America's Got Talent is one of the most famous talent competition shows! But ever since the start of Covid pandemic, the show has constantly changed formats, which has has caused questionable results in the show and outrage among fans.

When the show started, the first part of the show is always the auditions: 6 episodes where we would be introduced to the acts who came on the show. 

The second round was the Judge Cuts. For four weeks, acts would perform for a second time to get to the live broadcasted shows. Each week included a celebrity guest judge who gets to give a golden buzzer to one act they love, sending them straight to the show. In fact some of the best acts on this show have been gold buzzed in the Judges Cuts (such as Sofie Dossi, Angelica Hale, V.Unbeatable, and winner of Season 10 Paul Zerdin!).

Next would be the Quarterfinals, the first round of the live shows where in the span of 3 weeks, the acts who made it from the Judge Cuts would begin to up their games for 22 spots. The round after this was the Semifinals, where for two weeks voters narrow down the 22 acts to create the season’s Top 10. Lastly there was the Finals, where acts perform one last time to become the season’s winner. After the performances, the next night the Top 10 were narrowed down to reveal the season’s winner.

But for the past three seasons, the show has been changing their organized format. Starting in Season 15 only a small number of acts actually performed in the Judge Cuts due to the beginning of the Covid pandemic. This caused several other acts to be eliminated without giving them a second chance to perform. There were also no Guest Judges, meaning acts had less chances for golden buzzers. 

Then in Season 16, rather than returning to their pre-Covid format, the Judge Cut rounds were removed altogether. They were replaced it with rather annoying Deliberations, where the judges pick who gets in the live shows, without watching second performances. Deliberations is unfair because acts make it through auditions only to not perform a second time!

But Season 17 really went overboard. Now, instead of six audition episodes, there are nine (which is way too many). Also, the Quarterfinals were eliminated and the Semifinals were replaced with a different kind that only sends two acts out of eleven to the Finals each week! The Judges say that this format was intended to pressure viewers to vote for acts they want most without thinking they’re safe. But this is extremely unfair to both the acts and the audience. It gives acts less chances to go through to the finals and gives voters less freedom to choose who they want. After all, the ten acts the audience actually wants in the finals could all go on one night.

America’s Got Talent has made a big mistake changing their entire format like this. So sign this petition so we can let NBC and the AGT judges know that a better format is needed which does not eliminate rounds or chances from acts to perform one more time after being told “yes”.