America’s Got Talent Season 14 got underway with a two-hour premiere on Tuesday, May 28 with Week 1 of Auditions. The season looks a little different, as gone are Heidi Klum and Mel B. as judges, and in are Julianne Hough and Gabrielle Union. Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel are back, but there is a new host in Terry Crews who replaces Tyra Banks. Let’s look at what happened in Week 1.
Auditions Week 1 Recap
In the auditions part of the show, which goes on for six weeks, a contestant needs at least three of the four judges to give them a yes vote or they need one of the judges to hit the “golden buzzer” which sends them through to the live round. The first six weeks are all about the auditions which took place earlier this year around the country. There will be four weeks of Judge Cuts which start in July and then there will be the live shows and results episodes.
The first show of the new season started with Greg Morton doing a medley of Star Wars voices and noises. He wowed everyone and was given a Yes by all four judges.
Magician Eric Chien was up next and he impressed all of the judges and got four Yes votes. Singer Sophie Pecora performed an original song and the 15-year old impressed all of the judges and got four Yes votes.
The first contestant that didn’t make it through was a professional dancer who came in wearing ballet slippers. It didn’t take long for three X’s to appear and Simon actually hit the X for Julianne who was too nice to hit the X. The next acts all got four X’s.
Classical pianist Patrizio Ratto surprised the judges and the audience when he danced to a remix of the piano music. The judges gave him four Yes votes. Another four votes of Yes went to the group of dancers named V.Unbeatable. They had a lot of dance moves and acrobatics and everyone loved them.
Another easy Yes from the judges went to stand-up comic Jackie Fabulous who did a great job making everyone laugh. Another contestant who got a unanimous Yes was drag queen Gingzilla who had an act with singing and comedy.
The first excitement of the evening came with The Human Fuse who built a crossbow to shoot himself across the studio. He wowed the judges and the audience and got four Yes votes although Simon wondered how he will top what he did in his first performance.
The last act of the night was singer and pianist Kodi Lee. He told the story of being blind and autistic and how that learning music saved his life. Kodi played the piano and sang Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You.” The performance had the judges in tears and Simon said the performance was “extraordinary.” Gabrielle gave Kodi the Golden Buzzer so that means Kodi has already advanced to the live performance shows.
Ratings Concern
The two-hour premiere got an average rating of just 1.7. Those numbers are well behind the 2.5 rating the show got for its premier last year. It is also down from the 2.1 average rating the show got a year ago. The numbers are concerning, considering America’s Got Talent didn’t face any real competition on Tuesday night.
The question is why the ratings dropped so much from last season. It is because of the new judges and new host? Terry Crews was probably not a good choice for the new host, but it was not like Tyra Banks was that great in her two seasons. There may have been viewers who liked Mel B. and Heidi Klum but it is hard to argue with Julianne Hough or Gabrielle Union as judges. Was Tuesday a blip in the ratings, or something for AGT to seriously worry about? We’ll find out next week.
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