How I Met Your Mother wrapped its nine-season run on Monday night, surging to series highs in the prospect. The one-hour episode, which promised payout on the title's long-teased mystery, was the most-watched to date with 12.9 million viewers.
PHOTOS: What's Next for the Cast of 'HIMYM'?
Perennially one of CBS' youngest-skewing sitcoms, and its No. 2 behind The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother fared even better in the adults 18-49 demographic. The episode also averaged a 5.3 rating in the group -- another series high.
Its been a while since a comedy finale brought in that kind of number. Big Bang's regularly huge performance excluded, comedies are rarely heavyweights for the Big Four these days -- and last year's conclusions for veteran sitcoms The Office (2.9 adults rating) and 30 Rock (1.9 adults) were modest by comparison.
Though it wasn't the most-watched TV series of the night, How I Met Your Mother was easily the biggest with adults under 50. NBC's The Voice came a distant second with a 3.4 rating.
PHOTOS: On the Set When 'How I Met Your Mother' Meets Baby
Since How I Met Your Mother ran until 9:01 p.m., the premiere of Friends With Better Lives (2.7 adults) could see adjustments in final returns. As it stands, the solid premiere number, is CBS' best Monday comedy debut since 2 Broke Girls in 2011 -- but it lost half of its lofty, one-time-only lead-in. Mom (2.2 adults) improved a tenth of a point and Intelligence (1.2 adults) improved by a tenth, giving CBS second-place status in the demo for the night with an average 3.0 rating and 8.7 million viewers.
The Voice and Blacklist (an even 2.8 adults rating) ensure that NBC had a nightly win in the demo and total viewers, averaging out to a 3.2 adults rating and an audience of 11.9 million.
On ABC, the night's most-watched show, Dancing With the Stars, dropped down another tenth of a point for a season low 2.2 rating among adults 18-49. With a Castle encore, ABC took a 1.8 rating with adults 18-49 and 11.6 million viewers for the night.
Bones brought the night's only non-CBS growth to Fox, improving a tenth of a point from last week for a 1.5 rating. The Following (1.4 adults) held steady, giving Fox an average 1.4 rating and 4.9 million viewers for the night.
Star-Crossed (0.4 adults) improved a tenth of a point from last week, while The Tomorrow People (0.5 adults) moved up by two-tenths on the CW. With an average 0.4 rating and 1.1 million viewers, it was the network's most-watched Monday in more than a year.
