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Notes -
The best part about How I Met Your Mother was Lily and Marshall's relationship, for this exact reason. Barney was funny, but he was a one-joke character that you couldn't actually invest in or care about (and the show's efforts right at the end to turn him into an actual person were just awkward and bad). Ted and Robin's endless strings of failed romances deadened the viewer to the point that by the time they finally end up together as the happily ever after, all you can do is roll your eyes and say "yeah, I give it 3 months". Lily and Marshall, just by being a couple that fell in love, got married, and stayed together, felt fresh and exciting even though this is one of the most well travelled storylines in real life history.
Lily and marshall are in a long term relationship at the start of the show, and they still have a whole thing where Lily bails on marshal to run away to the west coast to do art. Sure, she regrets it. But the show still uses breaking them up as a source of drama.
Not as bad as the endless on again off again thing done by most sitcoms (and done in HImYm with ted and robin) but not as good as Parks and rec where the couples that the writers actually want to have be together never have temporary break ups used as a cheap source of drama.
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