Longtime fans of America’s Got Talent might remember that for several seasons, the show featured a round called Judge Cuts, which determined which acts would perform in the live shows. Why did the show do away with this round of the competition?
AGT Changed the Judge Cuts Round in Season 15
Each season of AGT starts with the audition round, as hopeful acts perform for the judges. If they receive three or more “yes” votes from the panel (or a Golden Buzzer), they can move on to the next round.
In early seasons of the show, the judges would determine which successful auditioners should move on to the live shows in the “Las Vegas Callbacks,” which was eventually changed to “Vegas Verdicts” and then “Judgment Week.”
In Season 10, the show introduced the Judge Cuts round, which would play out over several weeks. Celebrity guest judges would join the panel, as the acts who made it through the audition round would perform once again for their chance to go to the live shows. Guest judges were allowed to press one Golden Buzzer each to send an act straight through.
In Season 15, this round was altered due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in production. The show’s judges chose which acts should move on in a single episode. Some acts moved on without performing, while 10 others had to deliver another performance to determine their fate.
In Season 16, the judges’ deliberations were condensed even more, as none of the acts were required to perform again before the panel decided who should move on to the live Quarterfinals. The Judge Cuts round is no more.
Why Didn’t the Show Bring Back Judge Cuts?
As Covid-19 precautions eased up in post-2020 seasons of the show, many fans expected that the Judge Cuts round might return. However, it doesn’t look like there are any plans to bring this round back. In fact, AGT creator Simon Cowell seems to prefer it this way.
“I always felt you were way up there on the audition shows and then it felt like you dropped in energy on the middle rounds – so I was always keen to change those middle shows, they never quite felt right to me,” Cowell said in 2020. “I personally now would stick to this new way we’ve done it not just for the present but for the future. I think it is a better show this year than it has been on previous years.”
Last year, fans on the AGT subreddit speculated about other possible reasons the Judge Cuts are no more. In addition to the time and expense required to produce several more performance episodes each season, one user suggested that lower ratings might have killed this round for good.
Ratings for Season 15 of the show reportedly fell during the shortened Judge Cuts round. Compared to the previous year’s first Judge Cuts episode, ratings were apparently down 33 percent. This might have only confirmed Cowell’s opinion that the show’s middle round should be done away with.
What do you think? Should AGT bring back the Judge Cuts round next season? Let us know on X!
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Jill O'Rourke Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit
