List of How I Met Your Mother episodes

How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom written and created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for CBS. The series premiered on September 19, 2005, with a thirty-minute pilot episode, and finished its nine-season run on March 31, 2014. Set in present-day Manhattan, New York City, the series follows the social and romantic lives of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and his four best friends, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), as Ted seeks out his future wife (Cristin Milioti). The show tells this story through the framing device of "future" Ted (Bob Saget) as an unreliable narrator who is recounting to his son and daughter the events that led him to their mother.[1] In Seasons 1–8, episodes are typically set to a similar timeline as its real-world airdate, with the season finale generally taking place in the spring and the next season premiere in the fall, usually with a quick recap of the events that took place during the summer. The final season (season 9) deviates from this format by taking place immediately after the end of the previous season and encompassing only the weekend of Barney's and Robin's wedding.[2][3] The series finale covers several years that follow.

How I Met Your Mother premiered to nearly 11 million viewers[4] and maintained a generally steady viewership.[5] The first seven seasons are available on DVD in Region 1, 2, and 4, while the season eight DVD was released in Region 1 and 2 in October 2013.[6] In addition, all nine seasons are currently available for streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video and can be purchased on the Apple TV app from the iTunes Store in the US and on Disney+ in Australia.[7]

During the course of the series, 208 episodes of How I Met Your Mother aired over nine seasons.

  1. ^ "'How I Met Your Mother's' Craig Thomas on Ted & Barney's Breakup, Eriksen Babies and The Future of Robarn". Zap2it.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2008. [He is] a guy who is telling the story so many years in the future, and he jumbles it up in his memory a little bit. He can be an unreliable narrator.
  2. ^ Zemler, Emily (July 22, 2013). "'How I Met Your Mother' team previews final season". CNN. Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  3. ^ "Comic-Con: 'How I Met Your Mother' Team Explains Final Season's New Structure". hollywoodreporter.com. July 20, 2013. Archived from the original on August 22, 2013.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pilot ratings was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Carter, Bill (April 8, 2012). "How It Met Big Ratings 7 Years Into Its Run". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 16, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  6. ^ "Releases for 'How I Met Your Mother'". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  7. ^ "How I Met Your Mother on CBS". TV Guide. Archived from the original on July 18, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.