It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Few of this week’s post-strike news items were as exciting as CBS’s prompt order of nine more episodes of How I Met Your Mother that are slated to start airing as soon as March 17th. There hasn’t been a new episode of Mother since the early December, and it’s absence is responsible for one of the most painful holes in the Jarlsberg that is my viewing schedule. Too bad my moment in the sun was short-lived. The eye network announced their series guaranteed pickups for the 2008/2009 season this morning, and Mother was notably absent.

I really can’t understand why this show has had such a difficult time finding an audience. It’s far superior to any other comedy on CBS, yet they all do much better. It would be understandable if Mother was more similar to Arrested Development or The Office, but there’s no sophistication here that might alienate potential viewers. It is, quite frankly, a formulaic, multi-camera sitcom – a dying breed of show. And while most in its shrinking pool of contemporaries are still finding a wide audience (see every other show in CBS’s Monday lineup), none of them offer Mother‘s consistent humor minus the cliché. Their draw is something I will never be able to understand, and my frustrations are such that I could never fully communicate.

How I Met Your Mother will not be saved by a letter writing campaign or truckloads of yellow umbrellas. If it’s return next month isn’t marked by a solid improvement in ratings, it will probably not be back next year. I would blame the network, but it’s really not their fault. Three seasons have offered the show more than enough to time to grow an audience. The audience just isn’t biting. So if this really is the last season of How I Met Your Mother, the only ones at blame are the foolish people who wait to turn their dial to CBS until 8:30 and 9:00 every Monday to watch boring stereotypes and stale humor in favor of refreshing, intelligent comedy.