Canada's Got Talent
Canada's Got Talent is a Canadian television reality talent show, which debuted on the Citytv network on March 4, 2012. It is part of the global "Got Talent" franchise. As with other series in the franchise, the show is a competition in which entertainers in various fields compete to win a prize. In the first season, the winner won a prize of $100,000 and a Nissan GT-R, an opportunity to perform during Citytv's New Year's Eve bash, a possibility to perform in a venue in Las Vegas and a trip to  Trinidad and Tobago. In the second season, the winner will receive a cash prize of $150,000. The first season was won by the Manitoba-based dance troupe Sagkeeng's Finest. After initially passing on producing a second season, a "Canadian Family's Got Talent" competition was held on Citytv's morning show "Breakfast Television" in 2020, in acknowledgement of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns across the country (and to promote season 15 of "America's Got Talent"). The contest was won by Toronto-based singing trio CZN. Citytv later announced that it would be reviving "Canada's Got Talent" for a  second season in 2022. In October 2021, Citytv announced that Lindsay Ell would host, along with Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, Kardinal Offishall, and Trish Stratus serving as judges. The season premiered in March 2022. Format. Auditions. The auditions took place in front of the judges, and a live audience at different cities across Canada. At any time during the audition, the judges would show their disapproval of the act by pressing a buzzer, which lights a large red "X" on the stage. If all the judges pressed their buzzers, the act must end. Voting worked on a majority-of-two  basis, where two positive votes from the judges were required. The Cutdown. In the first season, acts that were accepted past the audition moved on to the Judges Round (also known as "The Cutdown"). This stage of the competition did not feature any audiences, and only contained contestants performing in front of the judges. Out of all the acts that made it to this point, thirty-six made it through to the next round, which was the semi-finals. In the second season, this part of the show was removed. Semi-finals. The semi-finals and final were broadcast with  a varying number of semi-finals, followed by the one final split into two episodes over one night. The remaining acts performed across a number of semi-finals, with the two most popular acts from each semi-final winning a position in the final. Judges could still end a performance early with three X's. The judges were asked to express their views on each act's performance. Phone lines, Twitter, Facebook, texting and online voting platforms opened for a one hour after all acts performed. The public voted for the act they thought were the best. Voters could submit  a total of fifty votes (ten in each platform). After the votes were counted, the act that polled the highest number of public votes, was automatically placed in the final. The judges then chose between the second and third most popular acts, with the winner of that vote also gaining a place in the final. All other acts were then eliminated from the competition. Broadcasting. Because of the various time zones in Canada, only viewers in the provinces and territories east of Manitoba saw the show live (in the Newfoundland, Atlantic and Eastern time zones). All other areas in Canada  broadcast the show on a tape delay basis. All Citytv stations aired the show at 8:00 p.m. (in each time zone where there is a Citytv station) with the Toronto station airing the program at 8:00 p.m. Viewers in Newfoundland saw the show live at 9:30 p.m. and viewers in the Atlantic region at 9:00 p.m., because there is no Citytv station in these provinces to broadcast the show at local time. The same process occurred with the results show. Judges. Canadian comedian and actor, Martin Short, was announced as the first judge on October 13, 2011. On October 17 , opera singer Measha Brueggergosman and musician/composer Stephan Moccio, were announced as the two judges to join Short. Citytv Toronto personality and "Breakfast Television" host, Dina Pugliese, was the host of the show. In October 2021, it was announced that Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, Kardinal Offishall and Trish Stratus would serve as judges for the show, with Lindsay Ell as host. Season overview. Season 1 (2012). The first season of "Canada's Got Talent" aired on Citytv across Canada (and on other TV stations across the country, where there is no Citytv station), starting on March 4, 2012. Preliminary auditions  for the first season of "Canada's Got Talent" took place during fall 2011, and continued into January 2012. Auditions for the show took place in Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Halifax. Acts chosen to perform in front of the host, judges and a live audience were invited back, starting in Calgary on October 18 and 19. The production tour then went to each of the original cities in October, November, December 2011 and January 2012. Those chosen by the panel of judges went to Toronto for the next rounds, and completed with audience voting, in April and May  2012. Sagkeeng's Finest received the most votes from Canada, winning the first season of "Canada's Got Talent". Season 2 (2022). In June 2012, Rogers Media president Scott Moore announced that a second season would not be produced, after a "careful consideration of all factors, including the current economic climate". However, on June 8, 2021 it was announced that the series would be revived, first announced to be returning in spring 2022. Production on the series took place in fall 2021 at Niagara Falls. On December 31, 2021, it was announced that the revival would premiere in March 2022 , which was later specified as March 22.