Hmm, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "You'd never see this kind of thing on TV today." There was a second version of the Gong Show back in 1988; I saw maybe one ep where Weird Al was a judge and really got into it while some singer of the moment sat in something akin to a state of shock. Apparently there was an attempt at a third version, according to the IMDb. As for wacky performances, well, I've seen some strange things like a kind of Japanese "geek" (in the circus sense) act on Letterman a few years back.
Near as I can figure, "American Idol" is pretty much the Gong Show with limits and pretention. And the assorted "reality shows" seem sometimes to pretty much be stuff where people don't mind being humiliated on national TV. The main thing preventing a Gong Show like thing now would seem to be more, well, it's been done.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Near as I can figure, "American Idol" is pretty much the Gong Show with limits and pretention. And the assorted "reality shows" seem sometimes to pretty much be stuff where people don't mind being humiliated on national TV. The main thing preventing a Gong Show like thing now would seem to be more, well, it's been done.