MTV VMAs find few surprises as Britney steals show

The Associated Press - - LOS ANGELES — No Madonna kiss. No Michael Jackson cameo. No flying Howard Stern. Not even a Kanye tantrum. MTV has set a high standard for the unexpected at its Video Music Awards, but on the show's 25th anniversary, the network instead settled for throwing its full support behind Britney Spears' comeback. Spears won a leading three awards, including video of the year for "Piece of Me."

Any spontaneity was left to host Russell Brand, the British comic whose rock star style and outlandish candor gave the Los Angeles show a pulse. But at the end of the night Sunday, even the manic and mangy Brand — a confessed former sex addict — could only summon a comic semi-feud with the young Jonas Brothers over their premarital celibacy.

But while Brand was unpredictable, witty and offensive, Spears was resolutely careful, determined to set right her pop star image. She was, after all, returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak. At last year's VMAs — Britney Comeback 1.0 — her unpolished performance was roundly disparaged.