ending, but it probably did have something to do with it being on the DVDs.

    ReplyDelete
  80. percysownerSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:33 PM

    I understand that, but it became a big hit. Surely they had the money to bring back the actors who played the kids and even just use them as narrators if they had aged too much. The show had changed from that concept and the writers inability or refusal to recognize that made the finale a disaster, IMHO. Right now I can't even enjoy reruns of episodes I liked and I can't bring myself to watch this redo. Too little too late.

    I do realize there are those who liked the original ending and I'm really glad for them, but it totally ruined the show for me.

    ReplyDelete
  81. percysownerSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:44 PM

    Well it keeps getting pulled before I can watch it. Frankly I will NOT pay money for a DVD set just to see if the alternate ending is really better. They made a huge mistake when they picked their ending. If Robin and Ted had never gotten together, those fans who loved them at least had seen an entire season devoted to Robin and Barney's wedding, so they would have been disappointed. Way too many people were incandescent with rage over the ending they chose.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Bros4everSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:47 PM

    This was better, NOT greater than what was originally aired but better. They let the story after the T/T wedding up in the air with everyone in a happy place. I don't associate myself with the original ending and take episode 22 as the canon one but this is better I do but don't agree with some of the narration but it's good.

    ReplyDelete
  83. V_sSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:49 PM

    Just in case you missed my edit: What does it matter that the alternate ending was an "afterthought"?

    If we want to get really technical, even the aired ending was an "afterthought", because the writers' original plan was to have Victoria be the mother if the show ended up being canceled after one season. What does it matter that the aired ending was the second ending they conceived of or that this ending was the third?

    ReplyDelete
  84. mwarSeptember 6, 2014 at 10:55 PM

    I love this ending. The original ending is a disaster. I accepted Barney and Robin's divorce although I didn't like it but I can't stand the last three minutes of the original ending. When I saw Ted with the french horn I wanted to kill him. Besides,it looks like the mother was just an obstacle and the objetive was Ted/Robin. They should've called the show How I fell in love with your aunt Robin.

    ReplyDelete
  85. DarqueModeSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:01 PM

    Oh I agree it was about the escapades of the gang during that time and lessons he learned.

    However, there is a reason why despite the title being "How I Met Your Mother" the show is about every period in Ted's life except his time with Tracy.

    The show was about the time in Ted's life before he met the mother. The very title suggest the story ends when he meets the mother. The mother was only the vehicle for telling the stories about that period in the his life. By design the first episode is about Robin and throughout the series the act of telling those stories to his kids is what makes Ted realize at that point in his life Robin was even more important to him than he realized, and that he wants to be with Robin again. Perfect symmetry.

    None of that detracts from Tracy being his dream girl and the love of his life... That however is a different story and not what the show was about.

    ReplyDelete
  86. fynqarSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:08 PM

    I'm sorry but I don't think that about 30ish lines of dialogue of new narration from future Ted constitutes writing an alternate ending. Writing an alternate ending would be also writing at least some new scenes to go with it.
    This new narration could have been written in a few hours and you only need one actor to come back to record it.
    It's simply as this: they only did this edit/cut of an alternate ending because of the backlash from a large part of the fans. If it wasn't for the DVD sales they would never had spent any time with this 6 minute "fix".

    ReplyDelete
  87. RossSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:15 PM

    Video doesn't exist anymore. Can someone let me know what it was?

    ReplyDelete
  88. SpacecoolSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:28 PM

    I don't understand why you prefer this. The original ending was the best finale ever, because nobody really expected that ending even when there were some clues. this ending is way too cliche, not surprising at all, is just a disney ending.

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  89. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:29 PM

    It was the train scene and a montage of clips over the seasons with a voiceover to explain how Ted found the woman he was destined to be with (The Mother). It also implied that Barney and Robin got back together.

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  90. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:31 PM

    Well except the twist contradicts that last five seasons of character development, and story. Therefore making no sense. This disney ending on the other hand does. Twists only work when they're build up well (i.e. The Sixth Sense), unlike in this case (or in Devil).

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  91. Spindae2September 6, 2014 at 11:36 PM

    I'm a huge HIMYM fan and this is how the show should've ended. It's just more truth to the story! Many. Fans say it started with Robna dn that is how it should end.

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  92. MTSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:46 PM

    Actually the original ending couldn't be more true to the characters. It included all the character development. See Barney: Years ago he would have left the planet if he got a woman pregnant. Now he wants to be a good father for his daughter --> character development.

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  93. RossSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:47 PM

    I liked the original ending, however I must admit that I prefer this ending. It's much better.

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  94. MTSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:48 PM

    Why can I not see the video? Is it US only?

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  95. DaervarnSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:49 PM

    They also said right from the beginning that Ted and Robin would never be endgame and after S8 they said that Barney and Robin would be endgame. We know what happened. They lied about the finale not only to the audience, but also the cast, crew and even the director.

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  96. RossSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:50 PM

    I can't see it either. I googled and watched it somehwere else and then came back to join the discussion haha.

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  97. DaervarnSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:50 PM

    The finale is misogynist crap!

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  98. GraydonSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:54 PM

    Please tell me how the last four seasons showing and arguing why Ted and Robin don't work, or Ted trying to get and successfully getting over Robin. Fit this ending. Or how about the two supposed lovebirds Barney and Robin who break up in the first fifteen minutes makes sense over one fight, despite Barney planing for months to win Robin back, or getting over his lecherous ways to commit to her (or her getting over her own commitment issues) and then immediately going back to them afterwards. The original ending wasted years of writing.

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  99. DaervarnSeptember 6, 2014 at 11:57 PM

    The Finale was the watered down and generic end end where the main character got the girl he met during the pilot. It's impossible to respect the showrunners because they lied to everyone (including the director and the network) and enforced an ending that contradicted the hole show right from the start!

