The third season of American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 17 to October 1, 2008. After the conclusion of the second season, changes to the program included the creation of additional audition episodes in the broadcast schedule, the involvement of quarter-finals in the competition, and doubling the number of participants that advanced from the boot camp stage. Between August 7–26, the show had a planned break to avoid clashing with the network's live coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The third season was won by opera singer Neal E. Boyd, with singer and pianist Eli Mattson finishing in second place, and violinists Nuttin' But Stringz placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged roughly over 10.75 million viewers.
Season overview Following the previous season, auditions took place in five major cities: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta. Additional rounds of auditions were made online via Myspace and Facebook. Changes to the schedule of live episodes were due to the 2008 Summer Olympics, since the event received live coverage on NBC. The program was on hiatus between August 7–26, in order to avoid it clashing with the network's schedule of the sporting event.
The third season had a number of additional changes put into place with the program's format, following the second season, two of which brought it along a similar arrangement used for Britain's Got Talent. Editing of filmed auditions for their respective episodes were conducted in a similar manner to the British edition, with footage in each episode consisting of a montage chosen from each major city whose venue featured audition sessions. For example, a collection of auditions (both minor and notable from Dallas), preceded those from another major city following a commercial break. Participants in live rounds were determined by two separate votes, while the public decided the first four to advance, and the judges chose the fifth participant to join them (from those who placed 5th and 6th respectively in the public vote). The remaining changes included an expanded number of participants for the "Las Vegas Callback" stage of auditions, along with cosmetic updates to the program. Alongside a new title card, the judges' table and the red "Xs" were re-styled to match the design of those used in Britain's Got Talent.
Results episodes for this season were arranged on a sporadic schedule alongside live episodes, rather than a pre-ordained arrangement after the last two seasons. Quarter-finals had their results announced on the same day. Semi-finals and the knockout final among the top ten were done the day after the performance episode had been broadcast. The grand-finale's results were aired a week after the performance episode.
Forty of the participants who auditioned for this season secured a place in the live quarter-finals, with ten quarterfinalists performing in each show. About twenty from these rounds advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, with around ten semi-finalists securing a place in the final, and five finalists securing a place in the season's grand-finale. These are the results of each participant's overall performance during the season:
ParticipantGenreActQuarter-finalResult Beyond Belief Dance Company Dance Dance Group 2 Bruce Block Magic Magician 3 Bryan Cheatham Singing Singer 4 Dallas Desperados Dancers Dance / Acrobatics Cheerleading Group 4 Daniel Jens Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 2 DC Cowboys Dance Dance Group 1 Derrick Barry Variety Britney Spears Impersonator 1 Donald Braswell II Singing Singer 4 Dorae Saunders Variety Tina Turner Impersonator 4 Eli Mattson Singing / Music Singer & Pianist 4 Elite Acrobatics Martial Artist 1 Extreme Dance FX Dance Clogging Group 1 Flambeaux Danger Fire Breather 4 George the Giant Danger Sideshow Performer 2 Indiggo Singing Vocal Duo 4 Jessica Price Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 1 Jonathan Arons Music Trombonist 2 Jonathan Burkin Variety Baton Twirler 3 Joseph Hall Singing Elvis Impersonator 3 Kaitlyn Maher Singing Singer 4 Kazual Singing Vocal Group 2 Matthew Piazzi Comedy Impressionist 3 Michael Strelo-Smith Singing Singer 3 Neal E. Boyd Singing Opera Singer 1 Nuttin' But Stringz Music Violin Duo 4 Paul Salos Singing Frank Sinatra Impersonator 2 Queen Emily Singing Singer 2 Ronny B Singing / Dance Singer & Dancer 1 Sarah Lenore Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 3 Shequida Hall Singing Opera Singer 3 Shimshi Magic Magician 1 Sick Step Dance Dance Group 3 Slippery Kittens Dance Dance Group 2 Taubl Family Music Orchestra 3 The Cadence Music Percussion Group 1 The James Gang Singing Vocal Group 1 The Tapping Dads Dance Tap Dance Group 4 The Texas State Strutters Dance Dance Group 3 The Wright Kids Music Bluegrass Band 2 ZOOperstars! Dance Dance Group 2
This act was originally eliminated during the bootcamp stage, but was advanced into the contest, via a public vote, after another act was forced to step down for medical reasons.
