How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom written and created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for CBS. The series premiered on September 19, 2005, and finished its nine-season run on March 31, 2014. How I Met Your Mother premiered to nearly 11 million viewers and maintained a generally steady viewership. The series finale, "Last Forever", aired to a series high of 13.13 million viewers. During the course of the series, 208 episodes of How I Met Your Mother aired over nine seasons.

Set in present-day New York City, the series follows the social and romantic lives of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and his four best friends, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), as Ted seeks out his future wife. The titular mother is unseen until the season 8 finale, "Something New", where she is portrayed by Cristin Milioti. The show tells this story through the framing device of "future" Ted (Bob Saget) as an unreliable narrator who is recounting to his son and daughter the events that led him to their mother.

In Seasons 1–8, episodes are typically set to a similar timeline as its real-world airdate, with the season finale generally taking place in the spring and the next season premiere in the fall, usually with a quick recap of the events that took place during the summer. The final season deviates from this format by taking place immediately after the end of the previous season and encompassing only the weekend of Barney's and Robin's wedding. The series finale covers several years that follow.