If Neil Patrick
Harris had his way, Britney Spears would be banned from
the set of How I Met Your Mother. Nothing
against the pop singer personally -- he just doesn't think
the show should bring guests aboard for a ratings
boost alone.
''I'm in the
minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order
to succeed,'' Harris declared during a break from taping the
Monday night CBS sitcom, which has grown a cult
following since its 2005 debut.
''I worry that if
they start Will & Grace-ing us too much,
that the show will suffer. And we're all really proud
of the content of the show. I mean, viewership is not our
game. It's the network and the studio's game, you know. It's
the promotion department's game,'' the actor, who
plays womanizer Barney, told the Associated Press in
an interview last week.
Spears has been
the most high-profile guest star to visit the set,
following past appearances by Mandy Moore, Enrique Iglesias,
and Heidi Klum. But her capable March 24 cameo --
feverishly promoted, anticipated, blogged-about,
critiqued, analyzed, and ultimately, well-reviewed -- gave
Harris pause to voice a concern: Was the show selling out?
''We wish we
weren't opposite an awkward reality dancing competition,''
he said. ''But we have no say about that. I just am a real
fan of our content. I think we have a great show
going, and I hope it's not screwed up by the desire
for 700,000 more viewers.''
Make that 1
million more viewers for the Britney episode, which grabbed
an audience of 10.6 million tuning in as Spears filled her
small role as a bubbly receptionist. Among the
18-to-49-year-old demographic, it was the most-watched
episode of the series ever.
The show has an
average viewership this season of 8 million per episode,
including reruns; last season, it attracted an average of
8.5 million viewers each showing. It returned with new
episodes last month following the writers' strike,
capturing 9.6 million viewers the week before Spears's
appearance and slipping back to 9.5 million the week after.
Executive
producer Carter Bays told the AP he'd be open to another
Spears guest spot. As it happened, the pop star's camp
approached the show, and Bays is proud of the result:
''We had no illusions about what the stakes were. And
if it was classic stunt casting, like, 'Oh, my tour bus
broke down outside' and I just go, 'Wow, Britney
Spears, what are you doing here?' then, like, we're
just flying over that shark real fast. It was a great
character and I think she played it well. ... I'm glad that
we didn't sensationalize the character in any way.''
The show
concluded with Spears's secretary flirting with Barney. The
following episode, which aired last Monday, introduced a
''mystery woman'' who's been warning other women not
to date the single-minded cad. Asked if Spears might
turn out to be the secret slanderer, Bays said,
''Could be. There's no reason why not.'' He also suggested
the talented actress Sarah Chalke, who guest-starred
alongside Spears.
Asked for his
guess, Harris said, ''No telling, but based on the stunt
casting we've done in the past, I'm guessing Tara Reid.''
How I Met Your Mother stars Harris, Josh
Radnor, Cobie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan, and Jason Segel as
an urban family of 20-something New Yorkers. A
familiar premise (see: Friends), yet the show has
stood apart through its own brand of clever writing
and in-jokes, cast chemistry, and signature use of
flashbacks.
Still, it lacks
the broad appeal of shows like Friends, which had a
celebrity cast and a string of celebrity guest stars,
and fellow CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. It doesn't
have the industry recognition of NBC critical darlings
30 Rock and The Office. Its only
major Emmy nomination went to scene-stealer Harris
last year for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy
series.
''The challenge
for the show has always been to get more eyeballs on
it,'' said Radnor, who portrays unlucky-in-love architect
Ted. ''The only thing -- and this is not a slam on any
of the other shows on CBS on Monday -- but the only
thing we have in common with those shows is we're half
an hour, multi-camera shows with a laugh track.''
Radnor compared
the show to an under-the-radar, yet-to-be-discovered
band.
''That's why the
people who love this show looooooove this show, because
I think it's like your favorite band that hasn't gotten
popular enough for you to start hating it,'' he said.
''So you can still kind of love it and wear the
T-shirt and speak in code with the other people who are on
to it, but it hasn't tipped into this kind of phenomenon
where you start to turn on it.'' (AP)