Talent?

Ok, I have to admit it... I'm becoming a talent show junkie. I now have two shows on my regular viewing schedule, LAST COMIC STANDING and AMERICA'S GOT TALENT.

LCS is in it's fourth season and they've appeared to have changed the format so that it's a much more "fair" system. Previous seasons, they had celebrity judges who thought they were making actual decisions as regards the competing comics. In actuality, a committee of tv executives were making the decisions regarding who would stay and who would go. This pissed off the celebrity judges. Trust me, you do not want to see Brett Butler and Drew Carey angry. You would not like them when they're angry. For more info on last years fiasco, go here:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4483013/

This season, celebrity judges decide who makes the competing cut. All decisions thereafter are made by the audience. This is a good way to go, because it means that the audience, the people who will pay money to see these comics, are making the decisions on who they would be willing to see.

And so far... the decisions, by and large, have been the same ones I would have made. People made it that should have, people were cut that should have. There were a few surprises, but everybody's taste is different and I can accept that.

If you have not seen the show, it's on Tuesday nights, 9 pm (PST), NBC. Watch for stand outs Josh Blue (who, incidentally, has cerebral palsy), Gabriel Iglesias, and Roz. These are the ones I'm hoping will survive through to the final round. And they've got this "Bring 'Em Back" concept online. The internet audience can vote to bring back one of the comics that got cut initially.

The real surprise was watching AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (again, NBC, Wednesday nights, 9 PM PST). It's a Simon Cowell creation and it's really obvious he's had his fingers in this particular pie, but that doesn't sour the show... much. The concept is simple: bring your talent, whatever it is, perform before three celebrity judges, and hope you move on in the competition for a $1 Million prize.

The judges are Piers Morgan, the former editor of the London Daily Mirror; singing sensation Brandy; and Michael Knight... er... David Hasselhoff. The gimick is that these three have no clue as to what they'll be seeing next. It's part Gong Show, part Star Search. LITERALLY.

The acts are wide and wild. Competing on the premier were singers, dancers, a snap artist (the guy snaps his fingers to music - it's pretty wild), the world's oldest male stripper (yes, I said STRIPPER - and, omg, he moved on to the second round!), a rapping granny, a magician, a ventrilaquist, animal acts, and, oh yes, jugglers.

This is where it gets weird. The show is called AMERICA'S GOT TALENT. But it became really obvious that certain acts were less than acceptable. Trained dogs were ok, but trained birds were not. An eight year old stand-up comic was acceptable, but a ballon artist was not. And jugglers... oh my... Hasselhoff went OFF on jugglers. Although three of them moved on to the next round (I think, it got confusing).

To see what I'm blogging about, check this out:

http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/index.shtml#main

I'll continue on watching this, if only because I love variety shows. But it will be interesting to see what moves forward. And when all is said and done, I'm almost willing to bet money that the final winner will be a singer or band. And that it won't be a juggler.