The eighth season of America’s Got Talent premieres Tuesday night, May 27 on NBC, and while the judges remain the same this year — Spice Girl Mel B, supermodel/TV host Heidi Klum, actor/comedian Howie Mandel, and King of All Media Howard Stern — some things will mix things up a bit, including a “Golden Buzzer” that can save a contestant.
Nick Cannon continues as the show’s host, and while some shows focus on the judges or the negative side of things, America’s Got Talent, despite being competitive, focuses squarely on the talent.
At a recent NBC summer press event, the judges and host talked about what makes America’s Got Talent stand out, and what creates a winner for their show.
“If you can capture our attention and American’s attention, there’s no category, there’s nothing specific that you can do that may get you to the end,” Howie Mandel explained. “A couple years ago we had that guy, Horse, who was kicked in the genitals, he ended up getting a show on another network. That’s the beauty of this show,” he said, adding that the most successful talent show on TV right now, The Voice, is also on NBC, and those talented people have the voice. “We have everything else,” he said.
“We’re not looking for the best guy to chew through a license plate,” Mandel added. “We are looking for America’s best talent, and I find that almost easier to judge than singing, because singing is really subjective. If you don’t like the song or ‑‑ but if somebody comes on stage and does something original, something you’ve never seen before and captures your attention and you believe America’s attention and you believe that this is so good that at some point somebody’s gonna want to buy a ticket and show up and see this again, then I think that’s pretty easy to judge.”
Nick Cannon sees the variety as one reason why America’s Got Talent is growing when some other competition shows are not. “It’s gonna be something different that you’ve never seen, and when you think about social media and everything that’s going on on the internet, it’s those quick sound bites or just viral, viral stuff that you say, ‘Did I just see that? Is that really happening?’ That happens a lot on the show.,” he enthused.
The rules for this season are changing with the addition of a new buzzer that could alter the outcome of the show. “We have a golden buzzer,” Heidi Klum revealed. “Normally we all have a red buzzer, so if we don’t like an act, we can buzz. But now every judge has the opportunity to save someone. So if someone gets three Xs, they’re automatically out. So if you believe in that person that much, you can hit the golden buzzer, but only one time throughout the whole season you can save that person.” (SPOILER: Howie Mandel will be the first to use the golden buzzer).
You can see a trailer for Season 8 of America’s Got Talent below:
