The successful CBS comedy series ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has surprised fans by being renewed for two more seasons, www.tvline.com is reporting. The series, which is currently in its sixth season, usually doesn’t get renewed for another cycle until the end of the television year, sometimes even as late as May. But the 20th Century Fox series has done particularly well this season, especially since its same-night network rival, ‘Two and a Half Men,’ was put on an indefinite hiatus by CBS last month.

With the future of the hit Charlie Sheen sitcom in question, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and 20th Century have been able to command almost double the licensing fee from CBS. The renewal was announced after CBS hit sitcom, the Emmy Award-winning ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ was renewed for three more seasons in January.

All of ‘How I Met Your Mother’s principal actors, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor and Cobie Smulders, are returning for the next two seasons. The show is known for helping revive Harris’ career after ‘Doogie Hauser, M.D.’ and Hannigan’s career after the ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ television series and the original ‘American Pie’ trilogy, and for launching Segel’s movie career.

Written by: Karen Benardello