How I Met Your Mother: Every Season, Ranked From Worst To Best

For the decade or so that it was on the air, How I Met Your Mother was both one of the most popular and most creative sitcoms. It attained that status thanks to some remarkable consistency in the early stages, with the first few seasons being filled with hilarious gags and shocking plot twists.

Unfortunately, most fans will agree that the quality of the series waned in the later years. That doesn’t mean it ever became a bad show, just one that didn’t quite live up to the high bar it initially set. Regardless, each season of HIMYM brought something unique to the table and is worth looking back on.

9 Season 9

It’s incredibly important for a long-running show to stick the landing with its final season. Only a handful manage to do it perfectly, but even diehard fans of How I Met Your Mother will agree that it wasn’t one of them. The show took an interesting route by having the entire final season take place over the course of Robin and Barney’s wedding weekend.

That made for some odd pacing outside of any flashbacks and flashforwards. Fans were also pretty cold on the series finale, which broke up Robin and Barney after spending so much time with them and killed off the titular Mother, despite her easily being the high point of the final set of episodes.

8 Season 7

By the time season 7 rolled around, audiences could get the sense the show was spinning its wheels a bit. They were anxious to see who the Mother was and to find out the details of the many mysteries that had been set up in earlier seasons. While it was nice to see a lot of focus on Robin, most of her romantic storylines either felt like filler or were retreads.

However, this season did nail some of the emotional moments, particularly when Robin dealt with the news that she couldn’t have children. Some of the jokes that were set up didn’t really land with fans,  though, including the ducky tie subplot and the romance between Barney and Quinn.

7 Season 8

One of Ted’s most popular love interests was Victoria, who returned at the tail end of season 7. She and Ted ran away together only to break up during season 8 over how close he was to Robin. Though some viewers enjoyed seeing Ted and Victoria rekindle their romance, for many, it ultimately felt like a retread for the series and hurt the overall quality of season 8.

While it was sweet to watch Marshall and Lily tackle parenthood, some of the storylines involving Lily’s dad Mickey and The Captain weren’t the best. How I Met Your Mother, as usual, nailed the special episodes like when the characters were visited by time traveling versions of themselves or when they saw the last Robin Sparkles music video. Unfortunately, Barney’s proposal to Robin, while extravagant, involved too much manipulation to feel truly romantic.

6 Season 5

Season 5 of HIMYM is probably even more divisive than the final one. A big focus was on the Robin and Barney relationship, at least for the first half, which a lot of fans didn’t like. It made for a questionable string of episodes, including one where Ted tried teaching Barney how to date Robin.

Once they split, the season improved greatly. The 100th episode, “Girls Versus Suits,” featured the cast in a big musical number and the first look at The Mother (her leg at least). There are also fantastic gags like another entry into the Slap Bet series and the main characters discovering their doppelgängers.

5 Season 6

What makes season 6 stand out is the way it blended the comedy with the more emotional moments. When it wasn’t working, season 6 struggled with episodes like “The Mermaid Theory” and “Natural History.” However, when it was firing on all cylinders, it delivered some of the show’s best scenes.

Guest stars like Jorge Garcia and Katy Perry rank among the best to ever appear on the series, while Barney meeting his dad was an arc that made up for the unpopular Ted/Zoey romance. This season also broke hearts everywhere with “Bad News” and “Last Words,” as Marshall’s father passed away.

4 Season 4

Season 4 hit viewers hard as the Ted/Stella pairing came to an end when she left him at the altar, and the protagonist was left to pick up the pieces of his broken heart. Fans didn’t love the way some of the characters were split up, like when Robin took a job in Japan. It made sense for their evolving lives and careers but made the show feel a bit disjointed.

Still, there was a ton to like in season 4. It was all about growth as Marshall and Lily looked to move into the next stage of their relationship, while Barney began to question his own life after wanting something more following sleeping with so many women. This season also set up Ted becoming a professor.

3 Season 1

The first season of HIMYM is among the best ever, which is telling of how great the rest of the show was. It established the characters and the unique premise in clever fashion, though it did take a bit of time to get off the ground. While the pilot is strong, installments like “Purple Giraffe” and “Sweet Taste of Liberty” aren’t great.

The show picked up steam and didn’t let up with all-time great episodes including “Okay Awesome,” “Slutty Pumpkin,” “The Limo,” and “The Pineapple Incident.” It all built up to Ted and Robin getting together in a truly earned moment alongside Lily and Marshall’s crushing split.

2 Season 3

Following the break up of Ted and Robin, Ted went into a funk only to break out when Robin returned from a vacation with a new boyfriend. He spent a lot of the season single until he met Stella and was back to the guy who was ready to get married and start a family, even if it wasn’t the best decision at the time.

This season introduced the famous yellow umbrella and marked the debut of Slapsgiving. It also had some stellar guest stars like Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, Bob Odenkirk, and Mandy Moore. There were major shocks too, like Lily’s crippling debt and Barney getting hit by a bus.

1 Season 2

Season 2 was a case of HIMYM being great from start to finish. The early episodes saw Ted and Robin’s relationship sparking while Marshall struggled with Lily leaving him. It’s telling of the arc of the season that by the end of it, Ted and Robin break up just as Lily and Marshall tie the knot.

The show used the aspect of time expertly in installments like “Brunch” and “Something Borrowed,” which is a trope it would utilize often down the line. The true highlight of the season was the way it introduced many aspects that would stick around for years. “Slap Bet” is arguably the best episode as it debuted both the titular concept and Robin Sparkles.

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