How I Met Your Mother: Season 7

I watched the seventh season of How I Met Your Mother the same way I watched the first four: on DVD in a few days time well after it had aired on television. And, probably not coincidentally, I enjoyed it a lot more than either the fifth or the sixth season, both of which I watched at least partially live on TV as they unfolded. What I said in my last post about this show - "this show works best when devoured on DVD rather than seen live, twenty minutes a week at a time" - definitely seems to ring true. But then, perhaps I've also just come to accept that this show in its present form is not and could not possibly be the same show that it was in those first couple of seasons. Seven years is the better part of a decade, and for a scripted network TV series it's nearly an eternity. (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as a comparison, is also currently airing its eighth season and feeling a bit long in the tooth, and yet due to the shortened cable season format it has only aired about half as many episodes as this one.) But How I Met Your Mother at least seems fully aware that it's gotten well into its twilight years at this point, and whether the final season is the one currently airing or a possible ninth one, it's pretty clear that we're finally getting very close to learning the identity of Ted's future wife. I've heard people complain that the show is just dragging its feet at this point, and that they're only still watching it to find out who the mother is. I want to call bullshit on that, though. If all you care about is who the mother ends up being, why not just read about it after the finale? Anyone still watching this show, either as appointment viewing or with more of an on-and-off open relationship like my own, is doing so because it's still ultimately a pretty entertaining show with mostly endearing characters. Some episodes fall flatter than others, but most are at least willing to get a little experimental with the traditional episodic story-telling format, and for that much I commend the aging sitcom; it may not be as consistently funny as several other shows I watch, but it's still putting in a hell of an effort, especially for a CBS comedy with a laugh track. And in spite of several groan-inducing revelations and plot developments - revisiting the same old love triangles, or introducing yet another stunt-casted guest star for a short arc as someone's short-term significant other, for instance - the overall season was still enjoyable and rarely frustrating the way the last few have been. My only concern at this point is whether or not the uncertain time table - seriously, will there be eight seasons or nine? - will end up complicating the final stretch of episodes and the writers' ability to properly pace out decent closing arcs for all five main characters. After eight (or nine) years of pretty good television, I'd hate to see them botch the landing.