How we met their mother?

First up, links du jour: my review of "The Shield" (I'll have more spoiler-y discussion tomorrow), and a mailbag column about Dick Clark, "Arrested Development" and a short-lived Newark cop show called "The Street."

Meanwhile, things either got pret-ay, pret-ay interesting over on "How I Met Your Mother," or just worrisome. After the last few episodes had me convinced that either the creators or CBS had decreed that Future Ted was a scumbag liar and that Robin actually was the future Mrs. Ted, the very end of last night's episode hinted strongly that the actual mom-to-be is some random hottie at the wedding, played by Ashley Williams.

Now, she was one of the few watchable things about "Good Morning, Miami" (the "Four Kings" of its day), but I can't help but feel that the producers are missing out on how much more likable Ted is when he's with Robin. If his chemistry with the new potential mama isn't as strong, then they've screwed up and will either stubbornly stay the course (ala "Ed," where Carol Vessey was always the least interesting woman Ed dated) or struggle to find an escape hatch.

And the thing of it is, I can't get too worked up about who Ted's going to impregnate, because the longer this show has been on, the less I could care about the premise. The best parts of this episode had little or nothing with Ted's quest to get laid: Lily making fun of Marshall's dream wedding, the fast-forwarded fight, Barney trying to score with the psycho bride, the psycho bride trying to kill Ted. Even Ted was funny in the non-Robin parts of the plot.

Then again, I could have given a rat's ass about Ross and Rachel after about a half-season of "Friends," and yet that was obviously what obsessed most of the fans, so what the hell do I know?

Meanwhile, over in warmer climates, Matt and the rest of the TCA (at least, the members who bothered to come for the first day) are getting ready to rap with Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter about her new Disney Channel sitcom. Not every press tour session can be a winner.