America's Got Talent (season 7)

Preliminary auditions

Producers' auditions were held in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Tampa Bay, Charlotte, Austin, St. Louis, and San Francisco.

Live theater auditions took place in the following cities:

A final audition episode featuring acts from several cities aired on Monday, June 18. Auditions were also conducted online via YouTube. Finalists from the online auditions were to compete in front of a live audience during the season's live shows.

Las Vegas Week

The second round of competition, held in Las Vegas, aired from June 25–27, 2012, in a three-night special. The round was held at The Venetian and The Palazzo resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. 112 acts passed through from the audition rounds to Las Vegas Week, and competed for 48 slots in the live shows. Similarly to previous years, the judges divided the acts into two groups: the "Judges' Favorites" and "Standby Acts". In addition, six acts were either immediately eliminated, or sent directly to the next round of competition. The judges also had the option of eliminating an act immediately if they felt their performance in Las Vegas was well below par.

Immediate decision

Before any rounds of competition began, the judges called six acts which were not listed as being "Judges' Favorites" or "Standby Acts". Three of these acts were immediately eliminated, and three acts were sent straight from Las Vegas Week to the live rounds without any further performance because of their superior auditions.

Group A: Judges' favorites

The judges' favorites were deemed more likely to succeed by the judges, performed on the first two days of competition, and were given the opportunity to take as many spots in the Top 48 as possible. Twenty-five of these acts advanced to the live shows.

Group B: Standby Acts

The Standby Acts were deemed less likely to advance by the judges, and performed later for the remaining spots not already taken by the Judges' Favorites. Twenty of these acts advanced to the live shows.

Unknown decision

Several acts were unable to compete in Las Vegas Week for personal reasons, or were not seen during the airing of the episodes. These acts were therefore automatically assumed as eliminated from the competition.

Quarterfinals

The Quarterfinals began on Monday, July 2, 2012. This round includes the Top 48 acts which passed through Las Vegas Week, the acts that passed through the YouTube audition rounds, and a Wild Card show featuring previously eliminated quarterfinalists brought back by the judges.

Top 48, week 1 (July 2–3)

Guests: Cirque du Soleil: Zarkana, will.i.am

Top 48, week 2 (July 10–11)

Guests: Gavin DeGraw, TRACES

Top 48, week 3 (July 17–18)

Guests: Ashleigh and Pudsey, Havana Brown

Top 48, week 4 (July 24–25)

Guests: Cher Lloyd, cast of the Tony Award-winning musical Once

YouTube Snapple Special (August 14–15)

Guests: Gabby Douglas, Karmin, The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger

The YouTube Snapple Special aired on August 14, following a 3-week hiatus for the 2012 Summer Olympics. It allowed viewers the chance to vote for their favorite potential acts on the show's YouTube channel that they wished to see compete in the live shows. Twenty acts competed for twelve spots, with eleven contestants selected by the judges, and one other contestant (Drew Erwin) selected by the viewers. YouTube Contestants, dance crew Academy Of Villains competed with another crew for a Twitter vote, and will perform on stage on So You Think You Can Dance. Academy Of Villains also competed on season two of Fake Off, where they won 1st place overall.

Wild Card Show (August 21–22)

Guests: Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen, cast of Bring It On

For the wild card show, the judges each selected four eliminated acts and brought them back for a second chance to perform. Four of these acts advanced to semifinals. Osbourne announced after the show on July 25 that she would be bringing back All That! as one of her wild cards. The other eleven selections were announced on August 15, during the YouTube Snapple round.

This was the season's first live show without any buzzes, and none of the other live shows after this round had any act buzzed.

Semifinals

The semifinals began on August 28. 24 acts who advanced from the quarterfinals will be split into two groups, and perform in two consecutive weeks. Three acts advance each week to the finals.

Round 1 (August 28–29)

Guests: Neon Trees, Steve Harvey

Round 2 (September 4, 6)

Guests: Train, Nathan Burton, Haunted by Heroes with Dee Snider

The results show for the second round of the semifinals was postponed until Thursday, September 6 due to the Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants football game broadcasting live on Wednesday.

