They should have pulled an Orci and just said "Fuck you!" to those who didn't like it. 
How I Met Your Mother: The Final Season
- Thread starter ryan123450
- Start date
They're releasing an alternate ending with the Complete Series set. I hope it's not something that would allow fans to pretend that what we actually got didn't happen. I was hoping that we'd get those missing 18 minutes but it looks like that won't be the case. From the sound of the Hannigan interview, that might have alleviated some of the anger over the finale rushing things too much.
Why that?
I hope, whatever it is, that it's a full episode edit, and not just a 5 minutes bonus feature.
Yep.
What are they supposed to say? Sorry half of you liked it and half of you didn't?
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
They shouldn't apologize for anything. For starters, they did their job. Just because a couple of assholes on the internet didn't like it, doesn't mean it was terrible nor does it mean they have anything to apologize for.
Beyond which is the more amazing and egregious suggestion that because a bunch of people didn't like it, somehow that should also mean that the onus is on the showrunners to apologize for their own creation, as if they owe us anything. They don't.
This isn't Batman & Robin, this isn't These Are The Voyages... This was a sitcom ending. The fact that so many people ignored/missed the point of the show is irrelevant at this point. Now it's just the same idiotic fan entitlement that plagues Star Trek fandom. No thanks, get over yourselves, move on.
Christ on a bicycle, get over yourself. You liked the finale, we get it. I myself liked parts of it. But that in no way makes people who disliked the episode "assholes," particularly considering the season spent 23 episodes building to a particular event, and then fifteen minutes into the finale, the writers said "lol just kidding."
I really don't get why you seem to feel the need to white knight Bays and Thomas, as though criticism of "Last Forever" means someone is drop-kicking you in the junk or something.
Plenty of people have written television episodes, television finales and movies thinking that their idea was the right thing to do ... but having the best intentions doesn't mean squat. Just because they were doing what they wanted to do doesn't mean they're immune from criticism, and it doesn't mean that those who are criticizing them are assholes -- particularly given that one of the lead actors appears to be expressing some level of dissatisfaction with the finale as aired. Does that make Hannigan an asshole, too?
Didn't express her opinion on the internet, so in 005's world, probably no.
I am btw deeply offended by being called an asshole for not liking the finale. I am in therapy now to rethink my life.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Who's suggesting they should be immune from criticism? I liked the finale. Others did as well. Clearly the viewing majority hated it, which is just fine and dandy. I take issue with the idea however that because that viewing majority did not like it, the implication must therefore then be that the writers should not only change the ending but also apologize?
Fuck that.
Fan entitlement is a scourge. It robs the artists creating the content we consume and warps it. We just went through this with Star Trek Into Darkness and it was ridiculous then as it is ridiculous now.
Just because social media allows us to interact with these writers, directors, and showrunners in ways we couldn't do ten years ago, it doesn't mean that audiences know any better what to do. My mom's a nurse. I grew up around doctors and hospitals. I know a little bit about medicine. Does that mean I should waltz into an o.r. and proclaim I know how to perform a triple bypass surgery better than the surgeon on call? Of course not. That would be stupid. In a way, the same thing applies here.
Again, I'm not saying people can't hate the finale if they didn't like it. I'm not saying that people can't call it bad. All I'm saying is that because you or anyone else in this thread thought it was terrible, it doesn't mean that it is for everyone else and it certainly doesn't entitle a single one of the people who disliked or hated the finale to demand an apology from the writers.
However, since I clearly am in the minority on this matter, I will refrain from commenting any further and let you all get back to the discussion.
At the end of the day, it's just a sitcom. It ran for 9 seasons, way more than most. Now it's over, and the writers wrapped up the storylines the way they wanted (or were allowed to). Again, that's a lot more than most shows get.
The fact that this one has already been in reruns means that the furor will likely never die. Once more, that's a lot more than a lot of shows get.
There are a lot of shows that I really liked that ran for multiple years, but have never been given a second chance in syndication. Oh, well. Too bad for me.
As I said before, at the end of the day it was just a sitcom. Now it's over.
The fact that this one has already been in reruns means that the furor will likely never die. Once more, that's a lot more than a lot of shows get.
There are a lot of shows that I really liked that ran for multiple years, but have never been given a second chance in syndication. Oh, well. Too bad for me.
As I said before, at the end of the day it was just a sitcom. Now it's over.
