‘How I Met Your Mother’: Why Was the Show Canceled in 2014?
How I Met Your Mother was a CBS sitcom tv show from 2005 to 2014. The show dominated pop culture as fans theorized for years on the identity of the long-mysterious mother. The show launched some of the actors into fame — some, like Neil Patrick Harris, already had established careers — which could have been a factor in the show ending in 2014. Why did How I Met Your Mother end and was it canceled?
‘How I Met Your Mother’ ran for nine seasons on CBS
The show started with Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) explaining to his children Luke (David Henrie) and Penny (Lyndsy Fonseca) in 2030 how he met their mother. Ted starts the story by introducing Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) in the first episode to his kids. He concludes the pilot episode by referring to her as Aunt Robin.
How I Met Your Mother took viewers on various twists and turns throughout its nine-season run. It often used cliffhangers in season finales. This left viewers even more curious than they had been before on where the show would go next.
The show answered a pivotal question in its final season
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Fans of How I Met Your Mother created elaborate theories for years putting together plot points of the show to determine who the mother was. The show finally revealed the mother’s identity in the season eight finale, and then developed her further in season nine.
The mother ended up being Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti), who Ted met at Barney Stinson and Robin’s wedding. Viewers loved Tracy for her sassy personality and appearing to be a good match for the show’s protagonist.
But the show could’ve ended even before viewers got to know Tracy.
Was ‘How I Met Your Mother’ canceled when it ended?
The How I Met Your Mother cast had taken on other projects in addition to the CBS show during its run. Jason Segel, one of the HIMYM stars, was in the movies Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man, This Is 40, and more while HIMYM aired. And according to Deadline, prior to How I Met Your Mother‘s season nine renewal, Segel was “the lone holdout with everyone else wanting to continue.”
A source told Deadline in 2012 that Segel “decided to bail and leave the cast [hanging]. But he just got turned around today at the last second. The show was literally dead.”
At the time that How I Met Your Mother season nine renewal was being discussed, the CBS president Nina Tassler spoke about her hopes for another season at a CBS TCA executive session.
“The show had an incredible year last year,” she expressed, per another Deadline article. “We’re having conversations right now about extending it, we want the show to come back next year. We’re still in early conversations, we’re not there yet in terms of resolving the situation, but we’re pretty optimistic.”
She also praised the series co-creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.
Tassler added: “Craig and Carter have a very strategic wrap-up for the show.”
Eventually, CBS did make an agreement with the actors involved for a ninth and final season. The show ended, and the actors went their separate ways to pursue other creative endeavors.
