America’s Got Talent is one of the top rated summer shows every year. It follows the same basic structure of all reality base competitions that promise not just a big cash prize but a career in entertainment. In all it is all a solid show anchored by three rather likable judges and a fun host.

This upcoming season will see a major shake-up in those judges as series grump-pus Piers Morgan is leaving the judges table and is begin replaced by shock jock Howard Stern. Stern’s youthful demographic and his reputation for honesty make him a great choice for the show, even if his antics are usually far more mature than expected for the family-friendly show.

Stern will be well compensated for his judging duties, and the entire show’s production is making the move to New York to accommodate Stern’s radio commitments. The show now boasts the most interesting judging panel in the realty show universe. It will be exciting to see how the relationship between Stern and his co-judges develops, and the first time Stern has to judge a stupid kid talent might be truly must see tv.

The show begins filming its audition phase this February with regular episodes starting in the Summer.

Syfy has already hit it out of the park with reality shows like Destination Truth and Face Off, but there is one show that we can’t wait for, which returns next week. That show is, of course, Urban Legends.

We’ve got a sneak peek at the upcoming season 3 premiere, titled “Best Laid Plans”, but before we get to that, here’s a breakdown of what you can expect to see.

In the Syfy series, underscoring the art of storytelling, Urban Legends asks its viewers to decipher fact from fiction.  Three tall tales are dramatically recreated and the audience must decide which is real from these stories of astronomical proportion. In the sneak peek clip of the Season Premiere of Urban Legends, a man is held at gunpoint on his own living room floor by men that look to be on the SWAT team based on their gear and clothes.

The man being held against his will can’t figure out the reasoning for the invasion in his own home, and soon realizes his two dogs have been killed and his mother-in-law has been thrown to the ground.  He sees police standing outside of his house and realizes this is no ordinary invasion while trying to reason with the masked men in telling them he hasn’t done anything wrong and that he’s the mayor.  The masked men think he must be crazy for claiming such a thing, and it all leads to an unmarked box.

Enticed? Take a look at the preview after the jump and catch the upcoming premiere on Monday at 10/9C on Syfy.

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Hard to believe it, but Syfy’s newest venture into reality TV, Face Off, is finally coming to an end. We’ve seen some drama, some annoying characters come and go, and some awesome makeup challenges, but this week it all comes down to one last competition, and one final winner.

In this last competition, the final three contestants are taking it back to fairy tales as they reimagine some classic stories. From Syfy:

In this second sneak peek clip of the Season Finale of Face Off, the final four contestants recreate their favorite fairy tales in their last attempt to prove their talent.  A werewolf, witch, and other creatures are being finalized.  There seems to be a positive overall tone among the contestants as they head down the final stretch, but it wouldn’t be the finals without something going awry.  Conor’s final creation appears to have a malfunction and his opportunity at being crowned the winner of Face Off may be over.

Check out the clip after the jump, and enjoy the Face Off season finale on Wednesday at 10pm, 9pm Central.

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Say what you will about reality TV, but SyFy has managed to find the happy medium between the world of trashy television and the geek culture with their newest competition show, Face Off.

The show takes a group of up and coming effects makeup artists trying to make it in the business and pits them against one another in difficult, and ultimately cool-looking makeup tasks. Here’s the rundown for this week’s show.

In the next all-new episode of Face Off, Gage and Sam decide to take a major risk with the task of creating old-age makeup pieces.  They both re-assure each other that based on the last challenge, you can’t play it safe.  They’re both trying to come up with two full-face renderings in just two days which other contestants practically claim the feat as an impossibility.

We’ve got a brand new clip from this week’s show, in which the ancient art of “boob crafting” is practiced, and some of the contestants worry about going too far with their art. Check it out after the jump, and be sure to catch Face Off this Wednesday at 10/9pm Central on Syfy.

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While the Summer might be ending, great television for the year is just beginning. That’s why Cortney’s TV Digest returns to The Flickcast this month, where we’ll be bringing you some great shows from our favorite networks, including Showtime and MTV.

Mad Men

AMC might not have a lot of television shows, but what they lack in quantity they certainly make up for in quality. Breaking Bad just finished up a fabulous third season over the Summer, and that means it’s time for Mad Men. Season 4 started last month but continues on this month, as Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Pryce begin to establish their new, but struggling, ad firm.

Mad Men is on every Sunday at 10/9C on AMC.

Weeds

Our favorite pot-dealing, crime-scheming Nancy Botwin is back, as Weeds enters its sixth season. It’s so hard to write about this show without absolutely spoiling everything, but to be discrete, this episode picks up right after the last one left off, and looks like this season is going to be a doozy as everyone in the Botwin pack deals with the implications of Shane’s actions.

If you’re a new-comer to Weeds, you’ve got about two weeks to catch up on all five of the previous seasons, but the episodes are so good (and, luckily, short) that it won’t take you much time at all to see what all the fuss is about. Weeds begins its new season on August 17th on Showtime.

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If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1000 times, So You Think You Can Dance is one of my favorite shows on TV. I honestly think it is the best pure-talent show in the reality competition genre. As good as Bravo’s shows like Top Chef and Project Runway are, you still have some idiots who are just good TV sneak in. On Dance, after the obligatory audition rounds (which are shockingly short if you’re an “Idol” fan), everyone who makes it through to Vegas has serious chops.

They’d have to. Make a wrong move doing some of those routines and a dancer could hurt not just themselves, but their partners too.

I’m also a huge Katie Holmes fan. Yeah, yeah, the TomKat craziness sort of hurt her rising star a bit, but what can I say, Dawson’s Creek rocked my world. Plus, in my teenage years, when I was still trying to do the acting thing, pretty much every big part I ever got was because I decided to don my best Joey Potter impression.

Enough preamble; on July 23, 2009 So You Think You Can Dance celebrates its 100th episode. During that episode, Katie Holmes will dance and sing in a Judy Garland tribute piece choreographed by frequent-judge/choreographer, Tyce Diorio.

As Variety reports (and as Wednesday’s show announced), the performance will serve as promotion for the new Dizzy Feet Foundation. Director (and frequent Dance collaborator) Adam Shankman, Nigel Lythgoe (who is executive producer and head judge), Dancing With the Stars’s Carrie Ann Inaba and Katie Holmes are the foundation’s founders. Dizzy Feet is dedicated to promoting dance education, giving scholarships to talented dancers and choreographers and bringing dance education programs to disadvantaged children.

FOX’s SYTYCD blog has more details.

Check out the video of Cat Deely and Katie Holmes discussing the Dizzy Feet Foundation and the upcoming performance.