Up next in 10
In today's sitcom landscape, How I Met Your Mother is often seen as one of the most successful shows from the mid 2000's. Though after it's first couple seasons, the show was almost cancelled completely. After the writers strike ended, How I Met Your Mother needed a big swing to keep audiences tuned in. Luckily, Britney Spears reached out wanting to be on the show, and How I Me Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas leaped at the opportunity. Without Britney Spears joining the cast, the show may have never seen a Season 4.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Sometimes in life, you see someone and you just instantly know
0:03
this is the person for you. It could happen anywhere, even the waiting room of a tattoo removal clinic
0:09
Yes, that is pop superstar Britney Spears in one of her two now-famous guest appearances
0:14
on the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Despite how Ted is talking in the narration, though
0:18
Britney is not actually his love interest. She plays a minor supporting role, and he's not even really talking about her there
0:24
But while her character may barely even affect the plot of the episodes she's in
0:28
her appearance itself may have saved the whole series and changed its course forever
0:33
Are you as turned on as I am? Probably not quite as much. How I Met Your Mother was, for the most part
0:38
a pretty typical sitcom about a group of friends hanging out and dating in New York City
0:43
But unlike Friends, Seinfeld, or any number of sitcoms with similar premises
0:47
How I Met Your Mother was framed as something of long-form mystery. Although it was an ensemble affair, the titular I was Ted Mosby
0:54
The basic concept was that each episode was a flashback being narrated by future Ted
0:59
who was telling his children the story of how he met their mother. Is this going to take a while
1:03
Yes. The identity of that mother, however, was kept from the audience right up until the end of the show's penultimate season
1:10
So tracking clues and theorizing as to her identity became part of the show's fun
1:14
But while we remember the series as a huge success today, that wasn't actually always the case
1:19
Am I dead? In fact, while its first two seasons did well enough in the ratings to stay on the air
1:25
How I Met Your Mother was not exactly what you'd call a hit. Its overall viewership did improve from season one to season two
1:31
but like most shows, it was really always just a few poorly rated episodes from cancellation
1:36
That's why it was so alarming when the Writers Guild of America went on strike in late 2007
1:41
The strike had the effect of shortening the show's third season by creating an unplanned hiatus starting in December of that year
1:47
For a show on the bubble, a writer's strike, which gave fans a chance to get out of the habit of tuning in
1:53
was especially bad news After months of striking How I Met Your Mother returned to the airwaves in March of 2008 but whether the show audience would return as well was an open question Luckily the producers
2:04
had an ace up their collective sleeves, or in the words of co-creator Carter Bays
2:08
we got a call a few weeks after the writer's strike ended saying that Britney Spears wanted
2:12
to be on our show. Now, in 2008, Britney Spears was still one of the most famous pop stars in the
2:17
world, so for a producer who was worried that people might no longer be interested in his show
2:22
this was something like winning the lottery. An appearance by Britney pretty much guaranteed people would tune in
2:27
It would have been a cause for celebration, but that wasn't exactly the case
2:30
According to Bayes, she specifically wanted to be in the episode 10 Sessions
2:35
which sent a chill down our spines because that's the one where we meet Stella. Stella Zinman for The Uninitiated is a dermatologist first mentioned in the episode
2:43
The Platinum Rule. Stella is going to zap that butterfly right off the face of my lower back
2:48
Stella? Dr. Stella Zinman. She's the best in the business. which was the last installment aired before the Rider-Strike halted production
2:55
In that episode, Ted tells his friends he's planning to ask Stella to a movie
2:59
and they all try to talk him out of it. It was the storyline fans were left wondering about for the whole hiatus
3:04
and it would pay off in the first post-Strike episode, 10 Sessions, a cleverly structured tale that helped bridge the unplanned time jump
3:11
Stella winds up becoming Ted's love interest, but she was also something much more important than that
3:17
She was the producer's backup plan. As we mentioned before, How I Met Your Mother was a little bit of a serialized mystery show
3:24
like Lost or the Battlestar Galactica reboot. Shows like that are especially difficult to produce because of how many unforeseeable
3:30
elements TV production and success entails. Actors can become unavailable. Budgets can change
3:36
Audiences might not respond to a character or storyline as the writers hoped
3:40
There's a lot that can go wrong. And of course, for a multitude of reasons, any season might wind up being a show's last
