OMG this is AMAZING news! Quinn is back! After breaking off her engagement with Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) earlier this season, EW has learned that Becki Newton’s Quinn will return to How I Met Your Mother for an episode, set to air April 15.

Details about Quinn’s return are being kept under wraps, but that’s not a surprise. This season of HIMYM has seen a few high-profile guest-star returns that were shrouded in secrecy, including Joe Manganiello, Rachel Bilson, and most recently, Kyle MacLachlan’s The Captain, who appeared two weeks ago to offer Lily a job.

Great news! Fox’s midseason series The Goodwin Games has finally been assigned a premiere date. The comedy will have a summer run, launching on May 20 at 8:30 PM and running for seven consecutive weeks. While not officially cancelled, Goodwin Games is considered dead, and its cast members were allowed by Fox to take other jobs.

Bad news you guys! FOX has trimmed the order on its midseason comedy “The Goodwin Games” — because, the network says, it doesn’t need as many episodes. Why? The series starring Scott Foley, Becki Newton and T.J. Miller got a standard 13-episode order when FOX picked it up for midseason. Last week, though, the network decided to trim the order to just seven episodes. When the cast and crew wrapped episode 7 Friday (Nov. 2), they were done for the season.

The reason for the shortened order, a network rep tells Zap2it, has more to do with FOX’s other comedies than with “The Goodwin Games” itself. FOX has already ordered 24 episodes of “Raising Hope,” “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project” for this season, along with 19 episodes of “Ben and Kate.” That means less room for 13 “Goodwin Games” episodes on the midseason schedule.

The show wasn’t part of FOX’s midseason premiere dates announcement, but it will likely debut in the spring after “Ben and Kate” ends its season. “The Goodwin Games” comes from “How I Met Your Mother” creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and “HIMYM” writer-producer Chris Harris. It’s about three siblings (Newton, Foley and Miller) who stand to inherit a sizable fortune — if they can play by the rules set forth in their late father’s (guest star Beau Bridges) will. Kat Foster and Melissa Tang also star.

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler is “optimistic” about a ninth season of How I Met Your Mother — and so are the show’s creators.  “We’re optimistic too,” co-creator and co-executive producer Craig Thomas tells TVGuide.com. “We’re all on the edge of our seats waiting to see what will happen with these negotiations. We’re hopeful we’ll get an answer because obviously that’ll affect the story one way or the other quite a bit. The thing is we want to give the fans the proper conclusion to this that they’ve earned for sticking with us. We had our highest-rated season in Season 7 and that’s all because of the fans. They’ve stuck with us and we want to make sure we know in time that it’s the end so we can give them the proper wrap-up that they deserve.”

What will that wrap-up entail? How — and how much — would a ninth season affect the upcoming eighth season? Get the scoop from Thomas and director Pamela Fryman below.

What’s the order in which they all fall apart? Do Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Quinn (Becki Newton) break up first?
Thomas: I can’t say. We already know it’ll be a disaster, but the exact sequence in which they break up is important. How the last couple breaks up is important and leads to something big for all of the characters. It’s planned out in a very specific way. I can’t say who initiates each breakup. Episode 2 airs Oct. 1 and Episode 6 airs Oct. 29. November sweeps will be even crazier! November will have some heartfelt, poignant things happening.

So this will be a very brief happy engagement for Barney and Quinn.
Thomas: Unfortunately. They’re still engaged when we pick up. And Becki may or may not be cast on another series. It’s like a very Tyler Durden kind of moment where you’re fighting with yourself about managing an actor. We had to figure out how much of Becki Newton we can use. We don’t drag it out too long since we know they’re not getting married.

Great news! It was announced that Becki will be back on How I Met Your Mother in the season! Can’t wait!

How I Met Your Mother executive producer Craig Thomas says we should expect to see Becki Newton as Quinn again, even though Newton will also be appearing in Fox’s The Goodwin Games.

Fox has made its first series pickups of the season with a trio of half-hours. In its bid to beef up its live-action offerings, the top-rated network has ordered single-camera comedies from both 20th Century Fox TV and Universal Television. Ben & Kate, previously Ben Fox Is My Manny, and The Goodwin Games hail from the former; the Untitled Mindy Kaling comedy comes from the latter.

Games comes from How I Met Your Mother scribes Carter Bays, Craig Thomas and Chris Harris and stars HIMYM guest star Becki Newton along with Scott Foley and Jake Lacy as siblings who inherit their late father’s fortune — if they agree to his terms. The HIMYM trio created the project with Newton in mind after the actress guest-starred on their long-running CBS hit, which already has been renewed for next season.

Congrats Becki and the rest of the cast and the crew of The Goodwin Games!! We’re so happy!! Can’t wait to see it!

With the upfronts around the corner, THR has a look at which pilots are gaining steam heading into the broadcast networks’ presentations to Madison Avenue buyers. With less than two weeks to go until the broadcast networks roll out their plans for the 2012-13 television season, it’s crunch time for the more than 80 pilots bidding for a slot on the fall (and midseason) schedule. Here are a collection of the comedies and dramas gaining steam heading in to crunch time. Worth noting: While early buzz can be a good indicator, it doesn’t always translate to a series order.

Despite mixed reviews internally, prospects are still good for The Goodwin Games, from How I Met Your Mother scribes Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and starring Becki Newton and Scott Foley.

We really hope it will get picked up! We’re so excited for the show!!