I get what you're saying. The show that *immediately* popped into my head after you mentioned the difference between binge watching and traditional watching was "Friends". I wonder how a binge viewer would react to the final three seasons of that show (everything after Rachel is pregnant and Chandler and Monica's wedding), which to me was borderline unwatchable.
Rereading the thread, I saw I didn't add either of Alan Sepinwall's reviews: http://m.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/series-finale-review-how-i-met-your-mother-last-forever-how-they-conned-us-all http://m.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/the-how-i-met-your-mother-finale-revisited-how-i-regret-the-mother I think those two items are the definitive takes from the disapprove camp. On Jul 8, 2014 12:40 AM, "PGage" <pga...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:06 PM, Joe Hass <hassgoc...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I did not see the HIMYM finale. But I did just read about it. And I don't >> think I'm spoiling anything when I say this: >> >> Good news, Seinfeld! You're no longer the worst series finale in >> television history. >> > > There will be spoilers in this post, but A) I have read other posts in > this thread now and there seem to already be spoilers here, despite the > subject line an B) it was three months ago. > > I had never seen a single episode of this program until one month ago. > After years of badgering from a family member, I promised to watch the > first season on Netflix. I did not love it, but did not hate it, and > decided to keep watching it - and somewhere between Season 2 and 3 I got > hooked. My 16 year old son did too, and we started binge watching it. We > got to the end of Season 8 last week and were horrified to find the last > season was not on the 'flix. I bought the last season on Amazon, and we > started taking it about 4 or 5 episodes at a time - and just finished it > off earlier this evening. > > There is a different dynamic when you binge watch a long-running show over > a short time frame, compared those who patiently live with a show week by > week over many years. I noticed when I binged on House a few years ago that > I was not as frustrated with the cast changes as friends and family who had > watched it all along were (at least, not until the last season). That may > be part of the reason that I do not hate the ending of HIMYM. I was > genuinely sad as it became pretty clear in Vesuvius what was going to > happen to Mother (I did not know what was going to happen, but did know > that there was some controversy about it - which probably was enough to cue > me into what was going to happen) but not angry at the producers. > > The ending seems very consistent with the entire show (both in resolving > appropriately the trilemma that Robin was not the kids mother, Ted Loved > the kids mother, and Ted loved Robin) and with the longstanding themes of > the show. It explains why he is telling his kids the story (and why > teenagers would sit through such a long story from their Dad). The > producers' main mistake seems to have been that of all of Ted's girlfriends > over the years, the actress they got to play the mother was by far the most > likable (I actually did not very much like any of the others), so even > though we only knew her for about one season, we quickly grow attached to > her, and feel like all the sentimental stuff Ted has been saying about her > in the previous 8 seasons make it seem like we knew her longer than we did. > I guess if fans did not like her so much they would not have been so angry. > > I have read this evening several online reviews summarizing why the fans > hated it so much, many of which reach to say something nice about it and > say it shows how life is unpredictable. This strikes me as the opposite of > the case. Nothing is more predictable in life than that the people we love > will die (if we do not die first), so the ending actually shows just how > predictable life really is. There are 3 marriages at the core of this show: > 1 is fabulously happy, 1 is happy but ends in death, and 1 ends in divorce. > The only thing unrealistic about that is suggesting the hit rate for happy > marriages is 2 out of 3. > > I grew to like this show (the last CBS sitcom I watched regularly was > probably Murphy Brown), and I really liked the ending. But then, I liked > the ending of The Sopranos too... > > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. 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