America's Got Talent
News (Page 3)

With America's Got Talent dominating the ratings, it looks as though Sharon Osbourne made the right decision to join the reality show as a judge.

How is the experience going so far? TV Guide asked Osbourne a series of questions on the topic recently...

TV Guide: How do you feel about replacing Brandy as a judge on America's Got Talent?
Sharon Osbourne: I do not feel I am replacing Brandy. She is a gorgeous girl. I am old enough to be her grandmother.

TV Guide: Before the second season of America's Got Talent even premiered, there were rumors flying about feuds. Is it true you walked off the set the first week?
Osbourne: Yeah, I did. It was a day where there was one young contestant after another. [Fellow judge] Piers Morgan has a definite dislike for children or younger artists. It was appalling behavior. I just couldn't take the way he was talking to them. And it was not just the children â€" he was being particularly appalling to everybody that day. I just had it. I was ready to scream.

TV Guide: So then you left. How far did you get?
Osbourne: I ripped up all my papers for all the contestants for that day and the next. And then I stormed off to my dressing room, took off my suit and was like, "Get the car â€" we are going home."

TV Guide: And then what happened?
Osbourne: The director got [executive producer] Simon Cowell on the phone. Simon is always the voice of reason. He had his entrepreneur's hat on, and he said, "You have got to be professional. You signed a contract here, and you could really get into a lot of trouble. You have worked with worse people in your life. You can handle this."

TV Guide: Did you then return to the set?
Osbourne: No. I sat down and phoned my husband and my kids, and had a little a cup of tea. Ozzy is a fan of the show. So he said, "Oh, I want to go to the finale." [Son] Jack said, "Mom, [Piers] would love to get rid of you. If you quit, he gets his way."

TV Guide: What's with the animosity between you and Piers? Have you tried to work it out?
Osbourne: I never sat down with Piers, just the two of us. Nor would I. I talk to him about what we are doing, but in between contestants there is no communication. It is not that we don't get along, it's that we just don't have any sort of relationship. I wouldn't hang out with him or go have a cup of tea.

TV Guide: What was the mood on the set like after that video surfaced showing judge David Hasselhoff drunk, eating a hamburger on the floor?
Osbourne: Obviously David was very upset and we were very upset for him. It was very unfair. The man didn't do anything wrong. How many people do we know who have been drunk in their own homes and done silly things? The man did not hurt anybody. He was not abusive. So what if he was drunk?

TV Guide: What did you say to him that day?
Osbourne: Hey, we are all behind you. You did nothing wrong. None of us is perfect.

TV Guide: In the midst of all the drama, you did manage to judge the new acts. Who was the strangest?
Osbourne: You see complete extremes of talent on this show. There was a ventriloquist woman singing with her mouth closed. She never moved her body, just stood there like a statue singing. It was ridiculous. We also had a guy who was running on a treadmill, making a drink with eggs and fruit in a blender, and painting â€" all at the same time. When he came flying off this treadmill, paint went on the floor.

The debut of America's Got Talent last week did what no other network show could do: it beat HBO's finale of The Sopranos in the ratings.

NBC's reality competition was watched by 13 million viewers, while The Sopranos' surprising ending drew 11.9 million viewers, the AP reports.

That means it "was more popular last week than all but one show on the far larger world of broadcast television," even though "ABC, CBS and Fox are all available in 111 million homes for no extra charge, and nothing they aired last week did better than The Sopranos," the AP reported out.

Approximately 30 million homes have HBO.

In its second week, America's Got Talent 2 "drew 11.9 million, about 1 million fewer than the previous week," according to Media Life. But it "will be among the week's top draws in both 18-49s and total viewers."

And, hey, if Jerry Springer keeps going topless, who knows how high the numbers could soar?

Yikes.

Larissa Aurora topless? Not bad. But Jerry Springer topless? Someone pass the remote.

Viewers of America's Got Talent were treated to the latter event last night, sadly, as it almost overshadowed all auditions in Los Angeles. What talents were actually impressive enough to move on, though?

Check out our episode guide now and find out!

Looks like the friction between judges Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan displayed during Tuesday night's second-season premiere of America's Got Talent wasn't just for the show's cameras.

"[I've] never sat down with Piers, just the two of us. Nor would I," Osbourne told TV Guide about her icy relationship with Morgan in the magazine's June 11 issue. "I talk to him about what we are doing, but in between contestants there is no communication. It is not that we don't get along, it's that we just don't have any sort of relationship. I wouldn't hang out with him or go have a cup of tea."

The riff between the two apparently stems from America's Got Talent 2's Dallas auditions, which aired during the show's two-hour season premiere, and a cheerleading routine performed by Breeze, 9-year-old girl from Carson City, NV.

