Why?

I really don't get it.
Shows like America's Got Talent, Hell's Kitchen, X-Factor, etc, why are they so popular. They have an indiscriminately negative effect on all pop culture and whatever mediocrity of genuine talent, intelligence, and good character that happens to stumble upon these consumer-driven wastelands is killed off while mindlessness is honored.

In fact, I don't even know how they get their auditions. After watching the show for half an hour who would want to be associated with it? Sure, there is the one in a hundred million chance of being a Susan Boyle, but apart from that they encourage the decline of class, manners, courtesy, and general work.

Fame comes from being recognized for achievement, charisma, genius, and luck. It requires years of hard work for those who earn it and isn't a "fair" shot that can be brought upon by an audition or an application. What is being popularized on these television shows a fantasized notion of celebrity. Why are these people the people this culture is paying attention to? What is so remarkably fascinating about them to begin with. Some do have a knack for playing pretend and some have been genuinely or artificially blessed with faces and bodies that look well after a couple layers of makeup and a couple hours of photoshop, but after that what is there of substance? Why aren't surgeons, volunteers, nurses, priests, engineers, teachers, people doing things that help the lives of people and help propel the great age we live in into greater success being honored with the same sort of fanaticism being allotted to Beyonce or Justin Beiber?