'How I Met Your Mother' gets an early renewal

 Neil Patrick Harris of 'How I Met Your Mother'

Credit: CBS

There's will be no renewal suspense this spring for CBS' "How I Met Your Mother."

Network sources confirm that "How I Met Your Mother" has been picked up for a sixth season, avoiding the kind of late-renewal tensions the critically adored comedy faced in its early years and giving the show's creative team at least one additional year to avoid introducing us to eponymous mother.

"How I Met Your Mother" has been a steady performer for CBS in the Monday 8 p.m. slot, delivering strong 18-49 numbers and keeping CBS competitive in one of TV's tougher time periods. The comedy celebrated its 100th episode earlier this month.

In addition, "How I Met Your Mother" earned its first Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy nomination this past fall.

The comedy, created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, has also seen its profile elevated by the burgeoning careers of its stars. In addition to the ubiquitous Neil Patrick Harris and "I Love You, Man" and "Forgetting Star Marshall" lead Jason Segel, "HIMYM" will likely get a boost from star Josh Radnor, whose feature writing-directing debut has been one of the buzzed about titles at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.