How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) is a television series following a man, Ted Mosby, and his friends through their late 20s in New York City. The show is narrated by Ted who has sat his children down to tell them the story of how he met their mother. As Harold Mendelsohn stated in his mass entertainment theory, “TV provides an inexpensive, convenient way for people to satisfy various psychological needs”(Baran & Davis, 2015, p.120). HIMYM is a very popular show because it satisfies viewers’ various psychological needs by allowing them to experience life and love in NYC and feel a sense of belonging with the group.

For nine seasons HIMYM took its fans on a rollercoaster of Ted’s happy relationships and heartbreaks all leading to him meeting the mother of his children. According to the uses and gratification theory, consumers use media for five reasons: to gain knowledge, to identify with characters, for simple entertainment, to enhance social interaction and to escape from the stresses of daily life (“Uses and gratification,” 2015). Viewers watched this show to learn about relationships, friendships, and love, as well as to experience life with a group of friends in NYC.

HIMYM touched on many current events, both political and social, throughout the 2000s. Political and social events included were the global financial meltdown, the environmental protection movement, gay marriage and rights, the housing crisis, differences between Canadian and American social politics, marijuana use and legalization, the decline of local journalism, and finally, gun laws and safety. As blogger Erin Ryan wrote “Because of its relentless dated cultural and political references, How I Met Your Mother will likely be remembered by future TV nerds as one of the most quintessentially of-the-moment shows"(2014). Viewers did not just watch HIMYM because it was current, there was a character for every person to identify with or want to identify with on the show. There is Ted, the dreamy eyed hopeless romantic who just wants to find the one, Robin, the strong career oriented women, Barney, the “bro” and of course, Lily and Marshall, the perfect and real relationship every person wants.

Watching HIMYM was like hanging out with the group in the bar, it was not just entertainment. Each episode had viewers learning more inside jokes, social lessons and catch phrases. Some of the biggest ongoing inside jokes ofHIMYM are the “slap bet”, “suit up”, the playbook, the 5 dopplegangers, the blue french horn, the Bro Code, major/general/sergeant, the front porch and of course the yellow umbrella (Goodman, 2014). All of these and more were kept up with throughout the nine seasons, giving longtime viewers a sense of knowing and belonging within the group.

HIMYM was able to successfully run for nine seasons because of its content and writing. Viewers psychological needs were met, until the final season. The introduction of the mother,Tracy, at the end of season eight was exciting for many viewers. The expectation for season nine was to learn about the mother and fall in love with her for more than the few quirky facts we already learned throughout the seasons. This expectation was not met, the mother’s character development was pushed to the side leaving viewers unsatisfied. When Ted and Tracy finally met it was such an exciting moment. Fans had been following Ted for years knowing one day he would be happy with his dream girl. But the excitement of him finally having his perfect wife lasts not even an episode, before it dies with Tracy. And that is it, Ted talks about how she got

sick but says nothing specific. There is no funeral, just a measly few second shot of Tracy in a hospital bed. The episode then ends with how the show started, Ted bringing Robin a blue french horn and telling her he loves her.

The final episode took away part of how fans identified with Ted and the rest of the cast. Over the seasons fans watched Robin date Ted and then Barney. They watched as Barney and Robin’s relationship fell apart and once again had to deal with Barney and Robin falling in love again leading to their wedding. Fans had learned to identify Barney and Robin together and knew Ted had this future wife that would be amazing, which helped soothe the pain when it became clear Ted and Robin would never be together. Instead of ending the show with a final lesson or a happy ending of all the couples on a front porch, the producers shook fans out of their comfort zones. By creating an identity crisis between the fans and characters during the last minutes of a show, the viewers finished HIMYM with a bad taste in their mouth.