America Gets More "Talent"

Fri., Jul. 21, 2006 12:05 PM PDT by Gina Serpe

What with America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, Rock Star, American Idol, The One, So You Think You Can Dance? and Master of Champions all vying for the best and brightest camera-ready competitors, the average viewer might assume the national talent pool is thinning out.

The average NBC exec must not.

The network is doing its best to suss out the country's remaining would-be variety and comedic superstars, announcing Friday that it had ordered a second season of the surprise summer smash America's Got Talent and a fifth installment of the stand-up showdown Last Comic Standing.

"Both of these series have been bright spots on the summer television landscape," said Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment. "We think they'll be around for a long time."

The Simon Cowell-produced America's Got Talent, in particular, hit the ground running. It's become the top-rated new show of the summer, regularly landing the number one spot in the Nielsen ratings and averaging 11.3 million viewers a week.

While those numbers would not come close to meriting hit status during the regular season, NBC is hoping the show follows the pattern of American Idol and Survivor, both of which used their initial summer momentum to become certifiable hits.

The Regis Philbin-hosted talent competition, which has so far showcased such "talents" as a rapping grandmother, a spandex-favoring magician and a nose flutist, will return to the airwaves as a midseason replacement, likely bowing on the network in January (setting up a potential showdown with Cowell's other project, that little singing competition called American Idol).

No word on whether NBC plans on sticking with judges David Hasselhoff, Brandy and Piers Morgan or whether they'd mix up the panel. Hasselhoff has said he only signed for one season and would like to do his own TV project, but nothing official has been announced.

The show's winner, voted on by viewers, will receive a $1 million prize and the chance to headline their own Las Vegas show. The finale is slated to air in mid-August.

As for Last Comic Standing, the search for the next comic superstar continues next summer, when the funnyman competition returns for its fifth go-round.

The show has averaged 8.2 million viewers since its premiere last month, respectable numbers for a summer season and a spectacular resurrection from last year's creative and ratings disaster.

This spring, NBC surprised, well, everyone by announcing it was bringing back the comic competition, albeit in a completely overhauled form.

In 2004, the network yanked Last Comic Standing 3: Battle of the Best from the air just one episode shy of its season finale. Comedy Central agreed to air the only remaining episode in a one-off special, only to discover--the day after brokering the deal and one week before airing the finale--that NBC revealed the season's winner on its Website.

Needless to say, neither the show's dwindling fan base nor smack-talking emcee Jay Mohr was pleased. Mohr, who let loose with a barrage of criticism at NBC after the season three debacle, got the boot and Yes, Dear's Anthony Clark was brought on board to host.

The winner of the Emmy-nominated show gets an exclusive talent contract with NBC and a comedy special on sister network Bravo.

Premiere dates for the new seasons have not yet been set.