‘AGT’ Fans Air Out Frustration Over Removal of Judge Cuts
Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC Reading Time: 3 minutes
America’s Got Talent has recently discarded the Judge Cuts round in their format, and fans are obviously not happy. Numerous viewers took their complaints to social media, expressing their frustration over the unwanted modification.
AGT Fans are Annoyed After Judge Cuts Were Once Again Axed in 2023
Once again, this season’s AGT contestants will not be going through the Judge Cuts round this season. Now that auditions are over, the only option is for contestants to get picked as one of the 55 acts going into the live shows.
Although this format change is not new in anyway, many fans still believe that the Judge Cuts are an extremely important round for contestants. On Reddit, mad viewers vented their disapproval for sudden removal of the middle round.
“Not having a middle round has completely ruined the show,” one fan wrote. “There’s been bad choices in the past and some joke acts always make it, but this might be the worst choices ever.”
“They need to at least televise the acts hearing the results. I’m a fan of just brin[g]ing back a middle round altogether,” another fan wrote.
Furthermore, fans were also disappointed to know that the previous episode only aired its “best of” clips. Instead, many were hoping this week’s “Road To the Live Shows” episode would be the beginning of the Judge Cuts. Instead, the end of the episode featured a short slideshow of which acts are going into the semi finals.
AGT Fans Propose a New Buzzer Rule
Apparently, fans also believe that the show’s rules regarding the buzzer must be changed. According to people on Reddit, it would be best if AGT judges can only buzz acts after performances.
“I believe that this would be a new good rule to have in order to have contestants better focus on their act,” a fan wrote. “This could especially be beneficial to more dangerous acts because one single buzzer could possibly be fatal. One buzzer would be a chain reaction to an entire act just collapsing.”
Several fans then agreed that the functionality of the buzzer should change. One made sense out of the suggestion, noting that some judges press their buzzer just seconds after the beginning of the contestants’ performance.
However, others believe that present rules should remain, believing that interruption is the whole point of the buzzer.
What Are Judge Cuts? Why Were They Axed?
This isn’t the first time that America’s Got Talent fans have been disappointed with the show’s format in the past few years. Fan favorite round, Judge Cuts, was actually initially axed from the show’s format in Season 15 (2020) and replaced with Judge Deliberations. Given the world’s situation at the time, it was understood that not all acts would have been able to perform again for the judges. In place of the Judge Cuts, Deliberations featured judges talking about their favorite acts of the season. Unfortunately for super fans, this is the format we’ve seen since Season 15.
For those who many not know the extent of it, Judge Cuts were typically a long process since the AGT stage sees a lot of contestants. This round typically sees the 70-80 (dependent on the season) acts audition all over again. In its prime, it used to last around four weeks in the middle of the season. The round was notorious for featuring various guest judges, who often were able to award Guest Judge Golden Buzzers.
Fans thought that this season’s Judge Deliberations were underwhelming, since they weren’t able to see their favorite acts again. In addition, any performer that got below four yeses would have a hard time moving into the live shows.
