title: Miriam Margolyes

text: On 15 October 2022, after being interviewed by Justin Webb about the recently deceased Robbie Coltrane on BBC Radio 4's "Today", she commented to the presenters that she had never expected to be in a seat that had just been vacated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt. She said, live on air, "When I saw him there I just said, 'You've got a hell of a job, the best of luck', and what I really wanted to say was 'Fuck you, you bastard!'"


title: Miriam Margolyes

text: Author and comedian David Walliams says he used Margolyes as a model for the title character in his children's book "Awful Auntie" after an argument with her during a stage production, though he stressed that he has nothing against her and is a fan of her work.


title: Miriam Margolyes

text: Margolyes was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2002 New Year Honours for Services to Drama.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and formerly DreamWorks Studios, commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film company and distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994 as a live-action film studio by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen (together, SKG), of which they owned 72%. The studio formerly distributed its own and third-party films. It has produced or distributed more than ten films with box-office grosses of more than $100 million each.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In December 2005, the founders agreed to sell the studio to Viacom, parent of Paramount Pictures. The sale was completed in February 2006 (this version is now named DW Studios). In 2008, DreamWorks announced its intention to end its partnership with Paramount and made a deal to produce films with India's Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, re-creating DreamWorks Pictures as an independent entity. The following year, DreamWorks entered into a distribution agreement with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, wherein Disney would distribute DreamWorks films through the Touchstone Pictures label; the deal continued until August 2016. Since October 2016, Universal Pictures has distributed most of the films produced by DreamWorks Pictures. Currently, DreamWorks operates out of offices at Universal Studios Hollywood.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: DreamWorks is also distinct from its former animation division of the same name, which was spun-off in 2004 and became a subsidiary of NBCUniversal in 2016. Spielberg's company continues to use the original DreamWorks trademarks under license from DreamWorks Animation.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: The original company was founded following Jeffrey Katzenberg's resignation from The Walt Disney Company in 1994. Katzenberg approached Steven Spielberg and David Geffen about forming a live-action and animation film studio, which had not been done in decades due to the risk and expense, but all three were very successful. They agreed on three conditions: They would make fewer than nine movies a year, they would be free to work for other studios if they chose, and they would go home in time for dinner. They officially founded DreamWorks SKG on October 12, 1994, with financial backing of $33 million from each of the three partners plus $500 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and $300 million from CJ Group heiress . Lee's CJ Group would acquire distribution rights to DreamWorks films in Asia except Japan. Their new studio was based at offices on the Universal Studios lot, in the same bungalow as Amblin Entertainment. Despite access to sound stages and sets, DreamWorks preferred to film motion pictures on location. Usually, however, the company would film in a soundstage or set in a major studio.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In December 1994, DreamWorks Television was formed after DreamWorks agreed to a $200 million seven-year television production joint venture with Capital Cities/ABC. The company was set up to produce series for broadcast networks, cable channels and first run syndication, with no first-look guarantee for ABC, but financial incentives favored the network. Their first show, "Champs", was scheduled as a mid-season replacement for ABC. Dan McDermott was named the division's chief executive in June 1995. DreamWorks Television's first success was "Spin City" on ABC, the parent company of which was bought by The Walt Disney Company in February 1996. In 2002, the DreamWorks joint venture agreement with ABC ended. That agreement was replaced by a development agreement with NBC, with a first look clause. In 2013, DreamWorks Television merged with Amblin Television.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In 1995, traditional animation artists from Amblimation joined the new studio, which led to DreamWorks buying part of Pacific Data Images, a company specializing in visual effects, and renaming it PDI/DreamWorks. Both were software divisions and would merge later on. By then, DreamWorks had the traditional animators working for their animation department, and the computer animators worked on CG films. Amblimation would be shut down in 1997, leading the staff to join DreamWorks Animation. The same year, DreamWorks Interactive, a computer and video game developer and joint venture between DreamWorks and Microsoft, was founded. On February 24, 2000, Electronic Arts announced the acquisition of DreamWorks Interactive and merged it with EA Pacific and Westwood Studios to form EA Los Angeles, later Danger Close Games.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In June 1995, DreamWorks announced that it had signed a $1 billion deal with MCA Inc. (then parent company of Universal Pictures) to distribute its theatrical releases in other countries and its home video releases worldwide over 10 years. MCA also bought a 2% stake in the company for $54 million.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In 1996, the company's record label, DreamWorks Records, was founded, the first project of which was George Michael's album "Older". The first band signed to the label was eels, who released their debut album "Beautiful Freak" that year. The record company never lived up to expectations, though, and was sold in October 2003 to Universal Music Group, which operated the label as DreamWorks Nashville. That label was shut down in 2005 when its flagship artist, Toby Keith, departed to form his own label.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In 1997, DreamWorks Pictures released its first three feature films, "The Peacemaker", a film about terrorism; "Amistad", Spielberg's first film for the studio about an African slave rebellion and the aftermath of the massacre; and "Mouse Hunt", the studio's first family film about two brothers trying to fight a mischievous mouse.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In 1998, the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lawsuit against DreamWorks for trademark infringement by Dreamwerks Production Group, Inc., a company mostly specializing in "Star Trek" conventions. The same year, PDI/DreamWorks produced its first full-length animated features, "Antz" and "The Prince of Egypt", which were distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. DreamWorks Pictures continued to distribute PDI/DreamWorks productions through their distribution name until 2004.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In 2000, DreamWorks was planning in building a studio backlot after buying 1,087 acres of land in the Playa Vista area in Los Angeles. It was to be complete with 18 sound stages, with many office buildings and a lake. There would also be new homes, schools, churches, and museums. The project was to be completed in 2001, but was cancelled for financial reasons. Starting in 1999, DreamWorks won three consecutive Academy Awards for Best Picture for "American Beauty", "Gladiator" and "A Beautiful Mind" (the latter two were co-productions with Universal Pictures). The same year, Go Fish Pictures, a division of DreamWorks with the objective to distribute art-house, independent and foreign films, was founded. The division experienced success with the anime films "Millennium Actress" (2003) and "" (2004), respectively, which led them to venture into releasing live-action films, with the release of "The Chumscrubber". However, "The Chumscrubber" was a commercial and critical failure, which led DreamWorks to shut down the division in 2007 shortly after the release of the Japanese film "Casshern". In 2002, DreamWorks signed a deal with In Demand.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: For the period beginning October 1, 2004 to January 31, 2006, DreamWorks films were distributed in the domestic theatrical and worldwide television market by DreamWorks Pictures and in international theatrical and worldwide home entertainment markets by Universal Pictures. On October 27, 2004, DreamWorks Animation was spun off into a separate public company.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: David Geffen admitted that DreamWorks came close to bankruptcy twice. Under Katzenberg's watch, the studio suffered a $125 million loss on "", and also overestimated the DVD demand for "Shrek 2". In 2005, out of their two large budget pictures, "War of the Worlds" was produced as a joint effort with Paramount Pictures which was the first to reap a significant amount of profits, while "The Island" bombed at the domestic box office but turned a profit internationally through Warner Bros.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In December 2005, the original Viacom, the then-parent of Paramount Pictures, agreed to purchase the live-action studio, still keeping the original name and producing/distribution name. The deal was valued at approximately $1.6 billion, an amount that included about $400 million in debt assumptions. The acquisition of the live-action DreamWorks studio was completed by the second iteration of Viacom, which had recently split from the original at the end of 2005, on February 1, 2006.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: On March 17, 2006, Viacom agreed to sell a controlling interest in the DreamWorks Pictures live-action library to Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II. The film library was valued at $900 million. Paramount Pictures retained the worldwide distribution rights to those films, as well as various ancillary rights, including music publishing (the music publishing rights were later licensed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing when the company acquired Viacom's Famous Music subdivision), sequels and merchandising. The sale was completed on May 8, 2006. On February 8, 2010, Viacom repurchased Soros' controlling stake in the DreamWorks Pictures library for around $400 million.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: In June 2008, it reported that DreamWorks was looking for financing that would allow it to continue operations, but as an independent production company, once its deal with Paramount ended later that year. Several public equity funds were approached for financing, including Blackstone Group, Fuse Global, TPG Capital and several others, but all passed on the deal given their understanding of the Hollywood markets. On September 22, 2008, it was announced that DreamWorks closed a deal with Indian investment firm Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group to create a $1.2 billion stand-alone production company and end its ties with Paramount. In January 2009, Spielberg entered a licensing agreement with DreamWorks Animation to use the DreamWorks trademarks, logo, and name for film productions and releases.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: On February 9, 2009, DreamWorks Pictures entered into a long-term, 30-picture distribution deal with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, by which DreamWorks' films would be released through the Touchstone Pictures banner, with Disney collecting a 10 percent distribution fee. The deal also included co-funding via a $175 million loan by Walt Disney Studios to DreamWorks for production and access to slots in Disney's pay television agreement, then with Starz. The agreement was reported to have come after negotiations broke off with Universal Pictures just days earlier. DreamWorks raised $325 million from Reliance Entertainment and an additional $325 million in debt in 2009. On August 18, 2009, DreamWorks and Reliance signed a three-year, $825 million pact for up to six films a year.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: DreamWorks' slate of films in 2011, "I Am Number Four", "Cowboys & Aliens", and "Fright Night" failed, while "The Help", "Real Steel" and Spielberg's "War Horse" had success at the box office. This left DreamWorks so financially drained that by 2011, the company was seeking additional funding from Reliance. Reliance gave a $200 million investment on April 10, 2012. Under the deal, DreamWorks Pictures scaled back production to three films per year and sought co-financiers on big budget films, such as 20th Century Fox, who co-financed "Lincoln" and "Bridge of Spies". The company continued to have Disney distribute and market their films. On August 29, 2012, after re-negotiating their agreement with Disney, DreamWorks formed a deal with Mister Smith Entertainment to distribute its films in EMEA, while Disney would continue to distribute in North America, Latin America, Australia, Russia, and some territories in Asia.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: On September 2, 2015, it was reported that DreamWorks and Disney would not renew their distribution deal, which was set to expire in August 2016, with "The Light Between Oceans" being released in September as the final DreamWorks film distributed by Disney under their original distribution agreement. During that time, DreamWorks was in early negotiations with Universal Pictures to distribute its upcoming films. The contract allowing Spielberg to license the DreamWorks name and logo from Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation was set to expire on January 1, 2016, leading to media speculation that Spielberg would not renew the pact. Disney retained the film rights to the fourteen DreamWorks films it released, as well as acquiring the "DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC" copyright from DreamWorks and Reliance on December 11, 2015.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: On December 16, 2015, Spielberg, Reliance, Entertainment One, and Participant Media partnered to launch the content production company Amblin Partners, relegating DreamWorks to a brand for adult-themed films produced under the new company. In addition to DreamWorks, the new company also would produce films under the Amblin Entertainment and Participant banners. On the same day, Amblin Partners announced a five-year distribution deal with Universal, under which the company's films would be distributed and marketed by either the main Universal label or its specialty label, Focus Features. "The Girl on the Train" was the first film released under the new agreement, though a few films, like "The Post" and "The Trial of the Chicago 7", were released by other distributors.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: The original DreamWorks logo features a boy sitting on a crescent moon while fishing. The general idea for the logo was the idea of the company's co-founder, Steven Spielberg, who wanted a CGI image. Illustrator Robert Hunt was commissioned to execute the idea as a painting, and he used his son as the model. The logo was then turned into a motion graphic at Industrial Light & Magic, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films, Dave Carson and Clint Goldman. It was animated by ILM animation supervisor Wes Takahashi. Music accompanying the logo to start in many live-action DreamWorks films was specially composed by John Williams.


