I agreed with, I think it was, Howie, that singing a rock song in a pop style was part of the problem.
Amen to that.
With my 10 votes, I gave 4 to Cami, 3 to Timber, and 3 to Arial Ice.
I’m surprised Jimmy Rose was picked over Aerial Ice, and I’m not happy that Taylor was picked over Chloe.
On the upside, Jimmy and Taylor are capable of doing better than their recent performances. I hope they do.
So I was a little disappointed that the Robitix wasn’t picked. Cami over 3Penny Orchestra is a no brainer. With the Jimmy Rose, David Ferman, and Aerial Ice set, I’m not surprised out of those three that Jimmy was the one chosen. Somehow David just isn’t exciting, and even though Aerial Ice was a very good performance, I think that’s going to lose out to a musician and singer. Watching ice skating just isn’t as popular. Timber was the easy call, and that left the judges to pick between Taylor and Chloe.
At that point, I called that the decision would split, with Heidi and Mel going for Chloe and Howie and Howard going for Taylor. Heidi’s opinion was known already, and I figured Mel liked Chloe’s singing and performance and wants to encourage her. I figured Howie wants to support the comedian that he finds unique, and Howard was probably thinking Chloe is a bit young and Taylor is pretty good.
That left America’s call, which I could not anticipate. Hey, I got three of four, and I put Jimmy in the mix for the fourth slot. Not bad.
Here’s how I ranked tonight’s acts.
Best
[ol]
[li]Catapult Entertainment - 10/10 - The best shadow act I’ve seen on AGT.[/li][li]D’Angelo & Amanda - 9/10 - Great dancing and choreography.[/li][li]Ruby & Jonas - 8/10 - Not as good, but I loved the energy.[/li][li]Duo Resonance - 8/10 - Would have liked to see a few more strength moves.[/li][/ol]
Middle
[ol]
[li]John Wing - 8/10 - Just when he started getting good it was over.[/li][li]Selena Mykenzie Gordon - 8/10 - I feel embarrassed that I didn’t recognize that she was off key. Still, she can do better, and if America forgave Marty…[/li][li]Sprice - 7/10 - Not bad. I was hoping for a more spectacular ending.[/li][li]Sam Johnson - 7/10 - Like the judges I felt mixed. It started out exciting, but then the finish…[/li][/ol]
Worst
[ol]
[li]Melody Cabellero - 6/10 - I would have liked to see more moves.[/li][li]2Unique - 6/10 - I was surprised that the judges were so honest.[/li][li]Dave Fenley- 5/10 - He needs better enunciation.[/li][li]Virginia State University Gospel Chorale - 5/10 - Do they know what the song’s about? :eek: :D[/li][/ol]
Speaking as someone who’s done a fair amount of improv and studied a lot of improv, I can tell you that’s 100% not true. No improv performer who knows what they are doing would bother preparing specific jokes for suggestions they may or may not get.
I largely agree with Nobody, though quibble over some number rankings. I think the judges were mostly on target with their comments.
Catapult Entertainment - I agree it was the best of the night. It tugged the heartstrings. Good story, good art, good dance.
D’Angelo & Amanda - Overall it was very good. The one thing I missed was I was expecting a high-intensity footwork sequence. It started slow, but that fit the music, but it never had that high pace part I expected. Good flow, artistic, good lines, just fell a tad short.
Ruby & Jonas - They had the high-intensity footwork that the other pair lacked. They weren’t quite as polished, but good.
Duo Resonance - Very artistic, good flow, great music. It kept my attention. I liked it. They do have room to improve with more strength components.
John Wing - “Just when he started getting good it was over.” I kinda agree. He came out weak, but then got funny pretty quickly. He started with the comment about the school not correcting spelling, repeated it a couple times, so I was expecting him to go somewhere with that, but then he shifted tracks. I guess 90 seconds doesn’t give room to really explore one topic, better to hit a couple topics. The three word sentence bit had me laughing, and I don’t even have children.
Selena Mykenzie Gordon - There’s the magic phrase from The Voice - “pitchy”. She was off pitch in several places. Also, I think we once again needed someone on the mixing board who can turn up the volume. Every one of the judges started with a variation on “you are a lovely girl”, so that pretty much says “your singing wasn’t very good”. She was playing cagey, not wanting to admit being wrong. I don’t know that worked once the judges called her on it.
Sprice - He definitely stepped up the show, still a little lackluster. And he just doesn’t have stage presence. I like him, but this isn’t a stage-show. He could get a career setting up bigger and more elaborate Rube Goldbergs for music videos, commercials, etc.
