America's Got Talent

Did you see Oscar and Bernie on America's Got Talent? If you didn't, either did most. The show didn't announce us, just blink and you would miss it! Bernie said,"America, you got D. Bird!" and then, we got out of there. I hope that one of the young , fresh-faced, talented kids win. The industry has changed, back in the day, shows like AGT would pay the talent on their shows. Now today everything is reality based and contestant driven so the networks don't have to pay the acts ($417.union scale) the way it used to be. Most the acts on AGT were people who have been making a living performing and for those acts to compete with kids starting out, are not fair. The networks need acts that are good enough to hold the viewers, so they go after established acts to balance their shows. When I did the Gong Show in 1990, they paid me to perform as Roy Orbison, and Bernie and I were contestants. Today if you do an act on national tv, you should get paid, contestants don't get paid. NBC treated us good with our airfare, room, food, and a little cash spending monies, the show we did, said we were in New York, but we were actually in L.A. Simon Cowell has developed a great series of shows based on this concept, and Ed Sullivan is spinning in his grave!