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: The animation logo had music adapted from the track "Fairytale" for the film "Shrek", based on the children's picture book of the same name by William Steig. The logo was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams and made its debut in 2004, with the release of "Shrek 2". Two years after its acquisition by Universal Pictures in 2016, the logo received a new fanfare composed by John Powell and incorporate some cues from "Shrek 2" and tones from Williams' original DreamWorks fanfare to create the music for the logo. The new fanfare debuted in 2019, with the release of "", for which Powell also composed the score for. In 2022, Harry Gregson-Williams composed a remastered version of the fanfare, with the debut of "".


title: DreamWorks Pictures

text: DreamWorks Home Entertainment was a home entertainment unit of DreamWorks Pictures, formed on October 12, 1998. The company's releases were originally distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment, a deal that would last until 2005. After DreamWorks was purchased by Paramount Pictures on February 1, 2006, DreamWorks Home Entertainment was merged into Paramount Home Entertainment and used the company's name as a label for films released under the live-action DreamWorks banner until it was shuttered in 2009 after when the main DreamWorks studio was spun off from Paramount and became an independent company.


title: America's Got Talent

text: America's Got Talent (often abbreviated as AGT) is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global "Got Talent" franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distributed by) and Syco Entertainment, and broadcasts on the NBC television network. It premiered on June 21, 2006 after plans for a British edition in 2005 were suspended, following a dispute within the British broadcaster ITV. Production would later resume in 2007, following the success of the first season. Each season is mainly run during the network's summer schedule, and has featured various hosts over the course of the program's history. The current host is Terry Crews.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The program attracts a variety of participants from across the United States and abroad, who possess some form of talents. Acts range from singing, dancing, comedy, magic, stunts, variety and other genres. Each participant or act who auditions, attempts to secure a place in the live episodes of a season, by impressing a panel of judges. The current line-up consists of Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and Sofía Vergara. Participants making it into the live episodes, compete against each other for both the judges' and public's vote, in order to reach the live final. The winner receives a large cash prize (primarily paid over a period of time), and since the third season, a chance to headline a show on the Las Vegas Strip.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The show itself has been a rating success for NBC, drawing in on average around 10 million viewers per season. In 2013, a book titled "Inside AGT: The Untold Stories of America's Got Talent" was released, providing a description of the seasons, contestants, judges and production techniques of the show. It includes detailed interviews with contestants from all seasons, up to the date of the book's publication.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Since July 2021, the program has run for a total of sixteen seasons, and has spawned two spin-off competitions: "", which premiered in January 2019, and "", which premiered in February 2022. The seventeenth season of the main series premiered in May 2022.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The concept of "America's Got Talent" was devised by "X Factor" creator and Sony Music executive Simon Cowell, who sought to create a talent competition far grander than those of other televised talent contests. His proposal, first made to British television network ITV in 2005, was for a competition in which participants of any age and location could enter with any form of talent they chose to perform. The network favored the concept, and green-lit production of a pilot episode to test out the format, with Cowell forming a panel consisting of himself and two other judges (including tabloid journalist Piers Morgan). The pilot proved to be a success. The original plan for the program was for a British edition to be produced and broadcast between 2005 and 2006, hosted by British television personality Paul O'Grady, who had assisted with the pilot (before Cowell would propose the format for American television). However, O'Grady became involved in a dispute with ITV during work on the new program, ultimately terminating his contract with them and defecting to another British network.


title: America's Got Talent

text: As a result, Cowell suspended work on the British edition, and hastened his efforts on launching the format in America. Approaching several networks, Cowell received an offer from NBC to produce his televised competition for their network, owing to feedback given to the pilot made for ITV, and agreed to a contract to produce fifteen episodes for the 2006 summer schedule. Cowell worked with Fremantle and his company Syco Entertainment, but decided against becoming a judge for the new program, choosing to act as executive producer instead. Regis Philbin served as the host, with David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Morgan as judges. The first season proved a success, leading NBC to commission additional seasons, and prompting ITV to contact Cowell with the intention of resuming production on the British edition for 2007. The success of "Britain's Got Talent" (along with the American series), led Cowell to accept offers for the rights to the competition format, creating the "Got Talent" franchise.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Each year's competition begins with a set of audition stages, the first being the "Producers' Auditions", is conducted across various cities in the United States. This stage is open to all forms of acts and judged by an independent group, and thus determines who will take part in the next stage of auditions titled "Judges' Auditions". These are held in a public venue, within select cities across the country, and are attended by the judges handling that year's contest.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Each participant reaching this stage of auditions is held offstage from the main performing area in a waiting room, and given a number that denotes when they will perform. Upon being called before the judges, the participant is given 90 seconds to demonstrate their act, with a live audience present for all performances. Each judge is given a buzzer, and may use it during a performance if they are unimpressed, dislike what is being performed, or feel the act is a waste of their time. If a participant is buzzed by all judges, their performance is automatically over. At the end of a performance, the judges give constructive criticism and feedback about what they saw, whereupon they are each given a vote. A participant requires a majority vote approving their performance to proceed to the next stage, otherwise they are eliminated from the program at that stage. Many acts that move on may be cut or forfeit their place, due to the limited slots available for the next stage. Filming for each season begins when the Judges' Auditions are taking place, with the show's presenter standing in the wings of each venue's stage to interview, and give personal commentary on a participant's performance.


title: America's Got Talent

text: From the fifth to seventh seasons, acts who did not attend live auditions could instead submit a taped audition online via YouTube. Acts from the online auditions were then selected to compete in front of the judges and a live audience during the "live shows" part of the season, prior to the semi-finals. Before the inclusion of this round, the show had a separate audition episode in Seasons 3 and 4 (2008–2009) for contestants who posted videos on MySpace.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In the ninth season, the show added a new format to the auditions in the form of the "Golden Buzzer", which began to make appearances within the "Got Talent" franchise, since it was first introduced on "Germany's Got Talent". During auditions, each judge is allowed to use the Golden Buzzer to send an act automatically into the live shows, regardless of the opinion of the other judges. When it was initially used, the buzzer simply saved an act from elimination. The only rule to the buzzer was that a judge could use it only once per season. The host was later allowed to use the Golden Buzzer for an act starting from the eleventh season.


