And the TV wheel goes ’round again: One old favorite departs, a potential new favorite arrives.
In this case, How I Met Your Mother wraps up after nine seasons at 7 p.m. Monday on CBS. Nine years is an eternity in today’s TV climate.
It’s a two-part, hour-long finale followed by the premiere of the midseason hopeful Friends With Better Lives at 8. The new comedy moves to its regular 7:30 p.m. slot April 7.
How I Met Your Mother has been a steady performer for the network over the years, averaging around 9 million loyal viewers, but never ranking higher than 42nd.
Each episode revolves around Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) narrating tales to his children about how he met their mother, eventually revealed and played by Cristin Milioti.
The gang consists of Ted and womanizer Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), married couple Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), and news anchor Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders).
In tonight’s episodes, “Last Forever, Parts 1 and 2,” Ted finally finishes telling the world’s most patient “teens” his long, rambling tale. The kids, by the way, are played by David Henrie and Lyndsy Fonseca. In real life, they’re 24and 27 respectively.
Tonight we’ll also learn the answer to the question burning up the blogs about whether the mother is actually dead, thus prompting all this flashback nostalgia from future Ted and his children.
Will Friends With Better Lives fill the void? Probably not. But stranger things have happened.
Better Lives certainly does not reinvent the comedy wheel. In fact, a number of other sitcoms have had elements of the same general premise. Rules of Engagement and ’Til Death come to mind.
Better Lives is a romantic comedy about six friends at different stages in their lives. We have a married couple, a newly divorced dude, the smoochy newly engaged couple, and the attractive, but insecure, single gal. Each secretly wonders if their friends’ lives are better than their own.
Andi and Bobby (Majandra Delfino, Kevin Connolly) are married with one child and another baby on the way. They long for the days when life was more fun.
Will (James Van Der Beek) is newly single, but still pining for his ex-wife.
Jules and Lowell (Brooklyn Decker, Rick Donald) are overly passionate in their new relationship.
Kate (Zoe Lister-Jones) has a successful career, but is upset over losing her last single friend, Jules.
Idol sliding. Speaking of the TV wheel turning, American Idol’s long ratings slide continues this season despite a better judge panel and more interesting production values. The former juggernaut pulled only 8.4 million total viewers March 20, the fewest since the first season, and a 34 percent drop since last year.
The series is still a strong performer for Fox, but its glory days are long over. Evidence? The series’ high point 2008 season (winner David Cook) averaged 31.6 million viewers.
More hopefuls. Friends With Better Lives is the latest midseason series hoping to make an impact. Here are a few others waiting in the wings.
Turn, 9 p.m. April 13 (AMC). Based on a true story, this is a Revolutionary War drama about a group of farmers who become America’s first spies.
Fargo, 9 p.m. April 15 (FX). An adaptation of the Coen brothers’ 1996 film, the series features a new story and characters. Stars include Martin Freeman (Sherlock, The Hobbit), Billy Bob Thornton, Colin Hanks and Kate Walsh. Only 10 episodes are scheduled, but if successful, the show could become an anthology.
Salem, 8 p.m. April 20 (WGN). The network’s first scripted series is set in the late 1600s around the Salem witch trials.
Faking It, 9:30 p.m. April 22 (MTV). Katie Stevens and Rita Volk portray two straight best friends who are mistakenly outed as lesbians. They have so much fun, they decide to keep up the ruse.
Bad Teacher, 7:30 p.m. April 24 (CBS). The TV version of the 2011 Cameron Diaz movie has Ari Graynor playing a recently divorced trophy wife teaching at an exclusive school in order to snag a wealthy single dad.
Black Box, 9 p.m. April 24 (ABC). Kelly Reilly stars as a world-famous neurologist who is hiding that she’s bipolar. The cast includes Vanessa Redgrave.
24: Live Another Day, 7 p.m May 5 (Fox). Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is back in this limited 12-hour series. Set in London, the action picks up four years following the 2010 Season 8 finale. Jack is still on the run and being hunted by a determined CIA agent (Yvonne Strahovski).
Penny Dreadful, 9 p.m. May 11 (Showtime). A supernatural drama set in Victorian-era London. Lots of gore and sex starring Josh Hartnett, Eva Green, Billie Piper and Timothy Dalton.
Reminder: The Walking Dead season finale airs at 8 p.m. today on AMC.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email: [email protected]
Style, Pages 50 on 03/30/2014