From “Sabrina” to “The Simpsons” and “Glee”: Britney Spears and her 'cute cameos on fun TV shows'

Britney Spears' acting career is not as brief as one might think. Sure, her film career began and ended with Crossroads, with some bit parts sprinkled throughout here and there. But her TV career has been pretty solid.

In her just-released memoir, The Woman in Me, Spears recalls one TV gig she "hated": being a judge on The X Factor in 2012. The stint that launched a thousand memes, Spears' short tenure on the reality singing competition was about as unpleasant as...well, this gif suggests:

via GIPHY

Spears writes that some people, like Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani, are "really professional on TV."

"When the camera is on them, they thrive," she notes. Spears says she "used to be able to do that when I was younger" but she feels like she ages "backward" when she's afraid and whenever she knew she had to be on camera the "Lucky" singer got "very, very nervous."

Spears has accepted the fact that she's just not "cut out" for that kind of gig, but that doesn't mean she'll never step foot in front of another camera again.

"Now, if you got me a cute cameo on a fun TV show where I'm in and out in a day, that's one thing," she writes, "but to act skeptical for eight hours straight while judging people on TV? Uh, no thank you. I absolutely hated it."

Which brings us back to the pop star's TV cameo career. Her track record there, much like her hits during the early '00s, is pretty spotless. Let's hit 'em, baby... one more time.

<i>Sabrina the Teenage Witch</i> (1999)

No one did synergy in 1999 like Britney Spears and Melissa Joan Hart. That year, Hart starred with Adrian Grenier in Drive Me Crazy, whose soundtrack featured the only acceptable version of Brit's "(You Drive Me) Crazy" — "The Stop Remix!" — and Hart later appeared in the music video. Spears then returned the favor with a cameo on Hart's Sabrina the Teenage Witch as herself, performing the title song from Hart's film, in an episode that aired a week before the film's release. That kind of cross-promotion could drive anyone crazy.

<i>Kenan & Kel</i> (1999)

In a classic Kenan & Kel mixup, Kel (Kel Mitchell) is mistaken for a hairdresser and ends up doing Spears' hair. Kel gets a little too into his ruse, but promises to make her into a "teenage singing superstar" as Brit points out, "I...kinda already am." Next thing she knows, she's got green highlights and she's screaming into a mirror in horror like Joan Crawford finding a grey hair.

<i>The Famous Jett Jackson</i>

Spears completed her trifecta of kid-friendly shows in 1999 with a cameo on Disney Channel's The Famous Jett Jackson playing (who else?) herself. After going through her website's fan mail, Britney decides to grace Jett's school dance — as teen singing superstars often do — to perform her two earliest hits, "...Baby One More Time" and "Sometimes."

<i>The Simpsons</i>

By 2000, Spears knew she was a bona fide pop icon when she got Simpsonized. She voices herself in season 11's "The Mansion Family," where she co-hosts the Springfield Pride Awards with local news anchorman Kent Brockman. Oh, and she kills the town's oldest living citizen with a kiss on the cheek, clearing the way for its second oldest citizen, Mr. Burns. Eeeeeexcellent.

<i>Will & Grace</i> (2006)

In a refreshing change of pace, Spears played someone other than herself on a 2006 episode of Will & Grace, Amber-Louise, Jack's (Sean Hayes) new, ultra-conservative co-host on his OutTV talk show, JackTalk. But, turns out, Amber-Louise isn't so conservative after all — in fact she's "a hardcore lesbian" whose real name is Peg, leading to perhaps the greatest line of her acting career: "I'm into leather play, butch Black girls, skunkin', pullin' the blinds, and poodleballin'. Whatever you got, I'll eat it, snort it, or ride it, baby!" Where was the Emmy?

<i>How I Met Your Mother</i> (2008)

Spears made not one but two cameos on How I Met Your Mother, playing Abby, a receptionist at a tattoo removal clinic who is madly in love with Ted (Josh Radnor), even though he barely knows she's alive. Abby returned six episodes later, this time determined to prove she's over Ted...by hooking up with Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). A lot. They even get falsely engaged, though it takes poor Abby a while to realize Barney has no intention of marrying her. Or anyone.

<i>Glee</i> (2010)

In Glee's second season, Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris) finally gets to meet Britney Spears, the bane of her existence, even if only in her imagination. Inspired by the IRL Britney's own suggestion, the episode "Britney/Brittany" devotes nearly all of its musical numbers to Ms. Spears, with Britney making a few cameos in Ms. Pierce's anesthesia-induced fantasy sequences (courtesy of John "Have Mercy" Stamos as Hot Dentist Carl).

<i>Jane the Virgin</i> (2015)

Playing herself again — but this time a hilariously outsized version of herself who's forever accompanied by a troupe of robotically synchronized background dancers — Spears got to flex her comedic muscles thanks to a subplot featuring a rivalry with Rogelio (Jaime Camil) stemming from a teleprompter incident at the Pop Latin Music Awards.

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