‘AGT’ wins ratings by being a ‘safe zone’
Tyra Banks furnishes hugs; even Simon Cowell is nice(r)
America’s Got Talent is capitalizing on joy. And the plan is paying off in record numbers.
The show (NBC; Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 ET/PT), which features returning judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B, is the No. 1 summer broadcast series delivering its most-watched season ever: 16.2 million viewers, up 15% from last year.
Inside the Dolby Theatre, where AGT is shooting the first of its live episodes, the audience is clapping to the tune of Pharrell’s Happy before the show.
A warm-up guy tells the thousands in the stands: “Don’t watch the show; be part of it.” He also encourages people to laugh at what’s funny, cheer at what’s exciting and stand up when they feel so compelled. (They feel compelled — often.)
“I do believe part of our success is a little bit of an escape and a little bit of a safe zone,” executive producer Jason Raff says about AGT. “It’s a fun, entertaining show that takes you away from the headlines of the day.”
To help create that la la land, NBC has enlisted new host Tyra Banks, who replaces Nick Cannon after he left the show in February because of a dispute with the network over a racial joke.
“I’m a little bit more cheerleader and Mama,” says Banks, comparing her new role with the one on America’s NextTop Model, where “I (was) tough love-slash-comedian-slash-coach. It is different.”
Instead of advising contestants to “smize” (smile with their eyes), she’s helping nervous young acts such as 9-year-old singer Celine Tam and 12-year-old ventriloquist Darci Lynne turn their nerves into excitement, encouraging them to “use that scared energy for positivity,” as she says. She also fields many hugs.
Banks isn’t the only one who’s shedding her edge for the feelgood show. Cowell, too, is gentler, at least compared with the American Idol years when “there was a perceived meanness to (his persona) that was attractive to the viewers,” says Raff. “He’s not quite the mean judge that he might have been in the past.”
And how could he be, when he’s on a show that guarantees happy tears with the touch of a button (the Golden Buzzer has sent eight acts straight to the live shows), and has been upping the ante in terms of live spectacle?
Recent awards-show-caliber AGT performances have featured ascending platforms and fire (stunt skaters Billy and Emily England) and more than a thousand LED candles onstage (13year-old musician Evie Clair). The highly produced stage show feels “on the edge of things going horribly wrong,” says Raff. Sometimes things do go wrong. Last week, neon-lit dance crew Light Balance couldn’t perform because of technical difficulties (NBC aired a rehearsal) and illusionist Demian Aditya’s deathdefying escape “didn’t work as he hoped it would work, (despite) working in rehearsal,” Raff says.
But, if anything, the mistakes create another talking point for families that watch together.
“Anecdotally, people come to me and say, ‘I love watching that show with my family,’ ” Raff says. “A show that can get a teenager to watch TV at the same time as a parent, that is a very special thing to me.”