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  100. mwarSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:00 AM

    Does anyone know the name of the song?I love it.

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  101. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:04 AM

    You're totally wrong with that. HIMYM showed multiple times that Ted and Robin would never work out as a couple and that you can't enforce love. This theme, that the main character would not end up with the girl he met during the pilot but with the love of his life instead and would have his happy ending with her was the reason that the show was picked up in the first place and as what it was promoted from CBS as from Carter Bays and Craig Thomas as well.

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  102. Maria FerreiraSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:04 AM

    I loved the original ending, so I didn´t even take a look at this one! But I read some comments and...Barney and Robin getting back together? Ugh, just no...I never buyed them as a couple!

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  103. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:05 AM

    Now this is more like it! Though the episode as a whole is still completely flawed this ending offers a resolution that makes one think "Ted got to be with the right girl and have a happy life from now onwards", No death, no Robin, only Tracy, which makes the finale that much easier to swallow and it makes me think that the ride all along was worthy to get Ted there, and that there is a chance that Barney and Robin make things up (after all Ted said "sometimes we pick things up" when the camera zoomed on Robin). Also, who can be mad when you get to hear Bob Saget's voice a last one time.


    Alternate final episode grade: C-
    Alternate final 5 minutes grade: A

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  104. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:06 AM

    It just fits the series altogether and hits the perfect beats, don't you think?

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  105. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:08 AM

    Just because it's not surprising doesn't mean its bad, we get to see Ted achieving true happiness after enduring a lot of pain and that is truly satisfying for me, even if it is, as you say, "cliche". The execution on those 4 final minutes is perfect because the way Bob Saget narrates it and the way the sequences hit all the right beats that fit the series altogether

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  106. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:19 AM

    Well, since we disquessed this so much already and you got to withstand people flaming the original finale I'll just let you and everyone else say that this is fan-fiction/cheesy/generic whatever.


    It works for me and it all that matters, it redeemed the show for me to some extent, even though the episode as a whole still lags on the pacing, the storytelling- cramming 20 years in 40 minutes?- and the way things were handled. But seeing Ted ending up with Tracy and have a happy long life with her is enough for me because the guy suffered SO MUCH through his tortured relationship with Robin that it is just heartwarming to see him ending up with the girl of his dreams

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  107. MTSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:24 AM

    Ted and Robind didn't work in the past because they wanted different things. I don't think that Ted ever really got over Robin. He tried to close this chapter of his life because she married another man. But there were always hints that Robin is Ted's true love over the seasons. There were also hints that Barney and Robin won't work. They tried really hard to make their relationship work but I think they were just not meant to be.
    As for Ted and Robin they needed this time. They needed to go through all the things they went through before getting together. Ted had his romantic love story with Tracy and the Kids. Robin had her career. Ted would have never had those things with Robin and Robin would have never had the things she wanted if she would have been with Ted. Now that they've reached all of the things in life that kept them apart all this years it makes sense for them getting together at this point.

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  108. N27September 7, 2014 at 12:26 AM

    I don´t disagree but that doesn´t make the alternate one better.

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  109. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:27 AM

    Ditto

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  110. MTSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:30 AM

    LOL thanks! That sounds like a good plan ;)

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  111. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:30 AM

    Hey! Those who loved the original finale, guess what? You still have that one!
    Now those like me who hated have this one, so can we just please stop fighting over this? Everyone has the ending they wanted so we can be happy, don't try to ruin it.


    Seriously, finale lovers love to the core "Last Forever", while people like me who got this ending still have to deal with a bad episode that gets a real resolution. In perspective, while you get an A grade episode, we get a C- grade episode, so seriously, let us enjoy it! For me it means that I may be able to watch the show again, and that's a HUGE deal

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  112. GraydonSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:32 AM

    That only further demonstrates that they aren't compatible though. Even then why would that mean they should be together, when the show again even said Ted was over her.

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  113. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:37 AM

    Here's on youtube.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8WbuXY4Iws#t=42

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  114. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:43 AM

    The pilot established that Ted started looking for the One that very night and as Craig Thomas said it would be a crime to let Ted end up with the girl he met within the first twenty minutes of the show. That the story began with the day Ted met Robin makes sense as the Alternate Finale shows as he met the Mother at her wedding day. Even in the first two seasons the show stated multiple times that Ted and Robin would bever work out, so the finale controdicts the hole show right from the start.

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  115. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:45 AM

    To make that ending work, the hole show had to be written in a completely different way!

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  116. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 12:57 AM

    Actually no. You are totally wrong.
    It showed they could not work at that point in their lives. Big difference. Timing was afterall one of the major recurring themes in the series.

    Plus you make it sound like ending up with Tracy and ending up with Robin are mutually exclusive. They are not. He got to be with the woman of his dreams and then realized he still had a spot in his heart for Robin after Tracy died.

    I have not heard anything about exactly why CBS picked up the show... and I would not believe TV executives who said anything other than that they picked up a series because they thought the show would get ratings and pull in advertisers.

    Other than that, more than any other reason I would bet they picked it up for the characters and the original storytelling format- absolutely not because of the thought or were told that Ted would end up with a specific woman. It feels silly even writing that they could have picked it up for that reason.. XD

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  117. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:04 AM

    Yeah, it's writers101! The very beginning of the show should have ruled out the finale!

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  118. MTSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:07 AM

    Like I said, Robin married someone else. Ted let her go because she married someone else. It doesn't necessarily mean that he got over her.

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  119. MTSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:07 AM

    Thank you very much Pablo :D

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  120. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:23 AM

    The last year or two never exclusively showed how Barney and Robin were meant to be together. They were shown to struggle every step of the way until the last moment. Many like myself saw that as foreshadowing they were never going to work in the first place.


