SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

Last week I had to call a CBS publicist about another show and discovered she was hanging out at the beach – with the cast of “How I Met Your Mother” taping a music video featuring Robin Sparkles.

Check out legen-wait-for-it-dary IGN TV writer Eric Goldman for a great article on the taping.Looks like we have something fun in store on Monday when Robin Sparkles returns. And her old boyfriend is played by Mr. Dawson’s Creek himself, James van der Beek.

If you don’t who Robin Sparkles is, she’s Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) alter ego from her Debbie Gibson youth, when Robin had a brief career as a poppy Canadian mall singer. Here’s the original video:

The hype leading up to tonight’s episode of “How I Met Your Mother” was all centered on little miss mess Britney Spears, but the real news was that it appears we’ve just been given the identity of the aforementioned mother.

Or maybe they are just hedging. After all, the promise was made by the producers that the identity of the mother would be revealed before the series finale. And CBS has not yet made a commitment to a fourth season, which is clearly insanity.

Last week’s St. Patrick’s Day episode teased about how close Ted came to meeting his future wife, and the mother of his children. All we saw was the yellow umbrella, which had been mentioned in earlier episodes, and we learned that while Ted partied the night away, his bride-to-be made it an early evening.

In tonight’s episode, Stella (Sarah Chalke) tells Ted that she almost never goes out because it’s hard to find a sitter for her 8-year-old daughter. Oh, but she did go out on St. Patrick’s Day, but she had to go home early. Was that the tip-off to her identity? Is Stella the Mother?

Continuing his passionate quest to find the woman who will one day be his wife, Ted (series star, Josh Radnor) pursues his beautiful dermatologist, Stella (guest star, Sarah Chalke). Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS ©2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc.

I think she is. And I believe it was brilliant for the creators to cover up the key clue in an episode where critics and writers would be casting their eyes on the performance of post-rehab Britney Spears.

Britney was cute enough, and she didn’t bump into any of the furniture, or shave her head for that matter. She was Stella’s shy receptionist Abby, who has a crush on Ted. But Ted only has eyes for Stella.

Abby (guest star Britney Spears), becomes smitten with Ted, on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER on CBS. Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS ©2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
And we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for her next appearance on the show.

If you missed the episode, or want to check it out again, go watch it on the CBS Web site.

Or maybe you just want to see All the Britney Parts: