Neil Patrick Harris and Britney Spears Collaboration Should Encourage More Guest Spots on TV Shows

Neil Patrick Harris is the most recognizable name in the ensemble TV show How I Met Your Mother. The show recently had pop star Britney Spears on as a guest star. That episode drew 10.6 million viewers, over 1.1 million more than the show drew the week before and the week after Britney Spears' appearance.

The giant ratings bump drew executive producer Carter Bays to remark to the AP that he would be open to another guest spot by Britney Spears.

Meanwhile, Neil Patrick Harris, who has been up front on his position of being against guest stars on the show, shot down the possibility of Britney Spears being a regular on How I Met Your Mother or any other television show. He said that the workload of a regular TV comedy would be too much for the pop singer.

The comment drew immediate negative reaction, which forced Neil Patrick Harris to clarify his remarks. Neil Patrick Harris on Monday said, "Britney did a great job on the show. In fact, we are all hoping that she returns rather soon to reprise her role."

The successful guest spot by Britney Spears has me clamoring for other personalities and stars to follow suit. Here are three that I would like to see:

Simon Cowell of American Idol to appear on House - Cowell, TV's biggest prickly personality, meets Hugh Laurie's Dr. Gregory House, TV's biggest prickly doctor. Cowell could be our patient with the unusual symptoms and disease that Dr. House has to cure. Imagine the back-and-forth that these two direct, unflinching and brutally honest characters could have! It would make the scenes between Laurie and David Morse (of St. Elsewhere fame) seem tame. Since both of these shows are on Fox, I am surprised this has not happened already.

President Bush to appear on The Daily Show - The Daily Show is a talk show that spends most of its 30 minutes each night discussing politics. However, the show's forte is its satirical humor. President Bush is a popular subject for host Jon Stewart's rage. Stewart has developed a mini-impression of Bush, most notably his deranged laugh and accompanying hand gestures. Much like when the first President Bush embraced the impression done of him by Saturday Night Live comedian Dana Carvey, it could serve current President Bush well to pal around with Stewart one night and discuss subjects ranging from Iraq to his relationship with presidential hopeful John McCain to clearing brush at his Crawford, Texas ranch. It would be great fun to see which one got the last laugh.

Jennifer Grey to appear on Two and a Half Men - Most people know Jennifer Grey from her role as "Baby" in the hit film Dirty Dancing. But Grey and Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen had a brief scene together in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The two met briefly in a police station, with Grey being a good girl in trouble while Sheen was apparently a regular at this place. The two struck up a friendship but the scene ended before it could go anywhere. The movie came out in 1986 and we could give the two stars another shot at getting together in Sheen's current TV show. But Grey has to go back to the original nose that she had in Ferris Bueller or all bets are off.

Guest spots offer unlimited opportunities to bring stars from different background together or to reunite people who have worked together previously. Unlike Neil Patrick Harris, I think it is a good thing for shows to do on occasion.