Britney Spears set to guest star on 'Glee'

Britney Spears has every reason to be "Glee"-ful: Whereas two years ago she lost custody of her kids, was involuntarily committed for psychiatric observation and was generally on the slag heap of pop history, she now caps her comeback with a guest-star role on a "Glee" episode devoted to her music.

"Britney, I think 100 percent [confirmed], is going be on the episode, which is exciting," series creator Ryan Murphy told Ryan Seacrest on the "American Idol" host's radio show Tuesday morning. "So she's going to come and join us and do a couple of scenes."

Those will be fantasy sequences, he said. John Stamos will be playing a dentist visiting William McKinley High School "for National Cavity Week, and there's four of the kids who have terrible dental hygiene, and these kids have to go get their teeth cleaned, some of them under anesthesia, and that's when the fun Britney stuff happens."

No specific role has been written for her yet, he said.

But Murphy did scotch rumors that glee-club director Will Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison, would shave his head in an allusion to a distraught Spears having once done so. "I think people have certain expectations because the show is sarcastic," he said. "But the Britney episode, I'm here to say, is so reverential about her and so kind and it's about her music and it's not about her personal life. I think Britney Spears is pop culture, and I think she's been through a lot. . . . We're handling Britney with kid gloves."

Murphy also said Paul McCartney sent him a mix tape. "I thought I was being punked," Murphy said. "And he wrote this sweet letter - or an assistant with very similar handwriting did - and it just said, 'Here's a list of songs that I love that I think would be great for your show; I hope you'll consider me.' "