How I Met Your Mother premiere promises a game changer

"We'll be, from the first episode on, exploring a new saga for the characters," How I Met Your Mother producers told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year.

"There's definitely going to be a big game-changing moment in [the first] episode. We're taking a little trip forward...to get a glimpse of a huge, huge day in Ted's life. It's actually going to make it like a whole new story. If How I Met Your Mother is a three-act play, this is kind of the beginning of the third act. [In it, there's] going to be…a huge push that will lead us into the last big chapter."

That's a lot of "huge" promises!

But considering the show, by many fans' accounts, went off the rails a bit last season, forward trajectory is just what the series, which is essentially a love story told in reverse, has been missing.

How I Met Your Mother premieres tonight on CBS.