3:46
So if the mystery is who is the mother and how did Ted meet her, the producers always need to have an answer ready in case they unexpectedly find themselves headed into a series finale instead of a season finale For example even though they always had a different ultimate conclusion in mind for the show if it had ended in season one
4:03
the mother would have turned out to be fan favorite character Victoria, played by Ashley Williams
4:07
With the show still on the brink heading into season three, the producers decided to set up a new contingency mother, and that was Stella
4:13
But given the character's potential importance, the producers quickly decided they wanted a seasoned actress for what could be a pivotal recurring role
4:21
Despite some of the cast members having reservations about such high-profile stunt casting
4:25
Baze and co-creator Craig Thomas briefly considered the possibility of casting Spears as Stella
4:31
While Spears had been a child actor on the all-new Mickey Mouse Club, appeared in films like the 2002 movie Crossroads
4:37
and made guest appearances on television shows like Will & Grace, she wasn't exactly known for her acting prowess
4:43
Look, go along with this and it'll work for you. Look at me
4:47
I clear $165 a week. I moved out of my storage unit
4:51
I'm on TV. Years later, Baze would recall, I immediately imagined Britney playing Stella
4:56
and had a minor panic attack because it's such a big role and needed a proven, experienced actress
5:01
Not wanting to lose their chance at a Britney appearance, but also not looking to cast her as Stella
5:06
the producers decided to split the difference. They cast Stella with experienced actress Alicia Silverstone
5:11
and created a new role for Spears. That role was Abby, Stella's secretary
5:15
who develops a weird stalkery crush on Ted after he buys her a cup of coffee
5:19
as part of a scheme to show off how thoughtful he is while attempting to court Stella
5:23
You look like a young time Selick, only a million times handsomer. And as Baze later explained, to her credit
5:28
Britney liked the character of Abby and wanted to play the part. So we said, sure
5:32
That should have been the happy resolution to it all. But as they say, all solutions breed new problems
5:38
In this case, the new problem was that the casting of Spears as Abby made Alicia Silverstone's reps afraid
5:44
that she would be overshadowed by the pop star. So Silverstone dropped out
5:48
Ugh, as if. Producers scrambled to fill the role and were able to land Sarah Chalk who was the seasoned performer they were looking for and would make an acceptable mother if need be But of course in 2008 Chalk was still busy playing Dr Elliot Reid on Scrubs
6:02
and her schedule wouldn't allow her to recur as often as the How I Met Your Mother team
6:06
intended to feature Stella. To accommodate the actress, the character was reconceived
6:11
ultimately appearing in just three episodes of season three. It wouldn't give the show a chance to establish her
6:16
as fully as they might want for a character who could have wound up being the all-important mother
6:20
but that wouldn't really turn out to be the problem because Spears' guest appearance was wildly successful
6:25
According to the Nielsen ratings, the episode was watched by 10 million people
6:30
which was almost 2.5 million more than what the show averaged prior to the writer's strike
6:34
Doctor, are you all right? I heard a woman screaming in here. And Britney's performance was even lauded by critics
6:41
Bays himself said, By golly, she put our show on the map. It can't be overstated
6:45
Britney Spears rescued us from ever being on the bubble again. Thanks, Britney
6:49
It all went over so well that the cast and producers asked Spears to reprise the role
6:54
in season 3, episode 19, Everything Must Go. Once the show was renewed, Stella was no longer needed as a backup mother
7:00
She would eventually leave Ted at the altar in season 4. The mother, on the other hand, would eventually turn out to be Tracy McConnell
7:07
played by Kristen Milioti. It was the outcome the creators always intended, as evidenced by the fact that they shot part of the series finale
7:13
way back at the beginning of season 2. You need to sit down and listen to the story about how you met mom
7:19
Yet mom is hardly in the story. In order to capture the actors playing Ted's children
7:23
at the correct age in the footage they knew they'd need. But despite the preparations they took, if you do the math
7:29
had Britney not made her appearance, the show never would have received the rating boost she brought
7:33
and very likely could have ended with Ted marrying Alicia Silverstone Stella
7:36
at the end of season three. Or if the producers had given their big guest star the big role
7:41
it could have ended with Ted marrying Britney Spears. It's an amusing reminder that when it comes to long-form mystery storytelling on TV
7:48
both audiences and creators need to be a little flexible. Oh, and also hire Britney Spears
7:54
It's Britney,
#Celebrities & Entertainment News
#Film & TV Industry
#TV Shows & Programs