    Personally I think the issue is more that some (maybe even many or most) people think that the show regressed the characters because it did not fit their desired endings for those characters. I understand that and can see why some feel that way, but I along with others saw the evolution of the characters throughout the series resulting with the finale showing each of the characters acceptance of their evolution..


    To me the original finale fit what I expected and how I looked at the series perfectly, almost poetically. To me it didn't waste 9 years of writing, the finale actually reinforced the previous 9 seasons.


    Oh well, enough rehashing.
    No one's opinion is likely to change and some people cannot discuss it without feeling the anger, pain and rage again so I will stop.
    If the alternate ending works for people I'm glad.

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  121. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:27 AM

    Except it did not contradict the show, it reinforced the previous 9 years perfectly.

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  122. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:27 AM

    Acutally you're completely wrong here! HIMYM said that they will never work out, also not in the future. Timing don't count here!

    The way the finale showed it Tracy was not the love of his life and Carter Bays confirmed that he wrote the finale with Robin as love of Ted's life. The Mother was just a plot device, standing in the same row as every girl from Victoria to Jeanette. The "I tried to love her..." was more than a subtle hint for that!

    The show was promoted right from the start from CBS as from Carter Bays and Craig Thomas as different to other shows (especially FRIENDS) as Ted would not met the girl he would end up with during the pilot but that the show would end with him finding the love of his life and having his happy end with her. They said that till the end of S8. They stated very clearly to the audience as the crew that Ted and Robin would not end up together (also live on TV) and also stated that (also live) that Barney and Robin would end up together. They were very clear about that. They have lied about that in a blatant way.

    It is one thing to let things in the story as in interviews open, but if you made a statement and and build on that your hole show it is just stupid to defenestrate all in the finale! That is the behavior of an asshole!

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  123. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:32 AM

    And wrong as ever. In fact it rewrites the hole show to fit into the standard sitcom scheme.

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  124. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:37 AM

    There is nothing poetical about the finale. It just rewrited the show to fit into the standard sitcom scheme ignoring continuity, timing, hints and character development!

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  125. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:43 AM

    It's better but still far away from being good. Remember that the rest of the episode will remain the same. It's too little and too late!

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  126. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:43 AM

    You're very welcome ;)

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  127. V_sSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:49 AM

    Do you have a source for that? The only quote I can find where C&C talk about HIMYM's "endgame" specifically is where they're talking about Ted and the mother meeting is part of that endgame. No mention of Barney and Robin.


    Then again, if they did say that, they could have meant that Ted and Robin weren't the endgame because, as we were shown in the finale, them getting back together was just an epilogue, not an endgame. And Barney and Robin's wedding directly set up the endgame goal of Ted meeting the mother.

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  128. V_sSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:51 AM

    Except we know that it was created before the finale ever aired and that the writers spent time during the editing process deciding between this ending and the aired ending for what would end up being aired during the series finale.

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  129. V_sSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:52 AM

    I think you've misunderstood me. I also said in my previous post that the story wasn't about the mother. The story wasn't about the mother, and it wasn't about Ted getting back together with Robin. That's something we were explicitly told in the finale.

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  130. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:06 AM

    Yawwn...
    Feeling beter? XD

    This I know, the finale fit exactly with how I looked at the show. It also was basically their planned ending for the series. Every interview I have read supports this.

    Yes, the story and the endgame evolved as they added seasons and characters, but as far as I know it was designed to end with the mother being dead and Ted moving on with Robin. They clearly set the series up to end how it did despite what you saw or read in promotional material.

    If the showrunners did not want to give away their ending I have no issue whatsoever with that. Even if that meant lying from the beginning. Moreover, I would absolutely hate if showrunners were required to give their ending away just so some viewers would not get mad! XD

    I never once read or heard anyone mention that the show would have Ted meet the mother and actually show them living happily ever after or even show them together for any length of time. Since Season 2 I suspected the mother was dead and that was the reason behind telling the kids the stories in the first place.

    I think sometime after Season 7 was the first time I even heard a mention of introducing the mother as an actualized character. Admittedly, I never read much press for the show since I don't really feel the need to know what cast and crew say about a sitcom. I always assumed when he meets the mother the show would basically be over. I think it would have been that way if not for Season 9 being added on.

    To me the finale fit exactly with everything I thought the show was. For you it is anathema to the series in every way. I get it. On this we will always disagree and I'm okay with that.

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  131. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:20 AM

    Most was in interview I saw life but I think some of them are part of the DVD extras of several seasons.

    At least in two of them they said that Ted and Robin would NEVER happen and in one that Barney and Robin's marriage would last. There wasn't any room for interpretation as they especially stated that Ted and Robin would never end up together would be the reason that differed HIMYM from other sitcoms!

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  132. GraydonSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:40 AM

    Still doesn't justify Ted and Robin, and then makes the last five seasons of Robin and Barney drama pointless (which is annoying as I had to put up with that shit).

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  133. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:40 AM

    If you support people openly lying to even the people they work with over nearly a decade something you have seriousl mental problems!


    The hole way the story is told right from the start it did not support an ending where the Mother would be dead, especially the behavior of the kids as half-orphans is just disguesting.

    If you think that the show as it was played out support the ending you have to ignore most of it!

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  134. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:43 AM

    I've never read that either, but like I wrote earlier I have not read much press for the show before the finale year (mostly after the finale fallout).

    I have however watched the DVDs (at least Season 1-7) and do not recall any mention of either of those two things. In one of the DVD extras I vaguely recall mention of Ted and Robin were not going to stay together at that particular point of the series. Nothing about an absolute definitive not going to end up together. I would assume any Barney and Robin stuff would have to be in the DVD extras of the last two seasons so I would not have seen those commentaries... Although I somewhat doubt that was stated in any absolute form as well since it always seemed that they were setting up Barney and Robin to fail in my opinion. I easily stand corrected if any source is provided of course!

