America's Got Talent
| America's Got Talent | |
|---|---|
| File:N/A | |
| Created by | Simon Cowell, Mikey, Ken Warwick, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, and Jason Raff. |
| Starring | Regis Philbin, host Piers Morgan, judge Brandy, judge David Hasselhoff, judge. |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | (season 1) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (except for a 2 hour premiere) |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | June 21, 2006 – Present |
America's Got Talent is an American television show on NBC.
The talent show is a search for America's next talent. The show features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other talents of all ages. Anyone who believes they have talent can audition.
The advertised top prize is one million dollars. Some early ads for the show implied that the winning act would also headline a show at a casino, possibly in Las Vegas; however, there has been no mention of this on the show or in the most recent promotions.
Auditions were held in the following locations:
- Los Angeles, California - April 6–7, 2006.
- Chicago, Illinois - April 12–13, 2006.
- New York City, New York - April 17–19, 2006.
- Atlanta, Georgia - April 22–23, 2006.
The show premiered with a two-hour special on June 21, 2006 from 9:00-11:00 p.m. EDT. The following week, it moved to 9:00 p.m on Wednesdays; beginning July 13, a results show airs at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays.
Regis Philbin is the host. The judges are Piers Morgan, Brandy and David Hasselhoff. Neither the host nor the judges know the content of the acts in advance of their performances.
Each of the three judges has a button in front of them that they can press when they do not want the act to continue; the button rings an electronic bell (similar to the "Press Your Luck" sound effect that was used when a contestant passed their spins) and a large "X" with the judge's name lights up over the stage. A louder, different sound (similar to Family Feud's strike sound byte) indicates the third judge's button was pressed, and the contestant is eliminated. If the contestant was allowed to finish the act, the judges are asked whether the contestant should continue to the next round, with the approval of two out of three judges required.
Episode 1
Acts that will advance to the second round include:
- Bobby Badfingers, a "professional finger snappist" from San Francisco, California He danced to classic 1950's rock, as well.
- Dave the Horn Guy, a man with a plethora of horns attached to his body. He moved different parts of the body to honk the horns, making humorous music.
- At Last, a hip-hop acapella quartet.
- Sydney "Sid the Kid" Park, a young standup comedian.
- Juggler Kenny Shelton from San Diego, California, who was given three "X"'s for dropping his props, and pleaded for another chance. He survived the first round by successfully juggling three swords on top of a rola bola for one minute.
- Alexis Jordan, a 14-year old R & B singer. All three critics agreed that she had a 'perfect voice'.
- A kennel of dogs who were part of a magic show.
- "Team AeroDunk," a group of acrobats from Houston, Texas, who shot basketballs while doing somersaults, backflips, and other tricks on a trampoline.
- Juggler Ivan Pecel.
- Juggler Vladik Miagkostoupov. All three critics agreed that he was the only good juggler performing that day.
- A singing harpist. (Hasselhoff commented that he would like her to sing at his funeral, as the music was deep and touching, not something one would expect on a contemporary talent show.
- Bernie Barker, a 65-year-old male stripper from San Diego whose genitals were censored by the show with a black rectangle.
- Ventriloquist Kevin Johnson, who threw his voice and the voices of his two puppets out of synchonization a lá Godzilla.
- Hand balancing acrobat Vladimir Malachikhin.
- A "rapping granny" from Castaic, California.
18 additional acts from Los Angeles that also made it to the second round were briefly shown at the end of the show, since there were too many performers to fit into a one hour episode.
Acts that were eliminated include:
- A troupe of performers who used costumed actors and a donkey to tell some sort of allegorical tale (they called it "shadow dancing"). Neither the judges nor the audience could understand it. The judges refused to vote; the audience was allowed to vote in their place.
- A performer who blew up balloons to make parts of a face, then put the parts on while singing Frank Sinatra's "All of Me".
- A man breakdancing in a cow suit that shot milk at the judges. He was mildly popular with the children, but not the adults.
- A man who made a musical instrument out of a saw.
- A 76 year-old woman singing "God Bless America".
- A man in a pirate costume playing a "nose flute".
- A man impersonating characters such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yoda and Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.
- A trio called Blue Velvet. They were voted out almost instantly.
Notes
- Morgan was usually fastest hitting his "X" (strike) button, expressing disapproval even when Brandy and Hasselhoff did not. On several occasions after pressing his strike button, he reached over and pressed Brandy's button, and on occasion, stood up to press Hasselhoff's button, singlehandedly stopping the act. On the other hand, Hasselhoff was most likely to let the acts continue.
- More than 12 million viewers tuned in to the premiere. The two-hour broadcast was the night's most-watched program on U.S. television and the highest-rated among viewers aged 18 to 49 -- the prime-time audience that matters most to advertisers, Nielsen Media Research reported.
External links
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