America's Got Talent (season 12)
The twelfth season of America's Got Talent, an American talent show competition, began broadcasting in the United States during 2017, from May 30 to September 20 on NBC. Following the previous season, Nick Cannon ended his role as host of the program following a disagreement with the network, leading to producers hiring Tyra Banks as his replacement. The guest judges for Judge Cuts this season included Chris Hardwick, DJ Khaled, Laverne Cox and Seal.
The twelfth season was won by singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne, with singer Angelica Hale finishing second, and glow-light dance troupe Light Balance placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around 12.66 million viewers and is the highest viewed in the program's history to date. The season is most notable for the death of a participant outside of filming, who was subsequently given tribute by the program.
Season Overview
Open auditions took place in late 2016, within Chicago, Austin, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Diego, New York City, Charleston, Memphis, and Los Angeles, with online auditions also accepted by producers. As with the previous year, the judges' auditions were held and filmed in March at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The Judge Cuts stage of the competition saw the involvement of comedian Chris Hardwick, media personality DJ Khaled, actress Laverne Cox, and singer and musician Seal as guest judges for this stage.After eight years of hosting America's Got Talent, Nick Cannon's future on the program became uncertain after he faced criticism from NBC over a joke he made on his 2017 Showtime comedy special, Stand Up, Don't Shoot, which the network deemed as potentially racist. Cannon determined from this that it was best he left the program rather than to remain and face the possibility of being fired by the network, and so announced his resignation from the program on February 13, 2017, a month before production of the twelfth season was to begin. Although the network would not accept his announcement to begin with, owing to the fact that Cannon was still under contract to host AGT, the network's executives eventually agreed that his decision was the best course of action under the circumstances, and thus advised the production staff to find a replacement before the new season was due to begin. On March 12, television personality Tyra Banks was unveiled as the new host for America's Got Talent, prior to filming commencing. Apart from the change in host, the program required no further changes, although production staff were forced to take care with airing the audition of a participant, after they died in an accident outside of filming.
Of the participants who auditioned for this season, 36 secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each one - amongst these included: singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne, singer and ukeleleist Mandy Harvey, singer Christian Guardino, glow-light dance troupe Light Balance, and singer Angelina Green, who had each received a golden buzzer from the main judges; singer Angelica Hale, singer and guitarist Chase Goehring, singer Celine Tam, and soul singer Johnny Manuel, who had each received a golden buzzer from the guest judges; and vocal group Final Draft, comic daredevil Bello Nock, and video-mappers Oskar and Gaspar, who were chosen as WildCard quarter-finalists. Around 22 quarter-finalists advanced to and split between the two semi-finals - including dog tricks act Pompeyo Family Dogs, chosen as the WildCard semi-finalist - with 10 semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:
| Participant | Age | Genre | Act | From | Quarter-Final | Result |
| Angelica Hale | 9 | Singing | Singer | Atlanta | 1 | ' |
| Angelina Green | 13 | Singing | Singer | Miami | 3 | |
| Artyon & Paige | 9, 8 | Dance | Dancing Duo | Murrieta, California | 1 | |
