I so agree, weecalf. I haven't watched it for years, but I used to. The "judges" used the same tricks year on year to try to amuse the viewers and the audience by using "look at this fool" facial expressions and gestures. What really annoys me is when they bring on a very young person who has not yet acquired the social experience or the cynicism to know what is going on. It is the modern, highly sophisticated version of charging the rich to go into the asylums and mock the unsuspecting innocents there. And people say the "acts", if they are adults, know what they are doing and are old enough to make up their own minds. But there is a lot of psychological manipulation goes on with the offer of glory in the form of fame and fortune, and in the slick, glamorous, glitzy presentation of the show. I think it is a disgrace.