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I had a sneaky feeling that Logan County native Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. would win “America’s got Talent.” I started watching another season of the reality-based talent competition back in late may, but I did so with somewhat of a sick feeling in my stomach. My mother was pretty ill at the time, and I had a bad feeling that it would be the last show that we would watch together as mother and son. Sadly, my premonition came true. after Mom passed away in July, I couldn’t bring myself to keep watching the show — despite all of the local media reports about the man who once supported himself by washing cars at an auto dealership in southern West Virginia. Mom and I watched the first couple of episodes together in her bedroom, at times along with my sister Lisa. Sharon Osbourne, Howie Mandell and Piers Morgan made for a funny trio of judges, and of course Nick Cannon is a crowd pleasing host. I think Mom found Cannon to be the funniest of the four — as she would frequently laugh at or comment on his, at times, silly shenanigans. I wanted to keep watching “America’s got Talent” (after all, there certainly wasn’t anything else on television worth watching over the long and painful summer), but I just couldn’t bring myself to finish the season. last Thursday I made the mistake of turning on the television after getting home from the gym. I flipped on the tube at the same time that the winner was announced. The first thing I saw was Cannon standing with Murphy. I paused for a second before realizing that Murphy had just been declared the winner of the reality show. The long summer reality show that began in may, and concluded in September, ended with a southern West Virginia surprise. Murphy’s prize includes not only $1 million, but also a Las Vegas headlining contract. so the guy from Logan County is well on his way to the big time, all thanks to a stunning performance of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” Logan County isn’t that far away. The last time I was in Logan County I was just out of college and had applied for a newspaper job in the area. it was admittedly a long drive from McDowell County to Logan County, but that was mainly due to the lack of a four-lane highway — just the rural and winding two-lane roads. Mom would have been glad to have known that Murphy won. She was a big fan of Frank Sinatra after all. while I had no intentions of watching the finale, fate intervened when I flipped the television on at the exact moment that the winner was being announced. I, too, am glad that Murphy won. while I regret that I was unable to watch the entire season, it was good to know that the local guy was the big winner. after all, we haven’t had a local person to make reality news headlines since big Tom Buchanan attempted to “outwit, outlast and outplay” a dozen or so other competitors on “Survivor” a few seasons back. as far as I know, Buchanan still lives on a farm in the Rich Valley section of Smyth County in rural Southwest Virginia. he appeared on “Survivor” twice, the last time was on an all-star season where he once again came up short in his quest to win the $1 million prize.  at the moment, I’m not planning to watch much reality television. In fact, I’m coming into the fall season with a clean slate of sorts. My game plan at the moment is to watch football, football and maybe some more football. I know “Survivor” is coming back on later this month — I believe it’s actually this week — but I don’t think I’ll be watching it. Mom had watched the show since season one, and even got me hooked on it after Richard Hatch walked away with the first $1 million check. we were, of course, rooting for Rudy Boesch, the former Navy Seal who was the fan favorite to win the first season of “Survivor.” if anything, that inaugural season of “Survivor” taught us that the good guy doesn’t always win. sometimes he comes up just a little short. but Boesch was still the winner in the eyes of millions of television viewers. Hatch in return went to prison for not paying taxes on his $1 million prize — proving that reality television can be a little too real at times. about the only new fall show I’m thinking about watching at the moment  is “Terra Nova.” Dinosaurs, time travel and Steve Spielberg sound like a winning combination. I hope the show however doesn’t get trounced in the ratings by it’s main prime-time competitor — “Dancing with the Stars.” with hope, a majority of viewers will choose dinosaurs over B-rated actors trying to dance. but I have a sneaky feeling that the dancers will win this one. if all else fails, I guess I can watch the “Weather Channel.” It’s surprisingly addictive if you watch it for a prolonged period of time. I’m glad the local guy won “America’s got Talent.” but if I have my way I won’t be watching a lot of such reality-based shows in the future. with the exception of football of course. That includes the big ESPN College GameDay match-up Saturday in Morgantown between LSU and WVU. That’s an example of really good reality television. Charles Owens is the Daily Telegraph’s city editor. Contact him at cowens@bdtonline.com.