America may or may not have talent, depending on your assessment of the contestants on last night’s new NBC reality show. But it looks like the network may indeed have a hit.

“America’s Got Talent” became the year’s highest-rated summer debut last night, averaging a 4.6 adults 18-49 overnight rating from 9 to 11 p.m. More promising, it grew from start to finish, something most new reality debuts have struggled to do this summer.

“Talent” achieved NBC’s highest non-Olympic numbers in that timeslot since April 2005 and even finished ahead of Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” the summer’s previous top show, when they aired opposite each other at 9 p.m.

During that hour, “Talent” averaged a 4.4 and “Dance” averaged a 4.0. “Talent” jumped to a 4.8 at 10 p.m., a 10 percent rise.

The show even improved NBC’s average in the timeslot from the regular season, when the network averaged a 3.2 over those two hours. Last night’s 18-49 rating bettered that by 44 percent.

“Talent” is produced by Simon Cowell and hosted by Regis Philbin. It uses the “American Idol” format and but subs in rapping grandmas and contortionists and tap-dancing kids for crooners.

“Talent” lifted NBC to No. 1 for the night with a 3.8 rating and 12 share in adults 18-49, with Fox behind at 3.5/11, trailed by CBS's 2.3/7, Univision's 1.7/5, ABC's 1.3/4, WB's 0.6/2 and UPN's 0.3/1.

For the 8 p.m. hour, Fox held No. 1 with a 3.1 for the first hour of "Dance." Tied at No. 2 with a 2.2 were CBS's "Big Brother All-Stars: America's Choice" and NBC's "Dateline" repeat, followed by Univision's "La Fea Mas Bella" at 1.9, ABC's "George Lopez" and "Freddie" repeats at 1.6, WB's "Blue Collar TV" at 0.8 and UPN's airing of the 2004 documentary "My Date With Drew" at a staggeringly low 0.3.

At 9 p.m., it was NBC at No. 1 for the first hour of "Talent," followed by Fox's 4.0 for the original "Dance," CBS's 2.0 for a "Criminal Minds" repeat, Univision's 1.6 for "Barrera de Amor," ABC's 1.1 for a "Lost" repeat, WB's 0.5 for a "One Tree Hill" repeat and UPN's 0.3 for the rest of "Date."

At 10 p.m., NBC held onto No. 1 with a 4.8 for the second hour of "Talent," followed by CBS’s "CSI: NY" repeat at 2.6, Univision's 1.5 for "Don Francisco Presenta" and ABC's 1.2 for a second "Lost" rerun.
 
Among households, NBC won the night with a 6.6 rating and 12 share, followed by Fox at 5.8/10, CBS at 5.4/9, ABC at 2.5/4, Univision at 2.0/3, WB at 1.1/2 and UPN at 0.5/1.