Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1650307-20200102005018/@comment-40010956-20200113213239

MaxAurelius wrote: Matthieus2 wrote: FatalCalamityz wrote:

Matthieus2 wrote: Though I do agree last Champions there were more memorable "champions", it did seem like nearly all AGT champions, some BGT and then just a few from other nations. Adding onto that, I would argue that last season exercised a majority of some of AGT's most iconic acts, especially in regards to comedy and magic, but others like singing, dancing, and acrobatics, as well. I think we can all agree that acts like Brian Justin Crum, Darci Lynne, Kenichi Ebina, Paul Zerdin, and Preacher Lawson, to name a few, are iconic to AGT superfans. While this cast is certainly not devoid of its fair share of AGT "icons," such as Brian King Joseph, Duo Transcend, Freckled Sky, Oz Pearlman, and V.Unbeatable, I still say it feels like there is less of an "iconic" factor in the overall AGT representation. Several acts that only made the quarter-finals were brought back - not suggesting they are undeserving of the title "Champion," but I will add that - and I mean no offense to any fans of these guys - I had honestly never heard of some of these acts, like Dan Naturman, Christian Stoinev, or Spencer Horsman before watching the cast reveal, whereas last season, I recognized every act representing AGT; and Michael Grimm is the only former AGT winner among the cast - the only bona fide "AGT Champion" competing to defend his title, if you will - compared to the five from last year; and no runner-ups, either - a generous number of third placers, though.

I do appreciate the greater diversity in foreign acts against the AGT acts from last season, though - from 32% last season to 52.5% this season, so the foreign talent actually exceeds the AGT acts. And it does not feel like Britain's Got Talent has an overwhelming majority over the foreign talent - half the foreign acts last season were BGT representatives, whereas a third of this season's foreign acts are from BGT, which is less abundant than the previous cast. If there is one thing the producers got right from last season, it is that they made the cast more nationally diverse, which I very much appreciate.

But if I was on the production staff and it were up to me, I would suggest that AGT wait a few more years before starting another "Champions" season, because that would create a greater spectrum of acts from not just AGT, but around the world, to choose from as contestants, so as to create a greater sense of "Worldwide Got Talent icons duke it out for the prestigious title of "Champion of Champions!" Exactly my initial reaction to this season's confirmation: "Wait, already?" I totally agree with this. I can understand why they'd try and churn out another Champions if last season was successful, (I'm not sure what the ratings were like for Champions Season One), but to me it does feel way too soon. I can understand with the last Champions season there were 13 seasons worth of AGT memorable contestants and plenty from internation Got Talent seasons, but just one year last there won't be so much more from AGT, if that makes sense.

I too like more of a diversity this season with there being more of a chance of foreign acts from AGT. However I still feel a bit confused by the concept and did sort of wonder last year why they didn't just do an AGT all-stars for past AGT contestants or an international champions all-stars and make it balanced for foreign acts. I agree with everything within all of these quotes! You all made several good points. My opinion, to be completely honest, is that I kind of think maybe they should've held off a second champions season to later instead of a year after the first. The first season left much more of an impression at it's release, because finally after thirteen seasons there's something new wrapping all of them together. However, in the first champions season, they pretty much exhausted all the super-icons, and I must admit this time around I was unfamiliar with half the line-up at release. I'm not saying the second season won't be good, but I feel maybe if they pushed it back a little so there is more time for regular seasons so there can be more recognizable acts. And the first episode of the second champions season left me feeling a little unimpressed. I was watching with my family the first episode and every time a new act came on, one of my older relatives made the comment, "This isn't champions. It's more like runners-ups!" And not like just actual runner-ups. More like quarter-finalists. Positive side, though, this season seems much more international. But I still think the first season was more iconic. A late theory after giving my statistics some analytical thought: maybe the lesser caliber of "Champion" acts may explain why we have already broken the buzzer record on a Champions season by a dramatic degree. So far, we have heard three buzzers, all in one episode - the first episode, no less - whereas it took four episodes last season just to get two buzzers. And so far, a majority of the acts that earned at least one buzzer - which is, at this moment, the most buzzers a Champions' crown contender has ever received, by the way - have been acts that competed on a previous season of America's Got Talent, so the American audience and judges should have already been familiar with these people; granted, that is only two acts - Dan and Hans - and one foreign act - Eddie - out of three, but that data may be susceptible to change at a later date.