I started to write a long thing about Hill St Blues (and why it was good, but doesn't hold a candle to shows like The Wire, Sopranos, Deadwood (probably my favorite 'cancelled too early' show outside of MAYBE Firefly and Life starring Homeland's Damien Lewis), Justified, Buffy...man I could go on...and how Mash's early brilliance should overshadow it's later failures, like Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady's earlier primes should be the mark we remember and judge them on, but ultimately I decided to write this, the post explaining about how I walked away from the other post.
And How I Met Your Mother was good early , but it wasn't pantheon good. It wasn't even the level below pantheon good. Compare it to Friends (which is basically what HIMYM was, except HIMYM was more annoying and less transparently about nothing), or Seinfeld (which is what Friends was, but with forced storylines and worse writing).
Psych was a better show than HIMYM. I will deathmatch debate anyone who has seen the entirety of both shows and thinks otherwise. Steelcage.