Quarter-final summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Quarter-final 1 (August 26) Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Extreme Dance FX 1 The James Gang 2 Derrick Barry 3 Elite 4 Ronny B 5 The Cadence 6 Jessica Price 7 Shimshi 8 DC Cowboys 9 Neal E. Boyd 10
Because of the majority vote for The James Gang, Hasselhoff's voting intention was not disclosed as a result.
Quarter-final 2 (August 27) Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Beyond Belief Dance Company 1 Paul Salos 2 Kazual 3 ZOOperstars! 4 The Wright Kids 5 Jonathan Arons 6 Daniel Jens 7 Slippery Kittens 8 George the Giant 9 Queen Emily 10
Quarter-final 3 (September 2) Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult The Texas State Strutters 1 Michael Strelo-Smith 2 Bruce Block 3 Shequida Hall 4 Taubl Family 5 Jonathan Burkin 6 Sarah Lenore 7 SickStep 8 Matthew Piazzi 9 Joseph Hall 10
Quarter-final 4 (September 3) Quarter-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Dallas Desperados Dancers 1 Bryan Cheatham 2 / Flambeaux 3 Kaitlyn Maher 4 Dorae Saunders 5 Donald Braswell II 6 Indiggo 7 The Tapping Dads 8 Eli Mattson 9 Nuttin' But Stringz 10
Semi-final summary Buzzed Out | Judges' choice |
Semi-final 1 (September 9) Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult (September 11) The Cadence 1 Queen Emily 2 The Wright Kids 3 The James Gang 4 Daniel Jens 5 ZOOperstars! 6 Neal E. Boyd 7 Jessica Price 8 / Extreme Dance FX 9 Paul Salos 10
Semi-final 2 (September 10) Guest performer: Terry Fator
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult (September 11) SickStep 1 Donald Braswell II 2 Joseph Hall 3 Taubl Family 4 Sarah Lenore 5 Nuttin' But Stringz 6 Kaitlyn Maher 7 The Tapping Dads 8 Eli Mattson 9 Jonathan Burkin 10
Finals summary
| | Buzzed Out (Top 10 Finals only)
Final - Top 10 (September 17) Guest Performer, Results Show: Natasha Bedingfield
Top 10 FinalistOrderBuzzesResult (September 18) Paul Salos 1 Eliminated Kaitlyn Maher 2 Eliminated Donald Braswell II 3 Advanced Jessica Price 4 Eliminated Joseph Hall 5 Eliminated Neal E. Boyd 6 Advanced The Wright Kids 7 Eliminated Queen Emily 8 Advanced Nuttin' But Stringz 9 Advanced Eli Mattson 10 Advanced
Grand-finale (September 24) Grand-finalistOrderResult (October 1) Nuttin' But Stringz 1 3rd Donald Braswell II 2 4th Neal E. Boyd 3 1st Eli Mattson 4 2nd Queen Emily 5 5th
Ratings Show Rating Rating/Share(18–49) Viewers(millions) 1 7.8 3.8/10 12.80 2 7 3.1/9 11.51 3 7.5 3.2/10 11.98 4 7.6 3.3/9 12.40 5 7.8 3.1/9 12.53 6 7.8 3.3/10 7 7.9 3.6/10 13.61 8 7.8 3.5/10 12.42 9 2.7/8 8.57 10 3.1/9 10.96 11 2.7/8 10.13 12 6.5/10 10.58 13 2.7/7 10.15 14 7.1 2.6/10 11.60 15 2.5/8 11.49 16 2.3/8 9.64 17 3.1/9 12.05 18 2.3/7 9.83 19 6.6 2.7/7 10.23 20 7.7 3.3/8 12.55
References