America's Got Talent (season 1)
In 2005, Simon Cowell devised plans for a televised talent competition, originally intending for it be created and broadcast in Britain through the British broadcaster ITV, with an American edition to follow after its first season. However, following a pilot broadcast of the format, a dispute arose between ITV and Paul O'Grady, the originally intended host of "Britain's Got Talent". In the wake of the dispute, after O'Grady decided to sign on to another network, Cowell suspended production on the British edition, and instead focused on the American edition in 2006. His proposal for his program in America was bought by NBC, who commissioned a small season of episodes, along with Freemantle and Cowell's own company Syco Entertainment. Auditions were launched across the United States, while Regis Philbin was picked as the host with David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Piers Morgan chosen as judges. After the open auditions had been completed, those who had been nominated for the program were entered into more an extensive round of major auditions, which took place across Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in April 2006. The format used in the first season of "America's Got Talent" for live rounds differed greatly to what would later be used in later seasons of the program, as well as for other international editions of the "Got Talent" franchise. In the semi-finals and the final, the judges voted on each participants performance pertaining to whether they approved or disapproved of an act, with no use of a buzzer to stop a performance at any times. While each semi-final would offer two places in the live final, any act eliminated by this stage would have a chance to be picked as a Wildcard for a special semi-final – two by each judge from any semi-final and one by the public from each round – with an additional two places offered. Of the participants who auditioned for this season, forty acts secured a place in the semi-finals, with ten appearing in each one, and eight of the acts making it into the live final. Approximately ten of the semi-finalists who didn't advance were chosen by the judges to compete within a Wildcard round, and secured two additional places in the final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season: Judge Disapproved | Judge Approved
 | Judge Disapproved | Judge Approved
Season overview
The first season of American talent show competition series "America's Got Talent" was broadcast on NBC from June 21 to August 17, 2006. The season went into production a year earlier than planned by "Got Talent" creator Simon Cowell, who intended for "Britain's Got Talent" to debut first in 2006. However, production was suspended due to internal conflicts within its British television network. David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Piers Morgan were the show's first judges, with Regis Philbin as host. This season involved an early format for live round judging and Wildcard acts, that would later be changed after the season's conclusion. The season's actual results for second and third place were not declared. The ratings success of this season helped foster the development of other international editions of the "Got Talent" franchise, along with restarting production on the British edition.