NBC hires Howard Stern as newest judge on "America's Got Talent"

The last time I watched America's Got Talent was in the summer of 2006 during a not so lovely stay in the hospital after the birth of my first child.

Bed-ridden and sequestered to a small room in the maternity ward, basic cable was all that I had to keep me company.  So, out of all the notoriously bad television that aired during those summer months I settled on watching episodes of the first season of America's Got Talent (also known as AGT).  Suffice it to say, I was none too impressed with the beauty pageant-esque child talent hamming it up on stage nor was I charmed at all by the first season's panel of judges David Hasselhoff, Brandy and Piers Morgan (It wasn't until subsequent seasons of the show that Brandy was canned, Piers became more out-spoken and "The Hoff" started taping himself eating burgers while under the influence).  So, after spending regrettable hours viewing episodes from AGT's Freshman Season, I eventually just turned off the television and wished I had spent that time watching Shark Week reruns on the Discovery Channel instead.

But all that changed on December 15th when Howard Stern announced on his SiriusXM radio show that he will be replacing Piers Morgan as the newest judge on season seven of the popular NBC reality series America's Got Talent.

It's been almost five years since that first viewing and, thanks to Howard Stern, I now have cause to re-tune in to what looks to be the most extensive and all-inclusive talent search program since Ed McMahon hosted Star Search in the early nineties.

Stern's decision to join AGT comes as no surprise to avid fans of The Howard Stern Show where he has openly admitted an affinity for the televised national talent hunt and has been known to subject staff and listeners to critiques on weekly results over the past few seasons. 

But of course, where there is a Howard Stern there is controversy.  Critics of the shock jock have wasted no time in voicing their disapproval of NBC's decision to hire the popular radio personality to appear in a "family oriented" program such as America's Got Talent.   

In response to the negative backlash amongst worrisome viewers, Howard called into Piers' CNN talk show Piers Morgan Tonight last week where he defended his abilities to be a competent judge and reassured dissenters that he will take the position quite seriously:

“They start to complain that I’m some sort of weird pervert who’s going to convert Americans into zombie sex fiends but I can assure you and the rest of America what I’m looking at here is to be a very good judge”

Often misunderstood by "outsiders" or non-listeners of his show, Howard Stern will most likely display a side his personality that I predict will be more Simon Cowell than Larry Flynt.  He will bring to the infamous AGT judge's table a crippling honesty and refreshingly sharp wit not seen since the early seasons of American Idol. 

If there is any talent left in America that Disney hasn't already herded into a theme park or cast in a television show, rest assured middle America that Howard Stern will be the one to find it.