On Tuesday, I watched Celebrity Duets, Simon Cowell's latest televised talent show. It's the singing version of Dancing with the Stars.

The show begins with eight celebrities. Every week, they perform duets with various "music legends" and every week, one celebrity gets the boot.

Most of the duets were mediocre, two were superb (both involving Gladys Knight) and the rest were so awful they kept me hooked, hoping to see something worse.

Wayne Brady is the host and I admit he's the reason I watched. He is one of the few hosts that could actually win the show if he were competing instead of hosting. If the producers are smart, they'll give him a chance to sing before the show is over.

Like every other talent show on television, Duets has a panel of three judges. It's an unwritten reality television rule that every panel must have a grumpy British judge, a generic technique judge and a loony, possibly drunk, possibly medicated judge. Duets doesn't stray far from the formula with David Foster, Marie Osmond and Little Richard.

True, Foster is American, but he is undeniably grumpy. Osmond fits her role perfectly with vague observations about pitch and "relatability", which my dictionary says isn't an actual word. Following in the footsteps of American Idol's Paula Abdul and So You Think You Can Dance's Mary Murphy (who began using her hand as a puppet in the last few episodes), Little Richard sets the new standard for all future loony, possible drunk, possibly medicated judges.

Instead of describing his style of judging and for the sake of coherency, let me give you a paraphrased example. After Hal Sparks and Gladys Knight finished singing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine", Little Richard said something to the effect of, "Grapevine, grapevine. Oh yes, I heard it. I heard it in Georgia, where Gladys and I both grew up. Oh yes. My my my. Through the grapevine. Oh my. Oh yes. How I heard it! My my my."

If you missed the season premiere, there's no need to fret. Fox is showing a repeat tonight. It's your chance to see Lucy Lawless belt with Michael Bolton, Cheech Marin rock with Peter Frampton and Chris Jericho, the prettiest wrestler I've ever seen, sing a ballad with Lee Ann Womack. On the other hand, the second showing could be your chance to miss it again and stick it to reality television.