'How I Met Your Mother' Season 9 Spoiler & Update: Series Finale Date Announced

CBS top sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" has finally announced the date of its very last episode.

After nine season on air, "HIMYM" will say its final goodbye with an hour-long episode on March 31.

In a news release posted on UPI.com, the network said, "After 208 episodes told over nine seasons, the story of how Ted Mosby ultimately meets his children's mother will conclude with a special 1-hour series finale,"

The series continues to have strong ratings for the network, which is why an early finish is somewhat surprising. CBS will use the earlier-than-expected finale to launch a new comedy called "Friends With Better Lives" which is about "six friends at different stages in their lives - married, divorced, newly engaged and single - who are outwardly happy, but secretly questioning if their friends have it better," according to a Variety recap.

"HIMYM", meanwhile, still has some surprises in store for the fans before it wraps up. The 200^th episode, titled "How Your Mother Met Me" will be all about the mother, and told from her point of view. Said Craig Thomas, executive producer, "If she doesn't get nominated for a guest Emmy for this episode, I don't know what one has to do to get that."

An excited Cobie Smulders, who plated Robin Scherbatsky in the series, told The Loop, "We finally get to see what happened at the club with the yellow umbrella! It's basically what's been going on in her life in the last nine years. We get to kind of see how [she and Ted] just miss each other. That episode is a lot about tying up loose ends and showing fans what they want to see."

She added, "That episode is a lot about tying up loose ends and showing fans what they want to see."

"How I Met Your Mother" will return to CBS on January 13.