The fourth season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 23 to September 16, 2009. Following the previous season, Jerry Springer left the show due to other commitments, and was replaced as host by Nick Cannon. A number of changes were also made to the program before filming commenced, which included replacing the "boot camp" stage with a round similar in format to that used by Britain's Got Talent, and changing the buzzer format to match that being used by the Got Talent franchise. In addition, the episodes for results in each live round of the competition were also modified. They were broadcast over a one-hour period, and would feature performances by guest stars.
The fourth season was won by country singer Kevin Skinner, with opera singer Bárbara Padilla finishing in second, and percussion group Recycled Percussion placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around over 11.9 million viewers, and was the first in the program's history to be aired in high definition.
Season overview Auditions for the fourth season's competition took place across Winter until mid-Spring 2009, with auditions expanding to more cities. Filming for the audition episodes focused on those held in the cities of New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Tacoma, and Seattle. Auditions were also held in Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. but were not included in the televised episodes. Prior to auditions taking place, Jerry Springer announced he was unable to continue hosting AGT due to his talk show schedule, in addition to summer theater commitments he had. As a result, the network recruited Nick Cannon to be his successor.
The format for the second stage of auditions changed by removing the "boot camp" portion that had been used in the previous two seasons, in favor of using the selection process from Britain's Got Talent, under the title of "Vegas Verdicts". Instead, judges reviewed the tapes of participants who had made successful auditions, to determine who would advance into the live rounds. This stage would continue to divide participants into groups, allowing the judges to debate among themselves about which group of participants should earn a place in the live rounds, before bringing back each group to inform them of their decision about their progress in the competition. In some cases, participants were required to do a second performance to help the judges make their final decisions. The format for the buzzers in the live rounds was also altered to match that of the format across the Got Talent franchise, in that participants receiving buzzes from all the judges had to stop immediately, rather than being given a little more time to perform.
Two issues arose during this season during the competition. The first was the intervention of executive producer Simon Cowell, who felt "too much talent" had been eliminated during the new "Vegas Verdicts" stage. The judges decided to bring back several of the eliminated acts as Wildcards for the quarter-finals. The second was the judges' inability to determine which two acts they favored and would advance beyond the first semi-final. Eventually they opted to put both through without a vote in the second semi-final.
Forty-eight of the participants who auditioned for the season secured a place in the live quarter-finals (including those originally eliminated in the Vegas Verdicts stage before Cowell's intervention), with twelve quarter-finalists performing in each show. About twenty of these advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, with ten semi-finalists securing a place in the live final, which was a single stage rather than multiple rounds in previous seasons. Here are the results of each participant's overall performance during the season:
| Judges' Wildcard Quarter-Finalist
ParticipantAge(s) GenreActFromQuarter-FinalResult 24-35 Acrobatics Acrobatic Group Orlando 4 23 Singing / Music Violin Trio Las Vegas 2 Anthony & Matt 24 & 22 Singing / Dance Singer & Tap Dancer New York City 4 13 Dance Dancer Orlando 1 36 Singing Opera Singer Houston 4 Beale Street Flippers 20-26 Acrobatics Acrobat Group Memphis, Tennessee 2 Breaksk8 21-30 Dance Dance Group Kokomo, Indiana 1 BRI 17 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Las Vegas 3 Carol Loo 63 Dance Dancer Jersey City, New Jersey 2 Charles DeWayne 21 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist La Verne, California 2 Coney Island Chris 42 Danger / Comedy Sideshow Performer Naugatuck, Connecticut 4 Dave Johnson 30 Singing / Comedy Comedy Singer Renton, Washington 3 Diva League 