After hearing from Pink is the New Blog that Britney Spears is slated to guest-star in an episode of How I Met Your Mother, we fear that the CBS producers behind the idea haven't had the pleasure of sitting through her 2006 appearance on Will & Grace. W&G gave her the one role she wouldn't even have to "act" her way through—a perky television personality with a right-wing agenda—and she still made the episodes featuring J. Lo and Janet Jackson look downright Emmy-worthy. And despite sunny reports about the cast's read-through this morning (a source says Spears was "really funny" and "very professional"), TMZ is calling gimmick:

"The show is 'on the bubble,' a biz term for getting 86'd and producers think this is just the gimmick they need."

Interestingly enough, only one entry on Spears's acting resume wasn't technically a "gimmick": 2002's Crossroads. And while she didn't exactly pull a Paris Hilton when it came to hosting Saturday Night Live that same year, cue cards and an audience filled with her fans made it easy on her. We'll have to wait until April to see if her acting skills have improved in the last two years, but we're optimistic: Her last appearance as a child-endangering Frappuccino-addict on the verge of a nervous breakdown in GurneyGate: The Sequel was incredibly convincing.

BREAKING: BRITNEY SPEARS TO RETURN TO TV [Pink Is The New Blog]
BRITNEY'S ABOUT TO MEET MY MOTHER [TMZ]

2:38 PM on Mon Mar 10 2008
By Molly Friedman
2,297 views
10 comments

Comments

RocketRockit at 03:35 PM on 03/10/08
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I honestly doubt this will ever happen. If it does, I will eat my words sufficiently, but only after I temporarily black out.
nick_r at 03:36 PM on 03/10/08
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a source says Spears was "really funny" and "very professional"

Methinks this "source" was Britney, armed with a Hotmail account and lots of spelling/grammar filters.
hughman at 03:57 PM on 03/10/08
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Connectedness Index: 58

this smells like part of that new ashton kutcher (rip-off) show.
Leviticus_71 at 04:02 PM on 03/10/08
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What seems odd to me is that "Really funny" and "How I Met Your Mother" are really used in the same breath. I'm sure Britney's appearance will be just the white trash shark, the show needs to jump.
RocketRockit at 04:11 PM on 03/10/08
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@hughman: That Ashton show makes me want to move out of LA.
Douglas Reinhardt at 04:18 PM on 03/10/08
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@hughman: I can see Ashton Kutcher dancing around the office and saying to the computer, "In your face! You guys just Pop Fiction'd!"
Miss d at 07:51 PM on 03/10/08
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HIMYM has some teenie tiny moments of a small chuckle kind - having Britbrit appear will just induce long periods of chucking...
WasatchMan at 10:38 PM on 03/10/08
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I need my weekly Alyson Hannigan fix, dammit.
cinerama at 03:37 AM on 03/11/08
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Wouldn't it be entertaining if they make Britney the show's eponymous Mother?

For anyone fearing that, let's just hope they don't give her a yellow umbrella…
MyMuffinTop at 09:43 AM on 03/11/08
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I actually thought she was really funny on SNL. I'm not really holding out hope for her guest spot, but I think somewhere in that mess of fast food and hair dye is a possibly funny person.