As if Britney Spears wasn't having a bad enough year, she is also now the TV Squad staff choice for the most egregious case of miscasting during this 2007-08 season. Yes, friends, for her turns as Abby on How I Met Your Mother, Brit-Brit is the first recipient of The What the *#@#%! Were They Thinking? Award.

Competition for this one was pretty fierce. Michelle Ryan of Bionic Woman barely edged Spears out on the readers' choice poll, and to me she seemed like the obvious choice; there were a lot of things wrong with BW, but Ryan's stiff performance was probably the worst of what was wrong. But by an overwhelming margin, the Squadders thought Britney's casting was the worse offense.

Looking back on her appearances, I can understand the vitrol. It's not that she was awful on the show -- opinions about that are mixed. It's the whole idea and motivation behind her guest stint that most people seem to find so patently offensive.