Tom Cotter's 'AGT' results bumped locally by preseason football

Thursday August 30, 2012 10:35 AM By Chris Serico

Photo credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC | "America's Got Talent" host Nick Cannon, left, talks with contestant Tom Cotter, a stand-up comedian who lives in Rockland County.

It's a fumble! Stand-up comedian Tom Cotter advanced to the finals of "America's Got Talent" last night, but the place he now calls home — Stony Point in Rockland County — didn't get to see it on NBC.

Neither did anyone else in New York City nor its surrounding areas, for that matter.

That's because WNBC opted to broadcast the end of a preseason NFL game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, and bump the live "AGT" results show to a hard-to-find cable affiliate.

I can guarantee one thing: "AGT" judge Howard Stern, who once called the Hudson Valley home, is not going to be happy about this.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the New York Football Giants (your defending Super Bowl Champs, in case you forgot), but this is a major malfunction for five major reasons.

1. It's a preseason game. In other words, this game means nothing in the standings. Yes, this is a Super Bowl rematch, but you know what the winner gets this time? Nothing, except for maybe few fresh bruises.

2. "America's Got Talent" is far and away NBC's biggest summer hit. Since full-season and midseason series came to a close, "AGT" has routinely led its timeslot on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Although the nation has an insatiable appetite for football, there's no reason NBC couldn't have jettisoned the end of a meaningless game for one of the final episodes of "AGT" — especially since Tom Brady, Eli Manning, and the rest of both teams' stars left the playing field long before the end of the broadcast.

To put it another way, there's no way Fox would have pulled this move near the end of an "American Idol" season. In that case, even if "Idol" were rescheduled or moved to a cable affiliate, Ryan Seacrest would have told us roughly 3 million times at the end of the previous episode.

3. There was no "AGT" rebroadcast the same night. Even broadcasting a delayed version of the "AGT" results show at 10 p.m. would have been a smarter choice, and online clips weren't posted until 2 a.m. That's way past most people's bedtimes.

If NBC viewers really needed to watch the Republican National Convention, every other network and, I presume, at least one NBC cable news affiliate was showing it. In reality, NBC essentially gave up on RNC coverage the minute network brass decided to broadcast the football game until 10 p.m. There didn't appear to be a strategy in place.

4. This came out of nowhere. I tuned in to "AGT" late on Wednesday, and by the time I got to my TV, I didn't see a scroll at the bottom of the preseason game, alerting me to where/when the "AGT" results show was airing. I had to learn what was happening through a Twitter search, and only then was I barely was able to track down the last few minutes of the Wednesday broadcast. I later found this status update, posted to the official "America's Got Talent" Facebook page, but for me, it was way too little, way too late.

5. An act who just made the "AGT" finals — the finals! — lives in a region that didn't get to see the results on NBC. And that just seems wrong.

If you missed last night's moment of truth for Tom Cotter, like many in the Hudson Valley did, here it is:

If you were programming NBC in New York City, what would you have chosen to broadcast? Vote in the poll below, and tell us why in the comments section.

Tags: Stony Point , Tom Cotter , Howard Stern , America's Got Talent , NBC , TV , results show , football