How I Got Drunk And Partied With My Friends Years Before I Met Your Mother
A divine instance of self-mockery (or self-trolling as the youth today would call it occurred in the first episode of the eighth season of “How I Met Your Mother”. Had I watched it with a crowd, the scene would definitely have been paused for a dutiful round of applause. In fact, I’m pretty sure the audience hasn’t seen such good writers’ self-mockery since the creation of “Gossip Girl”. The moment I’m speaking of, or rather minute, is the part of the episode where Barney Stinson retold all seven seasons in under sixty seconds.
Having reached the eighth, and hopefully final, season of the cult show “How I Met Your Mother”, the viewers can’t help but feel a little cheated. They have stayed with Ted Mosby and his gang for years, and yet all we know about the legendary Mother is that, at one point in her life, she met Ted and mothered his children. Millions of predictions have swarmed the audience, but none of them have been made by the writers. It seems like their story has missed the road which ends with the fateful meeting. Rather, they have focused on telling us (the viewers,) in extensive detail, the tale of every secondary character in the show. One can’t help but wonder why. However, the answer is simple— viewer ratings.
Modern TV shows seem to circulate around their popularity. Creating relationships that weren’t previously planned, as one might assume of the Barney-Robin affair, or reestablishing those that used to be loved, such as the Ted-Victoria one, is a direct response to the viewers’ demands. The addition of well-liked actors to the series, such as LOST’s very own Hurley Jorge Garcia, is also one of the many tricks played to win over the audience. And most problematically, the episodes just add up without adding anything to the content of the show. We constantly see of the adventures of the gang, yet we come no closer to meeting the mother. The audience is introduced to their every night of partying, even though most are unnecessary in the account of how Ted met the Mother. Barney’s numerous affairs, Robin’s career and Lily and Marshall’s problems with parenthood are the main driving forces of the plot. Mr. and future Mrs. Mosby have definitely been placed in second place. Simply put, Ted no longer appears to be narrating the story of him and his wife-to-be, but the story that he believes a 2012 audience would like to hear. However, the public is becoming more and more annoyed by this fact. The jokes have lost their wittiness, the relationships have lost their flair and the series has lost its initial charm. The tale is no longer about one of the characters, and that was the tale we all wanted to hear.
Sadly, it is not only the creators of Mosby that have opted to stray from their initial story lines in order to attract their audience. Shows in general have begun to shape themselves according to the demands of the public. While it is possible that this plan works in short term, as time passes the series loses both its originality and its viewers. Today’s audience is becoming victim of TV programs similar to the never-ending Latin soaps. Still, there is nothing we can do but sit tight for the ride and hope that Ted Mosby meets the Mother before aliens attack New York or, even worse, he realizes that Lily is his long-lost sibling.
Having reached the eighth, and hopefully final, season of the cult show “How I Met Your Mother”, the viewers can’t help but feel a little cheated. They have stayed with Ted Mosby and his gang for years, and yet all we know about the legendary Mother is that, at one point in her life, she met Ted and mothered his children. Millions of predictions have swarmed the audience, but none of them have been made by the writers. It seems like their story has missed the road which ends with the fateful meeting. Rather, they have focused on telling us (the viewers,) in extensive detail, the tale of every secondary character in the show. One can’t help but wonder why. However, the answer is simple— viewer ratings.
Modern TV shows seem to circulate around their popularity. Creating relationships that weren’t previously planned, as one might assume of the Barney-Robin affair, or reestablishing those that used to be loved, such as the Ted-Victoria one, is a direct response to the viewers’ demands. The addition of well-liked actors to the series, such as LOST’s very own Hurley Jorge Garcia, is also one of the many tricks played to win over the audience. And most problematically, the episodes just add up without adding anything to the content of the show. We constantly see of the adventures of the gang, yet we come no closer to meeting the mother. The audience is introduced to their every night of partying, even though most are unnecessary in the account of how Ted met the Mother. Barney’s numerous affairs, Robin’s career and Lily and Marshall’s problems with parenthood are the main driving forces of the plot. Mr. and future Mrs. Mosby have definitely been placed in second place. Simply put, Ted no longer appears to be narrating the story of him and his wife-to-be, but the story that he believes a 2012 audience would like to hear. However, the public is becoming more and more annoyed by this fact. The jokes have lost their wittiness, the relationships have lost their flair and the series has lost its initial charm. The tale is no longer about one of the characters, and that was the tale we all wanted to hear.
Sadly, it is not only the creators of Mosby that have opted to stray from their initial story lines in order to attract their audience. Shows in general have begun to shape themselves according to the demands of the public. While it is possible that this plan works in short term, as time passes the series loses both its originality and its viewers. Today’s audience is becoming victim of TV programs similar to the never-ending Latin soaps. Still, there is nothing we can do but sit tight for the ride and hope that Ted Mosby meets the Mother before aliens attack New York or, even worse, he realizes that Lily is his long-lost sibling.
Simona Sarafinovska