America's Got Talent (season 1)

infobox television
show_name = America's Got Talent (Season 1)


rating = TV-PG, TV-14
format = Reality talent show
runtime = Varies
creator = Simon Cowell
Ken Warwick
Cécile Frot-Coutaz
Jason Raff
executive_producer = Simon Cowell
Ken Warwick
presenter = Regis Philbin
judges = Season Two
Piers Morgan
Sharon Osbourne
David Hasselhoff
Season One
Piers Morgan
Brandy Norwood
David Hasselhoff
country = United States
filmed = Los Angeles, California
network = NBC
picture_format = 480i (NTSC)
first_aired = June 21, 2006
last_aired = August 17, 2006
num_episodes =
website = http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/
imdb_id = 0759364
tv_com_id = 58710
followed_by = Season 2

The first season of "America's Got Talent" premiered on June 21, 2006 and concluded on August 17, 2006. The audition tour took place in April 2006, stopping at Los Angeles, California, New York City, New York, Chicago, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia. Regis Philbin was the host for this season and David Hasselhoff, Brandy and Piers Morgan were the judges. This season's winner was Bianca Ryan.

Auditions

New York auditions

:Aired June 28, 2006, 1 hour

Acts that advanced to the second round include:
* All That, a clog dancing group; the five men from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (who had auditioned in New York) danced with incredible rhythm and had the audience on their feet in no time. Brandy described the men as worthy of their title and Hasselhoff thought they were "up front", Morgan joked that he didn't like them, adding after the audience expressed, "because all the women in america will love you."
* Leonid the Magnificent from Russia; a tall, flamboyant Adonis with angel's wings, who balanced a sword tip to tip on a sword held in his mouth. He was noticeably nervous, dropped the sword during his first try, and was rejected. Later in the show, Brandy asked him to be brought back. Leonid cried and said he was on the show to make his dream come true.
* Elliot Zimet, a magician that made doves and a parrot appear in a more exciting and cool fashion. Piers said that he usually finds dove acts excrutiatingly boring, but that Zimet had managed to make it interesting, and all the judges agreed to put him through.
* Corina Brouder, a young Irish woman who played a harp while singing; the judges said that she and her voice were beautiful, and agreed to put her through.
* Dave Smith, a contortionist and musician who sang and played the song "Bend Me, Shape Me" on his guitar while his legs were wrapped behind his head. He amused Morgan and he wanted to see what other crazy stuff Dave could do.
* PBM, A rock band from Detroit, came on stage with hopes of dazzling the judges and the audience. Their music was a combination of rock and reggae, also known as ska or ska-punk. Morgan liked the band’s energy but wasn’t a big fan of the lead singer. Hasselhoff and Brandy wanted the band to come back. Brandy challenged PBM to prove Morgan wrong the next time they hit the stage.
* Michelle L'amour, dressed as Snow White, performed a burlesque striptease for the judges. This infuriated Brandy, who vigorously pushed Hasselhoff and Morgan's strike buttons. The two male judges enthusiastically gave their approvals for her to go on to the next round.
* Bianca Ryan, an 11-year old from Philadelphia, belted out the Jennifer Holliday song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from "Dreamgirls". Brandy gave Bianca a standing ovation and called her "my favorite contestant in this competition." Morgan told Ryan to change her hair, dress and shoes, "and you will win this tournament. ... You came on this stage, and you blew us away!" Hasselhoff called her "a star" and called for the audience to "get on your feet for this girl!" [ [http://www.nbc10.com/entertainment/9449871/detail.html Philly 11-Year-Old Wows Judges On 'America's Got Talent'] ]
* Side Swipe, a karate team who performed karate moves to music, also advanced to the second round from the New York auditions, but didn't compete in any of the semifinal episodes. In their audition for the second season of "America's Got Talent" in 2007, it was disclosed that the group had to withdraw from the competition in Season 1 because one of the members had injured his foot shortly after their first round performance.

