So last night was Britney Spears' big acting comeback on How I Met Your Mother [1], and if the goal was to get some big ratings for the on-the-bubble comedy, it worked: The show pulled in 10.6 million viewers and hit its highest ratings ever in the key 18-49 demographic. Coupled with the better than average 9.7 million viewers [2] the show got last week, I have to think things are looking pretty good for a season four.

Personally, I thought the best part of the episode was Ted's two-minute date (watch it here [3]), and I definitely think Stella was supposed to be the mother — had that whole Alicia Silverstone/Britney/Sarah Chalke thing [4] not happened, that is. So, was having Britney on the show worth it? What did you make of her performance?

Photo courtesy of CBS [5]