America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent (often abbreviated as AGT) is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global Got Talent franchise created by Simon Cowell. 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,[3] 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.
For the Got Talent international franchise, see Got Talent. For the current season, see America's Got Talent season 19.America's Got Talent
Russell Norman[1]
- Brian Friedman
- Brian Burke[2]
United States
English
19
443
- Simon Cowell
- Sam Donnelly
- Jason Raff
- Rob Wade
- Trish Kinane
- Richard Wallace
60–120 minutes
June 21, 2006 –
present
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,[4] 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.[5]
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 (2019–20), AGT: Extreme (2022), America's Got Talent: All-Stars (2023), and America's Got Talent: Fantasy League (2024). The main series returned for season nineteen in summer 2024 with host Crews and judges Cowell, Mandel, Klum, and Vergara all returning.
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The concept of America's Got Talent was devised by The X Factor creator and Sony Music executive Simon Cowell, who sought to create a talent competition far grander than those of other televised talent contests. His proposal, first made to British television network ITV in 2005, was for a competition in which participants of any age and location could enter with any form of talent they chose to perform. The network favored the concept, and green-lit production of a pilot episode to test out the format, with Cowell forming a panel consisting of himself and two other judges (including tabloid journalist Piers Morgan).[6] The pilot proved to be a success. The original plan for the program was for a British edition to be produced and broadcast between 2005 and 2006, hosted by British television personality Paul O'Grady, who had assisted with the pilot[7] (before Cowell would propose the format for American television). However, O'Grady became involved in a dispute with ITV during work on the new program, ultimately terminating his contract with them and defecting to another British network.[8]
As a result, Cowell suspended work on the British edition, and hastened his efforts on launching the format in America. Approaching several networks, Cowell received an offer from NBC to produce his televised competition for their network, owing to feedback given to the pilot made for ITV, and agreed to a contract to produce fifteen episodes for the 2006 summer schedule. Cowell worked with Fremantle and his company Syco Entertainment, but decided against becoming a judge for the new program, choosing to act as executive producer instead. Regis Philbin served as the host,[9] with David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Morgan as judges.[10] The first season proved a success, leading NBC to commission additional seasons, and prompting ITV to contact Cowell with the intention of resuming production on the British edition for 2007. The success of Britain's Got Talent (along with the American series), led Cowell to accept offers for the rights to the competition format, creating the Got Talent franchise.
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Related programs
America's Got Talent Live
In 2009, production staff opted for creating a post-show made up of the best finalists from that year's competition, and conducted over a ten-week run between October and January at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Titled America's Got Talent Live, it featured performances by season four winner Kevin Skinner, and by ten of the finalists from that season. It was hosted by Jerry Springer, in between taping his self-named show in Stamford, Connecticut.[108] The show proved a success and was renewed for 2010, with Springer remaining as host, and featuring the finalists of the fifth season. It was remade into a 25-city tour that began at the Caesars Palace Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, and concluded at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando.[109]
The live show was put into hiatus following its 2010 run, and resumed in 2012 with a new host and performances from the finalists of the seventh season: Olate Dogs, Spencer Horsman, Joe Castillo, Lightwire Theater, David Garibaldi and his CMYK's, Jarrett and Raja, and Tom Cotter. In 2013, another tour was scheduled consisting of the best acts from the eighth season: Kenichi Ebina, and finalists Collins Key, Jimmy Rose, Taylor Williamson, Cami Bradley, The KriStef Brothers, and Tone the Chiefrocca.[110] In 2014, a new tour was scheduled, consisting of performances from top finalists of the ninth season: Mat Franco, Emily West, Quintavious Johnson, AcroArmy, Emil and Dariel, Miguel Dakota, Sons of Serendip, and season 8's runner-up Taylor Williamson.[17]
In 2015, America's Got Talent Live discontinued operating as a live tour, instead functioning as a series of shows at the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas. Performances from the top acts from the tenth season included winner Paul Zerdin, runner-up Drew Lynch, and fan favorite Piff the Magic Dragon. In 2016, four more shows were scheduled at the same venue, and featured performances from the top acts of the eleventh season's final: Grace VanderWaal, The Clairvoyants and Tape Face.[111] In 2017, another four shows were scheduled at the same venue, and featured performances by the top acts of the twelfth season's final: Darci Lynne, Angelica Hale, Light Balance and Preacher Lawson.[112] In 2018, three new shows were scheduled at a new venue in Las Vegas, and featured the top acts from the thirteenth season: Shin Lim, Samuel J. Comroe, Courtney Hadwin, Vicki Barbolak and Duo Transcend.
Holiday specials
In 2016, NBC commissioned a festive two-hour special of the program, titled America's Got Talent Holiday Spectacular. Broadcast at the Dolby Theatre on December 19, 2016, the special was hosted by Nick Cannon and featured a mixture of performances by acts that had participated across the program's history with several special guests. Among those involved were Grace VanderWaal, Jackie Evancho, Andra Day, Penn & Teller, Pentatonix, Terry Fator, Mat Franco, Piff the Magic Dragon, Olate Dogs, Professor Splash and Jon Dorenbos (as well as the judges from the season 11).[113][114] The special proved a ratings hit, achieving around 9.5 million viewers during its broadcast.[115]
In 2018, NBC commissioned a second special centered on Darci Lynne, the winner of the twelfth season. Titled Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas, it was hosted by Farmer, and involved Lonnie Chavis from This Is Us as the special's announcer. It broadcast at the Alex Theatre on December 11, 2018. The special featured a special sketch involving Farmer and that season's judges: Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Mel B. A series of duets included Farmer with Lindsey Stirling, Toby Keith and Kristin Chenoweth, respectively. Guest performances were by Pentatonix and Hunter Hayes.
Reception
U.S. television ratings
Since the show began, its ratings have been very high, ranging from 9 million viewers to as many as 16 million viewers (generally averaging around 12 million viewers). The show has also ranked high in the 18–49 demographic, usually rating anywhere from as low as 1.6 to as high as 4.6 throughout its run. Audition shows and performance shows rate higher on average than results shows.
Although the show's ratings have been high, the network typically keeps the show's run limited to before the official start of the next television season in the third week of September, with some reductions or expansions depending on Olympic years. Finale ratings are usually lower due to returning programming on other networks.
The highest rated season in overall viewers to date is season four (2009). The most-watched episode has been the finale of season five (2010), with 16.41 million viewers. The series premiere and an episode featuring the first part of Las Vegas Week in season six (2011) have each tied for highest rating among adults 18–49, both having a 4.6 rating.
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