AGT's Latest Live Show Delivered A Blooper And Golden Buzzer, But I Need To Talk About My Big Struggle With The Quarterfinals

Spoilers ahead for the third night of America’s Got Talent quarterfinals in Season 20, available streaming next day with Peacock subscription.

The milestone 20th season of America’s Got Talent is quickly approaching the finale in the 2025 TV schedule, and the third night of quarterfinals performances already guaranteed one more act that will make it to the finals. Musician Micah Palace got the golden buzzer from Simon Cowell, not too long after the Messoudi Brothers had a close call that could have been much worse than a blooper if the juggler hadn’t caught himself at the last second. But there was one element of the episode that reminded me of an issue I’ve been having with the live quarterfinals, and I wish it was unique to Season 20.

Are The Strobe Lights Really Necessary?

AGT performers are expected to go bigger and better when they move from the auditions to the quarterfinals stage. Unfortunately for me and some other viewers on social media, that sometimes includes strobe lights flashing right into the camera. It’s not uncommon for people to have unpleasant reactions to flashing lights, which can lead to problems including (but not limited to) nausea, headaches, and even seizures. Heck, I’ll even throw annoyance in there.

And that’s not what anybody is looking for when they sit down for an episode of America’s Got Talent! Sure, the simple solution is just to look away and wait for the performance to end. For musical acts, you can even still hear the songs without having to stare into the flashing lights. Even though the vast majority of viewers might not have an issue with strobes, I feel like AGT could raise the stakes to make performances more spectacular without also resorting to a potentially triggering light show.

The Act That Made Me Need To Talk About It

The strobe light problem didn’t just arise with the live quarterfinals performance on September 2, or even just this season. I’ll even admit that I noticed the problem just last week before the last comedian standing was cut with Def Leppard’s live performance of “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” I pretty much didn’t say anything at that point just because I love that song and I was looking forward to hearing Def Leppard singing live.

What made me need to speak out this week was Girish and The Chronicles’ hard rock cover of Sia’s “Unstoppable,” which was great and full of energy… as far as I could tell, anyway. The vocals were great, and the reactions from the judges after they finished attested to the musicians rocking the stage, but I didn't watch any further than very early on when the strobes started flashing.

To be clear, I’m not trying to call out Girish and The Chronicles as performers. Just like how Terry Crews isn’t to blame for – to quote Simon Cowell – the “very mean” trick on contestants from producers a couple weeks ago, the performers aren’t responsible for the lighting, and the flashing lights issue on AGT goes back years. I’m also not the only viewer who has spoken out about the issue, with some weighing in on X (formerly known as Twitter):

• @AllieIsBatman18: "Again can we cool it with the flashing lights? Especially when it's white light??? It's not cute, and doesn't make your act better."
• @ToreyAlexis: "Geez, I’m happy I don’t have sensitivity to flashing lights."
• @SoftPlatypus23: "Flashing Light Warning."

I won’t try to speak for the entire AGT audience, or even all the people who also wish that the NBC hit would stop using strobe lights as heavily. But I don’t feel like they add so much to a performance that they’re absolutely needed on America’s Got Talent. I want to watch the live shows from start to finish when I sit down in front of my TV on a Tuesday or Wednesday, not have to look away and miss some performances.

At the very least, I'd appreciate a flashing light warning before a performance starts, like what some other TV shows do. AGT producers can't predict every single thing before a live show, and things can unexpectedly go wrong like with one of the Messoudi Brothers almost taking a tumble. The lights are a part of production that would have been finalized before the talent walked out on the stage, though, so a warning was and is possible.

Find out if anything changes with AGT using flashing lights with the results episode on Wednesday, September 3 at 8 p.m. ET. You can vote for AGT here, and Girish and The Chronicles definitely deserve credit for their musical skills, whether or not you could watch the whole performance.