The following acts performed on September 4, 2012.

Finale

The two-night finals aired on September 12 & 13, 2012, with six acts competing for the $1 million grand prize.

The following acts performed on Wednesday, September 12.

Guests: Justin Bieber, Big Sean, Green Day, Joan Rivers, OneRepublic, Ne-Yo, Flo Rida, Frankie J, Blue Man Group, Burton Crane

Round chart

The following is the list of the 48 quarter-finalists who passed through Las Vegas Week, plus the 12 contestants that were picked from the separate YouTube auditions, and two Wild Card Acts that were eliminated in Las Vegas but invited to the quarterfinals in week six by the judges. There were 24 semifinalists.

Italics indicate that the act was selected in week five from the YouTube auditions and did not compete in the preliminary auditions or Las Vegas Week; therefore, the quarter-finals were their debut on the show.

Production

Simon Cowell, the show's executive producer, also announced in The New York Post in December 2011 that the show will be receiving a "top-to-bottom makeover", confirming that there will be new graphics, lighting, theme music, show intro and a larger live audience. Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel returned as judges, in addition to Nick Cannon who was back as host. Promotional videos began airing during the Super Bowl, promoting Howard Stern as a new judge.

On December 19, 2011, Cowell revealed plans to add a fourth, younger, female judge to the panel. He stated in an interview that he thought that four-person panels "leave less room for error". However, on January 9, 2012, Stern announced on his radio show that there would not be an additional judge, and no fourth judge was added.

NBC released several promotional videos on April 13, 2012, with shots of the current season, displaying changes in the show's set.

Additional changes in the live show set were unveiled in the live show on July 2, 2012. The new set for the live show shares similarities with Britain's Got Talent, in addition to a brand new judges' table with a revised design of the "X".

Snapple was the official beverage sponsor. Its product was on the judges' table throughout the season.

Ratings

The season premiere averaged 10.48 million viewers, with a 3.7 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. Although the AGT premiere achieved lower ratings than the previous season's opener, it faced regular season competition from popular CBS comedies How I Met Your Mother (3.7 rating), and Two and a Half Men (3.9 rating) as well as ABC's Dancing with the Stars (2.6 rating). This contrasts with the previous season, where Talent premiered with no competition from regular season shows. Critics disputed how Howard Stern's presence on the show affected ratings.

Tim Poe

There was a controversy surrounding Sgt. Tim Poe's audition on an episode of Talent that aired on June 4, in which Poe had an audible stutter, and claimed that he had gotten the vocal impediment from an injury sustained after being hit by a grenade while serving as part of the Minnesota National Guard's forces in the War in Afghanistan. Investigations by the Associated Press found the claim to be false, and the Minnesota National Guard confirmed that Poe had never been injured in Afghanistan. Poe did produce military documentation stating that "injury and disease occurred as a result of a hand grenade exploding to the right side of his head," but both the US Army and Minnesota National Guard were unable to verify these claims.

Poe sang the song "If Tomorrow Never Comes" by Garth Brooks, and won praise from all three judges. There were questions as to whether Poe would have to be disqualified from advancing to further rounds, but it was revealed during Las Vegas Week that Poe had not been advanced to the live shows. Howard Stern has called the lie "wrong on so many levels". On November 15, 2012, he responded to these accusations on an episode of Dr. Phil.

Sharon Osbourne's departure

On July 24, 2012, Sharon Osbourne announced via Twitter that she would not be returning to the show for another season. The next day, however, Osbourne announced that she was unsure of whether she would return. On August 6, it was confirmed that Osbourne was leaving the show at the end of season seven because of a feud with NBC.

Contestants who appeared on other shows

Horse competed on season four of American Ninja Warrior.

Unity in Motion competed in season four under the name Pixie Mystére. They lost the judges vote, finishing in the quarterfinals.