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America's Got Talent (Season 1)

Broadcast from June 21 – August 17, 2006
Judges
Host(s) Regis Philbin
Broadcaster NBC
Bianca Ryan
Bianca Ryan.jpg
Bianca Ryan
Origin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genre(s) Gospel, pop, R&B
All That & The Millers

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, New York, and Chicago. Regis Philbin was the host for this season. David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood, and Piers Morgan were the judges. This season's winner was Bianca Ryan.

For the audition round, each of the three judges has a red button in front of them that they can press when they do not want the act to continue; the button rings an electronic bell and a large red X with the judge's name lights up over the stage. A louder buzzer indicates the third judge's button was pressed, and the contestant's performance is terminated. Then, the judges deliberate over the act and decide if it gets through to the live semi-finals. In the semi-finals, the judges have X's (red buttons) and check marks (white buttons). Acts are divided into four groups of either 14 or 15, and only 10 of those acts in the group perform. They do not have the power to terminate an act in the middle of his/her performance. At the end of the performance, the judges give the act a check for approval, and an X if they did not like the act. At the end of the episode, the judges would pick an act and automatically move them through to the live finale. Then, the viewers at home would vote another act through to the finale. The act with the most votes from the viewers would move on to the finals and that act would be announced in a live results show the next day. There was also a fifth wild card episode, where the judges picked ten acts who were previously eliminated and give them one more chance to perform. In the finale, there is no judges' choice, and the voting is entirely handed over to the viewers.

Acts that advanced to the second round include:

Michael Speaks advanced to the second round from the L.A. auditions, but did not compete in any of the semifinal episodes, for reasons not disclosed.

Eighteen 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 two-hour episode. They include: Celtic Spring, Sugar n' Spice, Jessica Sanchez, N'Versity, Rabbi Baptiste, George Kelly, Andy Chitanga, Conrad Wright, Shawn Ryan, Sean and John, Natasha Le, Realis, Caitlyn Taylor Love, Marla and Michelle, Hell If I Know, Jesschelle, Trey Knight's Stilt World, Hoopalicious, and Desperation Squad.


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