During its first few seasons, Nashville Star was a low-key entrant in the reality/talent genre. It ran on USA where ratings expectations are lower, and while it failed to produce any massive commercial successes along the lines of American Idol, several of its alumni, most notably debut winner Buddy Jewell and his fiercest rival Miranda Lambert, have won critical praise.

USA lost interest in continuing Nashville Star after its fifth season ended in March, 2007, but earlier this year NBC — possibly influenced by the ongoing writers’ strike — announced that it would air a new season this summer. The apparent thinking was that if the Peacock could capture even a small amount of the ratings magic of American Idol, or even of its own America’s Got Talent, Nashville Star could become a consistent summer performer for the network.

Unfortunately, what has run for the last three weeks on NBC bears little resemblance to anything in the first five seasons of Nashville Star, and the series might just be the worst thing airing on network television right now. The problems are many. Billy Ray Cyrus, who can actually be likable when not asked to do too much, is hopelessly out of his depth in the Ryan Seacrest role. John Rich, the lead judge in demeanor, if not in name, is overbearing and seems unable to prevent himself from making inappropriate comments about teenage girls. While the premiere episode dispensed with most of the American Idol-style bad audition filler, everything since then has seemed horribly bloated, with two hours on Monday devoted to only ten contestants.

But the single biggest problem is that the new Nashville Star hates country music. OK, maybe the show and the network don’t hate the genre, but they clearly don’t believe that a program devoted to a loving appreciation of country can succeed on the big stage, even in the summer. NBC has proceeded to alienate much of what has been the core audience for Nashville Star, without providing anything that would compensate or draw in non-country fans (like presenting talented singers).

Even more so than on other, similar programs, good looks appear to have been sufficient for many of the participants this season to pass through the audition process. All of the women on the show are conventionally, blandly pretty save for Melissa, a plus-sized mother of five who is getting the underdog edit. The most egregious finalist was Justin Gaston, a model who didn’t seem to have any singing ability whatsoever and was brutally criticized by the all the judges, most notably Rich, the minute he opened his mouth (these same judges, of course, passed him through to the finals in the first place). Gaston was eliminated on Monday’s show, an act of both mercy and good taste on the part of the voting public.

But the music industry in general isn’t famous for prizing talent over looks, so this can’t be too big a surprise. What is different about this season of Nashville Star, though, is that a show whose alleged purpose is finding a country singing star has de-emphasized the performing of country music to the point where it has become a mere option. The first two episodes featured several country standards, but also songs like “Hey There Delilah,” “Drops of Jupiter” (both performed by Gaston), “Every Breath You Take,” “Natural Woman,” and “Waiting on the World to Change,” none of which were really countried-up in any discernible fashion.

So what happens after two only partially country weeks? Monday’s episode was designated as “pop goes country” week, in essence forcing the singers to do pop songs. The result was desecration of “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” “Love Shack,” “Maniac,” “P.Y.T.” and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (Gaston again, at least going out with a sense of humor). Several performances were augmented by incongruous dancers. The opening group performance was of Madonna’s non-gospel “Like a Prayer,” and MTV divas Danity Kane showed up to add an extra layer of glitz. As a change of pace after two wholly country weeks, the episode may have been defensible, but coming on the heels of what had already been a noticeable waning of the Nashville sound on Nashville Star, it seems obvious that NBC does not fully trust country music to carry their show, that what they think they need is really a guy in a cowboy hat singing “Umbrella.”

What audience remains may have more common sense than the show’s producers. The voting favorite right now appears to be Gabe Garcia, a kid from Texas who isn’t particularly charismatic but at least sounds believably country. He may have what it takes, if they don’t force him to duet with T-Pain before the season is over.