Television

Terry Fator

America's Got Talent, sure – but the Dallas area has once again proved it boasts a bumper crop. Tuesday night, the NBC summer hit anointed singing ventriloquist Terry Fator of Mesquite "the best new act in America" and winner of the $1 million prize.

Reggae singer Cas Haley of Arlington was named runner-up. (The producers obviously knew where to troll for the best; Dallas was the first stop for its season two auditions.)

Mr. Fator, 42, won favor with his amazing impersonations, featuring an entourage of puppets and dummies subbing for Etta James, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks and Kermit the Frog, among others. Throughout the season, judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan regularly pronounced Mr. Fator "better than the original."

Host Jerry Springer also surprised Mr. Fator on Tuesday with the news that he'll get a starring gig at Jubilee Theater at Bally's Resort in Las Vegas.

America's Got Talent thoroughly cemented itself this season as the anti-American Idol, despite (or perhaps because of) the involvement of Idol judge Simon Cowell as executive producer.

What Idol has in polish, Talent makes up for in delirious hokeyness. Its genius lurks in its unabashed populism, with any act, any age, welcome to audition. This year, more than 100,000 hopefuls took the challenge, including a flame-throwing pogo hopper, the plus-sized Glamazons, a human slinky, kickboxers, beatboxers and guys wearing not much more than boxers.

Before he was named the winner, Mr. Fator said that "to know that I could be the person who brings ventriloquism back into the mainstream would give me so much joy."

You and the rest of us, Terry.