UPDATE PM: Eric Braeden is firing back at Neil Patrick Harris for calling him a “D-Bag” on Twitter for bailing on a How I Met Your Mother guest stint at the 11th hour. In a statement to Deadline, the Young and the Restless actor said, “I have been in this business for 50 years, have seen so many actors come and go — most of them never to be seen or heard from again. I suggest whoever this young fellow is that he enjoy his success and count his blessings and save his money. My first time on [HIMYM] I enjoyed working with the writers, directors, and crew enormously. However, I did not have the pleasure of meeting most of the cast, including this fellow who put his foot in his mouth by saying what he did. It’s Christmastime and I forgive him for his transgression.” Braeden says he pulled out of the HIMYM appearance partly due to exhaustion. “I have been overworked at Y&R. I have been doing 40 and 50 pages a day. I was [also] not aware of what they wanted me to do until the day before.” Harris, meanwhile, seems to be regretting his choice of words. Three hours after his initial tirade, he returned to Twitter to say, “Now I feel bad for the D-bag comment. Don’t know the guy personally. I’m just fiercely protective of our show.”

PREVIOUS 10:45 AM: It’s fair to say Neil Patrick Harris and Eric Braeden won’t be exchanging gifts this holiday season. The How I Met Your Mother star blasted the Young and the Restless veteran on Twitter today for allegedly failing to honor a commitment to appear on the CBS sitcom. “Eric Braeden is a D-Bag,” Harris tweeted. “He agreed to a cameo as Robin’s dad, then last night he bailed, saying the part wasn’t ‘substantial’ enough.” In a follow-up tweet, Harris announced that the role had been recast with Twin Peaks and Reaper alum Ray Wise. “[Ray] is a fantastic actor who makes any part ‘substantial’. Super excited to welcome him to the family!” Braeden first appeared as Robin’s alpha male dad in November 2008. In an interview with TVGuide.com at the time, the 69-year-old actor said he had to be talked into doing HIMYM by his agents and family. “I didn’t want to do it, to be quite frank with you,” he said. “I have had a longstanding antipathy toward guest-starring on nighttime television because I’d done that an enormous amount in the ’60s and ’70s. I was infuriated by the singular decision by a former head of Universal Studios to lower guest-star salaries by 75 percent — from $7,500 per show to $2,500. At that time, Universal was the only game in town. So I swore I would not do that again.” However, he said he ended up enjoying the experience “tremendously,” calling the cast one of “the most wonderful groups of people I have ever met. It was the warmest set I’ve been on since Mary Tyler Moore.” Calls to Braeden’s rep have not yet been returned. Michael Ausiello will be contributing to Deadline.com and Movieline.com as he preps for the launch of TVLine.com, a new TV-centric website from MMC.