America's Got Talent

This show starts tonight!! I can't wait. Just found this great article in the NY Post today:

DRAG? NOT 'TALENT'
SIMON'S SHOW BETTER THAN 'IDOL'
"America's Got Talent" has new acts like Kingey Sicks, and judges Morgan, Osbourne and Hasselhoff to boot.


Rating:

June 17, 2008 --

HOW good is the third season of "America's Got Talent?" It is, without Question, the best talent competition show on TV. Period.

That's the good news and the bad news for Simon Cowell, who not only created "America's Got Talent" and exec-produces it, but is, of course, a judge on the hugely successful and now-way-too-slick "American Idol," which just had the worst season ever.

The difference between this show and "Idol" is that Cowell is smart enough to let the show stand on its own. There are no overproduced, over-coached, half-baked singers who have the formula down pat.

Tonight's auditions take place in NYC, Chicago and LA in auditoriums with audiences of 2,000 (real audiences) who cheer, hoot and boo - sometimes dangerously so. This gives the audition episodes an edge that will keep you on edge.

And the talent will astound you. Part of the reason for that is because there is no age limit for tryouts, because there is no age limit on talent.

There's an 80-year-old retired waitress all the way down to a 4-year-old little girl singer.

Among the highlights you must not miss are the young guy who was ridiculed on a regular basis for striving to be the best baton twirler in the world; the young insurance-salesman/opera singer who'll make you cry out loud; two brothers from Queens who do an astounding hip-hop violin performance; and two horrifyingly bad Romanian twins who look like hookers from outerspace who sing and gyrate to a version of (what else?) "New York, New York" that's so off-key you should put your pets outdoors.

The judges have also improved dramatically from the first season. Piers Morgan manages the cranky-Brit thing extremely well without stooping to what Simon Cowell did last year, which was to show his contempt for everyone by practically turning his back on the talent and the viewers. Sharon Osbourne comes off better now that she's relaxed and into it and isn't trying to be the star. And then there's "the legend that is David Hasselhoff," or so they tell us in his introduction. The legend that is isn't the brightest bulb and his attempts at humor are so bad it adds even more fun to the show.

And finally, there's Jerry Springer as host and stage mother who cries when people do well. "The judges are standing! Standing!" he cries at one point. At least, I think that's what he said. I was crying too hard to hear him. I love this show.

"America's Got Talent"