For the last couple of days I’ve seen a lot of grumbling about
the season finale of How I Met Your
Mother. First off, I have to admit
that I never watched the show. Sitcoms
have never been high on my must-watch TV list.
So, this one slipped past me, and obviously, I’m glad it did. Really, who wants to invest their time in
nine seasons and walk away disappointed?
Here’s what I think:
Endings are hard. Perfect endings
are a minor miracle, cast down from writing gods at the exact moment when
a writer (or room full of TV writers) need the idea the most.
If you don’t think so, try it yourself. It might seem easy. Write a beginning, a middle, an end, and
Presto! you have a perfect story. Sorry
folks, it doesn’t work that way. The
truth is most writers don’t know the end of the story when they start
writing it. They might have a vague
idea, but things change once a writer is inside a story. We’re making it up as we go along.
And I suppose that’s the rub with How I Met Your Mother. The
producers, writers, whoever, pitched a show that implies a perfect ending, and
at the end of the run, they were exposed, in some viewers' opinions, as frauds. They were making it up as they went along
just like the rest of us. The viewer was
swindled out of their time, out of that perfect emotional climax that they had
been expecting for nine years. They
wasted their time.
Maybe, maybe not.
Sure, that time could have been used for other things (like learning how
to write a TV series on their own, how to speak a foreign language, how to do the watusi, what ever). Or the viewer
could accept that they were entertained for nine years. They laughed and cried along the way. The destination sucked, but the journey was
fun. What more could you expect from a
TV show? There is no warranty. It’s the chance viewers and readers take with
all storytellers in all mediums.
Perfect endings are rare, and because How I Met Your Mother failed in some viewers’ opinions, well, maybe
they’ll know a good one when they see it next time—and maybe they’ll be able to appreciate that perfect ending a little more.
3 comments:
I agree with your sentiment. In film and TV the ending is often so contrived as to be unsatisfactory. Whoops, we need to end it now because the star is leaving, the ratings are down, the show is cancelled or there is a new network chief, etc.
While perfect endings are elusive, aren't perfect beginnings as well?
Beginnings are more fun because they are messy (I think). I wondered about you the other day when I saw the earth moved out your way. Good to hear from you.
So true, Larry. On both shows that last nine years and endings.
I feel American TV shows milk a good idea until it turns to crap. So many examples. Whereas, the British take a classic like The Office and there's two series and finis. US Office ran for close to a decade. Silly.
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