LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 -- The most recognizable face on "America's Got Talent" is stepping away from the judging panel, and the show that has spent two decades building its audience around his specific commercial authority must now figure out how to carry a full production cycle without him.

Simon Cowell, 66, will miss multiple weeks of AGT filming while recovering from a back procedure stemming from injuries he sustained in a 2020 e-bike crash in Malibu that broke his back in three places and required six hours of emergency spinal surgery. His doctors told him at the time that without immediate surgery, he would not have been able to walk. His team has described the current follow-up procedure as routine. No return date has been announced...