"America's Got Talent" Returns
By: Mark Barger, NBC News
Updated: May 14, 2012
For six years it's been the summer's top rated show.
Tonight, "America's Got Talent" launches its new season a few weeks early with a new judge in the mix.
Howard Stern is joining the show. Stern's controversial radio career has raised concerns in some circles about his impact on the show, but fellow judge Sharon Osbourne says Stern is more than his reputation.
"People don't realize, he's a big softie, he really is," she says. "He does more cuddling and caring for the contestants than anyone."
Stern is replacing Piers Morgan, who left after last season to go to CNN as host of his own talk show.
To accommodate Stern joining the show, "America's Got Talent" will be moving its live shows later
this summer from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, closer to where Stern works in New York.
Tonight, "America's Got Talent" launches its new season a few weeks early with a new judge in the mix.
Howard Stern is joining the show. Stern's controversial radio career has raised concerns in some circles about his impact on the show, but fellow judge Sharon Osbourne says Stern is more than his reputation.
"People don't realize, he's a big softie, he really is," she says. "He does more cuddling and caring for the contestants than anyone."
Stern is replacing Piers Morgan, who left after last season to go to CNN as host of his own talk show.
To accommodate Stern joining the show, "America's Got Talent" will be moving its live shows later
this summer from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, closer to where Stern works in New York.
