‘America’s Got Talent’: Premiere holds its own against Celtics-Lakers finale

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NBC should be all smiles today. The third-season opener of ‘America’s Got Talent’ more than held its own against what turned out to be the last game of the NBA Finals.

While the Boston Celtics were manhandling the Lakers out of a championship, ‘Talent’ managed to pull a 3.6/10 rating among adults ages 18 to 49 and an average 12.8 million total viewers from 9 to 11 p.m. That’s off 15% from last year’s season bow (which did not go up against a major sporting event), but the haul is enough to give NBC the top premiere of the summer to date.

‘Talent’ brings a few twists with it this season: Judges David Hasselhoff, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne will be armed with buzzers, and audiences in the theater will be able to boo people off the stage during the competition. (After last night’s auditions, I’m calling it early for the opera-singing insurance salesman and the 4-year-old who sang ‘Somewhere Out There.’)

-- Denise Martin