Judges and Host Tease Changes Coming to the NBC Competition Series (Exclusive)

When the lights came on for the first-ever season of America’s Got Talent in the summer of 2006, over 12 million viewers were watching. That hugely successful launch — which boasted even better numbers than another talent show featuring Simon Cowell, American Idol — solidified the everyone-is-welcome talent competition as appointment television. But according to Cowell, it almost didn’t happen.

“I can vividly remember NBC making us an offer to buy the show — and it was so exciting because nobody else wanted it,” the host recalls with a laugh. “I was so grateful and just so excited that we could do it. If it hadn’t been on NBC, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”

Two decades later, as AGT prepares to open its 20th season, with host Terry Crews and judges Cowell, Howie Mandel, Mel B, and Sofía Vergara, that buzzing excitement is in the air. Former Spice Girl Mel B, who returns to AGT after participating in The Champions and Fantasy League spinoffs, says the feeling is incredible. “It’s a completely different experience,” notes the singer, who recalls that she was in a toxic marriage the first time she sat at the judges’ table (she previously judged from 2013 to 2018). “Now, when I do the show, I can give 100 percent all the time. I also find that, because of what I’ve gone through, the contestants open up to me so much more.”

Her inspiring story calls to mind dozens of other emotional moments that play out in any given episode as people from all over the globe step onstage. “One young man danced so hard [that after] he got through backstage, he collapsed in my arms,” Crews recalls of an audition this season. “It was with joy, but you could just see he gave everything he had. He couldn’t even stand up. That blew me away.”

Trae Patton / NBC

Mandel, now the longest-standing judge, with 15 seasons under his belt, calls the show “the epicenter of hope and dreams coming true.” After seeing that confetti rain down on winners, it’s hard to disagree. “There are moments that really stick out,” Mandel says. “When they do, you know that you’ve been witness to something incredibly special.”

Viewers will now be able to see those special moments up close, explains Cowell, because of the intriguing way this season was packaged and shot. “We have [traditionally] shown about two-thirds of what really happens on the day. There’s an awful lot of stuff going on behind the scenes — what a contestant is going through, what it’s like to be in the audience — which you don’t see. I don’t even see. I’ve always thought that is so interesting,” he says, noting, “It’s about the closest [viewers have gotten] to being in my chair in all the years I’ve done it.”

Crews says it felt like the camera was on him 24/7, but giving away his Golden Buzzers — Crews and the judges each get two chances to send a performer straight to the live shows, which kick off later this summer — is euphoric. “It’s better than money,” Crews says. “I know it’s a million dollars at stake, but you’re talking about validating someone’s dream, and that’s very rare to get, especially as an entertainer. It’s so much rejection, so many sacrifices. [Getting the Golden Buzzer says,] ‘We hear you. We believe in you, and you’ve been right all along.’”

“Somebody gets a Golden Buzzer and they are crushed with beautiful emotion,” Mandel adds. “They know that their life’s never going to be the same. Every year, at least once, I walk over to Simon’s seat in the midst of this, and I go, ‘Simon, look at what your idea has done. And look at you, now on the other side of the globe, looking at a group of kids who come from a dark place, and they are being rained down with confetti and golden opportunity.”

It’s not just emotional for the performers, but also for Cowell. “If you said to me at the beginning, ‘Do you think you’ll get to 10 years?’ I would’ve said, ‘God willing.’ Twenty years, that would’ve been, ‘Are you kidding?’ Now, because of how many people you see around the world who’ve got a unique talent, and [the fact] that people are getting more confident and creative, I think America’s Got Talent is going to be on for a long, long time to come. But that’s just my gut feeling, because it can only exist if the people grow.”

Season 1’s winner was an 11-year-old powerhouse vocalist, and Season 19’s champ was a janitor with the voice of a rock god. In between, winners have included ventriloquists, dog acts, magicians, and a spoken-word artist. The bar is always rising, says Cowell. “It has to be as good, hopefully better, and certainly different from what we’ve seen before.”

That appears to be what’s happening. Mandel says this year’s “performers are hitting harder than they’ve ever hit. Season 20 is the highest bar of talent that we have ever had on America’s Got Talent.” You’ve got our standing ovation.

America’s Got Talent, Season Premiere, Tuesday, May 27, 8/7c, NBC