At this rate, America is never going to run out of talent.
NBC’s smash summer talent competition, America’s Got Talent, which started its round of live shows Tuesday, is an anomaly on TV. It’s a fun, effective show, sure, but in an age when cable and streaming services are cutting into broadcast ratings, the biggest talent on AGT might be its ability to grow in viewership.
Last summer, AGT was once again the No. 1 summer series, delivering its most-watched season: 16 million viewers, up 13 per cent from 2016. Ratings are down slightly this year, but the show still easily outranks the competition every week.
So what is it about this high-budget talent show judged by Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, former Spice Girl Melanie Brown and the Deal or No Deal guy, Howie Mandel, that makes viewers tune in, even as ratings for other reality series have declined?
It’s a perfect mix of accessibility, audience curiosity and genuine emotion. Unlike the usually 20something, perfectly coiffed contestants on The Voice, American Idol or other shows, AGT features an array of decidedly ordinary — and ordinary-looking — people with dull jobs but big dreams. They run the gamut of body types, ages and styles, offering many people who aren’t used to seeing themselves succeed a slice of representation.
Last season featured a deaf singer who felt the vibrations on the floor with her feet to help guide her notes. And just this month, a 71-year-old dancer strutted her stuff and left the judges amazed.
This diverse, delightful group of contestants isn’t competing for a record contract or $1 million; instead, the winner gets a Las Vegas residency, which somehow seems to keep the competition friendly.
When the prize is the notoriously off-kilter Las Vegas stage, the acts are going to be just a little off-kilter, too. There’s an aura of unpredictability in each episode of AGT. This contestant did what? With what? Who got a golden buzzer? There’s an elementary school-age ventriloquist? You have to see it to believe it, every week, on NBC or in popular YouTube clips.
And speaking of those clips, how many have made you cry? Probably at least five or six: They carry as much emotional weight as those commercials with veterans who return home and see their dogs for the first time, only they’re not half as manipulative.
The emotion works because it feels real, whether it’s an underdog act getting a golden buzzer or someone completing a daring feat that’s beyond your wildest dreams. Sure, these clips are edited to elicit the maximum response, but the producers don’t have to do much. The contestants who gravitate to AGT (at least those cast by producers) have genuinely heartwarming stories, a rare thing to find in the manufactured genre.
AGT was never the coolest kid on the reality-show block, but its cultural cachet has heightened as the relevancy of other shows has waned. It’s telling that the most successful and well-known alum of any talent series in recent years is AGT champ Grace VanderWaal, the pint-size singer and ukulele player.
So as the live shows kick off this week, good luck to the singers, the comedians, the magicians and everyone in between. In a cultural moment when negativity reigns, there’s something uniquely satisfying about sitting down to two hours of pure positivity. Bringing real joy to 2018 is a talent all on its own.
