Among the many crimes that reality TV will have to answer for in the television hereafter is making stars out of people who don't necessarily deserve it.


We're not talking about the contestants on the various so-you-think-you-can-dance-sing-yodel-or-juggle shows, although we could. We're talking about the judges.


Paula Abdul was a former cheerleader, choreographer and pop star when she was reinvented on Fox's "American Idol."


She is now more famous for her incoherent comments as a judge than she ever was in her previous careers. And, to give either her or the people who cast her credit, it's hard to imagine the show without the impaired dynamic she brings.


This summer's Paula Abdul is David Hasselhoff on "America's Got Talent."


The former "Knight Rider," "Baywatch" and European disco star has been reborn as a reality show judge - the guy who cheers on the talent with a simple "awesome."


First, we have to point out what an odd show this is.

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• David Hasselhoff's superstar status as a singer in Europe hasn't carried over to America, but he says that

"if it happens, it happens." "I'm a big punching bag," he told the Television Critics Association's summer meeting Friday. "I just kind of go with the flow. I never really desperately tried to break this market."

Hasselhoff, 54, is best known in the States for his TV hits Baywatch and Knight Rider. He currently co-stars with Adam Sandler in the movie Click and is a judge on the NBC reality series America's Got Talent.



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David Hasselhoff has pulled out of Simon Cowell's latest US talent show - because he wants his own series.





The former 'Baywatch' actor says he felt "conned" by his experience on Cowell's new reality show 'America's Got Talent'.


Hasselhoff said:

"This is not my cup of tea. I signed on for one season, and Cowell conned me into it." The 54-year-old star, best known for his roles in 'Baywatch' and 'Knight Rider', says he is looking to reignite his stalled career.
He said: "I'm trying to get on a sitcom or maybe even my own show, 'Travels With The Hoff.'"

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Some fantastic and cringeworthy moments from the new Reality Series 'America's Got Talent' which stars, obviously, David Hasselhoff.


The Microwave of Death - Funny though not very PC


Elastic Archer - Wow! Amazing Positions.


Dancing Cow - Hmm, OK then.....


Yodelling Girl - She can really Yodel and at 11 years old, she should be doing something else.


Hip-Hop A Capella - Pretty cool version of 'Ain't no Sunshine'


The World's Most Dangerous Comic - Well worth watching


Sweet Home Alabama - These kids can really play!

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


Related Articles: The Hoff on America's Got Talent | Hasselhoff: Cowell Said 'Be a Judge' | David Hasselhoff - America's Got Talent 1