Honestly, trying to keep track of the America's Got Talent 2024 schedule was like trying to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle. One week it's on a Tuesday. The next week there’s a random results show on a Wednesday. Then, bam—the Olympics happen and everything goes quiet for nearly a month. If you felt lost during Season 19, you weren't the only one.
The 19th season of AGT officially kicked off on May 28, 2024, and it didn't wrap up until the end of September. Between the massive gap for the Paris Games and the new "Golden Buzzer" rules that Simon Cowell seems to make up as he goes, the rhythm of the show was definitely different this time around.
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The Audition Phase: Tuesdays Were the Key
The season started with the usual long stretch of auditions. For nine weeks, NBC aired these episodes every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET.
It felt like it went on forever. We saw everything from a singing janitor—who, spoiler alert, ended up doing pretty well—to some truly bizarre novelty acts. The specific dates for the audition rounds were:
- May 28 (The Premiere)
- June 4, 11, 25
- July 2, 9, 16, 23
Wait, did you notice the gap? There was no new episode on June 18. NBC aired a "best of" or a clip show instead. This is where people usually start getting confused. If you're looking for the America's Got Talent 2024 schedule, you have to account for these little random breaks the network takes for holidays or other programming.
The Big Olympic Pause
The real wrench in the works was the 2024 Paris Olympics. Since NBC carries the Games, AGT went on a massive hiatus. After the July 23 episode, the show basically vanished. No auditions. No live shows. Just sports.
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The competition didn't actually return until August 13, 2024. That’s almost three weeks of silence. When it did come back, the format shifted entirely. We moved out of the taped auditions and into the high-stakes live shows at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
The Live Shows and Results Nightmare
Once the live shows started, the schedule got a bit more frantic. Instead of just one night a week, we had two. Tuesdays were for the performances, and Wednesdays were for the "Results" shows where Terry Crews would deliver the news that either broke hearts or made dreams come true.
Here is how that late-summer stretch looked:
- Quarterfinals 1: August 13 (Performances) & August 14 (Results)
- Quarterfinals 2: August 20 (Performances) & August 21 (Results)
- Quarterfinals 3: August 27 (Performances) & August 28 (Results)
- Quarterfinals 4: September 3 (Performances) & September 4 (Results)
Each week featured 11 acts. Only a handful would survive. It’s a brutal cut, especially since this year they gave the judges even more power with "Live Show Golden Buzzers." Basically, each judge could pick one act during the quarterfinals to go straight to the finals, bypass the public vote entirely. Talk about a curveball.
The Home Stretch: Semifinals and the Finale
By September, the America's Got Talent 2024 schedule got even wonkier. The "Semifinal" round was just one week long. It aired on Wednesday, September 11, with the results following on Thursday, September 12.
Why the shift? Usually, it's because of the fall TV premiere season or football schedules. If you weren't checking your DVR, you probably missed it.
Finally, we hit the big one. The Season 19 Finale was split into two parts:
- The Performance Finale: Tuesday, September 17. The Top 10 acts gave it everything they had.
- The Grand Finale Results: Tuesday, September 24.
That last night was a massive two-hour spectacle. We saw guest performers like Michael Bublé, Simone Biles (fresh off her own Olympic wins), and the band Journey. It was a full-circle moment for Richard Goodall, the "singing janitor" from Indiana. He auditioned with "Don’t Stop Believin'" and ended the season performing with the actual members of Journey before being crowned the winner.
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Breaking Down the Final Standings
It’s easy to forget who else was there in the chaos of the finale. The talent was actually pretty diverse this year.
- Winner: Richard Goodall (Singer)
- Runner-up: Roni Sagi & Rhythm (Dog Act)
- 3rd Place: Sky Elements (Drone Act)
- 4th Place: Solange Kardinaly (Quick Change Artist)
- 5th Place: Learnmore Jonasi (Comedian)
The rest of the Top 10 included acts like AIRFOOTWORKS, Brent Street, and Dee Dee Simon. It was a heavy year for dance and variety, which made Richard's win as a "traditional" singer even more impressive. He took home the $1 million (which is paid out as an annuity over 40 years, or a smaller lump sum—something the show doesn't like to shout from the rooftops) and a new Kia.
Where to Catch Up If You Missed It
If you’re looking at this schedule now and realizing you missed half the season, you aren't totally out of luck. While the live voting is obviously over, the episodes usually live on Peacock for quite a while.
NBC also keeps clips of the best performances on their YouTube channel. Honestly, sometimes that's better because you can skip the thirty minutes of "recap" and "coming up next" segments that pad out the broadcast.
How to Prepare for Next Season
The 2024 cycle followed the typical "Summer of AGT" pattern, despite the Olympic interruption. If you're planning to watch in 2025, expect a late May start date.
To stay ahead of the curve for future seasons:
- Watch the Tuesday 8/7c slot: That is the show's "forever home."
- Check for the "mid-season break": There is almost always a week in June or July where they air a retrospective instead of new auditions.
- Follow the social accounts: The AGT Twitter (X) and Instagram are surprisingly good at announcing schedule shifts 24 hours in advance.
The most important thing to remember about the America's Got Talent 2024 schedule—and any year, really—is that it’s designed to be flexible. Live TV is messy. But as long as you know the finale usually lands in late September, you can't go too far wrong.
To see what Richard Goodall is up to after his big win, or to check out the audition dates for Season 20, your best bet is to head over to the official NBC "AGT" casting site or follow the show's social updates for the 2025 schedule release.