On Monday, March 31, CBS’s hit comedy “How I Met Your Mother” ended its nine-year run with an hour-long series finale, titled “Last Forever: Part One” and “Last Forever: Part Two.” Since its premiere in 2005, the series has aired 208 episodes. Three of these episodes were written by George Sloan, a Quinnipiac alumnus.
Sloan graduated from the School of Communications in 2004 and has been involved in various film and television productions ever since. He has written three episodes of “HIMYM:” “No Pressure,” “Weekend at Barney’s” and “Platonish.”
These episodes have distinct plotlines, but they also foreshadow the show’s end. In regards to the writing process, Sloan said, “We tried to write about what Ted was going through in that moment. We did, however, get to have a little fun by sprinkling a few clues in here and there.”
Nearly 13 million people watched the finale, according to the New York Times. Despite these high ratings, there were mixed reactions from viewers. Warning: spoilers ahead.
For years, millions of fans watched as hopeless romantic Ted Mosby recounted the tale of how he met his kids’ mother. Throughout the seasons there were countless characters and friendships, and even more romantic entanglements — notably a love triangle between Ted, his career-oriented ex-girlfriend, Robin Scherbatsky and Barney Stinson, Robin’s playboy-turned-fiancé.
In the series finale, it was revealed that Tracy McConnell, the titular “Mother,” passed away from an illness, and that Ted is still in love with Robin. At the urging of his children, Ted goes to her with the blue French horn, a “HIMYM” icon, in a scene that mirrors the conclusion of the pilot episode.
Throughout the ninth season, rumors swirled about the show’s ending, but only the show’s creators, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, as well as key members of the “HIMYM” team, knew the truth.
“All the writers knew the ending a long time ago. To Carter and Craig’s credit, they stuck with their original vision of the show, which they wrote and filmed many years ago” said Sloan, who in addition to writing three episodes, worked as a writers’ assistant, script coordinator and production assistant for the show. According to IMBD, Sloan contributed to 120 episodes of HIMYM, as well as working as a production assistant for the film “Rush Hour 3.”
Sloan said he credits some of his success to his studies at Quinnipiac.
“The creative writing course I took with Valerie Smith [helped] me look at writing in a new way,” he said. “Majoring in mass communications was also a big help in that we were allowed to borrow video cameras and just go off and make our own short films.”
Though he says writing and directing feature films is his dream, Sloan decided to pursue television writing after he moved to Los Angeles.
“I made my goal to become an office production assistant on a TV show and try to work my way up from there. A combination of long hours, hard work and luck eventually led me to where I’m at now,” Sloan said.
Sloan advises any aspiring writers to read and write as much as possible about a wide variety of topics.
“Most importantly, go on adventures in your everyday life,” he said. “Without adventures, you won’t have anything to write about.”
In regards to the “HIMYM” finale, Sloan said he is satisfied with the ending.
“I felt like we did the right thing,” he said. “It was such a lovely and heartbreaking ending and it just felt so real to me. It’s such a hard thing to end a show that’s been on the air for nine years…But if you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one.”
The experience was also deeply rewarding for him.
“My six years working on ‘How I Met Your Mother’ are without a doubt the best six years of my life,” Sloan said. “I’ve made lifelong friends and I’ve learned more about writing than I could have ever imagined. I’m so grateful for my time on the show, but I’m also really excited to move on to a new adventure.”
