Simon Cowell Reveals ‘America’s Got Talent’ Wasn’t a Hit Right Away
Photo by: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal Reading Time: 3 minutes
America’s Got Talent is back! The show’s twentieth season premieres on May 27, 2025. Ahead of the season premiere, America’s Got Talent judges, Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara, and Mel B, alongside host Terry Crews discussed the monumental season on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
America’s Got Talent Wasn’t A Hit Right Away
Earlier this week, America’s Got Talent’s Season 20 judges sat down with Kelly Clarkson to discuss the new season. When discussing the show hitting the monumental 20 season mark, Simon Cowell gave the background on how the show got up and running.
“It was actually almost impossible, we made a pilot, admittedly it wasn’t very good it was about seven minutes, which was okay and then I got a phone call, from NBC saying ‘what’s this new show like?'” Cowell said. “I went ‘amazing, I’ve got a highlights reel.’ I showed them the seven minutes and they went ‘oh yeah, we want it’ and they bought it and I’m like ‘thank god.'”
Cowell admitted that if it weren’t for NBC buying it “we were screwed.” A bit of luck helped the show go on to be what it is nearly 20 years later.
“I think it’s important for people in this industry and fans to hear that because everybody thinks things hit right away and you don’t see the whole process of leading up to that and how many things don’t come to fruition,” Kelly Clarkson said. “That’s so funny to me that people didn’t believe in it and now it’s so successful.”
Longtime judge Howie Mandel then admitted that’s what the whole show is about, really. It was perfect for Mandel to talk about the message of the show, given he’s been the longest running judge.
“That’s the whole message of our show and that’s why it’s lasted this long because if you give up, if you give up, everybody’s rejected in life,” Mandel said. “Everybody in life — you don’t have to be in show business. We have people 80 years old and 8 years old that show up and they say ‘you know I’ve gone through a horrible break up or I’ve gone through a sickness or I was working or I put my family aside, this is my dream, just keep going for it going for it going for it and something good will happen.”
Mandel ended his statement saying “the only reason it doesn’t happen is because you give up and this twentieth season dreams are coming true bigger and better than before.”
AGT Judges Look Back at Favorite Acts
Given the nature of the upcoming season of America’s Got Talent, judges were asked to name their favorite moments in the history of the show. Cowell answered first, saying “one of my Golden Buzzers, The Mayyas.” Vergara then cut off Cowell, saying that it was actually her Golden Buzzer and her favorite moment as well.
Terry Crews went on to list his favorite moment as awarding his Golden Buzzer to the Detroit Youth Choir in 2019. Crews admitted that the group “did amazing but they didn’t win the show, that was the year that Kodi Lee, who’s an icon won the season, but the city of detroit gave them [Detroit Youth Choir] a million dollars anyway.”
After, Mandel admitted that even if you don’t go on to win America’s Got Talent, you’re still able to have success with your talent. He importantly noted that walking down the strip of Las Vegas, you’ll quickly notice all of the former AGT contestants that now have their own shows.
America’s Got Talent premieres on Tuesday, May 27 at 8PM ET on NBC. Be sure to tune in so you don’t miss a second of the brand new season.
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