Even though Britney Spear’s much hyped, underwhelming and overrated cameo appearance on the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” gave the show its best ratings ever, putting it into the Nielsen Top 20 that week, one of the show’s stars says he could do without another appearance from the former pop star.
Britney Spears is popwrecka non grata on the CBS sitcom she just cameo’d on – at least according to one of its stars.
Neil Patrick Harris doesn’t want Spears back on “How I Met Your Mother” – nothing personal, he just doesn’t think they need recovering celebuwackos on the show for cheap ratings’ boosts. “I’m in the minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed,” says Harris.
There were rumors that Spears might make another appearance on the show after her first one. Nothing’s been set – yet.
I gotta give it to Harris- the guy always says exactly what is on his mind. Maybe it was all those years of being a child star and having handlers telling him what to say- just like a certain former pop star. While everyone else on the show has been praising Spears and saying that she is welcome to return, Harris has been the lone dissenter. As for the stunt casting debate, it would be great if shows could survive without them, but if the cameo is written well, it can be quite a boost. Cases in point: Kathleen Turner as Chandler’s transgendered dad on “Friends,” and who could forget the hilarious “Seinfeld” episode with baseball great Keith Hernandez?
Britney is shown out shopping on 4/9/08. Her boys, Sean Preston and Jayden, are shown going to the zoo with their nanny on 4/8/08. Neither K-Fed or Britney was there. Thanks to Splash News for these photos. Neil Patrick Harris is shown at the Primetime Emmy Awards on 9/16/07, thanks to PRPhotos.
Honestly, I’m glad neither of their parents were there. These kids are one of the few cases where I would say that being raised by the nanny is actually healthy for them. Lila Moss being the other.
Of course, before her episode aired, he had nothing but praise for her. Maybe she borrowed his mascara and didn’t return it?
Edited By Siteowner
I agree, Simon. And Lisa, if you’re going to push your lame site on the masses, at least learn to communicate in a semi-intelligible way. That first sentence alone is enough to make my five year old recoil in horror.
Ah yes, but he hadn’t seen the finished product then 😉
I don’t often get to watch tv, but thought that show was decent and loved NPH’s character
Ohh, I would love what the comments were before they were edited! Scandalous….
Anyway, I say good for him. I think he’s really cool. Britney sux, ya’ll!
Andrea
Apr 10th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I dont really see a conflict or deception here. One can have praise for someones relative sanity and competence while working together and also have an opinion that the show shouldnt go in that direction. His not wanting stunt casting to be their future is not the same as saying his previous praise of her is negated.
I lifted the above comment from Deceiver.com; it was just above your comment (which happens to be the exact same as the one here, way to be original) in case you didn’t see it. I happen to agree with Andrea here, where’s the conflict?
Sorry, the above comment is a response to Simon Scowl.
Scowl’s comment was edited because he mentioned a spammer’s site by name. That only encourages them.
Doogie Howser is back peddling on this now. It’s all over Google-said it was taken out of context.EW said they stand by their story.Guess the Top Brass weren’t too pleased with him shooting off his mouth.
In an exclusive statement, Neil Patrick Harris responds to the Associated Press article that suggested he would like Britney Spears banned from the set of his CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. “It seems that yesterday a writer took some quotes of mine and speculated an opinion about their intent. I write to you to set the record straight,” the actor says. “Britney did a great job on the show. She really did. In fact, we are all hoping that she returns rather soon to reprise her role as Abby.”
Spears guest starred as a lovestruck receptionist on the March 24 episode, which earned the series’ highest ratings in the 18-49 demographic in its three seasons on the air. The appearance also garnered remarkably strong reviews for the troubled pop star. In the AP story, however, Harris was quoted as saying, “I’m in the minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed…. I worry that if they start Will & Grace-ing us too much, that the show will suffer.” Now he tells EW.com that he would welcome Spears back because he has “great faith” in the show’s producers and writers. He also says, “My job description is to act, and I should really do just that.”
The AP, meanwhile, stands by its story. “I respect his right to change his stance,” says AP entertainment editor Jesse Washington, “but…Neil Patrick Harris told us unequivocally that he did not believe that Britney should be on the show.”
Harris’ full statement appears after the jump.
“It seems that yesterday a writer took some quotes of mine and speculated an opinion about their intent. I write to you to set the record straight.
“As I have said all along, Britney did a great job on the show. She really did. In fact, we are all hoping that she returns rather soon to reprise her role as Abby. Look, that episode garnered our highest ratings of the season I would never ignore or disrespect that fact. I am just very protective of our show, and its content. I have a high standard of quality, and hope to maintain it on every level. Television is big business, I understand that. I have great faith in our casting department, as well as [Twentieth Century Fox Television] and CBS, to find the appropriate person for every role on our show. I was remiss in speculating otherwise. My job description is to act, and I should really do just that.
“Britney Spears fits into our make-believe world very well if she chose to return I can only imagine that Carter [Bays], Craig [Thomas], and the rest of the writers would create a humdinger of a storyline for her. We should be so lucky.” (Additional reporting by Whitney Pastorek and Adam B. Vary)
Brit – a woman with two adorable little children, and when she comes to her senses and ditches the unimportant things in life, like club hopping and bad hair weaving, she’s going to absolutely grieve over all the time lost with her children when they were babies.
Britney needs to go away for a LONG time and get her life in order.
If she doesn’t care about her kids, then she doesn’t care about a thing in life. End of story.
Sorry about that! These spammers are just so annoying. Won’t happen again.
I happen to agree with Andrea here, where’s the conflict?
Well, if he genuinely thought she was really funny and had great comedic instincts and whatever else he said, why would he have a problem with her coming back? Apparently he didn’t mean what he said before.
Or how about this: If an actor is good by his or her own rights, then it’s not just “stunt casting.”
I don’t see a conflict. He could like her as an actress, but doesn’t like that she was pulled on specifically as a way to get ratings, instead of a natural extension of the plot.
I really don’t think she was all that in the role, but everyone keeps on raving about what a great job she did.
Then again, I regularly watch the show and was actually surprised to see Britney on it. The slight shift in tone threw me off.