    *Shrug*


    I agree with you that Ted ending up with Robin was more of an epilogue than the true endgame of the series! I know after the finale I read in numerous places that their planned endgame always was for the mother to be dead. That was not something newly written for the finale as far as I read..

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  135. GraydonSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:48 AM

    Marrying Tracy means he did (hell the finale made it clear he did up until the end), but oh what it turns out Ted was only using Tracy to fulfill his dreams of a family and secretly wanted to bone Robin for the entire time. That's awful.

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  136. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:57 AM

    Sadly that was the meaning of the show from Carter Bays point of view.

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  137. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 3:03 AM

    I absolutely support not giving away twists in the ending of a movie or series! Not even a question - 100% support! XD


    It is beyond naive to think that directors, showrunners, or writers should have to tell the absolute truth and spoil any twists in the movie or TV series - Especially regarding the endgame!


    Also, feel free to keep your opinions and feel strongly about them!
    That said, you cross a line when you tell me or anyone that they have "serious mental problems" for not agreeing with how you see things!


    Mental issues are no joking matter and I would think every person would be more sensitive to that after losing Robin Williams to his battles with depression and addiction!

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  138. MTSeptember 7, 2014 at 3:24 AM

    I still don't get why the Barney-Robin drama pointless. We all have multiple relationships in our lives. Just because they don't last for eterntity doesn't make them pointless. HIMYM always stayed true to real life.And the season finale just showed real life as it is: People break up and people die. I never got the fuss about the season finale anyway.

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  139. DaervarnSeptember 7, 2014 at 3:26 AM

    It is one thing not telling someone an important part of a story to keep it a secret and another thing to blatant lying about it and telling in fact the exact opposite of it but also telling them that they can trust them. That is the behavior of an asshole. With your support for this behavior you're on the same level! Maybe that is a precondition to like the finale.

    That you tried to justify you're questionble attitute in dealing with people that you dared to compare it with depression and worse really shows what kind of person you are, not a good one!

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  140. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 3:34 AM

    Ha! XD

    I'm finding you more amusing as you go on I think.
    Keep on keeping on, but you may want to read the Comment Policy above.

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  141. GraydonSeptember 7, 2014 at 3:56 AM

    It wasn't that they broke up that bugged me, it was the need to drag out their entire relationship, go both and forth on it, devote an entire season to it and then kill it over one petty fight.

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  142. arun279September 7, 2014 at 6:13 AM

    I liked it a lot. I showed it to a couple of friends, and they all immediately thought it was the perfect ending and could have been up there with some of the best endings if it had been aired like this and we had never seen that one. :D

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  143. DarqueModeSeptember 7, 2014 at 6:14 AM

    I was in the mood to watch the show after all this commenting so I popped in the DVDs and watched a bunch of episodes as I looked for articles about the show. None so far about Ted and Robin never going to end up together in the end or Barney and Robin meant to be together forever. However, I did find the Reddit AMA before the finale and thought these quotes support hat the finale was planned from Day One.

    A few quotes about the ending:
    Bays: “This is the ending we conceived when we conceived the show 10 years ago,” Bays says. “It’s what we've been steadfastly writing towards ever since.”

    Thomas: We have not changed the very end of series at all. In fact, we shot part of it back in 2006, before Ted’s kids got much older! We just looked at that footage, which will factor into the end of the series — it totally worked and was kind of haunting to watch! Shot 8 years ago and it will now help end our series on March 31st, 2014!

    Bays: ... here’s the thing: this is the story we've been telling all along, and this story ends the way it ends. That’s all there is to it.

    If that was their finale from the beginning it means that they never planned for Barney and Robin to be together forever.

    Like you said, some of the steps along the way changed like who the mother was or when and where Ted would meet her, but I think it is safe to say they wrote with that endgame in mind since they had it in mind from the very inception of the series.

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  144. AsiaSeptember 7, 2014 at 3:53 PM

    This should've been aired instead of what we've got!!!! So much better!!!

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  145. Winger77September 7, 2014 at 5:16 PM

    You realize it's a light sitcom, right? It's supposed to have a happy ending... or as you call it, a Disney ending. Making a blanket statement about happy endings being automatically cliché is in of itself a cliché. And just because something is surprising doesn't mean it's good. That's why the overwhelming majority of people hated the original ending. To the point where Yahoo featured an article on their front page labeling it as the worst ending to a sitcom ever.

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  146. BryanSeptember 7, 2014 at 5:49 PM

    I'm confused by the people that say it is more realistic to end the show the original way and how the alternative ending is cliche. For one thing it's not all that realistic for a person to date a girl for 1 year, pine over her for 7 times the amount of time they dated. Find his true love, have the true love die, move on 6 years later and go back to the original girl. The alternate ending is the realistic one, where he meets the love of his life and the rest of what happened in the series lead to him meeting the mother. Also how can it be cliched that he ended up with the mother at the end. She wasn't even a character in the show really and he would have ended up with her. If the show ended prior to season 9, he would have ended up with a character we meet for the very last scene at the end of the final episode. The cliched sitcom ending is Ted and Robin because they both were characters from the beginning and because they did their whole will they/ won't they thing throughout. Even with season 9, Ted ends up with a women you barely met and that my friends is an original and pretty much unique ending.