title: America's Got Talent

text: After auditions are completed, the judges conduct a special session (or second "audition" round) to determine which participants will secure a place in the live rounds of the competition, though the format for this stage has been change several times over the course of the program's history. When the stage was first created after the first season, it was designed around a "boot camp" format titled "Las Vegas Callbacks". Under the format's rules, participants who made it through the preliminary auditions could undergo training to perfect their act, whereupon each would be assigned to a specific group of participants and perform a second time before the judges. Buzzers would be used to terminate a performance at any time, with those not deemed worthy of a place being eliminated from that season's format.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Between the fourth and ninth season, the format was changed to match that used in "Britain's Got Talent". Participants who made it through the preliminary auditions had their audition footage reviewed by the judges, who set each one into a specific group, and were not required to perform again (unless the judges requested this). Acts which they liked would be allocated spaces in the live rounds, with the remainder eliminated from that season's competition. All acts were brought back to learn of the results of the judges' deliberations. The format was titled "Vegas Verdicts" and held on the Las Vegas Strip. For the final seasons of its usage, it was re-dubbed "Judgment Week" and conducted within New York.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Between the tenth season and fourteenth season, the stage's format was changed again under a new arrangement dubbed "Judge Cuts". Under the new format's rules, participants that passed the preliminary auditions underwent a second stage of auditions before the judges at a fixed venue. However, their performance would not only be judged by the panel, but also by a special guest judge, with all participants divided up into four groups. Each group would be judged by their own guest judge. Like the auditions, the main judges could use their buzzers at any time to stop a performance, while the guest judge would be allowed to use a Golden Buzzer for a participant they particularly liked (as well as providing comments on the performances they watched). In the fifteenth season, the round was condensed into a single episode and featured no guest judge, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020. The round was replaced to its current arrangement for the sixteenth season, matching that of "Britain's Got Talent" around that time.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Participants who pass their auditions and secure a place in the live rounds of the competitions, including those who received the Golden Buzzer after the format's introduction and subsequent amendment to match other "Got Talent" editions, are divided into groups and compete against each other to secure a place within the live final of the competition. Live episodes of the competition are held within a set venue (the location has varied), with the current arrangement focused on a venue within Los Angeles and live episodes for each season being aired weekly on the network. The arrangement differs from the schedule used by other international editions. "Britain's Got Talent", for example, broadcasts its live episodes within the space of a single week. The structure of the live rounds by this stage of the competition has varied, but is more commonly arranged as quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final itself. Earlier seasons varied, sometimes having the finals split into separate rounds.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The format of the live rounds, for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, sees each participant conduct a new performance of their act before the judges and the viewers within a "performance" episode. In this episode, the judges can still give out feedback and comments about a participant's performance, and be able to use their buzzers, with the performance terminated if all the buzzers are used. After the episode is broadcast, the network provides the public a set period of time to vote for their act, with the results of these held in a separate "results" episode. When it is broadcast has varied, though it more commonly occurs after an interval of one day after the live "performance" episode. Participants are then informed of the results, with those receiving the highest votes (i.e. Top 4) advancing to the next stage. For the two acts that receive the mid-range of votes for all participants, they undergo a vote by the judges to determine who joins those who advanced. When the program brought in the format of using four judges, a tie-break on this vote results in the act with the higher number of public votes moving on. The Judges' vote was not a common format element in earlier seasons. In the first season, the judges did not decide on who moved on, instead voting for acts they liked or disliked. In the second season, they could not vote on acts at all, instead only being able to buzz them.


title: America's Got Talent

text: For some acts that are eliminated, there is still a chance for advancement by being appointed as that round's "Wildcard". Until the tenth season, this format varied in how it would work. In some seasons, the judges could each individually select an act, or more than one, to move on to the next stage or compete within a special Wildcard round. In other seasons, the Wildcard acts were selected from among the auditions and competed in a special round. Since the tenth season, the format is more structured and works in a similar manner to that of the format used by "Britain's Got Talent", in that the judges and the public can each chose the acts they want to see move on as a Wildcard act. Although the judges are refrained from choosing a quarter-finalist as a Wildcard act, the public may vote online for an act within each quarter-final and semi-final to move on into the next stage, with this vote aptly named after the sponsor for the show in that respective season.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Those who make it into the season's final compete against each other to secure the most votes from the public, with the number of finalists varying between seasons. Later seasons allow each finalist more than one performance and sometimes being joined by a celebrity guest, previous winner, or notable participant from a previous season. The winning act that achieves the most votes is crowned the winner and receives a cash prize. Although stipulated as $1 million per the program's advertising, in reality winners can choose to either take it as a lump sum, or as a financial annuity of this amount that is paid out over forty years at around $25,000 per year. Both options are liable to taxation. Since Season 10, the winner will also perform on the first results show of the next season. From 2008, the program also includes an additional prize of headlining a show, except from between 2010 and 2013, where the winning finalist headlined a national tour. The show they headline mainly takes place within Las Vegas.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In its first season, the judging panel consisted of David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Piers Morgan, with Regis Philbin as the host. Prior to the start of the second season, Norwood stepped down due to a legal matter she was involved with, leading to her being replaced by Sharon Osbourne. Philbin was replaced by Jerry Springer as the show's host. Further changes were made to the judging panel and hosting duties in later seasons: Springer left after the third season, and was replaced by Nick Cannon for the fourth season. Hasselhoff left the show after the fourth season, and was replaced by Howie Mandel for the fifth season. Morgan left after the sixth season, and was replaced by Howard Stern for the seventh season.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In August 2012, Osbourne left the program following a dispute with NBC. While the network replaced her with former Spice Girls member Mel B in February 2013, the judges panel increased to four. This format change had already occurred in other international versions of the competition, such as on "Britain's Got Talent" two years prior. In March 2013, supermodel Heidi Klum was announced as the fourth judge for the eighth season. In October 2015, Stern was replaced by Simon Cowell for the eleventh season. After his eighth year hosting "America's Got Talent", Cannon announced plans to retire from the show due to comments he made about the network. Despite being under contract to continue his hosting duties, NBC eventually replaced him with Tyra Banks for the twelfth season.


title: America's Got Talent

text: On February 11, 2019, NBC announced a change to the program's host and its judging panel following the conclusion of the thirteenth season. Banks decided to move on to other projects, leading to her being replaced by Terry Crews, who was already working with the network as host of "". Both Klum and Mel B decided to leave "America's Got Talent" due to other commitments that year, leading to actress Gabrielle Union and dancer Julianne Hough replacing them, joining Mandel and Cowell on the judging panel. However, both Union and Hough took part in only one season before they were let go by the program on November 22, 2019. On February 27, 2020, it was confirmed that Klum would return for the next season, and announced Sofía Vergara as the fourth judge. In September 2021, host Crews announced the 'end of an era' following the season sixteen finale of "America's Got Talent" and the series finale of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", stating that these both marked the end of his deal with NBC. However, Crews continued his hosting duties in the seventeenth season.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In 2015, guest judges were introduced into the program as part of the revamp of the format's boot camp stage. The following lists the guest judges who appeared within the program for the "Judge Cuts", per season and in order of their appearance by week:


title: America's Got Talent

text: The first season for "America's Got Talent" was promoted in May 2006, and was eventually aired later that year between June 21 and August 17. While later episodes would pre-record auditions at earlier dates, this season had them conducted across June, at venues within the cities of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Live-round episodes were held within the latter city. Initial advertisements for participants of "America's Got Talent" implied that the winning act would headline a show in Las Vegas, but this was later dropped in favor of a cash prize of $1 million, due to concerns surrounding the possibility of awarding such a prize to a minor.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The first season was hosted by Regis Philbin, with the judging panel consisting of actor David Hasselhoff, singer Brandy Norwood and journalist Piers Morgan. More than 12 million viewers watched the program's premiere episode, a far greater viewing figure than had been achieved by the premiere of "American Idol" in 2002, becoming one of the most-watched program on U.S. television and the highest-rated among viewers aged 18 to 49 at that time. The first season was won by singer Bianca Ryan, with clogging group "All That" and musical group "The Millers" being the runners-up. Neither act were defined in the results in terms of who was placed 2nd, and who was placed in 3rd.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Following the success of the previous season, NBC commissioned the program for additional episodes, but originally intended for the new season to be aired as part of its 2007 winter schedule. However, the network decided against this due to the program potentially being placed in direct competition for viewers with "American Idol", and kept "America's Got Talent" within its 2007 summer schedule. The second season aired between June 5 and August 21, 2007. Prior to filming taking place, Philbin left the program and was replaced as host by Jerry Springer. Norwood dropped out, due to a legal situation, and was replaced by Sharon Osbourne. Auditions for this season involved venues within the same cities as had been previously used, but with the inclusion of Dallas as part of its competition schedule.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The second season saw the introduction of a new round in the audition process, which was referred to as the "boot camp stage", a period of callback episodes filmed in Las Vegas, aimed at streamlining successful participants from the first round of auditions towards a set number for the live rounds. Alongside this, participants in the live rounds moved on via the public vote only, while the episode for results was aired a week after each live episode's performance and within a smaller time slot for its broadcast. This season was won by singing impressionist and ventriloquist Terry Fator, with singer and guitarist Cas Haley coming in second, and singer Butterscotch placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The third season aired between June 17 and October 1, 2008, with a break in its broadcast between August 7–26 to avoid conflict with NBC's live broadcasts of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Auditions took place much earlier in the production schedule to provide time for finalizing editing on recorded footage, taking place between January to April across venues within the same cities from the previous season, but with the addition of a venue within the city of Atlanta. Unlike the previous season, the Las Vegas callback episodes doubled the number of semi-finalists involved in the live rounds.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Following the second season, judges voted between the participants placed 5th and 6th in the public vote during the quarterfinals and semi-finals, to determine who moved on at each stage. Apart from some amendments to the program's format, staff also implemented cosmetic changes to the set pieces used on "America's Got Talent". An example of this included the "red X's", used to symbolize disapproval from each judge, being redesigned to match the visual style of those used in "Britain's Got Talent". This season was won by opera singer Neal E. Boyd, with singer and pianist Eli Mattson coming in second, and violinists Nuttin' But Stringz placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The fourth season aired between June 23 and September 19, 2009, and was the first season to be broadcast in high definition. Auditions were held between January to April, at venues within New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta. Additional auditions were held within Washington, D.C., Miami, Tacoma, Boston and Houston. Along with conducting live auditions, participants could also audition by uploading a video of their performance directly to the program's website. Prior to filming taking place, Springer departed from the program following the previous season, and was replaced by Nick Cannon as host.


