Is ‘America’s Got Talent’ on Tonight? (July 14)

After taking a week off, America’s Got Talent is officially back on Tuesday night with a brand-new episode. Last week, fans were a bit surprised to see that the show was airing a repeat so soon after the season premiered. But, it appears as though the show is right back on track and will air another episode full of new auditions and, of course, plenty of talent.

On Tuesday, AGT will air the final round of auditions. As fans are well aware, the NBC competition was forced to do things a bit differently for the audition period this time around due to the coronavirus pandemic. AGT did indeed forge ahead with their auditions but, due to the health crisis, they did not have an in-studio audience to watch the performers. Instead, the judges — Sofia Vergara, Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, and Eric Stonestreet (filling in for Heidi Klum) — were the only ones that were in the audience to see the auditions.

Fremantle, which produces AGT and other shows such as Family Feud, previously released a statement about the significant change in the show’s production. They told Deadline in March, “Due to the ongoing global situation around COVID-19, we have been working closely with our production teams and network partners to take measures to help minimize the risk of exposure to our cast, crew and live audiences. Effective immediately, we will refrain from filming in front of live audiences for our current productions America’s Got Talent and Family Feud.” Shortly after they announced that AGT would continue to film amidst the pandemic without an audience, the show decided to suspend production “out of an abundance of caution.”

Months after they decided to suspend production, the show was back in (socially distanced) action. USA Today reported that Vergara, Cowell, Klum, and Mandel filmed a special Judges’ Cuts episode in late June. The judges filmed the episode outside in Los Angeles to keep safety and social distancing measures in mind. The coronavirus pandemic has presented AGT with a brand-new set of challenges for production, but Cowell told USA Today that there is a silver lining to this process. “As bad as it is, you always have to find a solution to get back to work,” he explained to the publication via email. “I have sympathy for so many people in this situation, but if our show is an example, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s different, but hopefully, it will still be as popular.”