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  147. JenSeptember 7, 2014 at 6:18 PM

    This. This should have been it. I'm actually even more annoyed in seeing this compared to what we got. I waited 9 years to hear Bob Saget say 'and that kids, is how I met your mother,' and for the show to get its happy ending that was not at all realistic but who watches comedy for realism and drama? I couldn't care less about Barney and Robin, but I was annoyed that we spent an entire season on their wedding and they divorced 10 mins into the finale. Ridiculous.


    I will never understand why they thought the original finale would be well received. If you liked it, then that's great. But I've never watched a series finale that ruined a show for me quite like this. Lost, True Blood, Dexter; these were all finales which underwhelmed/disappointed me but I can still watch the early seasons and enjoy their great episodes. I tried with HIMYM and I couldn't. People can say all they like that the show was about Robin but to me it was about Ted meeting the mother, us finally getting to know who the mother was and for Ted to get the ending he deserved.


    I'm well aware that fan entitlement, especially in the days now where many show writers and producers are on Twitter to receive ridiculous insults for not meeting certain 'expectations', is something that gets way out of hand. I respect that showrunners tell the story they want to tell and technically don't 'owe' us anything. But they didn't have to use the ending they did, we shouldn't have had an ending devised for a show that ran another 7 years afterwards. We didn't need the kids. Hell, put them in as they are now and make a joke of it. HIMYM did far more ridiculous things than that. To pour 9 years into a show, especially one with such a unique format, built around Ted's journey to the mother, and to receive that as a series finale felt like such a slap to the face, it really did. At least they loved their slaps...


    In the end, the finale we got is it. Whether or not they cobbled this alternate version together before or after the backlash to the finale, the damage is done as far as I'm concerned. I will try my best to overwrite that woeful ending with this one (and yes, try and let go of some of my bitterness haha).

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  148. ValentinSeptember 7, 2014 at 8:30 PM

    I prefer the first one, this one is just okay but the original one made me cry hard

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  149. Pamela DoeSeptember 7, 2014 at 9:12 PM

    This ending fits the show like a glove, it should be used for repeats so the original ending can be forgotten.

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  150. Nate BroadusSeptember 7, 2014 at 10:31 PM

    End the wedding at the 3/4ths mark of the season.


    From there, you have a multitude of themes to explore. You have Ted and Tracy falling falling in love. You have time to show Barney and Robin's marriage gradually fall apart (instead of marrying them and promptly divorcing them in the space of 10 minutes in one of the worst written pieces of tv fiction I've ever seen). Then you have Ted's grief over losing Tracy. His friends coming back around to comfort him, and Robin being there for Ted as a friend, not immediately as a lover. Then you have Ted finally emerging from his sorrow, reconsidering the relationship with Robin at that time -- all culminating in the ending where Ted recounts his first meeting with Tracy, then his kids realizing it was his way of asking for permission to move on with his life.


    HOW GODDAMN HARD IS THAT?!


    The only reason why the series had to end the way it was aired was so that Bays and Thomas could feel clever for keeping the final twist a secret.


    Instead of being preoccupied with ending the series on a twist, they should have been focused on ending it in a proper way. But they didn't, so here we are now.

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  151. JexBelleSeptember 7, 2014 at 10:37 PM

    That was the ending I wanted!

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  152. Nate BroadusSeptember 7, 2014 at 10:50 PM

    It then becomes a question of whether or not a negative response is important for the sake of being an emotional response.


    I'll say this right now, I felt no sorrow about the original ending -- even with Tracy's death. I didn't emotionally respond because it was a poignant piece of fiction (it most certainly was not). I responded emotionally because I felt like I had watched a 9-year tv show only to get bitchslapped across the face at the end by a pair of writers who scampered off into the night crying, "Neener neener neener."


    The ending held no further emotional substance for me -- which is precisely why the ending failed on so many levels.


    I felt disgust with the ending of Barney and Robin's wedding. Not because I hated to see them split up, however. It was because the writers chose to end that pairing in the most lazy manner possible. They showed everything about their journey to the end of the aisle, and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about what led to their divorce. It just happened. Like, "Oh and by the way, Barney and Robin divorce. So who wants popcorn, eh?"


    It was exactly the same way with Robin. The writers focused only on Robin leaving the group, yet devoted not a single Goddamn moment on showing her rejoining the group and reentering their lives. They showed nothing of Ted and Robin in the years after Tracy died. They showed nothing to indicate that Robin was there as a friend,


    The moral of HIMYM is, write your ending to fit your story; DO NOT write an ending and then force your story to conform to it years after the fact.


    The characters as they existed in season 9 didn't fit into the ending they aired. This is why it failed. The only way to make it fit was to revert the characters back to their early season incarnations at the 11th hour -- which is why the finale ended up coming across as contrived to the majority of viewers.


    Having said all that, I do agree that if the series for the past few seasons had been written better, the original ending could have worked, even if it was somber. Because that didn't happen, the original ending just lost all of its emotional punch for me, and apparently for a great many others.

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  153. Nicolás FestaSeptember 7, 2014 at 11:09 PM

    Finally i can sleep without thinking i wated 9 years of my life on this... Do you guys know how this will be selected on the DVD?


    I mean, if i start watching the final episode i will get the original ending or they change it for the box set? Or it's like a cut scene? I would have to stop at the point in wich they are all on the table and then go to the extras and play the Alternate Ending?

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  154. lilithSeptember 8, 2014 at 12:14 AM

    I have been reading this discussion and I think this is the problem with HIMYM. This is why I am angry with them. How divisive the finale turned out to be is surely not a compliment to the writing staff.
    If this was supposed to be a romantic comedy, as I read in one of the comments, why do we all have a different idea WHO the basic couple is? There is no sense in discussing if Ted and Robin or Robin and Barney or Ted and Tracy were right for eachother, because obviously the writers didn't know it either. I mean, we are, this discussion, is the proof, that they were inconsistent in their story telling, that they lost some viewers on the way and than string them along while trying to accomplish their once decided goal.
    If it was supposed to be a drama... Yeah, well, get real, it was never a realistic drama... doppelgaengers anyone...

