America's Got Talent

America's Got Talent is a American television talent show, made in 2006 by Simon Cowell. The official YouTube channel was started on June 29 , 2006.
==About==
The program is produced by Fremantle USA (as well as distributed by) and Syco Entertainment, and broadcasts on the NBC television network. It premiered on June 21, 2006, after plans for a British edition in 2005 were suspended, following a dispute within the British broadcaster ITV. Production would later resume in 2007, following the success of the first season. Each season is mainly run during the network's summer schedule, and has featured various hosts over the course of the program's history. The current host is Terry Crews.
== History ==
In its first season, the judging panel consisted of David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Piers Morgan, with Regis Philbin as the host. Prior to the start of the second season, Norwood stepped down due to a legal matter she was involved with, leading to her being replaced by Sharon Osbourne. Philbin was replaced by Jerry Springer as the show's host. Further changes were made to the judging panel and hosting duties in later seasons: Springer left after the third season, and was replaced by Nick Cannon for the fourth season. Hasselhoff left the show after the fourth season, and was replaced by Howie Mandel for the fifth season. Morgan left after the sixth season, and was replaced by Howard Stern for the seventh season.
In August 2012, Osbourne left the program following a dispute with NBC. While the network replaced her with former Spice Girls member Mel B in February 2013, the judges panel increased to four. This format change had already occurred in other international versions of the competition, such as on Britain's Got Talent two years prior. In March 2013, supermodel Heidi Klum was announced as the fourth judge for the eighth season. In October 2015, Stern was replaced by Simon Cowell for the eleventh season. After his eighth year hosting America's Got Talent, Cannon announced plans to retire from the show due to comments he made about the network. Despite being under contract to continue his hosting duties, NBC eventually replaced him with Tyra Banks for the twelfth season.
On February 11, 2019, NBC announced a change to the program's host and its judging panel following the conclusion of the thirteenth season. Banks decided to move on to other projects, leading to her being replaced by Terry Crews, who was already working with the network as host of America's Got Talent: The Champions. Both Klum and Mel B decided to leave America's Got Talent due to other commitments that year, leading to actress Gabrielle Union and dancer Julianne Hough replacing them, joining Mandel and Cowell on the judging panel. However, both Union and Hough took part in only one season before they were let go by the program on November 22, 2019. On February 27, 2020, it was confirmed that Klum would return for the next season, and announced Sofía Vergara as the fourth judge. In September 2021, host Crews announced the 'end of an era' following the season sixteen finale of America's Got Talent and the series finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, stating that these both marked the end of his deal with NBC. However, Crews continued his hosting duties in the following seasons.
== Format ==
The program attracts a variety of participants from across the United States and abroad, who possess some form of talents. Acts range from singing, dancing, comedy, magic, stunts, variety and other genres. Each participant or act who auditions, attempts to secure a place in the live episodes of a season, by impressing a panel of judges. The current line-up consists of Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and Sofía Vergara. Participants making it into the live episodes, compete against each other for both the judges' and public's vote, in order to reach the live final. The winner receives a large cash prize (primarily paid over a period of time), and since the third season, a chance to headline a show on the Las Vegas Strip.
The show itself has been a rating success for NBC, drawing in on average around 10 million viewers per season. In 2013, a book titled Inside AGT: The Untold Stories of America's Got Talent was released, providing a description of the seasons, contestants, judges and production techniques of the show. It includes detailed interviews with contestants from all seasons, up to the date of the book's publication.
The series has run for a total of eighteen seasons, with the eighteenth season airing May–September 2023, and has spawned four spin-off competitions: America's Got Talent: The Champions, which premiered in January 2019, AGT: Extreme, which premiered in February 2022, America's Got Talent: All-Stars, which premiered in January 2023, and America's Got Talent: Fantasy League, which premiered in January 2024. The main series is set to return for season nineteen in summer 2024 with host Crews and judges Cowell, Mandel, Klum, and Vergara all expected to return.
