Today marks the 8th year since the release of Britney’s first, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ episode, ‘Ten Sessions.
Britney played the role of Abby, a receptionist at Stella Sinman’s dermatology clinic. Abby was a very naïve character with a very high level of sensitivity.
Britney made 2 appearances as Abby, however Ten Sessions was her first appearance. The episode focuses on Abby developing a huge crush on Ted, forcing her to change her appearance to make her more noticeable to him.
She follows on to drop hints to him about her infatuation by admiring his least-appealing characteristics. She calls him a knight when he offers her coffee during his sixth session and makes Stella try to convince him to go out with her during the seventh session.
During the eighth session, she reads a book Ted tried to use to hit on Stella and even compares him to a young Tom Selleck when he is tricked by Barney into growing a moustache for the ninth session.
After the two-minute date Ted and Stella have, Abby finds him with a bunch of flowers and confesses that several girls have tried to convince her to forget about him, but she forgives him and instantly runs after him.
Later in the episode Barney meets her at the reception shortly after this, where he talks sense into her and invites her to a hotel room, where she asks him for sex.
Television critics reacted positively to the episode and praised Britney’s performance. In its original broadcast in the United States, ‘Ten Sessions’ was watched by 10.62 million viewers. It attracted 1 million viewers more than the previous episode and 2.4 million more than the show’s average before the writer’s strike.
The show co-creator Bays later said that Britney Spears’ appearance greatly benefited ratings. ‘’And by golly she put our show on the map. It can’t be overstated. Britney Spears rescued us from being on the bubble again. Thanks Britney!’’
Happy Birthday, ‘Ten Sessions!’