title: America's Got Talent

text: For the fourth year of the competition, the prize for winning was amended so that the winner not only received a cash prize, but would be given their own 0-week headline show at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Apart from the change in the prize, the Results episodes after each performance episode were returned to their original broadcast format. This season was won by country music singer Kevin Skinner, with opera singer Bárbara Padilla coming in second, and percussionists Recycled Percussion placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The fifth season was originally intended to be aired as part of NBC's 2009 Fall schedule, much as had been intended with the second season. However, the network disliked the idea and made certain the program was part of its 2010 summer schedule, with this season airing between June 1 and September 15, 2010. Audition were held between January to April, at venues within Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Portland (Oregon), Atlanta and Philadelphia. Prior to filming taking place, Hasselhoff left the show due to other commitments, and his role as judge was taken over by comedian Howie Mandel.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Online auditions for the program were modified to allow registration via YouTube, with a guaranteed placement in the competition. The live rounds were extended to include two new quarter-finals, each themed to certain groups of participants: those who were chosen from their YouTube auditions and those who had been eliminated during the second round of auditions or their quarter-finals. The final stage of the competition included its finalists conducting performances, each with their own guest performer, a format that would become a part of the program and an optional choice for finalists in future seasons. The finalists were offered a place on the "America's Got Talent Live Tour" that year, regardless of their final result, although the winner would be made the headline act for the tour in addition to their main prize. This season was won by singer/musician Michael Grimm, with classical singer Jackie Evancho coming in second, and performance group Fighting Gravity placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The sixth season aired between May 31 and September 14, 2011, with no major changes to the format for this year. Auditions were held between January to April within Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, Seattle, Denver and Chicago. Online auditions made via YouTube were conducted on May 4. This season was won by singer Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., with dance group Silhouettes coming in second, and dance group Team iLuminate placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The seventh season aired between May 14 and September 13, 2012, with auditions held between October 2011 and February 2012. These were conducted within the cities of New York, Washington, D.C., Tampa, Charlotte, Austin, Anaheim, St. Louis and San Francisco. Prior to filming taking place, Morgan departed from "America's Got Talent" after the conclusion of the sixth season (despite signing a three-year contract with the program in July 2010), due to other commitments he had at that time.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Due to Morgan's departure, his role as judge was taken over by radio personality Howard Stern. However, because of his involvement with hosting his radio show for SiriusXM, the program's production of live episodes were moved to a venue in New York to avoid disrupting his schedule. The graphical presentation of "America's Got Talent" was revamped, including the title credits, logo and theme music. The change of venue to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey not only allowed Cowell to have designers update the studio set, but allowed production staff to invite larger audiences for performances in live episodes than in previous seasons. This season was won by dog tricks act Olate Dogs, with comedian Tom Cotter coming in second, and musician William Close placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The eighth season aired between June 4 and September 18, 2013, with auditions held between January and March in a much larger range of venues. Auditions held in the cities of New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Antonio were filmed for the new season. Prior to filming commencing, Osbourne left "AGT" following the seventh season, after a lengthy dispute in August 2012 between herself and NBC. While her departure not only led to her role as judge being taken over by Spice Girls member Mel B, the judge panel for future seasons was increased, recruiting supermodel Heidi Klum to join the new season as a fourth judge.


title: America's Got Talent

text: For the live episodes of this season, the venue moved from Newark to New York, holding them within Radio City Music Hall. In addition, the format for audition episodes in terms of presentation style, was changed to match that for "Britain's Got Talent". In this arrangement, each episode would consist of a number of auditions chosen from those taken from each major venue used for that season. This season was won by martial arts dancer/mime Kenichi Ebina, becoming the first foreign act to win "America's Got Talent", with stand-up comedian Taylor Williamson coming in second, and singer/guitarist Jimmy Rose placed third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The ninth season aired between May 27 and September 17, 2014. Preliminary auditions were held between October to December 2013, across several cities including Miami, Atlanta, Houston and Baltimore. The Judge auditions were held between February to April 2014 within Newark, New York and Los Angeles. For this season only, a third-party program was involved in the audition process: one quarter-final place in the competition was offered exclusively by "The Today Show" via their website, with the top three picked from those that entered competing against each other to be part of "America's Got Talent" that year.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Several changes were made to the program for this season. The most significant was the introduction of the "Golden Buzzer" format, first introduced on "Germany's Got Talent" in 2012, which had also been introduced into "Britain's Got Talent" earlier that year. However, it was used mainly to save an act from elimination in the auditions, and wouldn't match the format used across the "Got Talent" franchise until the following year.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Other changes included the "boot camp" round being filmed in New York, and the introduction of a new online vote for viewers, named after the program's sponsor during that season. This determined which three acts placed in the mid-range of the public vote: 5th, 6th and 7th in the semi-finals, with 4th, 5th and 6th in the "Top 12" round advancing, and the remaining two voted by the judges. This season was won by magician Mat Franco, with singer Emily West coming second, and acrobatic troupe AcroArmy placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The tenth season aired during 2015, between May 26 and September 16. Producer auditions took place between late 2014 to early 2015 within Tampa, Nashville, Richmond, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Antonio, Albuquerque, San Francisco, Seattle, Boise, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Judge auditions took place during spring until early summer 2015, between March and June within Newark, New York and Los Angeles. A special "extreme" audition session was held within Pomona, California (performed on an outdoor stage), for participants with acts considered too dangerous to be conducted within an indoor studio set.


title: America's Got Talent

text: This season had the Golden Buzzer format, introduced in the previous season, matching that of "Britain's Got Talent". Its use would send a participant directly into the live rounds, although the host was not allowed to use it per the revised format. In addition, the boot camp round was revamped with a new format and renamed as "Judge Cuts", in which they were held over four weeks rather than one. It consisted of about eighty acts shortlisted from the auditions with around twenty per week, and featured the involvement of a guest judge for each of these episodes. Along with the main judges, they could use the Golden Buzzer for an act they wished to see in the live rounds. Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Bublé, Marlon Wayans and Piers Morgan became the first guest judges for the new format in this season. The "Snapple Vote", introduced in the previous season, was renamed the "Dunkin' Save" to coincide with the program's new sponsor. Its format expanded to cover quarter-finalists who finished in 6th, 7th or 8th place per public vote, along with the semi-finalists who finished in 4th, 5th or 6th place per public votes.


title: America's Got Talent

text: This season was won by ventriloquist Paul Zerdin, with comedian Drew Lynch coming in second, and magician mentalist Oz Pearlman placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The eleventh season aired during 2016, between May 31 and September 16. Open auditions were held between late 2015 to early 2016, within Detroit, New York, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, San Jose, San Diego, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Orlando and Dallas. Filming of the judges' auditions took place in March 2016, prior to the premiere episode of the season, and were exclusively conducted within the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The season premiered on May 31, 2016. During the previous season on June 24, 2015, Howard Stern announced his departure from "America's Got Talent" on his TV program, leading to Simon Cowell announcing on October 22 that he would later be replacing him for season eleven. On October 4, 2016, Cowell signed a contract that would keep him as a judge on "America's Got Talent" until 2019. Stern's departure led to live-round broadcasts moving back to Los Angeles, and filmed at the Dolby Theatre. Apart from this change, the Golden Buzzer format allowed the host (Nick Cannon) to use it during auditions.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The guest judges who featured in the Judge Cuts for the eleventh season consisted of Ne-Yo, Reba McEntire, George Lopez and Louis Tomlinson. This season was won by singer-songwriter and musician Grace VanderWaal, with magician mentalist duo The Clairvoyants coming in second, and magician Jon Dorenbos placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The twelfth season aired during 2017, between May 30 and September 20. Open auditions were held in late 2016 to early 2017, within Chicago, Austin, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Diego, New York, Charleston, Memphis and Los Angeles. Filming of the Judges' audition were conducted in March 2017 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. On February 13, 2017, Nick Cannon resigned from hosting "America's Got Talent", following a dispute between himself and NBC concerning remarks he had made during his Showtime comedy special "Stand Up, Don't Shoot". As a result, despite Cannon being under contract, the network replaced him with supermodel Tyra Banks.


