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Despite the increase in ratings Britney Spears' guest appearance brought to How I Met Your Mother, unicorn-loving star Neil Patrick Harris wasn't pleased with the producers' stunt casting plans. And he's not afraid to say so. The shoe fairy is so confident in the allegedly in-danger-of-being-canceled show's content that he's intent on maintaining the show's integrity based on content alone, sans tabloid names to keep it afloat. As he told the AP this week:

"Our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed...I worry that if they start `Will and Grace'-ing us too much, that the show will suffer...I think we have a great show going, and I hope it's not screwed up by the desire for 700,000 more viewers."

Though NPH has a valid and somewhat dignified point about the desperate nature of stunt casting, we're not sure he has all the facts straight regarding exactly how much attention Britney Spears brought to the show. As he continues, "I think we have a great show going, and I hope it's not screwed up by the desire for 700,000 more viewers." In fact, Yahoo reported recently that the Britney Spears episode hauled in 10.6 million viewers, as opposed to the 7.6 million HIMYM had been averaging until that fateful night. And while he laments the show's decision to stunt cast, he backtracks by lauding Spears' performance: "It was a great character and I think she played it well. ... I'm glad that we didn't sensationalize the character in any way." And finally, did he really knock the incredibly successful run that W&G had? We hope, and should think Harris hopes the same, that HIMYM makes it to an eighth season, or even scores half as many Emmys as the NBC show did. Stunt casting, as proven by canonized shows like W&G and Friends, can be just dandy if done right...right?