20-44 Dance Dance Group Washington, D.C. 1 Drew Stevyns 26 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Sykesville, Maryland 4 Drew Thomas Magic & Illusion 40 Magic Magician Orlando 1 Eleisha Miller 8 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist Amarillo, Texas 2 EriAm Sisters 11-16 Singing Vocal Trio Seattle 4 Erik & Rickie 8 Dance Ballroom Duo Seattle 4 Fab Five 24-35 Dance Clogging Group Morgan, Utah 2 FootworKINGz 16-24 Dance Dance Group Chicago 3 G Force 8-11 Singing / Music Band Amherst, Ohio 3 Grandma Lee 75 Comedy Comedian Jacksonville, Florida 1 Hairo Torres 23 Dance / Acrobatics Contortionist Dancer Grants Pass, Oregon 3 Ishaara 18–23 Dance Dance Group Berkeley, California 4 Jay Mattioli 27 Magic Magician Manassas, Virginia 3 Jeffrey Ou 18 Music Pianist Carrollton, Texas 3 Kevin Skinner 35 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist Mayfield, Kentucky 1 Lake Houston Dance 9-14 Dance Dance Group Houston 1 Lawrence Beamen 34 Singing Singer Walnut Creek, California 3 Manuela Horn 36 Music Yodeller Seattle 1 Marcus Terrell & The Serenades 22-28 Singing Vocal Group Kansas City, Missouri 3 Mario & Jenny 34 & 33 Variety Juggling Duo Las Vegas 3 Mia Boostrom 16 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist North Dighton, Massachusetts 4 Mosaic 30-34 Singing A Cappella Group Las Vegas 1 Pam Martin's Top Dog 54 & 6 Animal Dog Act Garland, Texas 4 Paradizo Dance 29 & 37 Acrobatics Acrobatic Duo New York City 2 Pete Peterkin 54 Comedy Impressionist New York City 2 Pixie Mystère 9-11 Dance / Acrobatics Contortionist Dance Group Cape May, New Jersey 3 Platt Brothers 22-27 Acrobatics Acrobat Trio San Diego, California 1 Recycled Percussion 22-39 Music Percussion Group Goffstown, New Hampshire 4 SQ Entertainment 19-32 Dance Dance Group Boston 2 Team Acrodunk 23-45 Acrobatics Basketball Stunt Team Houston 1 The Lollipop Girls 24-40 Dance Dance Group San Diego 4 The Texas Tenors 34-44 Singing Vocal Trio Houston 2 The Voices of Glory 9-16 Singing Vocal Trio Highland, New York 2 Thia Megia 14 Singing Singer Redwood City, California 1 Tony Hoard & Rory 54 & 7 Animal Dog Act New Castle, Indiana 2 U4ria Dance Crew 16-23 Dance Dance Group Coral Springs, Florida 3
Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season. The ages of Drew Thomas' assistants and Marcus Terrell's backing group were not disclosed during the season's broadcast.
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (August 4) Guest Performers, Results Show: Terry Fator and Mariah Carey
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult (August 5) Breaksk8 1 Thia Megia 2 Platt Brothers 3 Diva League 4 Manuela Horn 5 Grandma Lee 6 Mosaic 7 Team Acrodunk 8 Arcadian Broad 9 Drew Thomas Magic & Illusions 10 Kevin Skinner 11 Lake Houston Dance 12
Quarter-final 2 (August 11) Guest Performers, Results Show: LMFAO and Penn and Teller.
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult (August 12) Fab Five 1 Charles DeWayne 2 Carol Loo 3 Tony Hoard & Rory 4 Eleisha Miller 5 Paradizo Dance 6 The Texas Tenors 7 SQ Entertainment 8 Pete Peterkin 9 Alizma 10 Beale Street Flippers 11 The Voices of Glory 12
Quarter-final 3 (August 18) Guest Performers, Results Show: Ashley Tisdale and Daughtry
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult (August 19) FootworKINGz 1 Marcus Terrell and the Serenades 2 Pixie Mystère 3 Jay Mattioli 4 BRI 5 U4RIA Dance Crew 6 David Johnson 7 Hairo Torres 8 G-Force 9 Jeffery Ou 10 Mario & Jenny 11 Lawrence Beamen 12
Quarter-final 4 (August 25) Guest Performer, Results Show: Reba McEntire
Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult (August 26) Ishaara 1 Bárbara Padilla 2 Pam Martin's Top Dogs 3 African High Flyers 4 Mia Boostrom 5 Erik & Rickie 6 Coney Island Chris 7 Matt & Anthony 8 The Lollipop Girls 9 Drew Stevyns 10 Recycled Percussion 11 EriAm Sisters 12
Semi-finals summary Buzzed out |
Semi-final 1 (September 1) Guest Performers, Result Show: Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog, and David Hasselhoff
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzesResult (September 2) Team Acrodunk 1 Eliminated The Texas Tenors 2 Advanced Paradizo Dance 3 Eliminated Drew Thomas Magic & Illusions 4 Eliminated Tony Hoard and Rory 5 Eliminated The Voices of Glory 6 Advanced The Fab Five 7 Advanced Grandma Lee 8 Advanced Arcadian Broad 9 Eliminated Kevin Skinner 10 Advanced
Both acts were advanced into the next stage, after the judges could not decide on who to vote for advancing further in the competition. This decision meant no Judges' Vote was held in the next semi-final.