title: America's Got Talent

text: This season is notable for the death of American physician Brandon Rogers (who died in an automobile accident on June 11, 2017), shortly after securing his place on "America's Got Talent" during the audition's stage. Rogers became involved in the program, following his involvement with American R&B vocal group Boyz II Men earlier that year, after the group had seen footage of him singing on YouTube. In the wake of his death, his audition was postponed before eventually airing during the final audition episode of the season on July 11, as a tribute to his memory.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The guest judges who featured in the Judge Cuts for the twelfth season consisted of Chris Hardwick, DJ Khaled, Laverne Cox and Seal. This season was won by singer ventriloquist Darci Lynne, with singer Angelica Hale coming in second, and Ukrainian dance act Light Balance placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The thirteenth season aired during 2018, between May 29 and September 19. Open auditions were held in late 2017 until early 2018, within Orlando, Cincinnati, Savannah, Milwaukee, Houston, Las Vegas, New York, Nashville and Los Angeles. The Judges' auditions were filmed in March 2018 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. A minor change was made to the format of the Judge Cuts in terms of the number of participants in this stage from the auditions being reduced to seventy-two, with about eighteen performing each week. The guest judges featured in the Judge Cuts for the thirteenth season consisted of Ken Jeong, Olivia Munn, Martina McBride and Chris Hardwick. This season was won by magician Shin Lim, with acrobatic group Zurcaroh coming in second, and violinist Brian King Joseph placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The fourteenth season aired during 2019, between May 28 and September 18. Following the previous season, Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum and Mel B, all opted to leave the program. Banks announced her resignation in December 2018, while Klum and Mel B announced their respective departures two months later. Due to this, replacements were sought in February 2019. Terry Crews was appointed as Banks' successor, following his role on the program's spin-off "The Champions", while both Julianne Hough and Gabrielle Union were appointed as new judges for the upcoming season. Both auditions and filming began on March 3, 2019. On November 22, 2019, it was announced that Hough and Union were let go from the series, marking their only season as judges.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Along with the guest judges for the fourteenth season's Judge Cuts were Brad Paisley, Dwyane Wade, Ellie Kemper and Jay Leno. This season is notable for two additional guest judges being added for the live semi-finals: Sean Hayes and Queen Latifah. This season was won by singer and pianist Kodi Lee, with choir group Detroit Youth Choir coming in second, and stand-up comedian Ryan Niemiller placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The fifteenth season aired during 2020, between May 26 and September 23. Following the previous season, replacements were made for Union and Hough, after both were let go from the program in November 2019. This resulted in the return of Heidi Klum, along with Sofía Vergara as a new judge. Although filming had begun by late February with auditions, the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in the United States towards March caused production delays. Live audiences were discontinued, per the advice against large gatherings by health experts. Production was eventually suspended after Klum fell ill during filming, raising concerns about the risk of infection. While production on the live rounds went under discussion, the program confirmed the season would premiere in May with audition episodes, after footage for these was completed and edited for broadcast.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Production for the remainder of the season resumed in mid-June, while the season was being broadcast. Several changes were made to minimize the potential for infection among those involved, including participants and judges. While the Judges Cuts round was drastically changed, effectively condensing the stage into a single episode, the live rounds featured several measures. These included being filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood, the use of a virtual audience, and an expansion in the number of quarter-finalists.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Prior to the first quarter-final, Cowell was seriously injured in an accident and absent from the remainder of the season. Guest judges appeared for two of the quarter-finals, before opting to maintain the use of three judges for the remainder of the episodes. The season was won by spoken word poet Brandon Leake, with country duo Broken Roots coming in second, and singer Cristina Rae placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: A sixteenth season was announced in late February 2021 by NBC, confirming both the host and its judges, including the return of Cowell. Production began after auditions were opened up with participants asked to provide these for judgment, either virtually or via recorded video. On March 9, 2021, it was announced that the season would premiere on June 1. This season was won by magician Dustin Tavella, with aerialist Aidan Bryant coming in second, and stand-up comedian Josh Blue placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The seventeenth season was announced on March 31, 2022, with the same judging panel and host from the previous two seasons set to return. The season premiered on May 31, 2022. This season was won by dance group Mayyas, with pole dancer Kristy Sellars coming in second, and singer and guitarist Drake Milligan placing third.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In 2009, production staff opted for creating a post-show made up of the best finalists from that year's competition, and conducted over a ten-week run between October to January at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Titled "America's Got Talent Live", it featured performances by season four winner Kevin Skinner, and by ten of the finalists from that season. It was hosted by Jerry Springer, in between taping his self-named show in Stamford, Connecticut. The show proved a success and was renewed for 2010, with Springer remaining as host, and featuring the finalists of the fifth season. It was remade into a 25-city tour that began at the Caesars Palace Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, and concluded at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The live show was put into hiatus following its 2010 run, and resumed in 2012 with a new host and performances from the finalists of the seventh season: Olate Dogs, Spencer Horsman, Joe Castillo, Lightwire Theater, David Garibaldi and his CMYK's, Jarrett and Raja, and Tom Cotter. In 2013, another tour was scheduled consisting of the best acts from the eighth season: Kenichi Ebina, and finalists Collins Key, Jimmy Rose, Taylor Williamson, Cami Bradley, The KriStef Brothers, and Tone the Chiefrocca. In 2014, a new tour was scheduled, consisting of performances from top finalists of the ninth season: Mat Franco, Emily West, Quintavious Johnson, AcroArmy, Emil and Dariel, Miguel Dakota, Sons of Serendip, and season 8's runner-up Taylor Williamson.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In 2015, "America's Got Talent Live" discontinued operating as a live tour, instead functioning as a series of shows at the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas. Performances from the top acts from the tenth season included winner Paul Zerdin, runner-up Drew Lynch, and fan favorite Piff the Magic Dragon. In 2016, four more shows were scheduled at the same venue, and featured performances from the top acts of the eleventh season's final: Grace VanderWaal, The Clairvoyants and Tape Face. In 2017, another four shows were scheduled at the same venue, and featured performances by the top acts of the twelfth season's final: Darci Lynne, Angelica Hale, Light Balance and Preacher Lawson. In 2018, three new shows were scheduled at a new venue in Las Vegas, and featured the top acts from the thirteenth season: Shin Lim, Samuel J. Comroe, Courtney Hadwin, Vicki Barbolak and Duo Transcend.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In 2016, NBC commissioned a festive two-hour special of the program, titled "America's Got Talent Holiday Spectacular". Broadcast at the Dolby Theatre on December 19, 2016, the special was hosted by Nick Cannon and featured a mixture of performances by acts that had participated across the program's history with several special guests. Among those involved were Grace VanderWaal, Jackie Evancho, Andra Day, Penn & Teller, Pentatonix, Terry Fator, Mat Franco, Piff the Magic Dragon, Olate Dogs, Professor Splash and Jon Dorenbos (as well as the judges from the season 11). The special proved a ratings hit, achieving around 9.5 million viewers during its broadcast.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In 2018, NBC commissioned a second special centered on Darci Lynne, the winner of the twelfth season. Titled "Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas", it was hosted by Farmer, and involved Lonnie Chavis from "This Is Us" as the special's announcer. It broadcast at the Alex Theatre on December 11, 2018. The special featured a special sketch involving Farmer and that season's judges: Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Mel B. A series of duets included Farmer with Lindsey Stirling, Toby Keith and Kristin Chenoweth, respectively. Guest performances were by Pentatonix and Hunter Hayes.


title: America's Got Talent

text: In May 2018, NBC commissioned executive producer and "Got Talent" creator Simon Cowell with producing an all-star spin-off competition, titled "America's Got Talent: The Champions". Cowell had conceived of an idea for a global competition consisting of participants that had appeared across the "Got Talent" franchise across the years, including notable acts and winners. The format for the spin-off would be similar to the main program, though episodes would be pre-recorded when the spin-off contest was held in autumn, and then later broadcast during the network's winter schedule.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The spin-off premiered in January 2019, and as of February 2020, has aired two seasons. "AGT" season 13 winner Shin Lim, and "AGT" season 14 finalists V.Unbeatable, won their respective season's contest.


title: America's Got Talent

text: On May 14, 2021, NBC announced its second spin-off of the main "AGT" show, with a focus on daredevil acts. "Got Talent" creator Cowell serves as an executive producer and judge for the series. Originally planned for a mid-season summer 2021 debut, filming for the series occurred at the Atlanta Motor Speedway between September 27 and October 20, 2021, and wrapped in early January 2022.


title: America's Got Talent

text: On October 1, 2021, main series host Terry Crews was announced to continue the role in the spin-off, with former WWE wrestler Nikki Bella and motorsports competitor Travis Pastrana to join Cowell as judges. The series premiered on February 21, 2022.


title: America's Got Talent

text: On October 7, 2022, NBC announced its third spin-off of the main "AGT" show. Similar to "", "America's Got Talent: All-Stars" will feature winners, finalists, fan favorites, and others from previous seasons of "AGT" across the "Got Talent" franchise, competing for the All-Star title. The series, with judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, and Howie Mandel as well as host Terry Crews, will begin production in October 2022, and will premiere in 2023.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Since the show began, its ratings have been very high, ranging from 9 million viewers to as many as 16 million viewers (generally averaging around 12 million viewers). The show has also ranked high in the 18–49 demographic, usually rating anywhere from as low as 1.6 to as high as 4.6 throughout its run. Audition shows and performance shows rate higher on average than results shows.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Although the show's ratings have been high, the network typically keeps the show's run limited to before the official start of the next television season in the third week of September, with some reductions or expansions depending on Olympic years. Finale ratings are usually lower due to returning programming on other networks.


title: America's Got Talent

text: The highest rated season in overall viewers to date is season four (2009). The most-watched episode has been the finale of season five (2010), with 16.41 million viewers. The series premiere and an episode featuring the first part of Las Vegas Week in season six (2011) have each tied for highest rating among adults 18–49, both having a 4.6 rating.


title: America's Got Talent

text: Broadcasts of the program were made available for distribution to other networks on the international television market, and include the following:


title: El Dorado

text: El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally "El Hombre Dorado" ("The Golden Man") or "El Rey Dorado" ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief ("zipa") or king of the Muisca people, an indigenous people of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of Colombia, who as an initiation rite, covered himself with gold dust and submerged in Lake Guatavita. The legends surrounding El Dorado changed over time, as it went from being a man, to a city, to a kingdom, and then finally to an empire.


