How I Met Your Mother Season 9 A Possibility
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For those, like me, that believed How I Met Your Mother would be ending after season eight, think again. Variety is reporting that CBS (the network that airs the show) and 20th Century Fox (the production company that owns the show) are currently in negotiations to bring the show back for a ninth season and possibly more in the future. Although these talks are just beginning, the move makes quite a bit of sense on the network’s part.
Although the show is coming into its eighth season this fall, the network saw an increase in ratings last year that is nearly unheard of in the business. Mother’s seventh season was its second highest watched season to date, averaging a solid 8.5 million viewers an episode. Add to that the fact that the show continues to be CBS’ youngest skewing program (with a median age of 45.7). This is compounded by rumors that the upcoming season of Two and a Half Men will be its last. Would CBS really like to see its number one comedy leave and not fight for what remains a solid program that bring some amount of youth to the network?
Keep in mind, though, that CBS wanting the show to stay on the air does not necessarily mean that it will stay there. There remain several obstacles in the way of a season 9 as these negotiations move forward. The main correlation between these obstacles is simple: contracts. Because everyone expected the show to end after season 8, the contracts between CBS and 20th Century Fox, with the creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, and with the show’s five lead actors all expire after the 2012-13 run.
This means renegotiations that will lead to higher production costs as well as a distinct possibility that several of the cast would like to walk away to pursue other opportunities. Josh Radnor (Ted) is an indie film writer/director, Jason Segel (Marshall) is a fairly popular feature writer and actor, Neil Patrick Harris (Barney) is an extremely popular theater and film actor, Alyson Hannigan is a mom of two with a movie career, and Cobie Smulders was just in the third highest grossing film of all time. It isn’t hard to imagine one or more of those people walking away from the show after this long and continuing with another venture.
Time will tell as the negotiations move forward, and until then I’ll be cautiously optimistic that things will work out well. Right now I’m not quite certain what “working out well” means to me (possibly the show ending) but until work comes back either way I will remain hopeful. Are any of you fans with a dog in this race? Sound off in the comments.
