America's Got Talent (season 1)
The first season of America's Got Talent, an American talent show competition, began broadcasting in the United States during 2006, from June 21 to August 17 on NBC. It was originally intended to be aired after the first season of Britain's Got Talent, but following a dispute between that edition's planned host and the network that had secured the rights to the program, the Got Talent creator, Simon Cowell, decided to suspend work on the British edition and focused his attention on the American edition. Production staff appointed the program's first judges to be David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood, and Piers Morgan, and the first host to be Regis Philbin. The success of the season per its ratings helped to foster development of international editions of Got Talent, along with restarting production work on the British edition.
The first season was won by singer Bianca Ryan, with clogging dance group All That and singer & musician duo The Millers finishing as runner-ups within the Top 3 finalists.
Season Overview
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. 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, the judging panel featured the involvement of David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood, and Piers Morgan. 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:
| Participant | Genre | Act | Semi-final | Result |
| Alexis Jordan | Singing | Singer | 1 | |
| All That | Dance / Variety | Male Clogging Dance Group | 1 | ' |
| At Last | Singing | A-Cappella Vocal Group | 2 | ' |
| Bianca Ryan | Singing | Singer | 3 | ' |
| Bobby Badfingers | Variety | Finger Snapper | 2 | |
| Caitlyn Taylor Love | Singing | Singer | 3 | |
| Celtic Spring | Music / Dance | Irish Fiddler & Dancers | 4 | ' |
| Corina Brouder | Singing / Music | Singing Harpist | 1 | |
| Dave the Horn Guy | Music | Horn Performer | 2 | |
| Dave Smith One Man Sideshow | Singing / Variety | Singer & Side-Show Performer | 4 | |
| David & Dania | Magic | Quick-Change Illusionists | 4 | ' |
| Desperation Squad | Music | Punk Rock Band | 4 | |
| Elliot Zimet | Magic | Hip-hop Magician | 3 | |
| George Komsky | Singing | Singer | 4 | |
| Hoopalicious | Dance / Variety | Hula Hoop Dancer | 1 | |
| J. R. Johns and His Best Friends | Animal | Dancing Dog Act | 1 | |
| Jessica Sanchez | Singing | Singer | 5 | |
| Kenny Shelton | Comedy / Variety | Comic Juggler | 3 | |
| Kevin Johnson | Comedy | Ventriloquist | 1 | |
| King Charles Unicycle Troupe | Danger | Unicycle Stunt Basketball Troupe | 4 | |
| Leonid the Magnificent | Variety | Contortionist Performer | 2 | |
| Lilia Stepanova | Variety / Danger | Contortionist Archer | 4 | |
| Mark Faje | Danger / Comedy | Knife-Throwing Comedian | 2 | |
| Michelle L'amour | Variety | Burlesque Performer | 4 | |
| Natasha Le | Music | Pianist | 2 | |
| Nathan Burton | Magic / Comedy | Comic Magician | 3 | |
| N'Versity | Singing | Vocal Group | 2 | |
| Rappin' Granny | Singing | Rapper | 3 | ' |
| Realis | Acrobatics / Dance | Acrobatic Dancing Duo | 2 | ' |
| Sean and John | Dance | Tap Dancers | 4 | |
| Shawn Ryan | Singing | Cabaret Singer | 1 | |
| Sonia Lee | Music | Electric Violinist | 3 | |
| Sugar n' Spice | Music / Dance | Vocal Dance Group | 2 | |
| Taylor Ware | Singing / Variety | Yodeller | 1 | ' |
| Team Acrodunk | Acrobatics / Variety | Acrobatic Basketball Dunkers | 3 | |
| Ten13 Concept | Music | Punk Band | 3 | |
| The Passing Zone | Comedy / Variety | Comic Juggling Duo | 4 | ' |
| The Millers | Singing / Music | Singer & Musician Duo | 1 | ' |
| Trey Knight's Stilt World | Variety | Stilt Performers | 3 | |
| Vladik Miagkostoupov | Acrobatics / Variety | Acrobatic Juggler | 1 | |
| Vladimir Malachkin | Variety | Hand Balancer | 2 |
- These participants were entered into the Wildcard semi-final, after losing their initial semi-final.
Semi-final summary
Semi-final 1 (July 12)
- Guest Performer, Results Show: Teddy Geiger
- 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-final 3 (July 26)
- Guest Performer, Results Show: Cirque du Soleil
Semi-final 4 (August 2)
- Guest Performer, Results Show: Tom Green
Semi-final 5 - Wildcard Round (August 9)
- Guest Performer, Results Show: Penn & Teller
Final (August 16)
- Guest Performers, Results Show: Aly & AJ, and Blue Man Group
- Actual position these acts finished in was not disclosed by the program.