The Alternate Ending To How I Met Your Mother Is Roughly 9 Billion Times Better Than The Original Ending

CBS Photo Archive. Getty Images.

Okay I know most people who saw this headline were a little confused about a show that ended a little less than a decade ago. Let me explain.

I was on The Dog Walk for a TV and Movie Bar/Restaurant draft with the lovely fellas from Chicago and the handsome lad from Texas:

After making a fantastic first pick along with three good picks, I wrapped things up by selecting MacLaren's with my last pick because of how much I loved How I Met Your Mother as well as the idea of having a great bar at the bottom of the apartment I shared with my best friend. HIMYM had a chance to be in my personal Mount Rushmore for sitcoms because of how great it was along with pretty much taking place right as I was going through a lot of stuff the characters were going through, namely trying to evolve from post-graduate creature to human while trying to get a real job, a real place, and maybe just maybe a real wife that would allow me to have sex with her that could lead to having a real family.

Since I couldn't help myself, I unleashed a monologue on the podcast to a handful of guys who never saw the show about how bad the last season of How I Met Your Mother was, which included a series finale that is in the running for the WOAT considering how much it ruined the rest of the show knowing how everything ends up. I'm talking Game of Thrones level bad. My wife still rewatches the show and while the jokes still land, the thought of how everything ended up bums me out.

Luckily my Twitter pal Danny hit me with the alternate ending that was released with the How I Met Your Mother Final Season DVD that I never knew about because I couldn't have cared less about the show once the credits rolled on the finale.

That right there is perfect. Not good, not great. But perfect. Even if you don't want to throw the P word around, I think we can agree it beats the hell out of killing the mom we waited almost a decade to meet, wiping out the final season of Barney and Robin's wedding with an instant divorce, and a bunch of other shit that flat out stunk. 

I get that the original ending hit viewers over the head with a hammer of reality that occurs in many people's lives. But I think How I Met Your Mother gave us plenty of that with the gang having to split due to jobs, kids, and choices to make major changes in life. That alternate ending was exactly like the show was during its entire run. Light, fun, and just downright likable (even if Ted Mosby wasn't all that likable). I think I would've rather had Ted end up with that evil bitch Stella or that absolute dud Zoey than have him know true love only to lose that true love to an illness before ending up back with Aunt Robin. 

Okay that's a bit much and to be honest my blood is starting to boil just thinking about the original ending again. In fact, I have chosen to make the alternate ending the actual ending of How I Met Your Mother and will watch all the old episodes on Netflix once again now that it has an ending that was worthy of the show (I'll still be skipping the final season because I remember hating that in real time, especially the Marshall getting a ride to the wedding part).