Just like a lot of other Trekkies, I tuned into CBS for the premiere of their new show, “Secret Talents of the Stars”.  With George Takei appearing on it, I wanted to watch and see how he did.  I did not count on the travesty of justice that the voting results were, and no, I'm not talking about the vote involving George.

There were four acts that night.  The first featured Olympic Medalist Sasha Cohen performing as a contortionist, Star Trek''s George Takei appearing as a country singer, country singer Clint Black appearing as a stand up comic, and singer Mya as a tap dancer.  Each performer was given help from professionals in the field in which they were going to appear.  

Sasha went first with the New Shanghai Circus and I'll confess that I'm not much into contortion, but she seemed to hold her own, except she did very little that she hadn't done in a figure skating performance, sans skates.  George Takei was next, performing “On the Road Again”.  He had been coached by country music group Montgomery Gentry and it was clear that they had their work cut out for them.  I'm sure they did the best they could with what they had to work with, but it wasn't enough.  George did perform the song with an all star backup band performing with him and I'm sorry, but (remember George, we all love you) it was the PITS.  A lot of us sound good to ourselves when we sing in the shower, but that is where it needs to stay and with great regret, I must say that George needs to keep his singing there.  

Next came Clint Black  who was coached in doing stand up comedy by Garry Shandling and did fairly well.  He wasn't the best, but he was funny and had good timing which is life or death to a comic.  Finally, Mya appeared and performed a tap dance number, after she had been coached by Jason Samuels Smith.  I don't know much about tap, but my wife and fellow Roddenberry columnist, Jill, studied dance in college.  Jill said, “She was out freaking standing.”

Now, after every contestant, the audience at home was allowed to vote via the CBS website on how the person did with a time limit of from when they went to commercial to when they came back from it.  At the end of the show, the results were announced and frankly, it left me wondering if I was the only one watching the show.  Clearly, Mya had out performed all three of her fellow contestants and should have moved on.  I also felt that Clint Black deserved to move on.  Sasha was okay, and George....well, he did his best.  The announcement of the night's results brought with it some surprise for viewers. First they revealed that Clint Black would be advancing, which was expected.  The shock, and it could be heard in the audience, was that Mya was sent home and Sasha Cohen moved to the first semi-finals.

I'm sorry, but that wasn't right.  Mya had clearly outperformed all three of her fellow contestants and showed a definite skill in tap.  The reaction of the three celebrity judges (Debbie Reynolds, Brian McKnight, and Gavin Polone) also clearly favored Mya.  

Frankly, the show has left a very bad taste in my mouth and I believe has left a lot of others feeling the same way.  This was the wrong result and has left a lot of folks shaking their heads.  Despite the fact that two celebrities were scheduled to appear later in the show who I was planning to watch, I just don't know if I would have watched after seeing what I just witnessed.  This first night has truly soured me on the show and it's concept as I have been left wondering if this were the actual vote of the nation.  

Thankfully, I can report that CBS has mercifully canceled the show after that one episode.  It seems it drew about 4.6 million viewers and they started tuning out by the thousands as the show continued.    

I would urge anyone considering such a show in the future to learn from this show's mistakes:  (1)  A better voting scoring system, and (2)  please make sure that the star's hidden talent is actually talent.  To be blunt, what I saw Monday night was worse than a very bad high school talent show.

Think about it.

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