HollywoodIdiocy.com

Without Britney Spears and Sarah Chalke to pump up the ratings, CBS’ comedy-on-life-support drew only a 3.4 Nielsen this week in an episode with no guest stars for How I Met Your Mother. Still, the show did build on the ratings lead-in from Big Bang Theory, which drew a 2.9.

While those numbers are on Orovo diets compared to what was considered great ratings 20 years ago, the improvment HIMYM is showing off its lead-in may be just enough to show that the show does not require guest stars every week, and that it has enough oomph to build in the ratings bar set by its lead-in.

A brief prayer wouldn’t hurt, but signs are good that HIMYM’s demise might have been diagnosed a bit prematurely. Like, say, by Dr. Elliot of a certain NBC comedy soon destined to appear on ABC, perhaps?

CBS drama Jericho seems to be down for the count again; the show is largely rumored to be headed for the cancellation bin, despite delivering a second season that was far more even, suspenseful and interesting than the first season proved to be. So forget the teak outdoor furniture and start investing in nuts to send to CBS again?

Not likely. While the nut strategy worked last season, it’s unlikely that the show will be saved this time; thanks to the strike-shortened season, any show the networks have any amount of faith in at all are being renewed. If Jericho isn’t among that number, its chances of being picked up for a third season are about as remote as the chances of Floyd “Money” Mayweather would have in a real fight, outside of a WWE ring, against Paul “The Big Show” Wight.

You can dress Britney Spears up in equestrian clothing or bury her in a nurses’ garb, and nothing changes; wherever she goes, the Pop Tart causes chaos. Shortly after announcing the casting of the unstable Spears in a small supporting role on CBS’ How I Met Your Mother, Alicia Silverstone, selected recently for a multi-episode arc that may have revealed her as the long-awaited Mother of the show’s title, canceled her commitment to the show.

Silverstone’s reps reportedly fears Spears’ notoriety would overshadow Silverstone’s appearance on the show, which isn’t far-fetched. The latest word is that the female doctor Silverstone was slated to play will now be portrayed by Scrubs’ Sarah Chalke, and the storyline will center more on Spears’ character.

The good news is that Silverstone remains open to appearing on How I Met Your Mother, and the show’s creators have stated they hope to create a different character for her soon. Meanwhile, the doctor who seemed destined to become “Mother” now will be reconceived as just another ship that passes through Ted’s long night of the soul, since Chalke’s schedule was too full to accommodate anything more than one episode, since Scrubs is still in production and may even be renewed for a previously-believed-to-be-unlikely eighth season, be it on NBC or ABC.

OK, this could just be the grape juice talking, but the word on the street is that actress Alicia Silverstone could become the mother everyone’s been waiting to meet on the CBS sitcom, “How I Met Your Mother.” In fact, I’d almost be willing to wager a month’s worth of sleepnig on a foam mattress on it, and I’m an air mattress addict!

Here’s the clues so far: Silverstone is indeed signed to a “multi-episode arc” when production resumes on the CBS sitcom in a few weeks. The post-strike episodes have a chance of being the last ones to air, because CBS has not yet renewed the show - even though it’s renewed several others so far. Plus, the producers have promised we’ll meet “mother” this season; if the show is indeed canceled for some strange reason, this would also give producers a chance to wrap the storyline up in a tidy way.

So, all that seems to point to Silverstone being the mother in question. And here I was hoping, given the presence in the regular cast of Buffy alumn Allyson Hannigan, that “mother” would turn out to be Sarah Michelle Geller. Oh well.