Bloglander

Spokane’s own Cami Bradley is performing on America’s Got Talent again tonight. This time, after advancing from the quarterfinals, she’s up against some acrobats, comedians, an opera singer and a rapper. Online voting is open from 7:55 pm to 3 am tonight.

For those of you who know nothing about America’s Got Talent, you could ordinarily earn a “good job” for that. But now it’s time for the basics so you can fully understand what is happening here.

This is the eighth season of the NBC talent show, which follows in the footsteps of performer-competition reality TV pioneers like American Idol. But the competitors feature a whole variety show of talents, from dancers to magicians to huge musical ensembles. Singing is still popular — and successful. Five of the seven previous winners were singers of some type.

Each season begins with a whole bunch of talented hopefuls auditioning in different cities and then performing for the judges in Las Vegas. Those selected in Vegas (and sometimes a few others) go on to the televised live shows, when voting begins.

This season’s live shows started with 60 acts in the quarterfinals. For five weeks, sets of 12 acts competed for the judges’ votes (and public votes, which are used as tie-breakers). Bradley was one of 22 acts to advance to the semifinals, which begin tonight.

The show wraps up in September. The winner ultimately gets $1 million and typically headlines a national tour.