It may not be exactly like their appearance together on the MTV Video Music Awards, but it will likely turn heads when pop singer Britney Spears again pairs up with Madonna in a filmed segment for The Material Girl’s upcoming Sticky & Sweet concert tour.

“Britney is going to film something for Madonna’s show in the next week or so,” Liz Rosenberg, Madonna’s publicist, told celebrity magazine People in a story posted on its Web site, http://www.people.com/, on Monday.

The last time the two performed together they kissed onstage at MTV’s 2006 VMAs, and it caused a sensation around the globe. Videos of the kiss are still popular on YouTube, and one has been viewed more than 2.5 million times.

But almost since that time, Spears, 26, has seen her life spiral downward after a divorce from her ex-husband Kevin Federline. She has waged a bitter custody battle with him over their kids, displayed bizarre behaviour in public and was hospitalized twice earlier this year for mental evaluation.

In February, however, her father won control over her business and personal affairs, and since then Spears has seemed to get better. She made guest appearances on the TV sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” and she has been working on a new album.

Britney Spears helped the CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother” add more viewers, and now she stands to earn an Emmy nomination for her work on the show.

Spears, 26, is listed on an Emmy ballot of 41 names for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series, said John Leverence, a spokesman for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Nominations for Emmys — U.S. television’s highest honors – will be announced on July 17.

The pop star’s two-episode venture into prime-time TV came after more than a year of turbulence in her real life that included a bitter custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline, two stays at Los Angeles-area hospitals for psychiatric evaluation, and a court order putting her assets into a conservatorship overseen by her father.

In recent months, however, her life seems to be back on track, and one key piece of evidence has been her appearances on “How I Met Your Mother.” Spears played an easily seduced receptionist named Abby. The show had been in danger of cancellation, but ratings shot up with Spears’ guest starring role. 

With a slicker format,  more stars and better jokes , “Idol Gives Back” showed just how to stage a mass charity fundraiser on its second outing on Wednesday. 

 Jimmy Kimmel’s roasting of Simon Cowell’s nipples (!!), his haircut (”Who parted your hair? Moses?”) and wardrobe;  Annie Lennox’s emotional rendering of “Many Rivers To Cross”, and Fergie’s  handstands across the stage made it a night to remember. Then there was the “Idol” stage manager who, when she had to come onstage to adjust Brad Pitt’s microphone, admitted: “I just needed a reason to touch him.”

Even Britney Spears — one of the few celebrities not among the more than 60 singers, actors, sports stars and comedians taking part — was reportedly moved to donate.

Life & Style magazine said the troubled pop star — who thankfully has been out of the headlines for at least two weeks — made a $25,000 donation.  “She watched the show and cried for like two hours over the children in Africa with malaria,” a Spears family insider told the magazine.

But just how much did the American public fork over in pledges and donations to the six featured children’s charities in Africa and the United States? Host Ryan Seacrest gave an early preliminary figure of $18 million during the broadcast.

Here’s hoping it won’t be too long before we get to know if the show reached it’s hoped for $100 million target.

Once upon a time in America, kids grew up, dated, got serious, got engaged, then married and had kids. Now, it seems they just date, get pregnant, then get engaged — at least if they are Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney’s little sis, who turns the grand old age of 17 next week on April 4.

Word comes from Us Weekly magazine on Wednesday that Jamie Lynn, who stars as a high school student on the Nickelodeon TV network’s popular “Zoey 101,” is now engaged to her ‘long-time” boyfriend Casey Aldridge, the father of her as yet unborn baby.   

Jamie Lynn shocked her fans and celebrity watchers back in December when she revealed she was pregnant.

This is not the first report that Aldridge popped the marriage question, but it does source the  news to a family member, Spears’ cousin Tina Robinson.

“They probably weren’t expecting (the proposal) to be, like, right now, but with her being pregnant, that really pushed it up,” Robinson told Us Weekly.

Yes Tina, probably did.

UPDATE: Since this was post on Monday, word comes from CBS that U.S. household viewership for “How I Met Your Mother” was up 9 percent for Britney’s appearance from one week before.  Monday’s show lured 10.6 million viewers overall, which was its highest total this year. Among adults 18- to 49-years-old and adults 25- to 54-years old, the show had its highest ratings in its three-hear history, CBS said.

MONDAY’S POST: Britney Spears’ latest attempt to bring some normalcy back into her life goes on full public display Monday night when she appears on U.S. television sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.” She plays a receptionist in a doctor’s office who has eyes for one of the show’s characters, Ted, portrayed by Josh Radnor.

A few video clips can be seen on the Web site of broadcast network CBS which airs the TV show. In one of them, Britney is holding a book titled, “The Power of Me,” and for awhile she certainly did have a lot of power in show business.

In fact Spears, 26, was named the most powerful celebrity in Hollywood by Forbes magazine in 2002 after earning $39.2 million in one, 12-month time frame. But ahh, how the mighty Britney has fallen.

Since her 2006 breakup with ex-husband Kevin Federline, Spears has spent time in rehab, lost custody of her two children and most recently was hospitalized twice for psychiatric evaluation.

Her father has now taken control of her personal and business affairs, and her life would seem to be back on track. Late last year she was frequently photographed in Los Angeles wearing pink wings and talking in a fake British accent. Now she is back to blonde and smiling brightly in the video clips on CBS.com.

Whether Britney’s fans will continue to support her remains a key question in her career. In late October, she released her most recent album, “Blackout,” and it quickly hit No. 2 on record charts. The first single, “Gimme More,” also was well-received. So, her fans do not appear to have abandoned her — yet.

Monday night’s “How I Met Your Mother” is the next test on her road to a Hollywood career recovery.

When a California court granted Britney Spears’ father control of her business and personal affairs on Feb. 1, the troubled 26 year-old pop star had just been released from a Los Angeles hospital after being held for psychiatric evaluation.

It was the second time in one month that her mental state had been questioned by doctors, so there was little question at the time as to whether the court was acting in her best interests. That control — legally known as a conservatorship — has been extended until July 31, and a host of attorneys have been brought in to make decisions for her and audit her business deals.

Yet, this week news has surfaced that Britney is back at work. She released a new video, and is rehearsing and taping an episode of U.S. television comedy “How I Met Your Mother.” Less than 45 days since she was first considered legally unable to make her own decisions, she’s evidently okay to take a job and function on a TV set. One has to wonder just how sick she really is. Put another way, is she back “In the Zone,” which was the name of her 2003 record.

New details may emerge about her mental state at a hearing set for this coming Monday, March 17. It deals with a temporary restraining order against her former self-styled manager Sam Lutfi , who was the man controlling her life until her January hospitalizations. Some people think he is to blame for her problems, but others source her problems to her current handlers including her father. 

What will be said at those hearings is anybody’s guess. But for now, Britney says in a statement she is “having a blast” on the set of “How I Met Your Mother.” And to be sure, it has been weeks since the Louisiana native has been photographed outside her home in Los Angeles wearing those pink wigs and talking in a British accent.