Upfronts: CBS renews Britney Spears-enhanced ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and ‘The Unit’

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My, what a difference a little Britney makes.

A couple of months ago, word on the street -- well, on the sound stages -- was that CBS viewers would probably never get to finish the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ story unless, of course, Fox picked the series up, which was part of the rumor. The youngest-skewing show on CBS has never broken out, the thinking goes, because it’s on the wrong network.

Enter: Britney Spears. Tonight she appears in the single-camera comedy for the second time. Her first visit gave the show its highest ratings ever and more buzz than Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) could ever muster, no matter how legendary he is. (And believe us, he is.)

Well, CBS has come to its senses and renewed the series for next fall. It also picked up ‘The Unit,’ which stars Dennis Haysbert and is run by Shawn Ryan (‘The Shield’).

-- Maria Elena Fernandez