Each year's competition begins with a set of audition stages, the first being the "Producers' Auditions", is conducted across various cities in the United States. This stage is open to all forms of acts and judged by an independent group, and thus determines who will take part in the next stage of auditions titled "Judges' Auditions". These are held in a public venue, within select cities across the country, and are attended by the judges handling that year's contest.
Each participant reaching this stage of auditions is held offstage from the main performing area in a waiting room, and given a number that denotes when they will perform. Upon being called before the judges, the participant is given 90 seconds to demonstrate their act, with a live audience present for all performances. Each judge is given a buzzer, and may use it during a performance if they are unimpressed, dislike what is being performed, or feel the act is a waste of their time. If a participant is buzzed by all judges, their performance is automatically over. At the end of a performance, the judges give constructive criticism and feedback about what they saw, whereupon they are each given a vote. A participant requires a majority vote approving their performance to proceed to the next stage, otherwise they are eliminated from the program at that stage. Many acts that move on may be cut or forfeit their place, due to the limited slots available for the next stage. Filming for each season begins when the Judges' Auditions are taking place, with the show's presenter standing in the wings of each venue's stage to interview, and give personal commentary on a participant's performance.
From the fifth to seventh seasons, acts who did not attend live auditions could instead submit a taped audition online via YouTube. Acts from the online auditions were then selected to compete in front of the judges and a live audience during the "live shows" part of the season, prior to the semi-finals. Before the inclusion of this round, the show had a separate audition episode in Seasons 3 and 4 (2008–2009) for contestants who posted videos on MySpace.
In the ninth season, the show added a new format to the auditions in the form of the "Golden Buzzer", which began to make appearances within the Got Talent franchise, since it was first introduced on Germany's Got Talent. During auditions, each judge is allowed to use the Golden Buzzer to send an act automatically into the live shows, regardless of the opinion of the other judges. When it was initially used, the buzzer simply saved an act from elimination. The only rule to the buzzer was that a judge could use it only once per season. The host was later allowed to use the Golden Buzzer for an act starting from the eleventh season.
After auditions are completed, the judges conduct a special session (or second "audition" round) to determine which participants will secure a place in the live rounds of the competition, though the format for this stage has been change several times over the course of the program's history. When the stage was first created after the first season, it was designed around a "boot camp" format titled "Las Vegas Callbacks". Under the format's rules, participants who made it through the preliminary auditions could undergo training to perfect their act, whereupon each would be assigned to a specific group of participants and perform a second time before the judges. Buzzers would be used to terminate a performance at any time, with those not deemed worthy of a place being eliminated from that season's format.
Between the fourth and ninth season, the format was changed to match that used in Britain's Got Talent. Participants who made it through the preliminary auditions had their audition footage reviewed by the judges, who set each one into a specific group, and were not required to perform again (unless the judges requested this). Acts which they liked would be allocated spaces in the live rounds, with the remainder eliminated from that season's competition. All acts were brought back to learn of the results of the judges' deliberations. The format was titled "Vegas Verdicts" and held on the Las Vegas Strip. For the final seasons of its usage, it was re-dubbed "Judgment Week" and conducted within New York.
Between the tenth season and fourteenth season, the stage's format was changed again under a new arrangement dubbed "Judge Cuts". Under the new format's rules, participants that passed the preliminary auditions underwent a second stage of auditions before the judges at a fixed venue. However, their performance would not only be judged by the panel, but also by a special guest judge, with all participants divided up into four groups. Each group would be judged by their own guest judge. Like the auditions, the main judges could use their buzzers at any time to stop a performance, while the guest judge would be allowed to use a Golden Buzzer for a participant they particularly liked (as well as providing comments on the performances they watched). In the fifteenth season, the round was condensed into a single episode and featured no guest judge, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020. The round was replaced to its current arrangement for the sixteenth season, matching that of Britain's Got Talent around that time.
