How I Met Your Mother

From the shocking to the downright bizarre, these are the 10 most divisive and controversial endings in TV history.

It takes a lot to stand out in the era of Peak TV, and no one series can resist the siren song of shocking twists. Some lay groundwork more carefully than others, so which major swerves were audiences miles ahead of? From LOST to Star Trek: Discovery, we’ve sleuthed out seventeen that savvy viewers put together long before showrunners intended.

The third time’s the charm for How I Met Your Mother spinoff How I Met Your Father, but it might also be the Worst. A third attempt at resuscitating the romantic comedy franchise now has a familiar writer from FXX’s You’re The Worst, and perhaps a revamped premise.

Brace yourself, that How I Met Your Mother spinoff is coming around for another pass. After CBS’ initial attempt at a How I Met Your Dad and FOX’s This Is Us-superseded version, a third group of 20th Century Fox writers will take aim at a female-focused reboot.

We’ve had plenty of time to let the How I Met Your Mother finale stew, but there’s no avoiding how jam-packed that wedding weekend felt. Star Alyson Hannigan certainly agrees, noting the series finale “cut out everything” from the original script, and that Barney and Robin should probably never have gotten married in the first place.

No one would argue that How I Met Your Mother was thoroughly (and painfully) concluded over nine seasons, so much so that CBS thought better of continuing the franchise with a spinoff. Well, in case you needed to know what Ted, Robin, Barney, Marshall and Lily have been up to in the last three years, FOX is at least entertaining the idea of a revival.

Just when we thought How I Met Your Mother producers came to their senses over a potential How I Met Your Dad spinoff, 20th Century Fox TV seemed to resurrect the possibility with a more Father-ly title. Now, a promotion on NBC’s This Is Us may throw a wrench into How I Met Your Father once more.

It was two years ago that CBS surprisingly opted against the Greta Gerwig-led How I Met Your Mother spinoff How I Met Your Dad, but you know what they say about bad pennies. 20th TV has formally begun development of yet another quasi-spinoff from the franchise, this time going back to the How I Met Your Father title.

How I Met Your Mother fans likely still have trouble washing off the stink of that final season, let alone series finale. Jason Segel might be up for another roll in the mud however, teasing that he’d participate in a possible reunion series.

Say what you will about How I Met Your Mother squandering titular star Cristin Milioti, FX’s hotly-anticipated Fargo Season 2 will give the actress another chance at a revered matriarch. Milioti will join the cast of FX’s Emmy-nominated Coen brothers adaptation in the Season 2 role of an oft-discussed mother, but will her fate prove as dire this time around?