Nine seasons and 208 episodes later, "How I Met Your Mother" has come to an end.
CBS reported that the long-running sitcom left the airwaves with legendary ratings. The sitcom's finale drew in 12.9 million viewers and a 5.3 rating among adults 18-49, making it the most-watched and highest-rated episode in the show's history.
The ratings were about 50 percent more than the show has averaged in this and past seasons, according to the New York Daily News.
So how did it all end? After nine years of slaps, bets, drunken hook up and failed relationships, Ted's character played by actor Josh Radnor, finally revealed how he met "The Mother" - the woman of his dreams, the mother of his children and the most unseen star of the hit comedy series.
During an hour-long series finale episode, titled "Last Forever," on Monday night, Ted meets "The Mother," whose name is Tracy McConnell, on a rainy train platform after his friends Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) are married.
But Barney and Robin's marriage does not last, and neither does Ted's. Tracy gets sick and dies after the couple has two children together. At the end of the series, Ted and Robin rekindle their romance. Ted and Robin dated early on in the show's history, but the producers had made it clear that Robin was not "The Mother."
Creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas reportedly filmed Monday's finale in 2006, because producers feared the actors playing the children would become unrecognizable.
"How I Met Your Mother" was followed by the debut of a new sitcom, "Friends with Better Lives," which averaged 8 million viewers.
What did you think of the "How I Met Your Mother" finale?
