"How I Met Your Mother" to Get a 9th Season? Is That Really Such a Good Idea?

Film Thrasher reports, "For most of 2012, CBS has been very vocal that they'd like How I Met Your Mother to return for a Season 9. The problem? After an eighth season that has gained much criticism for not living up to past standards, fans aren't quite sure whether or not they'd like another year while the cast has not remained dedicated as various main actors' theatrical careers are really starting to take off."

I think the renewal of How I Met Your Mother for a 9th season is a pretty bad decision. HIMYM has been precipitously declining in quality and has little in the way of story left to tell beyond revealing who the mother actually is (a large reason I've continued to watch despite the fact I don't enjoy the series nearly as much as I used to). Perhaps with the burden of who the mother is gone from the show, they might be able to step out from underneath that shadow and return to the inventive and fun storytelling that sold myself and many others on the series back in its heyday. But recent episodes have so obviously been stalling tactics (and not always very clever ones at that) that it's made the series frustrating and not nearly as entertaining as it has been in the past. We know that the show is headed towards Barney and Robin's wedding, so it's only a matter of getting there. And its been a not all that fun tease. A series like this was never really meant to go 8 plus seasons long and it's starting to show its age. Hell, it was starting to show it even before that, notably with the really bad Season 6 story arc involving Ted's quite obviously doomed relationship with Zoe.

I stick with HIMYM because its decent enough comfort food, and it still sporadically shows glimpses of its old brilliance with the occasional spot on character moment, or hilarious joke, or solid callback. But episodes like season 7's "The Burning Beekeeper" or  this season's "The Overcorrection" demonstrate just how tired and sluggish the series has become in recent years. These episodes play around with time and narrative perspective (as the series has effectively done a number of times in the past; e.g. season 1's "The Pineapple Incident" or season 4's "Three Days of Snow"), but they only halfheartedly make the attempt and the lackluster effort and execution is noticeable and disappointing. And while the mid season finale "The Final Page Part 1/2" is certainly without question the best episode of this season and in a long while, the fact remains that HIMYM is long way off from its best years