This week, Law & Order: SVU announced something of a casting coup, saying it had gotten Robin Williams to guest-star [1] on the show's 200th episode on April 29. It was already a big week for news about cameo appearances, anyway, as we're now counting down the days till Britney's big appearance on How I Met Your Mother [2].

Show producers seem to especially love getting big-name guest stars for milestones and key ratings periods, like the February and May sweeps — and I expect we'll be seeing more guest stars this spring as shows try to drum up some attention in the aftermath of the writers' strike [3]. I'm wondering: Do you like it when big-name actors or personalities show up on your favorite TV shows? Or do you just find it distracting?

Source [4]