After a record-breaking 10th season, NBC’s top-rated summer series “America’s Got Talent” returns next week with a brand spanking new judge to boot. It's a familiar face, however. Series creator and executive producer Simon Cowell joins the judges panel alongside Heidi Klum, Mel B and Howie Mandel. Nick Cannon is back as host and the series returns to Los Angeles, with live shows broadcast from the Dolby Theatre.
It's Tuesday night to be exact, and this news should come as a surprise to precious few. Howard Stern announced he was leaving the show last year.
Cowell’s always been a perfect fit for that judging spot. Both Piers Morgan and Howard Stern brought an honesty to their critiques that gave the show some bite. The other three judges are nice, but these shows need a tough judge. Cowell will easily be the toughest yet. Hands down.
He created NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” a decade ago, which remains an enduring summer favorite as the talent/variety competition show enters this 11th season, which is no small feat.
Cowell told the AP: "I came up with the idea of the show 12 years ago. One day in the kitchen I was watching another talent show, some girl was singing so bad, I actually thought to myself I’d rather watch adults dancing. Dogs dancing! Anything! Looking back all those years ago, it was just a fun idea. It was a difficult show to sell. But we were fortunate someone at NBC had the foresight to take it on. It was the first country to go for the concept. It’s now in dozens of countries, from Papua New Guinea to South Korea."
Furthermore, Cowell is not going to be half as impressed with ventriloquists as his predecessor Stern was.
Paul Zerdin, the British ventriloquist who won last year, would probably not remotely entertain the caustic Cowell.
Therein lies the "Talent" problem. The show has generated more headlines to to the outrageousness of its judges, as opposed to that other NBC show "The Voice," where it's the judges dating that generates the headlines. In both it's never the winners.
"Talent" is heavy on comedy and ventriloquism and magic (with last year's winner a double-threat, I guess you could say, specializing in the second two genres). It's got to catapult a dancer or singer or band or...okay, comedian...to box office success and it will really be able to strut its stuff.
Sure, Zerdin officially debuted in Las Vegas not too long ago (after a week of previews) and is an ongoing Planet Hollywood headliner. He's also exactly one mile down the Strip from second-season “America’s Got Talent” winner Terry Fator, who already visited Zerdin’s show and posed for a photo to reinforce that the two are friendly competitors. Competitors because they do the same thing.
Zerdin is still riding momentum from the victory last September. When he polls the audience, at least half of them applaud because they watched him on “Talent".
But maybe this is the "Talent" niche: off-the-beaten path performers, inasmuch as being a ventriloquist is off the beaten path. Jeff Dunham may beg to differ.
This season promises to be no different than seasons past, save for the swapping out of judges. Expect more comics, more outrageous acts, and a handful of singers and/or groups. But with Cowell in the mix we just may get a real contender for pop charts and/or box office.
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