If you recognize the title, then you’ve passed the test of being a fan.  The CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother is now in it’s fifth season and is still going strong. Personally I thought for sure that it would be about two seasons then done for the show, but anything with NPH in it (Neil Patrick Harris) is pretty much guaranteed to be a hit.  They do a lot of things well in the show, more than just providing good laughs in the half-hour span.  Each character brings their own quirks to the group.  While they are five different middle-aged characters, they all support one another, creating a New York family.  NPH is the most recognizable person from the show because of Doogie Howser and more recently the Harold & Kumar movies.  Jason Segel has been in a number of Judd Apatow movies and Alyson Hannigan is from the American Pie series.

Had I been a betting man, I would’ve put a $100 on Robin (Colby Smulders) being the mother.  But I think because the show was such a huge success, they had to change things up a bit. Instead of having the age-old archetype of friends falling in love, they are continuing to not disclose who the real mother is.  They given viewers clues like “she was there when…” or “she was in that very classroom…”  While five seasons is great for any show, this can only go on for so long and really the actors aren’t getting any younger.  Plus, who knows if they’ll be doing more movies on their own, leading to potential contract and time disputes.

The writers and producers are doing a great job of buying time and distracting fans of who the true mom is.  This season, they’ve brought in celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and and Rachel Bilson.  Also scheduled is Arianna Huffington in an upcoming episode in May.  While many want to see what the stars roles are, it also acts as a distraction when it comes down to finding out who really is the mother.  The writers are starting to differentiate the three single characters (with Marshall and Lily already being married.  They are humanizing Barney and while he still goes off chasing women, he’s come to the realization that there is more to them than just having a one-night stand.  Robin seems to be having success with her broadcasting career and is settling down after her break-up with Barney.  She’s currently dating her news co-anchor which could be something long-term.  Ted is the main character and his role will probably be more enhanced as this season winds down.  He is still the endless romantic that believes that the “perfect” girl is still out there for him.

The show is a modern-day Friends where the close knit group will date and fall for each other in some way or another.  One would still think that Robin would be the one in the end but they have started to refer to her as “Aunt Robyn” which ultimately rules her out.  So, we’ll just have to see who the mother really is in the end.  But for now, we should just enjoy the 30 minutes of the show for what it’s worth.

Jennifer Lopez has signed on for a guest starring role in an upcoming episode of CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother.”

The actress/singer/designer will play Anita Appleby, “a no-nonsense author of self-help books that teach women how to mold the perfect man through the power of denial.” Anita makes it her mission to “break” Barney but it appears she may have met her match.

“We couldn’t be more excited about Jennifer Lopez joining us on ‘How I Met Your Mother,’” said series executive producer and co-creator Carter Bays. “We’re looking forward to a week of revealing outfits and sexy dance moves the likes of which this show hasn’t seen since Regis Philbin guest starred.”

The episode is scheduled to air in March.

J.Lo won’t be the only diva appearing on HIMYM in March though. Carrie Underwood recently taped her own guest spot, which will air on March 1.

CBS also announced this week that the series was picked up for a sixth season.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez is rumored to have a cameo as a lunch lady on an upcoming episode of “Glee” too.  Guess she really is still just “Jenny from the block”!

CBS easily won Monday night, again, with its insanely popular line-up of comedies. During its flagship night, the network defeated ABC and NBC in the 18-49 demographic and demonstrated series highs with The Big Bang Theory and the 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother. Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders and Alyson Hannigan, the show netted its best numbers since last spring.

Two and Half Men with Charlie Sheen also had its best 18-49 demo performance since last winter and also its best audience average since December of 2008.

Rival Fox followed CBS with an episode of House and a “special airing” of their sci-fi sensation Fringe. The episode was played against NBC’s Heroes with stellar results. This week’s episode of Heroes was the series’ lowest-rated telecast ever. The airing of Fringe on Monday performed just as well as House’s usual follow-up of Lie To Me, which is off the schedule until the return of 24.

ABC’s Castle improved its performance in the demographic thanks to a strong lead-in from their reality show The Bachelor, which was up 9-percent with adults 18-49. Castle is up 24-percent from its last original airing.

At 8 p.m., the regular-slot season premiere of Chuck (2.6 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49, 7.3 million viewers overall) scored the show’s highest regular-slot results in 18-49 and total viewers since the special 3D telecast on February 2, 2009, the night after the Super Bowl. It was also the biggest total-viewer average for NBC in this time period with regular programming since that Feb. 2 Chuck.  In a time slot that last night included competition from Fox’s House, ABC’s The Bachelor and CBS’s comedies, Chuck generated growth from its first half-hour to its second of 8-percent in adults 18-49 (to a 2.7 from a 2.5) and 16 percent in adults 18-34 (2.2 vs. 1.9).