title: El Dorado

text: A second location for El Dorado was inferred from rumors, which inspired several unsuccessful expeditions in the late 1500s in search of a city called Manoa on the shores of Lake Parime or Parima. Two of the most famous of these expeditions were led by Sir Walter Raleigh. In pursuit of the legend, Spanish conquistadors and numerous others searched what is today Colombia, Venezuela, and parts of Guyana and northern Brazil, for the city and its fabulous king. In the course of these explorations, much of northern South America, including the Amazon River, was mapped. By the beginning of the 19th century, most people dismissed the existence of the city as a myth.


title: El Dorado

text: The legend of the Seven Cities of Gold (Seven Cities of Cibola) led to Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's expedition of 1540 across the New Mexico territory. This became mixed with the stories of El Dorado, which was sometimes said to be one of the seven cities.


title: El Dorado

text: Several literary works have used the name in their titles, sometimes as "El Dorado", and other times as "Eldorado".


title: El Dorado

text: The Muisca occupied the highlands of Cundinamarca and Boyacá departments of Colombia in two migrations from outlying lowland areas, one starting c. 1270 BC, and a second between 800 BC and 500 BC. At those times, other more ancient civilizations also flourished in the highlands. The Muisca Confederation was as advanced as the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations.


title: El Dorado

text: In the mythology of the Muisca, Mnya the Gold or golden color, represents the energy contained in the trinity of Chiminigagua, which constitutes the creative power of everything that exists. Chiminigagua is related to Bachué, Cuza, Chibchacum, Bochica, and Nencatacoa.


title: El Dorado

text: The original narrative can be found in the rambling chronicle "El Carnero" of Juan Rodriguez Freyle. According to Freyle, the "zipa" of the Muisca, in a ritual at Lake Guatavita near present-day Bogotá, was said to be covered with gold dust, which he then washed off in the lake while his attendants threw objects made of gold, emeralds, and precious stones into the lake - such as tunjos.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1638, Freyle wrote this account of the ceremony, addressed to the "cacique" or governor of Guatavita:


title: El Dorado

text: There is also an account, titled "The Quest of El Dorado", by poet-priest and historian of the Conquest Juan de Castellanos, who had served under Jiménez de Quesada in his campaign against the Muisca, written in the mid-16th century but not published until 1850:


title: El Dorado

text: In his "Historia general y natural de las Indias" (1535, expanded in 1851 from his previously unpublished papers), Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés noted:


title: El Dorado

text: In the Muisca territories, there were a number of natural locations considered sacred, including lakes, rivers, forests and large rocks. People gathered here to perform rituals and sacrifices mostly with gold and emeralds. Important lakes were Lake Guatavita, Lake Iguaque, Lake Fúquene, Lake Tota, the Siecha Lakes, Lake Teusacá and Lake Ubaque.


title: El Dorado

text: El Dorado is applied to a legendary story in which precious stones were found in fabulous abundance along with gold coins. The concept of El Dorado underwent several transformations, and eventually accounts of the previous myth were also combined with those of a legendary lost city. The resulting El Dorado myth enticed European explorers for two centuries. Among the earliest stories was the one told on his deathbed by Juan Martinez, a captain of munitions for Spanish adventurer Diego de Ordaz, who claimed to have visited the city of Manoa. Martinez had allowed a store of gunpowder to catch fire and was condemned to death, however his friends let him escape downriver in a canoe. Martinez then met with some local people who took him to the city:


title: El Dorado

text: The fable of Juan Martinez was founded on the adventures of Juan Martin de Albujar, well known to the Spanish historians of the Conquest; and who, in the expedition of Pedro de Silva (1570), fell into the hands of the Caribs of the Lower Orinoco.


title: El Dorado

text: During the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans, still fascinated by the New World, believed that a hidden city of immense wealth existed. Numerous expeditions were mounted to search for this treasure, all of which ended in failure. The illustration of El Dorado's location on maps only made matters worse, as it made some people think that the city of El Dorado's existence had been confirmed. The mythical city of El Dorado on Lake Parime was marked on numerous maps until its existence was disproved by Alexander von Humboldt during his Latin America expedition (1799–1804).


title: El Dorado

text: Meanwhile, the name of "El Dorado" came to be used metaphorically of any place where wealth could be rapidly acquired. It was given to El Dorado County, California, and to towns and cities in various states. It has also been anglicized to the single word "Eldorado", and is sometimes used in product titles to suggest great wealth and fortune, such as the Cadillac Eldorado line of luxury automobiles.


title: El Dorado

text: El Dorado is also sometimes used as a metaphor to represent an ultimate prize or "Holy Grail" that one might spend one's life seeking. It could represent true love, heaven, happiness, or success. It is used sometimes as a figure of speech to represent something much sought after that may not even exist, or, at least, may not ever be found. Such use is evident in Edgar Allan Poe's poem "El Dorado." In this context, El Dorado bears similarity to other myths such as the Fountain of Youth and Shangri-la. The other side of the ideal quest metaphor may be represented by "Helldorado", a satirical nickname given to Tombstone, Arizona (United States) in the 1880s by a disgruntled miner who complained that many of his profession had traveled far to find El Dorado, only to wind up washing dishes in restaurants. The South African city Johannesburg is commonly interpreted as a modern-day El Dorado, due to the extremely large gold deposit found along the Witwatersrand on which it is situated.


title: El Dorado

text: Spanish conquistadores had noticed the native people's fine artifacts of gold and silver long before any legend of "golden men" or "lost cities" had appeared. The prevalence of such valuable artifacts, and the natives' apparent ignorance of their value, inspired speculation as to a plentiful source for them.


title: El Dorado

text: Prior to the time of the Spanish conquest of the Muisca and discovery of Lake Guatavita, a handful of expeditions had set out to explore the lowlands to the east of the Andes in search of gold, cinnamon, precious stones, and anything else of value. During the Klein-Venedig period in Venezuela (1528–1546), agents of the German Welser banking family (which had received a concession from Charles I of Spain) launched repeated expeditions into the interior of the country in search of gold, starting with Ambrosius Ehinger's first expedition in July 1529.


title: El Dorado

text: Spanish explorer Diego de Ordaz, then governor of the eastern part of Venezuela known as Paria (named after Paria Peninsula), was the first European to explore the Orinoco river in 1531–32 in search of gold. A veteran of Hernán Cortés's campaign in Mexico, Ordaz followed the Orinoco beyond the mouth of the Meta River but was blocked by the rapids at Atures. After his return he died, possibly poisoned, on a voyage back to Spain.


title: El Dorado

text: After the death of Ordaz while returning from his expedition, the Crown appointed a new Governor of Paria, Jerónimo de Ortal, who diligently explored the interior along the Meta River between 1532 and 1537. In 1535, he ordered captain Alonso de Herrera to move inland by the waters of the Uyapari River (today the town of Barrancas del Orinoco). Herrera, who had accompanied Ordaz three years before, explored the Meta River but was killed by the indigenous Achagua near its banks, while waiting out the winter rains in Casanare.


title: El Dorado

text: Even before the conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires and the Muisca Confederation the Spanish collected vague hearsay about these polities and their riches. After the Inca Empire in Peru was conquered by Francisco Pizarro and its riches proved real, new rumours of riches reached the Spanish.


title: El Dorado

text: The earliest reference to an El Dorado-like kingdom occurred in 1531 during Ordaz's expedition when he was told of a kingdom called Meta that was said to exist beyond a mountain on the left bank of the Orinoco River. Meta was supposedly abundant in gold and ruled by a chief that only had one intact eye.


title: El Dorado

text: Between 1531 and 1538, the German conquistadors Nikolaus Federmann and Georg von Speyer searched the Venezuelan lowlands, Colombian plateaus, Orinoco Basin and Llanos Orientales for El Dorado. Subsequently, Philipp von Hutten accompanied Von Speyer on a journey (1536–38) in which they reached the headwaters of the Rio Japura, near the equator. In 1541 Hutten led an exploring party of about 150 men, mostly horsemen, from Coro on the coast of Venezuela in search of the Golden City. After several years of wandering, harassed by the natives and weakened by hunger and fever, he crossed the Rio Bermejo, and went on with a small group of around 40 men on horseback into Los Llanos, where they engaged in battle with a large number of Omaguas and Hutten was severely wounded. He led those of his followers who survived back to Coro in 1546. On Hutten's return, he and a traveling companion, Bartholomeus VI. Welser, were executed in El Tocuyo by the Spanish authorities.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1535, Sebastian de Benalcazar, a lieutenant of Francisco Pizarro, interrogated an Indian that had been captured at Quito. Luis Daza recorded that the Indian was a warrior while Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas wrote that the Indian was an ambassador who had come to request military assistance from the Inca, unaware that they had already been conquered. The Indian told Benalcazar that he was from a kingdom of riches known as Cundinamarca far to the north where a zipa, or chief, covered himself in gold dust during ceremonies. Benalcazar set out to find the chief, reportedly saying "Lets go find that golden Indian!" (), eventually the chief became known to the Spaniards came to know as El Dorado. Benalcazar failed however to find El Dorado and eventually joined up with Federmann and Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada and returned to Spain. It has been speculated that the land of wealth spoken of by the Indian was Arma, a kingdom whose inhabitants wore gold ornaments, which was eventually conquered by Pedro Cieza de Leon.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1536 Gonzalo Díaz de Pineda led an expedition to the lowlands to the east of Quito and found cinnamon trees but no rich empire.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1536, stories of El Dorado drew the Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada and his army of 800 men away from their mission to find an overland route to Peru and up into the Andean homeland of the Muisca for the first time. The southern Muisca settlements and their treasures quickly fell to the conquistadors in 1537 and 1538. On the Bogotá savanna, Quesada received reports from captured natives about a kingdom called Metza whose inhabitants built a temple dedicated to the sun and "keep in it an infinite quantity of gold and jewels, and live in stone houses, go about dressed and booted, and fight with lances and maces". Quesada believed this might have been El Dorado and decided to postpone his return to Santa Marta and continue his expedition for another year. After his brother Gonzalo had left for Spain in May 1539, Spanish conquistador Hernán Pérez de Quesada set out a new expedition in September 1540, leaving with 270 Spanish soldiers and countless indigenous porters to explore the Llanos Orientales. One of his main captains on this journey was Baltasar Maldonado. Their expedition was unsuccessful and after reaching Quito, the troops returned to Santafe de Bogotá.