Sam Johnson - I want to root for Sam. When he went back outside for the sway-pole again, I was with him. Already terrifying for me, I get vertigo, so I couldn’t go near this trick. I immediately spotted the design of the tower, with two side towers, not either one tall tower or a tripod. When he climbed up to the top, starts swaying, and then let go with his hands I was definitely freaked. I mean, he had one foot in a stirrup thingy, but it isn’t like that was a ski-boot lock down clamp, just a bracket to rest his calf against. I’m not sure the ground could see that. That was scary and ridiculously dangerous. Then he crawled down, hooked is foot, swung upside down, and we didn’t know what was coming. All of the sudden, the pole starts rotating, and I knew instantly it was swinging over, not falling. I wonder if Howie and them didn’t realize that the way I did. But ultimately the judges called it. It started out terrifying, but when the end result says “Hey, that looks like fun”, there’s something wrong with the danger act.
Now that was actually far more dangerous than bungee jumping. Bungee jumping laces you in pretty well with a harness or leg wraps. You are strongly secured. He was basically just holding onto the pole. He had one leg through a loop and might have leveraged himself with his foot and the loop, but that wasn’t really holding him very tight, just if he let go would make him bounce around against the pole a bit rather than fall splat. Still, something didn’t convey to the audience.
Melody Cabellero - She’s too young for me to really enjoy it. Wait, did I say that out loud? Yes, she’s ridiculously flexible, bending over backwards, setting her butt on her head, picking up the flower, sliding through her own legs. All impressive. But it lacked something to ultimately be compelling. Energy? Flair? Something more?
2Unique - I’m not fond of the genre anyway, and I agree the stage full of dancers distracted from the two of them. Not something I can really judge on the skill of the performance, and just not compelling for me.
**Dave Fenley **- I liked his singing. I suppose his song choice was a little too expected - sounds a bit like the original? I would rate him higher, I’d put him through.
Virginia State University Gospel Chorale - Well, Madonna certainly wasn’t singing a gospel song, no matter how she styled it. The thing is, the lyrics are crafted well enough, there’s nothing blatantly obvious that can’t be filtered to interpret it to be religious. This group apparently chose to interpret it that way.
Heidi had a point, why are they doing a 20 year old song in the same style Madonna did it? That’s why she was suggesting something new and contemporary and fresh. But I think she missed the angle they were going for, and it was amusing to hear Nick say “don’t listen to the devil” when they just sang about orgasms.
I rate them a 6 on sheer performance, but a 4 on my interest level. I’m just not interested in a gospel choir, no matter how good they are.
So, who to put through?
Catapult
Duo Resonance
Dave Fenley
I want to put through Sam Johnson, but I think his act didn’t convey well. So I think it will be D’Angelo & Amanda. I put John Wing and Ruby & Jonas in the hunt for fifth place and the judges’ vote.
Yes, Dingbang just doesn’t realize what improv is about. Improv performers don’t go thinking up every combination of ideas in advance. The point of improv is to see what you can come up with on the spot. Random combinations is just a prop for making something unique to work with. Giving guidelines to the audience so they have something to think about.
That’s why I like Jim Meskimen. He’s doing something other impressionists aren’t doing, he’s not prepping ahead of time and crafting the delivery of his lines, he’s relying on his general ability to jump into character and his creativity to spark a funny comment that celebrity might deliver that has some bearing on the topic. What he lacks in precision on some of the impressions is made up for, in my mind, by the creativity to make it up on the fly. I hope he makes it back on a wild card. That week got screwed.
Was anybody else expecting a Wild Card announcement?
Then again, I just realized - they can’t announce the wild cards yet if they’re limited to acts in the top 60, as they have to wait until after this week’s semi-finalists are named before they know all 48 (well, 47, now that Red Panda is out) acts eligible for one. I wouldn’t be surprised if they announce them during Thursday’s scheduled episode.
Same Here.
“The bad news is you didn’t get voted through. The good news is, you got a call from OK Go”
I had a hard time judging them objectively because I’m not a big rap fan and I also don’t like medleys.
48 Because Melody Cabellero filled in for Red Panda.
I hope whatever had her pull out wasn’t too bad, like a tragedy or serious illness. Although to be honest, if she was just going to do the unicycle bowl trick again she probably would be going home anyway.
Really Mel? B-Double O-T-Y? A deserving act just lost out. Un-friggin’-believable.
MEL! MEH-EL! B double O T Y? Really? WTF? When did you start smoking crack?
I thought Duo Resonance was a sure in and D’Angelo & Amanda was going to be in the vote off, but apparently America liked them better. I’m cool with Heidi dropping her wild card for them, they’re good and deserve to be there.
B double O T Y is a crap act, it was a fun song once, and might have some life on the club circuit, but not as a competitive venture on AGT. Shit! What’s next, Howie dropping his wild card on Tummy Talk? I know he exed them last time, but it wouldn’t be any less sensible than this.
I’m also surprised the judges went with John Wing over Duo Resonance. He was funny, but definitely not the best act ever on AGT (that was Timber Brown 
). I can see Howie making that call, being a commedian and as he says, knowing comedy is tough stuff because you have to elicit response from the audience constantly versus any other act. I know Heidi doesn’t want to seem like a meany and I don’t think she was, I agreed with her. I’m surprised that Mel went for the comedian - I thought she was really into the other act. Howard was hard to call, and I guess he let the other judges sway his indecision.