Its finally here, the 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother airs tonight on CBS and they’re marking the event with a big, splashy musical number.

“I don’t think we’re going to do too often, but now that we’ve gotten our feet wet, we’d love to do it again,” the show’s co-creator, Carter Bays said.

The episode, Girls vs. Suits features the musically inclined cast performing Barney’s ode to suits, “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit,” with 65 dancers all backed by the strings of a 50-piece orchestra.

Bays wrote the song with executive producer Craig Thomas, the pair also wrote the show’s theme song with their band, The Solids. The “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit” number plays out in Barney’s mind when he’s forced to choose between his signature suit and a hot bartender who hates men in suits.

“The whole concept of this was to have an on-air 100th episode celebration party and just [go] nuts and have three minutes of unadulterated, joyful fun and … just kind of share our joy and pride in 100 episodes and throw a little party for the fans,” Thomas said.

Project Runway’s Tim Gunn guest-stars to help Barney make it all work.

“[Gunn] was every bit the wonderful man you think he’s going to be. I want him back in every episode,” Alyson Hannigan said. “I’ve never seen people that happy about a guest star. He was more popular than Britney Spears. That’s saying something.”

Its a major milestone for a show that struggled in its early seasons. But now, they’re riding high with good ratings an Emmy nod. “It’s been interesting to see how the show has evolved,” Thomas said.

“Because we’re so flashback-happy, we can kind of dive back into those things and really get to know these people in ways that in 20 minutes in one pilot you never would’ve expected,” he said. “How could you have predicted [in the pilot] that somehow not far over a year later, Barney would be on the set of The Price Is Right … so he could tell his father Bob Barker that he was his son? … It’s the most fun thing in the world to discover that kind of stuff, discover new details of their past and personalities and find ways to intersect the characters.”

One thing that has yet to be revealed is the Mother. In the 100th episode, though, Ted will get the closest he’s been to meeting his wife after befriending Cindy (guest star Rachel Bilson) at Columbia University. Bilson was only attached for one episode, so far. “She is very important to the ultimate story, so she probably will come back,” Bays said.

Bays and Thomas say they’re still committed to their “leading plan” of unraveling the mother’s identity, but don’t feel any pressure because for every person who wants to know, there’s someone who doesn’t want to know yet.

Carrie Underwood to guest-star on How I Met Your Mother

“Then it is like the ride’s over in a lot of ways [if we reveal her before the series is over]. We definitely have ideas for stories that could take place after you’ve met the mother,” Thomas said. “[But] in addition to Ted, we’ve got four other very interesting characters and we sort of like the idea of making the show about more than just that one central question.”

Are you excited for the 100th episode? What are your favorite Mother episodes?

While they continue coming up with new, and ever stranger, ways to hid the two baby bumps on the set of How I Met Your Mother, the show’s executive producer, Carter Bays, is using another distraction method, spilling the goods about what’s going to happen next on the show. 

First of all, it looks like we are getting closer to finding out who exactly the mom is. Bays confirms Ted is the series’ narrator (not Barney as is sometimes rumored) and that the last few episodes of the season will provide a few clues about the mother. One of the clues will be the yellow umbrella which will continue to pop up throughout the duration of the series.

In additon to some new clues this season, there is going to be a departure next season that will bring us even closer to the mother. Bays explains, “There’s going to be kind of a new world that some of the characters enter, and it’ll bring us closer to meeting the mom. It’ll also provide sort of a new dynamic for a couple of the characters.”

There are also some interesting guest stars on the way like Danny Glover who will show up in the March 30th episode and some old favorites are coming back too. “People you haven’t seen in a while, which will be fun too. But again, that’s part of the surprise for the end of the season”, Bays added.

Of course the big news is the very real possibility of a Barney/Robin relationship. Carter spills: “We’ve written the dramatic climax of the story, and now we’re going back and writing toward it. I’m very excited to eventually get there, but it’s also a lot of fun figuring out how to slowly maneuver these characters closer and closer toward the inevitable.”

Neil Patrick Harris couldn’t be more jazzed about the possibility of a Barney/Robin lovefest saying, “When I watch [Robin and Barney] making out, I get a boner. So I can only assume that the rest of America would follow suit.”

You can watch full episodes of How I Met Your Mother at CBS.com.