Simon Cowell might have some serious talent when it comes to making shows a sucess, but even he didn't see a bright future for America's Got Talent when they first filmed the series. It turns out that the original pilot for the reality competition was just "dreadful."
As Hello Magazine reports, Cowell decided to look back at America's Got Talent as it kicks off its 20th season, and it turns out that originally the famed producer did not seem to have high hopes for the series after the pilot was filmed.
According to Cowell, "It was a difficult show to sell actually, to be honest with you. Because we made a pilot and the pilot was dreadful. I mean really, really bad. So, it was dead."
Considering this competition series is essentially a variety act of sorts, it actually makes sense that there were difficulties getting it off the ground. How do you explain a competition series that doesn't necessarily have a main focus like singing or dancing, but instead allows people to truly show off any talent that they might have? And at the end of the season there is a prize on the line for the talent that the judges and America enjoy the best, which of course has to cause even more confusion in terms of explanations.
While we may enjoy America's Got Talent now, when it was first introduced, it had to have been tricky to get people to come out and show their talents to the world.
Simon Cowell opens up about the start of America's Got Talent as we celebrate the show's 20th season
So how exactly did Simon Cowell sell the show to NBC?
According to Simon, "They called me, and they said, 'What's this new show like?' And I went, 'Oh it's brilliant.' And they said, 'Can we have a look at it?' And I said, 'Yeah, come over to the house.'" From there he explains that they did in fact come over to see what the project was all about.
"They came over and I just showed two minutes or three minutes of this show. And they loved it. They bought it. And that was it." The rest as they say is history and now here we are 20 seasons later with Simon Cowell still giving us plenty of interesting comments and judging moments, while hopefully performers share their talents with the world.
When it comes to America's Got Talent, it feels like there is no shortage of people willing to step on stage and showcase what they can do. And we definitely love that for us.