‘America’s Got Talent’ making golden buzzers more like ‘Britain’s Got Talent’; other minor changes

We loved the introduction of the golden buzzer on “America’s Got Talent” last season, but there was still a glaring issue with it in our mind: Why in the world did it not go the same way that the twist did in the British version of the show? On “Britain’s Got Talent” last year, the golden buzzer automatically gave you an opportunity to advance directly to the live shows. It was a tremendous amount of power for a judge to have, but that only added to the fun. Remember here that Dustin’s Dojo was in our mind absolutely hysterical, but it didn’t make the live rounds after Howard gave them the buzzer because Heidi Klum and Mel B didn’t quite get it.

We have received confirmation now that for the new season, the buzzer will mean a one-way ticket to the live shows, and a bigger chance to prove that you were worth that support from an individual judge. Another format change is that during the second stage in the competition, each judge is going to have some sort of power that should manifest itself at some point. It is this show becoming a little bit more like “The Voice” or “The X Factor” in some way, where the judges / coaches continue to have individual power until you get to a certain stage of the competition.

One other chance here is more related to the contestant pool; there will be more extreme outdoor acts than ever before, and these auditions were filmed specifically at the Fairplex in California. This is one of the ways that this show can branch out and reach a different degree of talent. From our vantage point, it needed to continue to do something since there are only so many talented people left out there!

This new season premieres on Tuesday, May 26, and there is one other thing to watch out for: A pair of specials entitled “Mat Franco’s Got Magic,” which will chronicle the reigning champ as he prepares for a headlining gig in Las Vegas. Franco is the first magician to ever win the show, and he is also the first winner to get his own NBC special.

To read some other news related to “America’s Got Talent,” be sure to head over to the link here today! Also, you can sign up if you want to get some other talented-oriented TV updates on everything we cover, and courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)