title: El Dorado

text: In December of 1540, Gonzalo Pizarro, the younger half-brother of Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador who toppled the Incan Empire in Peru, as vice governor of the province of Quito (current Ecuador) prepared in Cusco an expedition of 170 spaniards and 3,000 natives and depart to Quito to explore it lands at the east, where many natives talked of the existence of a valley far to the east rich in both cinnamon and gold. When he arrived to Quito, he banded together 220 soldiers and about 4,000 natives and depart in February of 1541. He led them eastward down the Rio Coca and Rio Napo. Francisco de Orellana a relative of Pizarro, accompanied him on the expedition as his second in command. Gonzalo quit after many of the soldiers and natives had died from hunger, disease, and periodic attacks by hostile natives. He ordered Orellana to continue downstream, where he eventually made it to the Atlantic Ocean. The expedition found neither cinnamon nor gold, but Orellana is credited with discovering the Amazon River (so named because of a tribe of female warriors that attacked Orellana's men while on their voyage).


title: El Dorado

text: In 1560, Basque "conquistadors" Pedro de Ursúa and Lope de Aguirre journeyed down the Marañón and Amazon Rivers, in search of El Dorado, with 300 Spaniards and hundreds of natives; the actual goal of Ursúa was to send idle veterans from the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire away, to keep them from trouble-making, using the El Dorado myth as a lure. A year later, Aguirre participated in the overthrow and killing of Ursúa and his successor, Fernando de Guzmán, whom he ultimately succeeded. He and his men reached the Atlantic (probably by the Orinoco River), destroying native villages of Margarita island and actual Venezuela. In 1561 Aguirre's expedition ended with his death in Barquisimeto, and in the years since then he has been treated by historians as a symbol of cruelty and treachery in the early history of colonial Spanish America.


title: El Dorado

text: While the existence of a sacred lake in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes, associated with Indian rituals involving gold, was known to the Spaniards possibly as early as 1531, its location was only discovered in 1537 by conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada while on an expedition to the highlands of the Eastern Ranges of the Andes in search of gold.


title: El Dorado

text: Conquistadores Lázaro Fonte and Hernán Perez de Quesada attempted (unsuccessfully) to drain the lake in 1545 using a "bucket chain" of labourers. After 3 months, the water level had been reduced by 3 metres, and only a small amount of gold was recovered, with a value of 3000–4000 pesos (approx. US$100,000 today; a peso or piece of eight of the 15th century weighs 0.88 oz of 93% pure silver).


title: El Dorado

text: A later more industrious attempt was made in 1580, by Bogotá business entrepreneur Antonio de Sepúlveda. A notch was cut deep into the rim of the lake, which managed to reduce the water level by 20 metres, before collapsing and killing many of the labourers. A share of the findings—consisting of various golden ornaments, jewellery and armour—was sent to King Philip II of Spain. Sepúlveda's discovery came to approximately 12,000 pesos. He died a poor man, and is buried at the church in the small town of Guatavita.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1801, Alexander von Humboldt made a visit to Guatavita, and on his return to Paris, calculated from the findings of Sepúlveda's efforts that Guatavita could offer up as much as $300 million worth of gold.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1898, the Company for the Exploitation of the Lagoon of Guatavita was formed and taken over by Contractors Ltd. of London, in a deal brokered by British expatriate Hartley Knowles. The lake was drained by a tunnel that emerged in the centre of the lake. The water was drained to a depth of about 4 feet of mud and slime. This made it impossible to explore, and when the mud had dried in the sun, it had set like concrete. Artifacts worth only about £500 were found, and auctioned at Sotheby's of London. Some of these were donated to the British Museum. The company filed for bankruptcy and ceased activities in 1929.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1965, the Colombian government designated the lake as a protected area. Private salvage operations, including attempts to drain the lake, are now illegal.


title: El Dorado

text: The Spanish Governor of Trinidad, Antonio de Berrio (nephew of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada), made three failed expeditions to look for El Dorado. Between 1583 and 1589 he carried out his first two expeditions, going through the wild regions of the Colombian plains and the Upper Orinoco. In 1590 he began his third expedition, ascending the Orinoco to reach the Caroní River with his own expeditionaries and another 470 men under command of Domingo de Vera. In March 1591, while he was waiting for supplies on Margarita Island, his entire force was taken captive by Walter Raleigh, who proceeded up the Orinoco in search of El Dorado, with Berrio as a guide. Berrio took them to the territories he had previously explored by himself years before. After several months Raleigh's expedition returned to Trinidad, and he released Berrio at the end of June 1595 on the coast of Cumaná in exchange for some English prisoners. His son Fernando de Berrío y Oruña (1577–1622) also made numerous expeditions in search of El Dorado.


title: El Dorado

text: Walter Raleigh's 1595 journey with Antonio de Berrio had aimed to reach Lake Parime in the highlands of Guyana (the supposed location of El Dorado at the time). He was encouraged by the account of Juan Martinez, believed to be Juan Martin de Albujar, who had taken part in Pedro de Silva's expedition of the area in 1570, only to fall into the hands of the Caribs of the Lower Orinoco. Martinez claimed that he was taken to the golden city in blindfold, was entertained by the natives, and then left the city and couldn't remember how to return. Raleigh had set many goals for his expedition, and believed he had a genuine chance at finding the so-called city of gold. First, he wanted to find the mythical city of El Dorado, which he suspected to be an actual Indian city named Manõa. Second, he hoped to establish an English presence in the Southern Hemisphere that could compete with that of the Spanish. His third goal was to create an English settlement in the land called Guyana, and to try to reduce commerce between the natives and Spaniards.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1596 Raleigh sent his lieutenant, Lawrence Kemys, back to Guyana in the area of the Orinoco River, to gather more information about the lake and the golden city. During his exploration of the coast between the Amazon and the Orinoco, Kemys mapped the location of Amerindian tribes and prepared geographical, geological and botanical reports of the country. Kemys described the coast of Guiana in detail in his "Relation of the Second Voyage to Guiana" (1596) and wrote that indigenous people of Guiana traveled inland by canoe and land passages towards a large body of water on the shores of which he supposed was located Manoa, Golden City of El Dorado.


title: El Dorado

text: Though Raleigh never found El Dorado, he was convinced that there was some fantastic city whose riches could be discovered. Finding gold on the riverbanks and in villages only strengthened his resolve. In 1617, he returned to the New World on a second expedition, this time with Kemys and his son, Watt Raleigh, to continue his quest for El Dorado. However, Raleigh, by now an old man, stayed behind in a camp on the island of Trinidad. Watt Raleigh was killed in a battle with Spaniards and Kemys subsequently committed suicide. Upon Raleigh's return to England, King James ordered him to be beheaded for disobeying orders to avoid conflict with the Spanish. He was executed in 1618.


title: El Dorado

text: On 23 March 1609, Robert Harcourt accompanied by his brother Michael and a company of adventurers, sailed for Guiana. On 11 May he arrived at the Oyapock River. Local people came on board, and were disappointed at the absence of Sir Walter Raleigh after he had famously visited during his exploration of the area in 1595. Harcourt gave them aqua vitae. He took possession in the king's name of a tract of land lying between the River Amazon and River Essequibo on 14 August, left his brother and most of his company to colonise it, and four days later embarked for England.


title: El Dorado

text: In early 1611 Sir Thomas Roe, on a mission to the West Indies for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, sailed his 200-ton ship, the "Lion's Claw", some up the Amazon, then took a party of canoes up the Waipoco (probably the Oyapock River) in search of Lake Parime, negotiating thirty-two rapids and traveling about before they ran out of food and had to turn back.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1627 North and Harcourt, obtained letters patent under the great seal from Charles I, authorising them to form a company for "the Plantation of Guiana", North being named as deputy governor of the settlement. Short of funds, this expedition was fitted out, a plantation established in 1627, and trade opened by North's endeavours.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1637-38, two monks, Acana and Fritz, undertook several journeys to the lands of the Manoas, indigenous peoples living in western Guyana and what is now Roraima in northeastern Brazil. Although they found no evidence of El Dorado, their published accounts were intended to inspire further exploration.


title: El Dorado

text: In November 1739, Nicholas Horstman, a German surgeon commissioned by the Dutch Governor of Guiana, traveled up the Essequibo River accompanied by two Dutch soldiers and four Indian guides. In April 1741 one of the Indian guides returned reporting that in 1740 Horstman had crossed over to the Rio Branco and descended it to its confluence with the Rio Negro. Horstman discovered Lake Amucu on the North Rupununi but found neither gold nor any evidence of a city.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1740, Don Manuel Centurion, Governor of Santo Tomé de Guayana de Angostura del Orinoco in Venezuela, hearing a report from an Indian about Lake Parima, embarked on a journey up the Caura River and the Paragua River, causing the deaths of several hundred persons. His survey of the local geography, however, provided the basis for other expeditions starting in 1775.


