Proud to Be an American

 

 

America's Got Talent is quickly becoming a summertime tradition in this country.  It fundamentally taps into what this country loves and serves it up as perfect clips for this Youtube age.  The idea of having a talent show is nothing new, but to do it on this scale and get the craziest people from this great nation is brilliant.  So here are the 5 ideas America's Got Talent capitalizes on that Americans love: 

1.  It feeds perfectly into our rapidly declining attention span.

Restricting each performance to 3 minutes allows the show to be cut up into perfect clips for everyone to enjoy and it also enjoys that our ADD culture is always satisfied.  We want to be entertained quickly and we want to move onto something different.  This show does a great job at choosing the acts to showcase its great variety.  Being able to transition from an American Idol talented singer to 3 six year-olds rapping to a man juggling tazors above a pool of water seamlessly is one of the great feats in American television.  The variety is the main reason that this show never gets stale (see American Idol) from year to year or from performance to performance.  The competition is so high that every performer feels that they have to top their last performance which is great for us, the audience.  Example: We saw the guy juggling tazors above a pool of water, now we want to see him juggling tazors blind-folded while riding a unicycle.

2.  The inclusion of a live audience for auditions means that everyone can be an instant judge.

Unlike American Idol (sorry I don't really pay attention to any of the other ones like The Voice or whatever) which has its auditions only before the 3 judges, AGT has its auditions before a full theater of people.  This gives the show a very different mob-mentality which is exactly what the people want.  We love to start booing people after 3 seconds and hold our arms up in a big X and this show allows that.  We love to start cheering someone who is good immediately and this show encourages it.  The judges still provide their needed comments, but the audience has a huge effect on the performances.  The crowd either brings out the best in people or the worst and either way, it's great to watch. 

3.  It meets our desires to watch people crash and burn.

Americans love to watch people crash and burn (see every celebrity scandal).  AGT allows us to quickly see multiple people crash and burn on a large stage in front of a huge television audience.  We get to see a quick background story about them, get to know them, and then see them fail miserably.  Is there anything better than seeing someone go up on stage, not sing a single note right, get booed immediately, X'ed by the judges in 10 seconds, and be the only person in the world to not realize they have no talent?

4.  It invokes the "American Dream" of "Rags to Riches."

Americans love a good "Rags to Riches" story.  We have ever since that one guy wrote those stories about poor people making it big in the late 1800s and early 1900s (I can't remember his name; I have apparently forgot a lot of things I learned in history).  AGT introduces us to these people, shows us their background story, and gives us a reason to root for them.  Last year, Michael Grimm came from a back-woods house in Mississippi and won the million dollars for his grandparents.  The show delves deeper week-by-week about their story and gets the audience invested. 

5.  Americans love a celebrity comeback. 

Following after their love of celebrities crashing and burning, Americans love a good celebrity comeback (preferably after a scandal).  The judge positions are perfect spots for celebrities to make comebacks (see Jennifer Lopez on American Idol.  Why do I keep referencing American Idol?  I haven't watched it in 8 years).  Who cared about Sharon Osbourne after the Osbournes ended? No one.  Who cared about Howie Mandel (or knew he was alive) since Howie's World?  (well there was Deal or No Deal, buts its still a gameshow, so I'm counting that as the beginning of his comeback).  No one.  Now they're amazing C-list celebrities.  AGT can really turn a career around.  They're really there because they need someone with a whiff of credibility to judge these people.  So it's a minor comeback, but it made me remember who Sharon Osbourne was and I can appreciate that. 

Did anyone care about these people before this show?

So hopefully I've convinced you that it is your duty as an American to watch this show.  It's on NBC on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9:00 pm ET (and no I'm not a paid advertiser for the show).

- Matt