Right. Because NINE SEASONS isn't dragging things out for no reason. :facepalm
Don't get me wrong, I love the show, but the whole point of it has been about dragging things out. That's the entire premise the series has been based on and part of its ever frustrating charm. The final season is just going to take that to an extreme.
It's almost poetic.
I don't actually disagree with you that the show has been dragged out past a reasonable point. At this point, I think the show should've ended at about Season 5, which was the last really top-notch season. Since that point, much of the show has felt like it's spinning its wheels. They still can bring it when they try, but a lot of the time...they don't seem to be trying. I mean, *****, at this point, the show would make more sense if it was called "How Barney and Robin Met, Fell In Love, And Got Married."
But the thing is, the dragging things out would make sense from a storytelling perspective IF there's a real payoff. I don't think treating the title literally will do that. Just a simple "Hi I'm Ted," "Hi I'm Tracy" moment won't really cut it. (Note: not confirmed her name is Tracy, that's just a theory.)
There's been this build-up to who this woman is and why Ted is so madly in love with her -- and presumably why SHE'S so madly in love with Ted. I don't think they'll be able to convey...well...any of that if they don't show their relationship develop and show them together AFTER the meeting.
Now, a lot of people have said "Well, OBVIOUSLY they'll flash forward to stuff like they do." I don't think that (A) it's that obvious given what little we
know about Season 9 (rather than merely suspect), or (B) that it's really as doable if they take every episode and have it center around Barney and Robin's wedding weekend. What we
know is that the season spans literally the wedding weekend and only the wedding weekend. We know that for certain. Everything past that is speculation and wishful thinking on the part of fans.
But even if they did just use the wedding as a framing device and frequently deviate from it, I think it's going to end up being this massive distraction. Think about some of the episodes this season that had A, B, and C stories. Frequently, the C story is an annoying distraction that breaks up the flow of the narrative interplay between the A and B stories. Occasionally they weave it back in, but usually it's just an annoyance. Even the most recent episode had this, with Marshall calling Lily all the time just to throw in gags about his Mom being wigged out about missing baby Marvin. That C story kept interrupting the narrative between showing Barney and Robin actually working as a couple (first time I thought we really got to see them be good together), and the narrative between Ted and Lily talking about his situation.
Now try to imagine an entire season of that.
This show is only 22 minutes long. It's not a 3 hour movie like the Godfather II where you can seamlessly interweave a past story about a father growing in power and a current story about a son consolidating his. It's not an hour long drama like LOST or Galactica where you have the time to flesh out these side stories (although Galactica didn't do a terrific job of this either). It's a 22 minute comedy and every minute counts. Spending those minutes on the weekend wedding will be time taken away from other stories, and will distract. Devoting an entire season to it -- and nothing but it -- is absolute madness. I mean, I guess unless you think the fans are all masochists, or you just have contempt for them.