Mike Weatherford's Thursday column

[hear the Hasselhoff interview by clicking here]

...Will David Hasselhoff's May 6 departure be the beginning of the end for "The Producers"? The Hoff's publicist told the Review-Journal's Norm Clarke that the taping schedule for "America's Got Talent" will make it "impossible for him to keep flying back and forth." But the show does its most intensive upfront taping this month, before Hasselhoff leaves.

And Hasselhoff is a very wealthy man. So are Jay Leno, Howie Mandel and Bill Maher, all of whom fly in for live shows (or in Maher's case, plan to starting April 20) after television tapings.

No reason why Hasselhoff couldn't do the same -- or even change the day "The Producers" is dark -- assuming, um, that it pencils out for him.

"I don't do anything unless I own a piece of it," Hasselhoff told podcasters Steve Friess and Miles Smith last year. ...