title: El Dorado

text: From 1775 to 1780, Nicholas Rodriguez and Antonio Santos, two entrepreneurs employed by the Spanish Governors, set out on foot and Santos, proceeding by the Caroní River, the Paragua River, and the Pacaraima Mountains, reached the Uraricoera River and Rio Branco, but found nothing.


title: El Dorado

text: Between 1799 and 1804, Alexander von Humboldt conducted an extensive and scientific survey of the Guyana river basins and lakes, concluding that a seasonally-flooded confluence of rivers may be what inspired the notion of a mythical Lake Parime, and of the supposed golden city on the shore, nothing was found. Further exploration by Charles Waterton (1812) and Robert Schomburgk (1840) confirmed Humboldt's findings.


title: El Dorado

text: It appears today that the Muisca obtained their gold in trade, and while they possessed large quantities of it over time, no great store of the metal was ever accumulated.


title: El Dorado

text: By the mid-1570s, the Spanish silver strike at Potosí in Upper Peru (modern Bolivia) was producing unprecedented real wealth.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died, bringing to an end the era of Elizabethan adventurism. In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the great inspirer, was beheaded after returning from an expedition to Venezuela in search of El Dorado for an attack on a Spanish outpost.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1695, "bandeirantes" in the south struck gold along a tributary of the São Francisco River in the highlands of State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The prospect of real gold overshadowed the illusory promise of "gold men" and "lost cities" in the vast interior of the north.


title: El Dorado

text: The gold mine at El Callao (Venezuela), started in 1871, a few miles at south of Orinoco River, was for a time one of the richest in the world, and the goldfields as a whole saw over a million ounces exported between 1860 and 1883. The immigrants who emigrated to the gold mines of Venezuela were mostly from the British Isles and the British West Indies.


title: El Dorado

text: The Orinoco Mining Arc (OMA), officially created on February 24, 2016 as the Arco Mining Orinoco National Strategic Development Zone, is an area rich in mineral resources that the Republic of Venezuela has been operating since 2017; occupies mostly the north of the Bolivar state and to a lesser extent the northeast of the Amazonas state and part of the Delta Amacuro state. It has 7,000 tons of reserves of gold, copper, diamond, coltan, iron, bauxite and other minerals.


title: El Dorado

text: A photograph taken from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021 showed golden areas near the Amazon River. These were determined to be extensive illegal gold mining operations. Such photography and, especially, satellite surveys, have revealed the extent of the impact of these operations. They suggest the rate of forest loss more than tripled as gold prices rose in 2008, largely driven by small, illegal mining operations that now account for most activity in the region. A team from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, has estimated, using satellite data and field surveys together, that mining covered fewer than 10,000 hectares in 1999 but had spread beyond 50,000 hectares by September 2012.


title: El Dorado

text: In 1987–1988, an expedition led by John Hemming of the Royal Geographical Society failed to uncover any evidence of the ancient city of Manoa on the in north-central Roraima. Members of the expedition were accused of looting historic artifacts but an official report of the expedition described it as "an ecological survey."


title: El Dorado

text: Although it was dismissed in the 19th century as a myth, some evidence for the existence of a lake in northern Brazil has been uncovered. In 1977 Brazilian geologists Gert Woeltje and Frederico Guimarães Cruz along with Roland Stevenson, found that on all the surrounding hillsides a horizontal line appears at a uniform level approximately above sea level. This line registers the water level of an extinct lake which existed until relatively recent times. Researchers who studied it found that the lake's previous diameter measured and its area was about . About 700 years ago this giant lake began to drain due to tectonic movement. In June 1690, a massive earthquake opened a bedrock fault, forming a rift or a graben that permitted the water to flow into the Rio Branco. By the early 19th century it had dried up completely.


title: El Dorado

text: Roraima's well-known Pedra Pintada is the site of numerous pictographs dating to the pre-Columbian era. Designs on the sheer exterior face of the rock were most likely painted by people standing in canoes on the surface of the now-vanished lake. Gold, which was reported to be washed up on the shores of the lake, was most likely carried by streams and rivers out of the mountains where it can be found today.


title: El Dorado

text: Since 2007 a team of international and multidisciplinary researchers, led by Venezuelan archaeologist and explorer Jose Miguel Perez-Gomez, has conducted several expeditions into southeast Venezuela’s unexplored jungle areas in search of storied Lake Parime. The team presented its results in October 2019 at the TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X Science Team Meeting held at the DLR’s (Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt’s, i.e., the German Aerospace Center) Microwave and Radar Institute in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany (1). These results derived from a large amount of data collected from multiple expeditions. They were based on analysis of historical sources; indigenous oral traditions; archaeological and geological studies; digital elevation models (DEM); and aerial, along with satellite, remote sensing surveys obtained from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Missions (SRTM), the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument, and TanDEM-X synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors from the DLR’s Microwave and Radar Institute in Germany. By using these advanced remote sensing technologies, the researchers were able to reconstruct a fossil lake and also identify the place where it emptied. Based on a GIS flood projection model, the flooding computations for the proposed lake area revealed a body of water much longer than it was wide. In fact, an elongated rift lake emerged, markedly similar to Sir Walter Raleigh’s original map of 1595.


title: Atlas Shrugged

text: Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It was her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her "magnum opus" in the realm of fiction writing. "Atlas Shrugged" includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction. Rand described the theme of "Atlas Shrugged" as "the role of man's mind in existence". The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism, including reason, property rights, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw as the failures of governmental coercion.


title: Atlas Shrugged

text: The book depicts a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against "looters" who want to exploit their productivity. They discover that a mysterious figure called John Galt is persuading other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear as a strike of productive individuals against the looters. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt's philosophy.


title: Atlas Shrugged

text: "Atlas Shrugged" received largely negative reviews, but achieved enduring popularity and ongoing sales in the following decades. The novel has been cited as an influence on a variety of libertarian and conservative thinkers and politicians. After several unsuccessful attempts to adapt the novel for film or television, a film trilogy based on it was released from 2011 to 2014, and two theatrical adaptations have been staged.


title: Atlas Shrugged

text: "Atlas Shrugged" is set in a dystopian United States at an unspecified time, in which the country has a "National Legislature" instead of Congress and a "Head of State" instead of a President. The US appears to be approaching an economic collapse, with widespread shortages, business failures, and decreased productivity. Writer Edward Younkins said, "The story may be simultaneously described as anachronistic and timeless. The pattern of industrial organization appears to be that of the late 1800s—the mood seems to be close to that of the depression-era 1930s. Both the social customs and the level of technology remind one of the 1950s". Many early 20th-century technologies are available, but later technologies such as jet planes and computers are largely absent. There is very little mention of historical people or events, not even major events such as World War II. Aside from the United States, most countries are referred to as "People's States" that are implied to be either socialist or communist.


title: Atlas Shrugged

text: Dagny Taggart, the operating vice-president of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad, keeps the company going amid a sustained economic depression. As economic conditions worsen and government enforces statist controls on successful businesses, people repeat the cryptic phrase "Who is John Galt?" which means: "Don't ask questions nobody can answer"; or more broadly, "Why bother?". Her brother Jim, the railroad's president, seems to make irrational decisions, such as buying from Orren Boyle's unreliable Associated Steel. Dagny is also disappointed to discover that the Argentine billionaire Francisco d'Anconia, her childhood friend and first love, is risking his family's copper company by constructing the San Sebastián copper mines, even though Mexico will probably nationalize them. Despite the risk, Jim and Boyle invest heavily in a railway for the region while ignoring the Rio Norte Line in Colorado, where entrepreneur Ellis Wyatt has discovered large oil reserves. Mexico nationalizes the mines and railroad line, but the mines are discovered to be worthless. To recoup the railroad's losses, Jim influences the National Alliance of Railroads to prohibit competition in prosperous areas such as Colorado. Wyatt demands that Dagny supply adequate rails to his wells before the ruling takes effect.


title: Atlas Shrugged

text: In Philadelphia, self-made steel magnate Hank Rearden develops Rearden Metal, an alloy lighter and stronger than conventional steel. Dagny opts to use Rearden Metal in the Rio Norte Line, becoming the first major customer for the product. After Hank refuses to sell the metal to the State Science Institute, a government research foundation run by Dr. Robert Stadler, the Institute publishes a report condemning the metal without identifying problems with it. As a result, many significant organizations boycott the line. Although Stadler agrees with Dagny's complaints about the unscientific tone of the report, he refuses to override it. To protect Taggart Transcontinental from the boycott, Dagny decides to build the Rio Norte Line as an independent company named the John Galt Line.


title: Atlas Shrugged

text: Hank is unhappy with his manipulative wife Lillian, but feels obliged to stay with her. He is attracted to Dagny, and when he joins her for the inauguration of the John Galt Line, they become lovers. On a vacation, Hank and Dagny discover an abandoned factory with an incomplete but revolutionary motor that runs on atmospheric static electricity. They begin searching for the inventor, and Dagny hires scientist Quentin Daniels to reconstruct the motor. However, a series of economically harmful directives are issued by Wesley Mouch, a former Rearden lobbyist who betrayed Hank in return for a job leading a government agency. Wyatt and other important business leaders quit and disappear, leaving their industries to failure.