Jerry Springer
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While Executive Producer Simon Cowell has said this season of America's Got Talent produces "one of the most talented people on any show I've been involved in," we'll have to wait to see who that individual is.

But we won't have to wait to hear a bit from judge Sharon Osbourne and host Jerry Springer!

The former said she tries to look at the show's performers differently than a viewer.

"I look at the talent very differently anyway from say the person who is voting because I always like to see somebody that knows their craft and has learned their craft, and studied well," Osbourne told reporters during the conference call.

"So I look at somebody totally different. But hey, I hope it's not a singer that wins because there's so many shows for singers, that our show is so different that it gives other people who are equally as talented but in a different way a chance."

Springer touched on the reason why so many singers audition for America's Got Talent, saying it's a "reflection of the culture."

"Most performance entertainment other than actors are people who sing. So at least everyone - if they're not tone deaf - can conceive of being a singer," the former mayor and talk show host said. "But not everybody juggles and not everybody is a magician, but everyone has at least sung once in their life. So it's the most popular form of entertainment, I guess."

America's Got Talent premiered last night.

America's Got Talent - and now it also has a judge that will guest-star as a high roller on NBC's daytime drama Days of our Lives on July 27.

In this special episode, Nick Fallon (Blake Berris) is at a Las Vegas casino trying his luck at a game of blackjack when he meets skillful gambler Pete Springer).

Reality TV Magazine reports that Pete is winning every hand and Nick can't understand where he went wrong. On the verge of bankruptcy, Pete takes pity upon Nick and shows him how he can win - and impress the girl of his dreams, Chelsea Brady (Rachel Melvin).

"In light of the fact that I deal with real life soap operas every day," says Springer, " - it's a total thrill to actually be able to appear on one - particularly of the stature of Days of our Lives."

We'll be watching!

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!

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."