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  155. V_sSeptember 8, 2014 at 12:18 AM

    But it has to end with Ted meeting the mother. You're having him meet the mother at episode 18. That means 6 episodes of Ted sitting at the train station while flashbacks and flashforwards carry the actual action of each episode.

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  156. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 8, 2014 at 1:18 AM

    In the end, I'd say Robin is the negative one; the girl that looks like a perfect fit but it is not. On the surface she is a great friend and she seems like a catch, but deep down she ends up being very self centered, choosing her career over everything else. I surely wouldn't like to end up with someone like that

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  157. DaervarnSeptember 8, 2014 at 1:39 AM

    Because of that she fits together so well with Barney who is as self centered and messed up as she is but not with Ted!

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  158. Elise Diane SvobodaSeptember 8, 2014 at 2:55 AM

    THAT WAS PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  159. MatthewSeptember 8, 2014 at 4:28 AM

    This one is much better. What I never got was that if the original ending had been shot way back at the start of the series and they knew how it was going to end, why bother with the Barney/Robin storyline? They really started their pairing back in Season 1 with the visit to the Cigar Saloon and I guess the writers noted that of the cast these 2 shared the most chemistry.



    Then we get the final episode and Barney loses in 10 minutes what he has wanted for at least 5 seasons. Sadly even with the Alternate ending, Ill only ever remember the one what was aired and this has ruined the show for me

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  160. Nate BroadusSeptember 8, 2014 at 6:14 AM

    The actual meeting doesn't have to occur at the 3/4ths mark. The narrative is already nonlinear. In fact, everything about the original ending could remain intact, as far as the kids realizing the story was about Ted and Robin all along.


    The only difference is, instead of that little nugget happening at the end with absolutely no emotional buildup, it would happen at the end with plenty of emotional framework in place. Or in other words, the audience would have seen the progression that led to the ending, as opposed to the ending being tacked on as it was on the initial airing.


    The problem was never with the original ending -- it was that the events of the 9th season, several seasons prior, and of the finale, itself, didn't properly build up to the ending they chose to air. This is from where a great deal of the animosity for the finale derives. It felt exactly like what it was: an ending conceived 7 seasons earlier.


    Unfortunately for the writers, quite a bit had changed in those ensuing 7 years. The ending, however, did not -- which is why it failed.

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  161. themurph2000September 8, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    The finale was anti-female? Really?

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  162. themurph2000September 8, 2014 at 6:30 AM

    The problem with the finale wasn't that Ted ended up with Robin. The problem was how they treated Tracy as if she was nothing. They glossed over in five minutes Ted's entire history with her. A character they spent nine years trying to build up.


    They could have had that ending if they put them together a few episodes prior to it. Sorry, but the finale that aired ruined the show. This alternate ending may not be the best, but it didn't spit in the face of nine years of development and trivialize the title character, either.

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  163. Babar SuhailSeptember 8, 2014 at 6:47 AM

    I definitely like this one way better than the original but I wish they had used the Downtown Train song for this one two. That song fit perfectly to Ted and Tracy meeting at the train station.

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  164. Babar SuhailSeptember 8, 2014 at 6:50 AM

    Video updated.

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  165. DaervarnSeptember 8, 2014 at 7:07 AM

    Really!

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  166. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 8, 2014 at 4:24 PM

    probably the last one, I imagine it would be the scene, you have to stop it, go to menu and play the alternate ending. We'll only know once the DVD is out for sales

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  167. Pablo TroncosoSeptember 8, 2014 at 4:34 PM

    And I never buyed Ted and Robin, so my reaction was pretty much "ugh" when the finale aired. I just hope I could have not watched the original finale and watch this one instead

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  168. V_sSeptember 8, 2014 at 4:41 PM

    Right, the actual meeting has to occur in episode 24. So if the wedding is over in episode 18, but Ted meets the mother right after the wedding is over, you've got to somehow stall for 6 episodes with your plan.


    Also, I think it's important to note that the story wasn't about Ted and Robin all along. Ted makes it very clear in that final scene that that wasn't his intention for the story, and that the kids had gotten the wrong thing out of the story (though he was happy that they would approve of him dating Robin again).

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  169. vickySeptember 9, 2014 at 12:44 AM

    Could not agree with you more. It's not perfect by any means, but so so so much better.

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  170. vickySeptember 9, 2014 at 12:45 AM

    People who consider Robin/Barney to be misogynistic, surely missed the fact that the majority of the finale was fairly bad in terms of that? Look at Lily & Robin and how their character development was completely destroyed.

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  171. amyk_712September 9, 2014 at 3:42 PM

    Even though I loved the ending, I agree that that better execution of the entire final (and quite subpar) season would've have tempered the rage at the finale. Much less time at the wedding for the couple that divorced 5 minutes into the finale and much better pacing of the events that occurred in the finale (at least a 2 hour finale vs. 1). A lot of people would still not be happy but there would be less to complain about. If you're set against Tracy dying and Barney and Robin divorcing and Ted and Robin getting back together no matter what than it could have been the freaking Godfather of finales and still not pleased those people.

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  172. amyk_712September 9, 2014 at 3:51 PM

    Same here! I just LOVE how people like to say that Robin and Ted shouldn't have gotten back together because the show revealed "how they didn't work as a couple" when the show did the EXACT SAME THING (and in my opinion to a far greater extent) with Barney and Robin. Yet I didn't hear people complaining when they got back together. Their divorce was retribution as far as I'm concerned.

