“How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris is not impressed with Britney Spear’s guest appearance on the show last month and does not hesitate in placing her and Tara Reid in the same category of stunt casting.

Neil Patrick Harris is protective of his show, CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.” Ratings are not his concern, but rather the quality and integrity of the series. Having Britney Spears return on the set is not an option for him, he tells the Associated Press in an interview.

“I’m in the minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed,” Harris told the AP last week. “I worry that if they start ‘Will and Grace’-ing us too much, that the show will suffer.”

The 34-year-old actor went on to say, “We’re all really proud of the content of the show… viewership is not our game. It’s the network and the studio’s game, you know. It’s the promotion department’s game.”

Harris is also concerned that the show may “sell out” in order to boost ratings. Britney Spears’ much anticipated guest appearance on March 24, as a dizzy and likeable receptionist who flirts with Harris’ character, womanizer Barney, was well received by viewers and critics alike.

Her performance earned passing grades and brought the show its highest ratings yet: 10.6 million viewers. Britney Spears convinced 1 million additional viewers tune in for her episode. New episodes which started airing last month following the writers strike had 9.6 million viewers the week before her appearance and 9.5 million the week after, per the AP.

“I just am a real fan of our content,” says Harris. “I think we have a great show going, and I hope it’s not screwed up by the desire for 700,000 more viewers.”

Is Spears’ casting a tell-tale sign of a possible pattern? Harris acidly replies that Tara Reid could well guest star on the show as the “mystery woman” introduced last Monday.

“No telling, but based on the stunt casting we’ve done in the past I’m guessing Tara Reid.”

Reid, best known for her role in the “American Pie” movies, has failed to build a solid career for herself and is more often tabloid fodder because of her reported plastic surgeries or substance abuse problems.

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