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 and Syco Entertainment, distributed by the former, and broadcast on the NBC television network, premiering 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,[2] 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.
The program attracts a variety of participants, from across the United States and abroad, to take part and who possess some form of talents, with acts ranging from singing, dancing, comedy, magic, stunts, variety, and other genres. Each participant 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,[3] Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara. Those that make it into the live episodes compete against each other for both the judges' and public's vote in order to reach the live final, where 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.
Since its premiere, America's Got Talent has helped to unearth new talent and kickstart/boost the careers of various performers who took part in the competition, while 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, along with detailed interviews with contestants from all seasons, up to the date of the book's publication.[4] The program has run for a total of fourteen seasons, and spawned a spin-off competition titled America's Got Talent: The Champions, consisting of notable contestants from the U.S. and other international versions of the franchise, which premiered on NBC on January 7, 2019.[5]
The concept of America's Got Talent was devised by 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 choose 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 a success, and the original plan for the program was for a British edition to be produced and broadcast between 2005-2006, 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 direct 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 heavily with production of America's Got Talent, working alongside Freemantle with his company Syco Entertainment, but decided against becoming a judge for the new program, relegating himself as an executive producer instead. Cowell and his producers recruited assistance from Regis Philbin as host for the new program,[9] with David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood, and Morgan agreeing to be judges for the first season.[10] The first season proved a success, not only leading NBC to commission additional seasons, but also prompting ITV to later contact Cowell with the intention of resuming production on the British edition for 2007. The success of Britain's Got Talent, alongside the American original's own further success, effectively led Cowell to accepting offers for the rights to the competition and its format, creating the Got Talent franchise as a result.