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  173. DaervarnSeptember 9, 2014 at 6:27 PM

    beati sunt pauperes spiritu

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  174. DaervarnSeptember 9, 2014 at 6:32 PM

    As practically everyone is against racy dying and Barney and Robin divorcing and Ted and Robin getting back together, as that were the reasons the people loved the show, every finale that contains that points has to be crap!

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  175. DaervarnSeptember 9, 2014 at 6:42 PM

    "Even with season 9, Ted ends up with a women you barely met and that my friends is an original and pretty much unique ending."

    And exactly as that was HIMYM promoted right from the start: A show where the main character would not end up with the girl he met during the Pilot. The creators even said it would be a crime if the show would end up that way. Now we know they are just blatant liars!

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  176. GraydonSeptember 9, 2014 at 7:38 PM

    Yeah it turned the characters back into self-centered asses. Part of why I hated the finale. I wouldn't have minded a break up, but for Gods sake why did they devote so much time and effort to a couple that they knew would break up even before it existed.

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  177. GraydonSeptember 9, 2014 at 7:39 PM

    Either way both are disfunctional and unhealthy as a couple.

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  178. SuzanaSeptember 9, 2014 at 8:23 PM

    Yeah, The mistake is not the final but rather the season 9 for me (with the storyligne at least) It the season that shoudn't have been... Even worse the robin-Barney's wedding thingy was going on for what... three seasons more or less. Seriously who didn't figure out that the bride was Robin...
    It should have taken a half season maximum... The all idea wasn't bad but anyway we didn't need that to figure out that Barney wasn't made for marital life... He is not that kind of person. Obviously...


    PS : Nice avatar.

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  179. amyk_712September 9, 2014 at 10:01 PM

    I for one watched the show because I loved all the characters and I was being told an enjoyable story, which is the case with any TV show or film. Tracy was easily the best part of the final season, and I adored her character, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stamp my feet because the creators of the story decided from the pilot episode that she was dead. Same thing for Barney/Robin...I vastly preferred Ted/Robin over Barney/Robin, but I didn't whine and complain and boycott the final season because it was about their wedding. The creators of any show or book series or movie franchise aren't obligated to cater to the wishes of the viewers (even if it is the majority of the viewers) if they don't want to.

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  180. DaervarnSeptember 9, 2014 at 10:52 PM

    It's a big difference between making a show by telling and developing a specific story to a specific ending and telling a completely different story, blatantly lying to the public as to your coworkers for nearly a decade just to change everything at the end. The creators of HIMYM knew all the time that nobody would like their ending right from the start, so they made the hole show to "cater" the viewers as their coworkers and first of all to get picked up.

    If they would have made the show about the things they wanted (as Carter Bays stated in that case Robin would have been the Mother from day one and she wouldn't be dead) the end would have been OK, but as they just used the show to make money, then contradicted the show with their ending (including their own foreshadowings for the finale) and before lied to everyone that an end like the one they executed "would be a crime" is just inexusable shit!

    And as they are gone underground since the finale and were not even willing to appear in person and defend the outcome of finale as their spin-off show vis-à-vis CBS shows that they knew what they did all the time.

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  181. DarqueModeSeptember 9, 2014 at 11:47 PM

    I have no idea where you get your information! XD

    Direct quote from Bays in this interview: https://www.facebook.com/notes/how-i-met-your-mother-himym/new-interview-with-carter-bays-and-craig-thomas-they-talked-about-season-6-final/216158335074572
    " In our pilot, Robin was never going to “The Mother.”"

    Thomas from the Reddit AUA:
    Quick answers: 1) Robin was never going to be The Mother.

    Answering another question Thomas says:
    Thomas: "Robin was never going to be The Mother. The pilot always ended the way it does."

    There are plenty of legitimate reasons to not have enjoyed the finale. Hate the finale all you want but making up facts is just silly.

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  182. DarqueModeSeptember 9, 2014 at 11:51 PM

    I'm quite intrigued to know how people would have reacted to the original plan ending the series after 8 seasons and only meeting the mother in the final few minutes of the finale!


    I know Season 9 being at B&R wedding made many fans make false assumptions, but if not for that extra season the mother would never even have been a true character on the series! XD


    Like you I saw the series enindg very close to the way it did. I knew the mother was dead but I was not sure who Ted would go back to. I assumed Robin, but that last season threw even me off the scent xD

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  183. amyk_712September 10, 2014 at 12:03 AM

    I can say that the entire final season was catering to the fans, and it blew up in their faces. While money almost surely was a factor in having a ninth season, I think C&C set the whole season over Barney and Robin's wedding to cater to their fans. I think they included the Mother in the final season so much to cater to their fans. And it blew up in their faces because instead of appreciating the parts they enjoyed, they b*$&%ed and complained when things didn't work out the way they wanted in the finale.


    That entire second paragraph doesn't make sense. I see DarqueMode addressed that. Robin was NEVER going to be the Mother, which was directly stated in the pilot and never once contradicted all the way to the closing shot in the series finale. To my knowledge C&C didn't lie about anything...maybe said things evasively or misleadingly, but never a direct lie.


    And I really don't know where you're coming from with this "true" story stuff. The real ending, the one that aired back in March, was the conclusion to their "true" story. You know, the one about how Ted met the Mother of his children and how he loved her and mourned her death for six years after she tragically died and then found the strength to move on to someone else he truly cared for.

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  184. DaervarnSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:05 AM

    Maybe you should read interviews!

    Carter Bays said in an old EW interview that Robin should have been the Mother. That is not making up facts, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas just lied multiple times!

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  185. DaervarnSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:12 AM

    Craig Thomas said from 2005 to 2013 that Robin would "never" end up up Ted and that Ted would have his happy ending with the Mother and that an end where Ted met the girl he would end up with during the pilot would be crime. With that crap of a finale that is blatant lying!