No one is arguing for that (at the very least, I am not). I don't want Bays and Thomas to "apologize," I just think that "Last Forever," as edited and aired, was dogshit. (Just the same as seasons 7 and 8 of the series were terrible.)
But you have been tilting at every single windmill since "Last Forever" aired, saying that it was "the story they wanted to tell" or whatever, and getting incredibly defensive and / or aggressive whenever someone doesn't like it (I believe your response to me saying that despite the best intention of the writers, I didn't like the finale, was "it doesn't make it bad.") You literally said "a few assholes on the Internet" didn't like it.
Step back and take a breath.
This is true.
I think the list of finales that fans have loved is a lot shorter than the list that folks have ranted over. Breaking Bad, definitely in the positive category. Seinfeld, Enterprise, nuBSG, The Sopranos etc in the negative - and interestingly enough, the immediate spate of complaints about their finales were pretty much forgotten and didn't harm the long-term success or reputations of those that were real successes in first-run to begin with.
Timby, nobody adores "These Are The Voyages." That's a universal given. 
I'm also not "demanding an apology" from the HIMYM producers. I simply defend my right to proclaim that the finale sucked balls without being called an asshole.
Thank you for coming to the defense of the wicked.
If it had just had 15 extra minutes....well, it wouldn't have been good because it threw away Barney and Robin, but it could have avoided the nonexistant segeway between Ted's beautiful speech about thankfully having had the courage to approach Tracy that night no matter that she died and the daughter's god awful "Oh My Ga-wd, you totally have the hots for Aunt Robin" line that literally put the whipped cream on the shit sandwich.
Talk about emotional whiplash. What was it? 9 seconds? It was like, "Psych! It wasn't really a beautiful Ted/Tracy life. It's all about Robin, you idiots. Psych psych psych! Aren't we clever?" Perhaps it wasn't meant to do that but that's what it did. Who edited this episode??? The audience didn't see the grieving. The audience needed a minute or two to collect itself. Not the valley girl redux. It would have helped a great deal and then some.
I'm also not "demanding an apology" from the HIMYM producers. I simply defend my right to proclaim that the finale sucked balls without being called an asshole.
Thank you for coming to the defense of the wicked. If it had just had 15 extra minutes....well, it wouldn't have been good because it threw away Barney and Robin, but it could have avoided the nonexistant segeway between Ted's beautiful speech about thankfully having had the courage to approach Tracy that night no matter that she died and the daughter's god awful "Oh My Ga-wd, you totally have the hots for Aunt Robin" line that literally put the whipped cream on the shit sandwich.
Talk about emotional whiplash. What was it? 9 seconds? It was like, "Psych! It wasn't really a beautiful Ted/Tracy life. It's all about Robin, you idiots. Psych psych psych! Aren't we clever?" Perhaps it wasn't meant to do that but that's what it did. Who edited this episode??? The audience didn't see the grieving. The audience needed a minute or two to collect itself. Not the valley girl redux. It would have helped a great deal and then some.
I disagree with the message. You should look forward, not backward. For 9 seasons, Ted was looking backward, always trying to catch Robin when she wasn't the right one. Robin has always been the reason for his break ups, with Stella, Victora, etc... He then FINALLY moved on, and found his soulmate. And that soulmate even invited Robin to the wedding, because both knew he FINALLY moved on (Tracy knew all his stories, so he knew about him and Robin).
But then, in two minutes screentime, Tracy dies, and Ted is catapulted back to trying to catch Robin again. In this case, having the story go "full circle" was extremely bad.
But then, in two minutes screentime, Tracy dies, and Ted is catapulted back to trying to catch Robin again. In this case, having the story go "full circle" was extremely bad.
Who missed the point of the show? I think nearly everyone in this thread is 100% on board with the fact that the purpose of the show, as designed by the creators, is the "Ted + Robin show". Fans going back all the way to season 5/6 still believed there was a chance that Ted and Robin were going to end up together. Then the writer's went on a 3+ season absolute character assassination on Robin, which proved to us that Ted and Robin would never work, CULMINATING in that stupid "float away like a balloon" montage. And then what, six episodes later, Ted finally actually does end up with Robin?
I don't think people are upset that Ted ended up with Robin. I think people are upset in the manner in which the creators chose to tell their story. Has nothing to do with sitcom and everything to do with bad storytelling. Cartoons like Futurama are more internally consistent with their character relationships.
This and this again.
I don't have an opinion about what their plan was, I do have one about how they executed it. And apparently, that makes me an asshole.
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