America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League schedule, format, TWISTS and more
The brand new AGT format America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League premieres on Monday Jan. 1 and will run for a total of eight weeks. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the inaugural season.
Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum take their usual places on the panel as they do during the flagship summer season. However, regular judge Sofia Vergara will sit out the special midseason iteration as she always does (she has things to do!). In her place, former AGT judge Mel B. will take her place. Terry Crews serves as host. What sets apart AGT: Fantasy league from regular-flavor AGT? The judges will pick 10 team members to mentor. Similar to The Voice and X Factors, the panelists are competing, as well as the artists.
According to NBC, the show will air for eight weeks. The Top 40 acts, voted upon by fans shortly after the America’s Got Talent season 18 finale back in September, will perform 10 at a time over 4 week course of audition shows.
Each judge has a Golden Buzzer and can use it to STEAL another panelist’s team member
The NBC Insider article linked above is confusing and contains errors. I viewed the premiere at the NBC press site. Each of the four weeks, ONE Golden Buzzer will advance STRAIGHT through to the finale (skipping the semi-finals) each of the four weeks. Each week FIVE additional acts voted through by the audience will advance to the semi-final round.
Each audition week, a judge will command the Golden Buzzer. But there is a twist. They can choose an act from their OWN team to advance to the finale. OR, they can STEAL an act from a rival team, also sending them to the finale, but now on a new team. Shades of The Voice, where coaches can steal artists during the Battles and Knockouts.
Twenty acts move on to the semi-finals. Four Golden Buzzer acts go straight to the finale.
In short: The auditions last 4 weeks. Forty acts perform. 10 each week. The audience votes through five acts to the semifinals. One judge each week will hit their Golden Buzzer for an act, either their own or to steal another judge’s team member. At the end of the auditions, FOUR Golden Buzzer acts go straight to the Finals, while 20 acts move on via audience vote to compete in the two week semi-finals.
The confusing NBC piece is unclear about how many acts actually move on to the finals from the semi-finals, as the final round will already have 4 Golden Buzzers. Maybe four acts from each week of the semi-finals will advance to the finals for a total of 12 acts competing for the crown? It’s doable. Week seven will feature performances only and no eliminations. The finale will air the following week, in which Terry will unveil the winner chosen by audience vote the week before. Stay tuned for clarifications!
The winner nabs a 250K prize.
Mentoring is featured only briefly. The 10 auditions acts are NOT divided evenly between the four judges!
The judges chose their teams off camera. Short clips of the process are aired throughout the episode. It appears that each judge took turns picking an artist–much like choosing sides for a pickup sports game. The video package shows BRIEF clips of the judges “mentoring” their acts. Think American Idol mentor Bobby Bones delivering milquetoast platitudes to the contestants. It’s like that!
It’s also worth noting that the 10 act audition line up is VERY lopsided. For instance, in the premiere I viewed, one judge had four acts competing, another three and another two. And one judge had one act, with the remaining nine to be spread over the following three weeks of auditions. The Golden Buzzer for the night DID NOT have the most acts competing.
America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League Schedule
Each episode is two hours long, airing from 8 pm-10 pm ET/PT on NBC.
Monday Jan 1 – Auditions 1
Monday Jan 8 – Auditions 2
Monday Jan 15 – Auditions 3
Monday Jan 22 – Auditions 4
Monday Jan 29 – Semi-final 1
Monday Feb 5 – Semifinal 2
Monday Feb 12 – Performance Final
Monday Feb 19 – Finale (Winner revealed!)
