HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Renewal Coming in the Next 'Few Days'

It looks as if Ted Mosby and the How I Met Your Mother gang will be back for a ninth season. Which begs the question: how long are those kids going to sit on the couch listening to Bob Saget?

According to Deadline, a deal with the cast, CBS, and 20th Century FOX TV is very close.

"I will be happy to report in a very few days (a renewal)," Nina Tassler of CBS said today at the TCA. "I'm confident and excited that all will be resolved. Almost everything is completed."

Apparently, series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas had two branching story lines prepped depending on whether the network decided for another HIMYM outing.

"We'll sit down and talk to them in about a month about their plans for next year," she said.

However the series concludes, Tassler promises it "would be the end as designed by Carter and Craig."

How I Met Your Mother also stars Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan. It is produced by 20th Century FOX TV.

The show is a comedy about Ted and how he fell in love. It all started when Ted's best friend, aspiring environmental lawyer Marshall, proposed to his college sweetheart, Lily, a kindergarten teacher. Now that the two have had a baby, Ted realizes that he had better get a move on it if he too hopes to find true love. Helping him in his quest to find his future wife is Barney, a friend with endless, sometimes outrageous opinions, a penchant for Suits and a foolproof way to meet women. When Ted meets Robin, he's sure it's love at first sight, but after a whirlwind romance with her, he realizes destiny has something else in store for him. The series is narrated through flashbacks from the future.