How I Met Your Mother
Spoilers

We know on Monday's episode, "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap," two things are for sure:

1. Chris Elliot will be guest starring as Lily's estranged father, Mickey.
2. There will be at least one slap of Marshall's remaining slaps against Barney.

However, executive producer Carter Bays is still keeping his mouth mum about the exact details of the slap.  He says, "There’s a little bit of a twist on the slap this year.  The Slap Bet commissioner makes an interesting ruling that I can’t reveal."

We will give you a hint.  Marshall gives away his slap and it will be used by one of the other How I Met Your Mother cast members... or Lily's father.  Watch their potential slaps in action:

Hi, I'm Don.

With those words, Benjamin Koldyke introduced himself to How I Met Your Mother fans on this week's new episode.

Unfortunately for Barney and Robin fans, not only with this actor be sticking around the sitcom; creator Carter Bays says he'll be romancing Robin for awhile.

“I don’t want to oversell anything," Bays told Michael Ausiello. "Yes, it’s very soon after her and Barney [split up], but...we’ve had characters that Ted has dated many times, but we haven’t brought in somebody for Robin. We’re seeing where it goes. We’re taking it gingerly."

Koldyke is quickly becoming some what of a guest-starring slut. Aside from dating Robin on HIMYM, he'll play for the other team and get with Alby on season four of Big Love.

Back in season two of How I Met Your Mother, Marshall was awarded five slaps against Barney, courtesy the official Slap Bet Commissioner, Lily.

Now, in season five of the sitcom, Marshall still has two slaps remaining. How will he dole them out?

In HIMYM tradition, these will occur in the upcoming Thanksgiving - err, Slapsgiving - episode that airs in just two weeks. The episode will be cleverly titled "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap."

The fun twist on the remaining slaps? Marshall will actually be handing the rights to slap Barney over to Ted and Robin. We wan't wait to see how they use them!

Slapsgiving 2 will also mark the episode where Chris Elliot guest stars as Lily's estranged father. Check out the following episode stills that feature Elliott and the rest of the cast:

How I Met Your Mother is one of the funniest shows on TV. But this isn't a joking matter:

On the sitcom's November 9 installment, Barney Stinson gives in to what producer Carter Bays refers to as a "relationship gut." Having already gotten the girl (Robin), the character really lets himself go, risking diabetes and heart disease.

"It’s a phenomenon that a lot of people can relate to, certainly more than a few people on our writing staff. It’s relationship gut,” Bays told People magazine.

The show's co-creator added that Neal Patrick Harris was more than game to don a fat suit:

“He was loving it. He was like, ‘Give me the biggest fat suit you’ve got.’”

In probably the scariest set of upcoming photos we've ever received for How I Met Your Mother, Barney will be kissing Lily in an upcoming episode.  Just look at the following picture.

Okay, now that we scared you with that we can tell you the premise!  In the upcoming episode, "Bagpipes," Robin and Barney have a fight and Lily and Marshall help mediate things.

Meanwhile, this leads to Barney trying to picture what his life would be like married to Lily.  So don't worry folks, your favorite couple is safe.

Here's some more pictures from the upcoming episode:

On Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother, "Duel Citizenship," Barney attempts to make Robin more American in order to help her become a US citizen.

Meanwhile, Ted and Marshall plan a road trip to Chicago to go to their favorite pizza restaurant, while Lily decides to tag along.

Watch the following promo clip for the upcoming hilarious-looking episode:

We also go our hands on the following episode stills:

We're about to meet Lily's grandmother (fun!), as well as a potential love interest for Robin (danger, Barney!) on How I Met Your Mother.

First, as we've documented, the sitcom will take viewers into Lily's family's home for its November 23 Thanksgiving episode. Once there, Marion Ross will portray the character's grandmother.

She was most recently seen as Ida Holden on Brothers & Sisters.

Meanwhile, the show is about to give Barney some competition for Robin.

The sitcom is casting for Don, a new character that will serve as Robin's new co-anchor on her early morning news show. Expect sparks to fly between the co-workers, either of passion or of deep-seeded hatred.

Which, sorry Barney, often leads to passion.

** UPDATE: Christina Pickle has taken over instead of Ross, now that the character's role on the show has been greatly reduced.

On the November 23 episode of How I Met Your Mother, we'll meet Lily's dad Mickey, played by Chris Elliott.

But that's not the only relative celebrating Thanksgiving with viewers, as the show will take fans inside Lily's grandparents' home. Once there, we'll learn that Mickey’s antics have led to grandma breaking her hip and losing her retirement fund.

Also, according to TV Guide Magazine, the sitcom will flashback to to an 11-year-old Lily, as we learn what sort of influence her shady dad had on her.

Viewers should also prepare to be taken back to Lily’s wedding day, which featured a revolting interaction between Mickey and Lily's best friend, Sandy.

Will it finally happen on the 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother? Will viewers finally meet the future mother of Ted's kids?

Whether or not her identity is revealed during that half-hour, producer Craig Thomas told Entertainment Weekly "it’ll be the closest Ted’s ever come to [discovering who she is]. He’s getting a step closer every episode this season, and episode 100 [we] kind of go bananas with it.”

Thomas won’t confirm that actually takes place, but did say he and fellow producer Carter Bays “are spending a lot of time trying to cast the female role in Ted’s story for episode 100.”

As for the installment's other major storyline, Neil Patrick Harris fans will be delighted.

“There will be a huge Barney story culminating in an enormous musical number that we’re going to spend way too much of Twentieth Television’s money on,” Thomas said. “Fans of Neil’s performance at the Emmys will enjoy the ending of the episode. It’s not a musical episode, but all of a sudden it becomes one. It’ll probably be one of the craziest things we’ve ever done on the show.”

That's saying a lot!

Barney is dating Robin.

Ted is a professor that formerly crushed on Robin.

Therefore, on an upcoming episode of How I Met Your Mother, it's only natural for Barney to seek words of wisdom about his girlfriend from his pal.

“There’s a show coming up called Robin 101 where Barney seeks Professor Ted’s advice to learn more about Robin’s likes and dislikes to gain a deeper knowledge of her," Neil Patrick Harris said to TV Guide Magazine. "Ted, of course, knows all about Robin because he was kind of obsessed with her, whereas Barney just likes to stick things in places.”

Sorry... he likes to what?!?

On the next new episode of How I Met Your Mother, viewers will see a sexy side of Lily. Kind of.