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  186. DarqueModeSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:12 AM

    I have been reading articles since the finale... dozens of articles for hours.
    Could you please link me to that article!




    I have NEVER herd them mention Robin as the mother. The entire series was designed that she was never going to be the mother as far as I have read. I looked back at articles to season 2 or 3 I think.


    Regardless, I still do not understand how anyone could ever expect showrunners to give away twists or secrets just so they are being truthful. It sounds so comical.

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  187. amyk_712September 10, 2014 at 12:12 AM

    Yep, season 9 came back to bite C&C sadly. People would've complained if they had never gotten to know Tracy, and now they complain that they got to know her only to have her snatched away. There was no winning, really.

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  188. DaervarnSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:15 AM

    To keep a twist as a secret is something different than blatant lying!

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  189. DarqueModeSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:18 AM

    I read at least 2 interviews just this week since this was posted where Bays or Thomas said that Ted and Robin were not rule out and how it would certainly change the dynamic if they got back together.

    From the 201 article I linked:

    What about Ted and Robin. Could that be revisited?
    Bays: That’s another Pandora’s box of potential bad and good things. On a series-wide scale, this story started with him and Robin. She’s an important part of his life. We’re going to find out why she’s important to his life.



    So that contradicts what you say right therein the first article I looked at. XD

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  190. amyk_712September 10, 2014 at 12:18 AM

    I would love to see a direct quote on this. I'm not opposed to being proven wrong when there is a viable source. Forgive me if hearsay isn't enough, I've seen enough Carter and Craig interviews to know that they can say things in an evasive way as I mentioned before. And Ted DID get a happy ending with the Mother, it just didn't last as long as people expected.

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  191. DaervarnSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:21 AM

    If you call an end with Ted widdowed as happy you have serious problems!

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  192. DarqueModeSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:22 AM

    Exactly!
    For days now it has been one misquote and accusation after another, toward C&C and me since I am a very bad person and have mental issues evidently!! XD


    I actually searched for a quote on how they would "Never" get back together and found none. Also looked for one on how Robin was supposed to be the mother and found none.


    Of course I only looked at a few dozen articles and I'm sure there are dozens more out there so I could have missed something.... but until I see the link and get a direct quote I am going to doubt it.

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  193. DarqueModeSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:31 AM

    I suspected Ted to be widowed for at least 6 or 7 seasons I think. Why else would he be telling the kids those stories without ever having his wife next to the three of them?


    The ending was happy since he met his dream women and loved her until the day she died. Then years alter he moved on to happiness once again. That is a happy ending to me. The people I watched the show with all literally cheered when he ran to Robin's! Okay... only 3 of the 5 cheered and the other two just smiled.

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  194. DaervarnSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:35 AM

    "To me the worst thing would be to
    do the pilot for our show, and the pilot is about that pivotal moment
    in Ted’s life where he decides, ‘I’m ready right now to find someone.’
    And to send the message that you can make that decision in your
    apartment, walk downstairs to the bar and the love of your life is
    right there – so your search for the perfect person takes 23 minutes?

    "To me that’s a more criminal thing to do than what we have done,
    which is to say, look, along the road, along this crazy, winding path
    that will lead you to the right person, there are plenty of decoys and
    twists and turns along the way."

    "I think we wanted to go a little more realistic with it. We are a
    romantic comedy, we’ve already said from day one that there is a happy
    ending to it. But we’re trying to explore the more real side of it, the
    side where you’re convinced that this person who’s your friend and
    you’re in love with is the right person for you. But they’re just not.
    It’s just not that easy sometimes.

    "And we thought the ‘Friends’ fans would just hunt us down and lynch
    us if we did another ‘will they or won’t they’ series. If our stated
    goal is, like, let’s do another five years of 'will they or won’t they
    with Robin and Ted,' that’s sort of a ‘Friends’ rehash and that’s what
    we didn’t want to do. And that’s why we’re a little happy we’ve gotten
    away from the ‘Friends’ comparisons."
    Craig Thomas 02.2006 (It's an old TV interview)

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  195. DaervarnSeptember 10, 2014 at 12:36 AM

    OK you have really problems!

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  196. amyk_712September 10, 2014 at 12:59 AM

    I think you just have an extremely narrow definition of what a happy ending is. You do realize Tracy would have died eventually? Perhaps still before Ted? Ted happened to be widowed in 10 years instead of 50. Which sucks, but it doesn't mean he didn't have an happy ending.

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  197. amyk_712September 10, 2014 at 1:01 AM

    Same here, especially when the "quotes" are coming from angry fans.

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  198. DarqueModeSeptember 10, 2014 at 1:08 AM

    Maybe just me, but that does say anywhere that Ted and Robin will not be together in the end. The only part that is close is the the "But they're just not" line, but that is immediately followed by "It's just not that easy sometimes" as well. That next sentence changes it to an evasive statement that is non-definitive. It implies that a may be harder than that - not impossible.


    It is a quite vague and evasive group of statements that basically says nothing in any absolute form. Quite clever honestly.

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  199. DaervarnSeptember 10, 2014 at 1:12 AM

    It may surprise you, but some people would call an ending where the love of your life is dead not a happy end! It's an ending, but not a happy one!

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  200. amyk_712September 10, 2014 at 1:20 AM

    Well then everyone is apparently cursed to an unhappy ending because EVERYONE will either lose the love of their life or leave behind the love at their life at some point. Again, this can happy at 30 or 50 or 80 or 100, but it's going to happen at some point. The younger it happens the more difficult it is, but it doesn't mean they didn't get their happy ending with each. I'm Tracy would have certainly viewed it as a happy ending--instead of dying alone, she got a second chance at love and roughly a decade with the love of her life and two beautiful children.

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