| Bello Nock | 47 | Danger | Comic Daredevil | Sarasota, Florida | 1 | |
| Billy & Emily England | 30, 27 | Danger | Extreme Rollerblading Duo | Las Vegas | 1 | |
| Brobots & Mandroidz | 16-24 | Dance | Hip-hop Dance Crew | Torrance, California | 2 | |
| Celine Tam | 9 | Singing | Singer | Hong Kong | 2 | |
| Chase Goehring | 21 | Singing / Music | Singer & Guitarist | Nolensville, Tennessee | 3 | ' |
| Christian Guardino | 16 | Singing | Singer | Patchogue, New York | 1 | |
| Colin Cloud | 30 | Magic | Mentalist | Edinburgh, United Kingdom | 3 | |
| DaNell Daymon & Greater Works | 24-59 | Singing | Gospel Choir | Various | 3 | |
| Darci Lynne | 12 | Comedy / Singing | Singing Ventriloquist | Oklahoma City | 1 | ' |
| Demian Aditya | 36 | Magic / Danger | Escape Artist | Jakarta, Indonesia | 2 | |
| Diavolo | 21-39 | Acrobatics / Dance | Acrobatic Dance Group | Los Angeles | 3 | ' |
| Eric Jones | 36 | Magic | Close-up Magician | Philadelphia | 2 | |
| Evie Clair | 13 | Singing / Music | Singer & Pianist | Florence, Arizona | 2 | ' |
| Final Draft | 22-26 | Singing | Vocal Group | Atlanta | 3 | |
| In The Stairwell | 18-22 | Singing | A-cappella Group | Colorado Springs, Colorado | 1 | |
| Johnny Manuel | 32 | Singing | Singer | Flint, Michigan | 2 | |
| Junior & Emily Alabi | 31, 27 | Dance | Salsa Dance Duo | Los Angeles | 3 | |
| Just Jerk | 18-27 | Dance | Hip-hop Dance Group | Seoul, South Korea | 1 | |
| Kechi Okwuchi | 27 | Singing | Singer | Houston | 3 | ' |
| Light Balance | 22-36 | Dance | Glow-light Dance Troupe | Dnipro, Ukraine | 2 | ' |
| Mandy Harvey | 29 | Singing / Music | Singer & Ukulelist | St. Cloud, Florida | 2 | ' |
| Merrick Hanna | 12 | Dance | Dancer | Encinitas, California | 2 | |
| Mike Yung | 56 | Singing | Singer | New York City | 3 | |
| Mirror Image | 16 | Singing & Dance | Vocal Dance Duo | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 2 | Eliminated |
| Oscar Hernandez | 34 | Dance | Dancer | Orange County, California | 3 | |
| Oskar & Gaspar | Variety | Video-mapping Act | Lisbon, Portugal | 3 | ||
| Pompeyo Family Dogs | 35 | Animal | Dog Tricks Act | Sarasota, Florida | 2 | |
| Preacher Lawson | 25 | Comedy | Stand-up Comedian | Memphis, Tennessee | 1 | ' |
| Puddles Pity Party | 52 | Singing | Singing Clown | Atlanta | 1 | |
| Sara & Hero | 22, 5 | Animals | Dog Tricks Act | North Bay, Canada | 3 | ' |
| The Masqueraders | 72-74 | Singing | Soul Trio | Nashville, Tennessee | 2 | |
| The Singing Trump | 56 | Comedy / Singing | Singing "Donald Trump" Impersonator | Palm Springs, California | 1 | |
| Yoli Mayor | 21 | Singing | Singer | Miami | 1 |
- Ages denoted in this column pertain to participants' ages in their final performance for this season.
- Locations for members of this group were not disclosed on the program.
- The ages of these participants were not disclosed on the program.
- The age denoted here pertains to the owner of the dogs in this act; the age range for the animal group was not disclosed by their owner.
- Sara & Hero involved a second dog in their live round performances; the latter value denotes the age of the dog Hero only.
Quarter-final Summary
Quarter-final 1 (August 15)
Guest Performers, Results Show: Grace VanderWaalQuarter-final 2 (August 22)
Guest Performers, Results Show: Circus 1903- Due to a technical issue, Light Balance's performance was based on their earlier dress rehearsal for the quarter-final.
- Demain Aditya's performance suffered from technical difficulties during the live broadcast, due to a fault in the participant's equipment for his routine.
- Pompeyo Family Dogs were later appointed as the judges' WildCard semi-finalists.
Quarter-final 3 (August 29)
Semi-final Summary
Semi-final 1 (September 5–6)
Guest Performers, Results Show: The ClairvoyantsSemi-final 2 (September 12)
Guest Performers, Results Show: Absinthe- Due to the majority vote for Diavolo, Klum's voting intention was not revealed.
