The title of the latest success to come out of Simon Cowell's expanding empire, "America's Got Talent" (NBC, Wednesdays, 8 p.m. ET) surely sounds as much like a hopeful incantation as it does like a happy, excited exclamation. After all, America is a big place. We must have talent, right? We certainly think we do, because we've made this show one of the biggest successes of the summer.


In fact, this show is casting a far wider net, talent-wise, than most other similar operations. Where "American Idol" and "Rock Star" have focused on a national preoccupation with singing, "America's Got Talent" features singing, but has gotten most of its attention from its willingness to bring in everything that isn't singing. The show has developed into a potluck supper of bird calls, balloon animals, juggling, magic, and a few things that don't fit neatly into any particular category. This last set would include the guy who gradually worked his way into a giant balloon until just his head was sticking out, along with the one who was, it is safe to say, the first person network television has ever shown breakdancing while dressed as a freakishly enormous cow.


It's easy to dismiss this as an updated version of "The Gong Show," and the fact that the three judges can knock a contestant out mid-performance by unanimously hitting their buzzers makes that comparison seem even more apt. But although the show certainly has its share of train wrecks and freak shows, it is not primarily an ironic demonstration that America has no talent. It is primarily a demonstration that an awful lot of people have talents from which they can never expect to make one penny or get a second of fame. So the focus of the show isn't so much "America's Got Talent" as it is "America's Got Unmarketable Talent."


Source: MSNBC.com


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