America's Got Talent (season 1)

Both Brandy Norwood and Regis Philbin fronted AGT for the first season only.

In 2005, Simon Cowell 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, the originally intended host of Britain's Got Talent.[2] 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 NBC, who commissioned a small season of episodes, with Cowell working alongside Freemantle with his own company Syco Entertainment. Production staff launched open auditions across the United States at this time, while they subsequently searched for and chose those who would front the program in the required roles - while Regis Philbin was picked as the host,[3] the judging panel featured the involvement of David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood, and Piers Morgan.[4] 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, with these being filmed and taking place across three major cities in April 2006 - Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.

The format used in the first season of America's Got Talent for live rounds differed greatly to what would later be used in both later seasons of the program and other international editions of the Got Talent franchise. Although the concept of airing the Results episode after a Performance episode on a different day would be retained in later seasons, the format of semi-final rounds and the final itself mainly had judges making votes about each performance pertaining to whether they approved or disapproved of an act, with no use of a buzzer to stop a performance at any times. The first season did incorporate the use of round for Wildcard acts for the contest, though a considerable number could be selected from any semi-final that they had been eliminated from, unlike in later seasons were the format was used. In the first season, the format's use was defined by the rule that the judges could each select two eliminated semi-finalists from any semi-final, while the public could choose one from each round.

Of the participants who auditioned for this season, 40 secured a place in the semi-finals, with ten appearing in each one, and eight of these acts making it into the live final. Around 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. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:

  Winner |   Runner-Up |   Finalist |   Semi-finalist

• ^1 These participants were entered into the Wildcard semi-final, after losing their initial semi-final.

Semi-final 1 (July 12)

• Guest Performer, Results Show: Teddy Geiger

Semi-Finalist	Order	Act	Judges' Vote			Results (July 13)
			Hasselhoff	Norwood	Morgan
Taylor Ware	1	Yodeller				Won Public Vote
All That	2	Male Clogging Dance Group				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
Kevin Johnson	3	Ventriloquist				Eliminated
Alexis Jordan	4	Singer				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
Vladik Miagkostoupov	5	Acrobatic Juggler	2			Eliminated
Shawn Ryan	6	Cabaret Singer				Eliminated
J. R. Johns and His Best Friends	7	Dancing Dog Act				Eliminated
Hoopalicious	8	Hula Hoop Dancer			2	Eliminated
Corina Brouder	9	Singing Harpist				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
The Millers	10	Singer & Musician Duo				Judges' choice

• ^2 Each respective judge meant to vote their disapproval for the corresponding performance, but accidentally voted the opposite.

Semi-final 2 (July 19)

• Guest Performer, Results Show: Jurassic 5

Semi-Finalist	Order	Act	Judges' Vote			Results (July 20)
			Hasselhoff	Norwood	Morgan
Dave the Horn Guy	1	Horn Performer				Eliminated
Realis	2	Acrobatic Dancing Duo				Judges' choice
At Last	3	A-Cappella Vocal group				Won Public Vote
Natasha Le	4	Pianist				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
Vladimir Malachkin	5	Hand Balancer				Eliminated
Bobby Badfingers	6	Finger Snapper				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
Sugar n' Spice	7	Vocal Dance Group				Eliminated
N'Versity	8	Vocal Group				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
Mark Faje	9	Knife-Throwing Comedian				Eliminated
Leonid the Magnificent	10	Contortionist Performer				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)

Semi-final 3 (July 26)

• Guest Performer, Results Show: Cirque du Soleil

Semi-Finalist	Order	Act	Judges' Vote			Results (July 27)
			Hasselhoff	Norwood	Morgan
Team Acrodunk	1	Acrobatic Basketball Dunkers				Eliminated
Caitlyn Taylor Love	2	Singer				Eliminated
Sonia Lee	3	Electric Violinist				Eliminated
Elliot Zimet	4	Hip-hop Magician				Eliminated
Ten13 Concept	5	Punk Band				Eliminated
Rappin' Granny	6	Rapper				Judges' choice
Nathan Burton	7	Comic Magician				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
Bianca Ryan	8	Singer				Won Public Vote
Kenny Shelton	9	Comic Juggler				Eliminated
Trey Knight's Stilt World	10	Stilt Performers				Eliminated

Semi-final 4 (August 2)

• Guest Performer, Results Show: Tom Green

Semi-Finalist	Order	Act	Judges' Vote			Results (August 3)
			Hasselhoff	Norwood	Morgan
The Passing Zone	1	Comic Juggling Duo				Judges' choice
Celtic Spring	2	Irish Fiddlers & Dancers				Won Public Vote
Sean and John	3	Tap Dancers				Eliminated
Lilia Stepanova	4	Contortionist Archer				Eliminated
Dave Smith One Man Sideshow	5	Singer & Side-show Performer				Eliminated
David & Dania	6	Quick-change Illusionists				Eliminated (Chosen for Wildcard Round)
George Komsky	7	Singer				Eliminated
Michelle L'amour	8	Burlesque Performers				Eliminated
King Charles Unicycle Troupe	9	Unicycle Stunt Basketball Troupe				Eliminated
Desperation Squad	10	Punk Rock Band				Eliminated

Semi-final 5 - Wildcard Round (August 9)

• Guest Performer, Results Show: Penn & Teller

Semi-Finalist	Order	Act	Judges' Vote			Results (August 10)
			Hasselhoff	Norwood	Morgan
Nathan Burton	1	Comic Magician				Eliminated
Bobby Badfingers	2	Finger Snapper				Eliminated
Jessica Sanchez	3	Singer				Eliminated
All That	4	Male Clogging Dance Group				Judges' choice
Corina Brouder	5	Singing Harpist				Eliminated
David & Dania	6	Quick-change Illusionists				Won Public Vote
N'Versity	7	Vocal Group				Eliminated
Natasha Le	8	Pianist				Eliminated
Alexis Jordan	9	Singer				Eliminated
Leonid the Magnificent	10	Contortionist Performer				Eliminated

Final (August 16)

• Guest Performers, Results Show: Aly & AJ, and Blue Man Group

Judge Disapproved | Judge Approved

  Winner |   Runner-up

Finalist	Order	Act	Judges' Vote			Results (August 17)
			Hasselhoff	Norwood	Morgan
At Last	1	A-Cappella Vocal Group				Bottom 5
David & Dania	2	Quick-change Illusionists				Bottom 5
Rappin' Granny	3	Rapper				Bottom 5
Bianca Ryan	4	Singer				Winner
All That	5	Male Clogging Dance Group				Runner-up (2nd-3rd place)
Taylor Ware	6	Yodeller				Top 5
The Passing Zone	7	Comic Juggling Duo				Bottom 5
Celtic Spring	8	Irish Fiddlers & Dancers				Top 5
Realis	9	Acrobatic Dancing Duo				Bottom 5
The Millers	10	Singer & Musician Duo				Runner-up (2nd-3rd place)

• Official website
• America's Got Talent (Season 1) on IMDb
• America's Got Talent (Season 1) at TV.com