Finals (September 19-20)
| Finalist | Act | Performed with | Result |
| Angelica Hale | Singer | Kelly Clarkson | ' |
| Chase Goehring | Singer & Guitarist | James Arthur | |
| Sara & Hero | Dog Tricks Act | N/A | ' |
| Diavolo | Acrobatic Dance Group | N/A | |
| Evie Clair | Singer | James Arthur | |
| Preacher Lawson | Stand-up Comedian | N/A | |
| Kechi Okwuchi | Singer | Kelly Clarkson | |
| Darci Lynne | Singing Ventriloquist | Terry Fator | ' |
| Mandy Harvey | Singer & Ukeleleist | Shania Twain | ' |
| Light Balance | Glow-light Dance Troupe | Derek Hough |
- Angelica Hale and Kechi Okwuchi conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers.
Ratings
| Show | Episode title | First air date | Timeslot | Rating | Share | Viewers | Nightly Rank | Weekly Rank |
| 1 | Auditions Week 1 | May 30, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.7 | 11 | 12.32 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Auditions Week 2 | June 6, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.7 | 11 | 12.53 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Auditions Week 3 | June 13, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.6 | 11 | 12.70 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Auditions Week 4 | June 20, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.6 | 11 | 12.74 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Auditions Week 5 | June 27, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.5 | 10 | 12.36 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Auditions Week 6 | July 11, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.5 | 10 | 12.59 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Judge Cuts 1 | July 18, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.5 | 11 | 12.57 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Judge Cuts 2 | July 25, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.6 | 11 | 13.08 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Judge Cuts 3 | August 1, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.8 | 12 | 13.33 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | Judge Cuts 4 | August 8, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.7 | 11 | 13.32 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Quarterfinals, Week 1 | August 15, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.8 | 11 | 13.44 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | Quarterfinals, Week 1 | August 16, 2017 | Wednesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.1 | 9 | 10.89 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | Quarterfinals, Week 2 | August 22, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.6 | 10 | 12.76 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Quarterfinals, Week 2 | August 23, 2017 | Wednesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.0 | 9 | 10.84 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | Quarterfinals, Week 3 | August 29, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.6 | 11 | 13.13 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 | Quarterfinals, Week 3 | August 30, 2017 | Wednesday 8:00 p.m. | 1.9 | 8 | 11.07 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | Semifinals, Week 1 | September 5, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.6 | 10 | 13.29 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | Semifinals, Week 1 | September 6, 2017 | Wednesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.1 | 8 | 11.99 | 1 | 6 |
| 19 | Semifinals, Week 2 | September 12, 2017 | Tuesday 9:00 p.m. | 2.3 | 9 | 11.57 | 1 | 3 |
| 20 | Semifinals, Week 2 | September 13, 2017 | Wednesday 8:00 p.m. | 2.1 | 8 | 11.59 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 | The Finals | September 19, 2017 | Tuesday 8:00 p.m. | 3.0 | 12 | 14.70 | 1 | 4 |
| 22 | Season Finale | September 20, 2017 | Wednesday 8:00 p.m. | 3.0 | 11 | 15.64 | 1 | 2 |
Specials
| Show | Episode title | First air date | Timeslot | Rating | Share | Viewers | Nightly Rank | Weekly Rank |
| S1 | Best of Season 12 Auditions | July 13, 2017 | Thursday 8:00 p.m. | 1.3 | 6 | 7.10 | 2 | 10 |
| S2 | Road to Finals | August 9, 2017 | Wednesday 8:00 p.m. | 1.3 | 6 | 7.01 | 2 | 8 |
Incidents
Behind-the-scenes DeathOne of the most notable incidents to occur on America's Got Talent took place in 2017, and involved the death of a participant, American physician Brandon Rogers, outside of filming during the auditions stages of the competition. Rogers became involved in the twelfth season when producers came across his YouTube videos, in which he had become a viral success story as a result of his skill in singing various different songs, including one by Boyz II Men. Although he had performed well and had voiced optimism at potentially earning a place in the live rounds, Rogers became involved in a fatal automobile accident on June 11, 2017, and died in hospital the following day. Producers felt it unwise to showcase footage of his performances without consent of his family, but prior to the Judge Cuts episodes being aired, they eventually were given to showcase Rogers' audition as a special tribute in his memory on July 11.