After Breeze performed, Morgan criticized her mother for pushing her daughter into something he thought she didn't want to do, a comment that didn't sit too well with Osbourne, who accused her fellow judge of putting the young girl "on trial."

"It was a day where there was one young contestant after another," she told TV Guide. "[Morgan] has a definite dislike for children or younger artists. It was appalling behavior. I just couldn't take the way he was talking to them. And it was not just the children, he was being particularly appalling to everybody that day. I just had it. I was ready to scream."

NBC's cameras caught Osbourne ripping up her audition information paperwork and declaring, "I can't take this anymore" before storming off the stage. Cameras followed her backstage, where she said she was removing her make-up and "going home" with seemingly no intention of returning to her duties.

And according to Osbourne, quitting the show was exactly what she planned to do, at least until Simon Cowell, who created America's Got Talent and works alongside Osbourne as a judge on his American Idol-like British The X-Factor reality competition series, stepped in.

"The director got Simon on the phone," she said. "Simon is always the voice of reason. He had his entrepreneur's hat on, and he said, 'You have got to be professional. You signed a contract here, and you could really get into a lot of trouble. You have worked with worse people in your life. You can handle this.' I sat down and phoned my husband and my kids, and had a little cup of tea.

[Husband Ozzy Osbourne] is a fan of the show. So he said, 'Oh, I want to go to the finale.' [former Armed & Famous celebrity cop Jack Osbourne] said, 'Mom, [Morgan] would love to get rid of you. If you quit, he gets his way.'"

Returning reality shows continue to rule this summer: Tuesday night's second-season premiere of NBC's America's Got Talent drew the network's top 18-49 rating this summer.

The show averaged a 4.3 rating for its two-hour premiere starting at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, making it by far the night's top-rated show.

It was also the best rating thus far for any summer show debut, though Fox's So You Think You Can Dance also averaged a 4.3 for its third outing last week.

Talent peaked with a 4.5 average from 9:30 to 10:30, then fell slightly in its last half hour.

The reality TV show's debut was up 23 percent from last summer's season finale, which averaged a 3.5 in mid August. It also rose in total viewers compared with the season one finale, up 9 percent from 11.8 million to 12.9 million.

It was the show's best-ever performance in total viewers and the top premiere of the summer.

America's Got Talent - and a pair of fighting judges.

While the contestants on the season premiere of this reality TV show proves entertaining, talented or downright annoying (your usual mix), the real drama last night took place between Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne.

The latter took offense to the former's criticism of a nine-year old singer and wouldn't stand for it. Literally. She stormed off stage in the middle of the show.

What led to the escapade? How did it get resolved? Read through our episode guide now and see for yourself.

With America's Got Talent's second season hitting the screen tonight, TV Guide say down with the show's new host, Jerry Springer.

TV Guide: Lawyer. Mayor. Talk-show host. Dancer. Like Madonna, you keep reinventing yourself. Why?
Jerry Springer: I keep hearing that. It used to be, "Hey, man, I like your show." Now it's "I loved you on Dancing with the Stars." I was just a basic old schlub like everybody else, trying to dance. I think that surprised people.

TV Guide: Now you're the new host of America's Got Talent. How has the latest rendition of Jerry Springer been received?
Springer: [Laughs] Suddenly it's "good old Jerry." [Since] Dancing with the Stars, the networks have put their arms around me, and that is terribly different. ABC offered me prime-time shows.

TV Guide: What do you like about hosting Talent?
Springer: This is my kind of show. I enjoy talking to regular people. I don't know any celebrities â€" except to wave to them. I don't travel in those circles. I have been on TV for 30 years, and I don't think in the history of television there has ever been anyone who has spoken on air to so many nonfamous people.

TV Guide: What's the most important thing you've learned from talking to all those people?
Springer: We are all alike. I am certain of this. I have never met a person who could not be on my show.

TV Guide: You attended the Talent auditions in Texas. Any standouts?
Springer: We had this sweet 80-year-old grandmother pass through. She was funny. She had been in a movie with Shirley Temple, and she could sing. There was also a rock group I loved â€" three boys and a girl who are 15 or 16 years old. They do songs from the '50s but with their own modern-day style. We also had a bus driver who sang and was excellent.

TV Guide: Are there any changes you would make to the audition process?
Springer: I think sometimes the judges are too rough on children. Piers [Morgan] reduced a 6-year-old girl to tears, saying, "You are not as good as Beyoncé, you don't look like her, and, frankly, your mother probably pushed you out there." First, you do not attack a 6-year-old. You also can't invite [kids] on the show and then attack them for coming. That is too much pressure. I went out on the stage and said, "Stop it! That's wrong."

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Jerry Springer will be the first to tell you he doesn't have too much talent. But the former talk show host is impressed with the prowess of an eclectic group of contestants on his reality show.