Participants who pass their auditions and secure a place in the live rounds of the competitions, including those who received the Golden Buzzer after the format's introduction and subsequent amendment to match other Got Talent editions, are divided into groups and compete against each other to secure a place within the live final of the competition. Live episodes of the competition are held within a set venue (the location has varied), with the current arrangement focused on a venue within Los Angeles and live episodes for each season being aired weekly on the network. The arrangement differs from the schedule used by other international editions. Britain's Got Talent, for example, broadcasts its live episodes within the space of a single week. The structure of the live rounds by this stage of the competition has varied, but is more commonly arranged as quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final itself. Earlier seasons varied, sometimes having the finals split into separate rounds.
The format of the live rounds, for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, sees each participant conduct a new performance of their act before the judges and the viewers within a "performance" episode. In this episode, the judges can still give out feedback and comments about a participant's performance, and be able to use their buzzers, with the performance terminated if all the buzzers are used. After the episode is broadcast, the network provides the public a set period of time to vote for their act, with the results of these held in a separate "results" episode. When it is broadcast has varied, though it more commonly occurs after an interval of one day after the live "performance" episode. Participants wore the same outfits from the performance episode and are then informed of the results, with those receiving the highest votes (i.e. Top 4) advancing to the next stage. For the two acts that receive the mid-range of votes for all participants, they undergo a vote by the judges to determine who joins those who advanced. When the program brought in the format of using four judges, a tie-break on this vote results in the act with the higher number of public votes moving on. The Judges' vote was not a common format element in earlier seasons. In the first season, the judges did not decide on who moved on, instead voting for acts they liked or disliked. In the second season, they could not vote on acts at all, instead only being able to buzz them.
For some acts that are eliminated, there is still a chance for advancement by being appointed as that round's "Wildcard". Until the tenth season, this format varied in how it would work. In some seasons, the judges could each individually select an act, or more than one, to move on to the next stage or compete within a special Wildcard round. In other seasons, the Wildcard acts were selected from among the auditions and competed in a special round. Since the tenth season, the format is more structured and works in a similar manner to that of the format used by Britain's Got Talent, in that the judges and the public can each chose the acts they want to see move on as a Wildcard act. Although the judges are refrained from choosing a quarter-finalist as a Wildcard act, the public may vote online for an act within each quarter-final and semi-final to move on into the next stage, with this vote aptly named after the sponsor for the show in that respective season.
Those who make it into the season's final compete against each other to secure the most votes from the public, with the number of finalists varying between seasons. Later seasons allow each finalist more than one performance and sometimes being joined by a celebrity guest, previous winner, or notable participant from a previous season. The winning act that achieves the most votes is crowned the winner and receives a cash prize. Although stipulated as $1 million per the program's advertising, in reality winners can choose to either take it as a lump sum, or as a financial annuity of this amount that is paid out over forty years at around $25,000 per year. Both options are liable to taxation. Since Season 10, the winner will also perform on the first results show of the next season. From 2008, the program also includes an additional prize of headlining a show, except from between 2010 and 2013, where the winning finalist headlined a national tour. The show they headline mainly takes place within Las Vegas.
==Trivia==
* The sound made when the judges "check" an act was originally the sound used when spins are passed on "Press Your Luck". The sound made when the judges "X" an act is the strike sound used in "Family Feud".
* Season five was the first season to not have an American born judge on the panel.
* Howie Mandel has the longest tenure of serving as a judge on the show, thirteen seasons straight. Heidi Klum has served as a judge for the second longest amount of tenure, nine seasons, but was unavailable to be present for the fourteenth season.
* Televised auditions have been always held in New York City and Los Angeles for the first ten seasons. Since Simon Cowell joined the judging panel in season 11, the auditions have always been held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, taped on multiple different days.
* Jerry Springer resigned as host, due to other commitments.
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