Semi-final 2 (September 8) Guest Performer, Results Show: Cast of musical Jersey Boys.
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzesResult (September 9) Recycled Percussion 1 Advanced Lawrence Beamen 2 Advanced Erik and Rickie 3 Eliminated Jeffrey Ou 4 Eliminated Hairo Torres 5 Advanced EriAm Sisters 6 Eliminated Mario and Jenny 7 Eliminated Drew Stevyns 8 Advanced FootworKINGz 9 Eliminated Bárbara Padilla 10 Advanced
Final (September 14) Guest Performers, Results Show: Thelma Houston, Shakira, Rascal Flatts, cast members of Cirque Du Soleil, Leona Lewis, and Susan Boyle.
FinalistOrderResult (September 16) The Voices of Glory 1 Hairo Torres 2 Lawrence Beamen 3 Bárbara Padilla 4 Fab Five 5 The Texas Tenors 6 Drew Stevyns 7 Grandma Lee 8 Kevin Skinner 9 10
Ratings Order Episode Rating Share Rating/Share(18–49) Viewers(millions) Rank (night)(viewers) Rank (week)(viewers) 1 "Auditions Episode 1" 6.8 12 3.3/10 11.30 #1 #1 2 "Auditions Episode 2" 6.2 11 3.1/9 10.39 #1 #3 3 "Auditions Episode 3" 7.5 13 3.7/11 12.91 #1 #1 4 "Auditions Episode 4" 6.8 12 2.9/9 11.30 #2 #3 5 "Auditions Episode 5" 6.2 10 3/9 10.43 #1 #2 6 "Auditions Episode 6" 6.9 12 3.3/10 11.69 #1 #1 7 "Auditions Episode 7" 8 13 3.6/10 13.17 #2 #2 8 "Auditions Episode 8" 6.9 12 2.9/9 11.38 #1 #4 9 "Auditions Episode 9" 8.2 14 3.4/10 13.75 #1 #1 10 "Auditions Episode 10Susan Boyle Interview" 6.6 11 2.5/7 11.26 #1 #2 11 "Vegas Verdicts (Part 1)" 7.7 13 3.4/10 12.76 #1 #1 12 "Vegas Verdicts (Part 2)" 6.4 11 2.8/8 10.90 #1 #2 13 "Quarterfinals, Group 1" 7.7 14 3.6/11 12.97 #1 #1 14 "Quarterfinals, Group 1 Results" 6 10 2.9/9 10.68 #1 #2 15 "Quarterfinals, Group 2" 7.6 13 3.4/10 12.48 #1 #1 16 "Quarterfinals, Group 2 Results" 6.9 12 2.9/9 11.42 #1 #4 17 "Quarterfinals, Group 3" 7 12 2.9/9 11.59 #1 #2 18 "Quarterfinals, Group 3 Results" 6.4 11 2.4/7 10.29 #1 #4 19 "Quarterfinals, Group 4" 6.9 12 3/8 11.42 #1 #1 20 "Quarterfinals, Group 4 Results" 6.7 11 2.9/8 10.87 #1 #2 21 "Semifinals, Group 1" 7.5 13 3.2/9 12.81 #1 #1 22 "Semifinals, Group 1 Results" 7.4 12 2.6/8 12.39 #1 #2 23 "Semifinals, Group 2 " 7.1 12 2.9/8 12.03 #1 #5 24 "Semifinals, Group 2 Results" 6 9 2.1/5 10.06 #1 #10 25 "Finals, Performances" 8.5 13 3.3/9 13.84 #2 #3 26 "Finale" 9.5 16 3.5/10 15.53 #1 #2
References