Seven additional acts from New York 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. They include: The Hemphill Kids, Clarence Donaldson, Ten13 Concept, Billy Januario, The King Charles Unicycle Troupe, Aaron Burr, and Daniel Colin.

Acts that were eliminated include:

* William J. McGowan, an opera singer that sang "Cara Mia". Morgan called him the worst singer he'd ever heard.
* Frank Simon, a man who balanced a motorbike and then a stove on his lower jaw. Though extremely popular with the crowd, the judges felt that wasn't a level of talent. Morgan stated, "This is a talent show, not a freak show," which was followed by loud boos from the audience.
* Matthew Fuhrman, a navy reserve soldier from Miami Beach, Florida who attempted to beatbox. Though taking off his shirt won him some female audience support, the judges didn't like his audition.
* Marlon Reynolds, a man that sang "I Left My Heart In San Francisco", did not get a chance to sing the chorus. Morgan said he should have left his voice in San Francisco.

Chicago auditions

:Aired July 5, 2006, 1 hour

Acts that advanced to the second round include:
* The Passing Zone, two comedians/jugglers who juggled lit torches while on the 'Rola Bola of Death' as they make one-liners. Hasselhoff didn't like them, as with most of the other jugglers on the show, but Brandy and Morgan both said yes.
* The Millers, Cole on guitar and vocals, and L.D. on harmonica and backing vocals. They played Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". Morgan said that L.D. was a terrible singer, but in contrast, was the best harmonica player he had ever seen.
* Lilia Stepanova, a contortionist who shot a bow and arrow with her feet while executing a handstand to Ecstasy by ATB.
* Mark Faje (aka Mark "The Knife"), the "world's most dangerous comic", kicked a burning bowling ball with two steak knives protruding from it to the side of his head after placing a live scorpion in his pants. The judges all voted yes (though Morgan thought he was "completely barking mad").
* Taylor Ware, a singer and yodeler who learned all her yodeling from a tape and instruction booklet. The judges were blown away by her performance ("You learned that from a tape," asked Hasselhoff, "and an instruction booklet?! You are a good student!").
* The Players Club, a group of people who were "Step dancers", which involves using only your body as musical instruments. Morgan didn't see that they had an audience for their talent, while Hasselhoff and Brandy liked the act, though Brandy wanted them to be tighter.
* Quick Change Artists, a magic duo who rapidly changed outfits, with no visible way of determining how they did it.

Three additional acts from Chicago 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. They include: K Turbo, Sonia Lee, and Chadwick. Acts that were eliminated include:

* The Chicago Matadors, a group of overweight Chicago Bulls fans who danced to music.
* Shawn Crump, a singer who had only been singing for nine months. When asked by Brandy how good he was, he said he was awesome. Soon after starting "Suspicious Minds", he was quickly voted off.
* Sharon Kissane, a bird caller. She called birds that weren't there and made bird noises. Brandy wondered where the birds were that she was calling, Hasselhoff said she should be on medication, and Morgan said that she got off the wrong bus and came to the studio by mistake. He also said that he thought of the cuckoo when she was performing.
* Buster Balloon, a man who put himself inside a giant balloon. The balloon popped the first time, so he got another and did his act again. The judges were not very impressed, though.
* Flippy the Magnificent, a man wearing only a loincloth who imitated a hand-to-hand balancing act with an inflatable doll that looked like himself. When asked what was the "magnificent" part of the act, Flippy said that the judges did not give him a chance to bring out the magnificent part. Morgan said it was a ridiculous act and it was a waste of time.
* The Laughing Yogi (Yogi Ramesh), a man who did yoga that tried to make people laugh.

Semi-finals

At this point, 58 of the 61 acts (29 with televised auditions and 29 without) that made it to the semifinals were divided into four groups. The 14 or 15 acts in each group had to perform a second audition in front of only the judges. Brandy, Hasselhoff, and Morgan then pick ten of these performers to continue onto the telecast. The contestants chosen to perform on stage were announced one at a time. Those acts that were not chosen did not find out until the last act is called, ending their chances to move on to the semifinals, unless a judge selected a nonperformer for the Wild Card show later in the season.

