The first season of the American

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

competition series ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribu ...

'' was broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from June 21 to August 17, 2006. The season went into production a year earlier than planned by ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's SYCOtv company. It has spawned spin-offs in over 69 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Fremantl ...

'' creator

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...

. Cowell intended for ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloqui ...

'' to debut before AGT in 2006. However, production was suspended due to internal conflicts within its British television network.

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on '' The Yo ...

Brandy Norwood Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979), better known by her mononym Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. She is known for her distinctive sound, characterized by her peculiar timbre, voice-layer ...

and

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; né O'Meara; born 30 March 1965) is a British broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality. He began his Fleet Street career in 1988 at ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. In 1994, aged 29, he was ...

were the show's first judges, with

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working ma ...

as host. This season originally had an early format for live round judging and Wildcard acts, which would be changed after the season's conclusion. The first season was won by singer

Bianca Ryan Bianca Taylor Ryan (born September 1, 1994) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ryan was the first winner of NBC's ''America's Got Talent'' at the age of eleven. Singing two Broadway show tunes along t ...

, with

clogging Clogging is a type of folk dance practiced in the United States, in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms, usually to the downbeat with the ...

dance group All That, and singer/musician duo

The Millers ''The Millers'' is an American sitcom television series that was created by Greg Garcia and stars Will Arnett as Nathan Miller and Margo Martindale as Carol Miller. The multi-camera series aired from October 3, 2013 to July 18, 2015 and ran 3 ...

finishing as runner-ups within the Top 3 finalists. The season's actual results for second and third place were not declared. The ratings success of this season helped foster the development of other international editions of the ''Got Talent'' franchise, along with restarting production on the British edition.

Season overview

In 2005,

devised plans for a televised talent competition, originally intending for it be created and broadcast in Britain through the British broadcaster ITV, with an American edition to follow after its first season. However, following a pilot broadcast of the format, a dispute arose between ITV and

Paul O'Grady Paul James O'Grady MBE DL (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and former drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag queen persona Lily Savage, very popular in ...

, the originally intended host of ''Britain's Got Talent''. In the wake of the dispute, after O'Grady decided to sign on to another network, Cowell suspended production on the British edition, and instead focused on the American edition in 2006. His proposal for his program in America was bought by

, who commissioned a small season of episodes, along with

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

and Cowell's own company

Syco Entertainment Syco Entertainment is a British media entertainment company, headquartered in London, founded and owned by British entrepreneur and record executive Simon Cowell. The company focuses on TV production. The company was formed in 2005 through S ...

. Auditions were launched across the United States, while

was picked as the host with

and

chosen as judges. After the open auditions had been completed, those who had been nominated for the program were entered into more an extensive round of major auditions, which took place across

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Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in April 2006. The format used in the first season of ''America's Got Talent'' for live rounds differed greatly from what would later be used in later seasons of the program, as well as for other international editions of the ''Got Talent'' franchise. In the semi-finals and the final, the judges voted on each participant's performance pertaining to whether they approved or disapproved of an act, with no use of a buzzer to stop a performance at any time. While each semi-final would offer two places in the live final, any act eliminated by this stage would have a chance to be picked as a Wildcard for a special semi-final – two by each judge from any semi-final and one by the public from each round – with an additional two places offered. Forty of the participants who auditioned for this season secured a place in the semi-finals, with ten performing in each show and eight of the acts making it into the live final. Approximately ten of the semi-finalists who didn't advance were chosen by the judges to compete within a Wildcard round and secured two additional places in the final. These are the results of each participant's overall performance during the season: : , , , * These participants were entered into the Wildcard semi-final, after losing their initial semi-final.

Semi-final summary

Judge Disapproved , Crystal Clear app clean