Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.
Now in its 21st season, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m. Tuesday, WPXI) has become as much a part of some viewers’ summer habit as watching fireworks on the Fourth of July.
For “AGT” judge Simon Cowell, who created and executive produces the series, it’s been a somewhat unexpected trip into the wide, wild world of many different talents that take to the “AGT” stage trying to impress the judges, who also include Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel and Mel B. Terry Crews is the show’s host.
“When I started developing these shows, I wasn’t thinking I’m going to do those so I can be on camera; that wasn’t part of the plan,” Cowell said in a recent virtual press conference. “When I agreed to do it in the U.K. and America to begin with, it was only to be one year. That was the plan. And actually, genuinely, I can say I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. … If I’m being honest with you, the fact that we’re able to sell a show in America, and for me to be on a show in America, I have to pinch myself every time they open the studio gates. But it wasn’t something I expected.”
Given the stardom that came Cowell’s way in the first season of Fox’s “American Idol” in 2002, perhaps he should not have been surprised that another series would want him on camera as a judge. Regardless, Cowell sees the show as a platform that can help performers break through the noise and clutter of social media posts in a 500-scripted TV series universe.
“I genuinely believe that these shows have to have a purpose, and to that point, whether you win or lose, particularly today, you’ve got to be able to get attention with so many millions of people uploading content [online] at the moment,” Cowell said. “I think what this does, it puts you on the ladder, so to speak. If you do a great audition or a great live show performance — I’ve seen it happen so many times now — [there can be] a massive, massive knock-on effect in terms of their careers, their lives, their confidence. That’s one of the best parts of doing the job. To be able to see what it’s done for their careers, their lives; it’s amazing. If that didn’t happen, I promise you I wouldn’t do the shows.”
Cowell said for many “AGT” performers, the goal for a career after the show is to get a gig in Las Vegas.
“It’s that element of surprise, that moment where you can sit there and go, ‘Wow, I was there on their first audition, and I’ve got a feeling great things are going to happen,’” Cowell said. “I really still get a buzz out of that, and I love being surprised, and I pray genuinely before every season that it’s going to be different from the year before — hopefully better — seeing things we’ve never seen before, because you know you don’t want it to turn into ‘Groundhog Day.’”
Cowell said before taping episodes, the “AGT” judges get no information about the acts they are about to see.
“We don’t know anything about the contestants, not a thing, until they walk on stage, and then it all happens,” Cowell said. “I haven’t got a clue beforehand.”
As for his response to the acts on stage, Cowell acknowledged that “50% of what I say is based on what I feel behind me [from the studio audience’s reaction].
“When an act’s performing, I spend quite a bit of the time looking around me and [feeling] the energy,” Cowell said. “When someone’s good-to-very good, everyone’s very enthusiastic. However, when someone really, really nails it, the energy shift is incredible. And if you’re aware of that change … it does help me determine what I’m going to say, how I’m going to say it. Then, in between the acts, we spend a lot of time talking to the audience. A lot of them have been coming [to ‘AGT’ tapings] for years, so we’ve gotten to know them.”
When asked to choose one of the more memorable acts from the show’s history, Cowell mentions The Mayyas, a dance group that won “AGT” in 2022.
“I thought they were sensational,” Cowell said. “That was, for me, perfection. Everything from their first performance to their final performance, about as good as I’ve ever seen. That act just blew me away.”