"There's a lot of diversity," said Springer during a Wednesday conference call with reporters, discussing America's Got Talent's second season hopefuls. "Clearly there are a lot of singers, but boy, there's a whole bunch of other stuff too, from magicians to ventriloquists to jugglers... Some amazing acts frankly. I haven't seen television like this since the old variety shows. That does seem to be the magic of this show.

This really is the old-time Ed Sullivan variety show, or when I was a kid, it was The Ted Mack Amateur Hour... It's really kind of neat because we don't have that on television anymore. So this really is a pure variety show and you get all kinds of acts and community involvement."

America's Got Talent 2 debuts tomorrow night on NBC with a special two-hour premiere, and Springer will be there to take the reigns from the show's first season host, Regis Philbin. The 75-year-old New York-based Philbin reportedly decided not to return for America's Got Talent 2 due to the "heavy travel schedule" the show's Los Angeles tapings required.

And Springer said he's not looking to be the second coming of Kelly Ripa's morning pal.

"You know Regis is the best there ever was at this business so I'm not even going to pretend I can fill his shoes," said Springer. "It would be insulting to him and foolish of me. I'm going to be what I can be as best I can be. But it's going to be me, it's not Regis. I would never pretend to have his competence."

Springer, of course, is best known for his syndicated talk show The Jerry Springer Show, which is currently airing its sixteenth season. He said there's a "tremendous difference" between appearing as the "ringmaster" for that circus-like talk show and hosting America's Got Talent.

"I think some of [the America's Got Talent] acts are really strange," said Springer. "There were a few where I could have said, 'Wow. What a perfect guest [for The Jerry Springer Show].' But I don't know if their behavior in their regular lives would warrant an appearance on [The Jerry Springer Show]. That's probably a plus for them."

Last fall, Springer also became a familiar face to reality television fans when he appeared as a celebrity two-stepper on the third season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. After surviving six episodes of the reality competition series, he was eliminated with partner Kym Johnson.

"I guess Dancing was kind of interesting because even though I had been on television in one capacity or another for 35 years, it was the first time I was ever on television as myself," he said. "I always had a role. I was [the mayor of Cincinnati, OH], or I was a news anchor, or I was a talk-show host, but I always had a role to play.

Dancing with the Stars was really the first time I was ever on a show just as me. And I think therefor people who might have thought they knew me perhaps realized that they didn't. I think that's why there was such an impact with that show. There was the unexpected... I guess it was the missed expectation of who I was."

During its first season last summer, the Simon Cowell-produced variety-talent competition was judged by actor David Hasselhoff, former British newspaper editor Piers Morgan and pop singer Brandy Norwood. However, last December Norwood caused a four-car accident on a Los Angeles freeway that resulted in the death of motorist Awatef Aboudihaj, whose two sons have since filed wrongful death lawsuits against Norwood.

Therefore, prior to America's Got Talent's second season, she was replaced with former The Osbournes star Sharon Osbourne.

"[The judges] go at each other quite a bit. I think the three of them are strong personalities, and I think most of the action is among the judges," said Springer. "I think most of the contestants are scared of Piers Morgan. He's very bright but very tough. He plays the Simon Cowell [American Idol] role. They figure if they can get by Piers, they'll move on to the next round. And Sharon tends to be very supportive often times. She plays for the real young ones the kind mother... She's actually very charming."

David Hasselhoff, troubled judge on America's Got Talent, has provided enough excitement for the upcoming season already.

Will he show up drunk? In tears? Talking to cars?

Just in case those possibilities aren't enough to get you watching the show on June 5 with new host Jerry Springer, though, here's a trailer for it:

Actor David Hasselhoff has accused his ex-wife of abusing their children and leaking a videotape that shows him drunk at his home in Las Vegas.

"Unfortunately, our children have been subjected to physical and emotional abuse on numerous occasions, but it has been at the hands of their own mother, which abuse has been documented by the court-appointed experts in our marital proceedings," Hasselhoff said in a statement posted by TMZ.com.

In a statement issued through her lawyer, the Baywatch star's ex-wife, Pamela Bach, denied leaking the tape and said she had not seen it.

Following the fatal car accident instigated by Brandy - who has since been replaced by Sharon Osbourne - this is the second controversy in a few months involving America's Got Talent judges.

Hasselhoff acknowledged being a recovering alcoholic and said the tape, apparently made by one of his children, shows him during a relapse. He said his daughter wanted to help him by showing him what he looks like when drunk.

Hasselhoff and Bach were divorced last year. But they are still disputing child custody. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest on E! News, Hasselhoff said his next step is "hiring an exorcist."

Our next step? Tuning in to America's Got Talent this summer to see the wasted specimen in action!