Last night was the reported episode of “How I Met Your Mother” with Britney Spears guest starring. HIMYM has been struggling in the ratings, and CBS used the high-profile guest appearance in an attempt to boost ratings. Well, it worked. Variety has:

A guest appearance by Britney Spears propelled CBS laffer “How I Met Your Mother” to the highest demo ratings in its three-year run Monday…
…
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, “How I Met Your Mother” (4.5 rating/12 share in adults 18-49, 10.6 million viewers overall) was a solid second to ABC’s “Dancing” in the 8:30 half-hour among adults 18-49 and total viewers and edged out the hoofing hit in adults 18-34 with the night’s highest rating in that category (3.6/10).

It looks like they got what they wanted, but will it stick? I don’t know. The episode wasn’t a typical episode as the ensemble was not as involved as usual. It wasn’t a bad episode, but I don’t believe it was a good episode for new eyeballs to see.

Britney was fine in her performance. She didn’t get in the way as I feared she might. The role could have been filled by just about any actress, which is good, and she pulled it off. Sarah Chalke was very good in her role (replacing Alicia Silverstone) as the tattoo removing doctor. Her and ‘Ted’ had good chemistry, and the “2 minute date” at the end was great. I just felt it was an uneven episode…not the best one to bring in new viewers.

What did you think?