“How I Met Your Mother” ends on a high note (in ratings)

Long-running sitcom How I Met Your Mother ended its nine-year run on CBS on a high note, scoring its highest numbers ever in total viewers and in key demos. Monday night’s one-hour sendoff drew 12.9 viewers and a 5.3 rating in the adult 18-49 (HIMYM generally averages around a 3.)

While these numbers would have Barney Stinson shouting “Awesome” and running around giving high-fives to everyone in sight, not everyone is celebrating – many fans of the show were irate at how the finale was handled, flooding social media, comment sections, and message boards with disapproval.

https://twitter.com/itsamandything/status/451065558919045120

https://twitter.com/LAWrites/status/451744570796441600

And here comes the Aunt Robin jokes. Well, some of them are:

#HIMYMFinale total bullshit it rendered the point I the show irrelevant. Oh moms dead but so what go bang Aunt Robin. Awful

— Tony McMillan (@Slapuel) April 1, 2014

"Dad. Mom died 6 years ago. Go bang Aunt Robin!" #HIMYMFinale

— Mstr-Black Lives Matter-Fantastic (@MstrFantastic) April 1, 2014

https://twitter.com/abisurdity/status/450820372808482816

It's called How I MET Your Mother not How I Met Your Mother and Then She Died and I Got To Bang Your Aunt Robin Again. #HIMYM

— Daniel Wargo (@danielwargo) April 1, 2014

Even though yours truly never watched the show, there is one question I can answer about it: someone asked if the finale would have an effect on reruns of the show. Given Mother has struggled since entering off-net syndication in 2010 – switching cable nets (Lifetime to FX) in the second year of its deal and its already subpar performance on local stations, the wobbly finale won’t help.

For the week ending March 23, Mother (from Twentieth Television) earned a 1.9 live-plus same day rating, down 5 percent from the previous week and tied for fifth among off-network sitcoms.

WPWR-TV here in Chicago upgraded Mother to 9 p.m. just this past week, moving from 10 p.m. – odd move since Mother has been a ratings dud in the Chicago market.