Three semifinalists: Sydney Park, Sideswipe, and Michael Speaks (all of which had televised auditions), didn't perform in the semifinals at all. No reason was given for their absence, but in 2007, it was revealed that Sideswipe had to withdraw because of a member's foot injury. Sydney Park was believed to be absent because of her career in acting.

All semifinal programs were two hours long. The results shows, airing the next day, were one hour long, except for the first results show which was 30 minutes long.

Eliminated by judges:
*Audition televised: PBM (New York)
*Audition not televised: Rabbi Baptiste (Los Angeles), The Hemphill Kids (New York), K Turbo (Chicago), and Clarence Donaldson (New York)

The judges could not agree on a winner by the end of the performance episode, which upset Philbin and many of the audience members. Although Brandy revealed that she and Hasselhoff agreed on a choice, Morgan said he refused to add a third singing act to the two that had already made it to the finals, stating "this is not "American Idol" and he "wanted a more diverse group of acts for the final". This indicated that At Last was Brandy and Hasselhoff's pick (as the other singing acts that night got an X on Brandy's part). Realis became the judges' selection, announced on the following day's results show, while At Last became the viewers' pick.

Part 3

Finals

In the final round, the judges were still allowed to judge, but only the audience can decide the winners. In addition, each finalist had a celebrity coach to guide them.

Italics indicate that the act received three checks from the judges.

The winner of the one-million-dollar grand prize was 11-year-old singer Bianca Ryan. The ten finalists were first split into two groups. Group A consisted of Realis, At Last, Rappin' Granny, The Passing Zone and Quick Change. Out of the ten finalists, they received the lowest number of votes. The five finalists that received the most votes were The Millers, Taylor Ware, Bianca Ryan, Celtic Spring and All That. Regis asked All That and The Millers to step forward, and announced that they did not win the grand prize but were both runners-up, and were ranked in either 2nd or 3rd place. These acts each won a 2007 Dodge Caliber RT. The remaining three were Taylor Ware, Bianca Ryan and Celtic Spring. Philbin announced that Bianca won the grand prize.

Crazy Caliber Talent

#Rudi Macaggi, Mike Lloyd, Kelvin Gordon, James Thompson Winner:Rudi Macaggi
#The Douglas Lee, Nicolas Abramowitz, Larry Clark, Gery Deer and Scout, Camille Trout Winner:The Douglas Lee
#Duane Flatmo, Mayling Garcia, Bandaloni, Zach Freeman, Arthur the One Man Band Winner:Duane Flatmo
#Skylar Aud, Sammi Pryor, Alexis and Alysha, The Great Stamen Show Winner:The Great Stamen Show
#Dave Nakfoor, The Rubberband Kid, Jim McDonald, Nikolo Ashford, Sizzle Twins Winner:Dave Nakfoor

On the Finals Results Show (August 17), acrobat Rudi Macaggi won the Weird and Wacky Talent Finale (aka Crazy Caliber Talent) when the 5 finalists competed for a 2007 Dodge Caliber RT. He tap danced and dribbled a basketball while in a handstand, and did a standing backflip and caught a trapeze with his feet. The other finalists were Duane Flatmo (who played the guitar with an egg beater and a weed whacker), The Great Stamen Show (who played music by tapping his teeth), The Douglas Lee (who played water-filled drinking glasses), and Dave Nakfoor (who caught hard boiled eggs in his mouth).

Performers on results shows

* July 13 - Teddy Geiger
* July 20 - Jurassic 5
* July 27 - Cirque du Soleil
* August 3 - Tom Green
* August 10 - Penn & Teller
* August 17 - Aly & AJ, Blue Man Group

References

External links

* [http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/ Official website of "America's Got Talent"]