Going back through the list, here’s who is in. (Ratings are my opinion of how much I like them, higher numbers better.)
Anna Christine - 4
Collins Key - 5
KriStef Brothers - 5
Branden James - 4
Innovative Force - 3
Forte - 3
Angela Hoover - 4
Marty Brown - 3
Chicago Boyz - 2
Jonathan Allen - 4
Kenichi Ebina - 5
American Military Spouses Choir - 1
Timber Brown - 6
Camy Bradley - 5
Taylor Williamson - 4
Jimmy Rose - 3
Dave Fenley - 4
D’Angelo & Amanda - 4
John Wing - 4
Catapult Entertainment - 5
Wild Cards:
Duo Resonance - 5
B double O T Y (gag) - -1
That leaves 2 wild card slots to be revealed next week (Howie and Howard).
My suggestions, ranked in order I like them:
- Jim Meskimen - robbed by American Military Spouses singing thingy
- Mitsi Dancing School - robbed by Chicago Boyz
- Ciana Pelekai - robbed by Marty Brown advancing
- Sam Johnson - I think he’s got great danger acts, he miscalculated the appeal on the last one. Give him another shot.
- The Robotix - I like them.
- Brandon and Savannah - I like them, though I don’t think they can win.
To guess, I think Howie might pull Kevin Downey Jr back. Or Kid the Wiz, because Howie is weird like that. That leaves Howard as the sensible judge left, so I assume he’ll pick from my list.
Oh yeah, John Wing was funnier than the guy from last year who did his act tonight.
Maybe I was a little harsh and flippant about improv. I’ve seen improv that was genuine and amazing, but I’ve also seen improv that was lazy and uninspired. (A visiting improv group at my college used this one: “Shout out a type of food! Now shout out something that bugs you here at this school!” And then they did a lame bit on trying to park a hot dog car on campus. Think they ever went to other schools and tried to park a ham sandwich? Or a grilled cheese? If they went to a school and the students were shouting “Our biggest problem is the scheduling matrix used to elevate five-year majors to an equivalent priority for limited classes!”, would one of the members say, “I think I heard someone say ‘parking!’”
And I don’t think Meskimen’s act was the same as an improv troupe riffing on a couple random words thrown out by the audience.
He had a set of celebrities he can do, and then he came up with something from the word suggested. I still don’t think his mind was a blank slate when he took the stage. It was probably more like “If they say Nicholson, maybe I can find a way to use the joke about the sandwich. They’ll probably want Bill Clinton, so I’ll try to make the cigar joke work…”
I don’t mean to say he wasn’t any good or that he can’t come up with jokes on the fly, only that his “pick a celebrity, shout a word” shtick doesn’t mean he’s always coming up with material out of thin air.
Irishman - that just means that the American Military Spouses Choir will win it all! At least that’s the way it happens with my least favorites.
I agree with BOOTY. Mitsi Dancing School should get back in.
Tonight I thought most of the acts were mediocre. At least everyone tried to step up their acts though. I’ve seen some seasons where the acts didn’t even do that.
Anyway, in my uneducated opinion, here is how I ranked the acts.
Best
[ol]
[li]Forte - It always feels awkward to hear a pop song from an opera group, but they did a good job.[/li][li]Angela Hoover - Spot on impersonations and funny jokes.[/li][li]Catapult Entertainment - I agreed about the story not being that clear, but I wasn’t as confused as the judges.[/li][li]Cami Bradley - A touch of what I’ve heard described as “quirkiness” in her voice that I don’t like, but otherwise a very solid performance.[/li][/ol]
Middle
[ol]
[li]Jonathan Allen - The piano seemed too loud and his soft singing was hard to hear. And I agreed with Howard about not emotionally connecting.[/li][li]Duo Resonance - Mixed feelings. I agreed with Howard about the box slowing their act down.[/li][li]Red Panda - Good act, and I forgive the missed bowl, but is it a main event type act? I’m not sure.[/li][li]Collin Keys - I wasn’t that impressed. I’m guessing all the balls had only one thing printed on them. And I’m not so sure that the lady wasn’t a plant.[/li][/ol]
Worse
[ol]
[li]Dave Fenley - Kind of Awkward. Still needs to enunciate better. Not a great song choice.[/li][li]Taylor Williamson - I didn’t find him that funny. He was a little funnier afterwards just talking to the judges.[/li][li]Innovative Force - A bunch of stuff happened on stage. No flow to any of it, and they needed beter choreography.[/li][li]Tone The Chiefrocca - Gets worse each time. Maybe they were brought back to lose so that someone more deserving can go on. That’s the only logical explanation for bringing them back.[/li][/ol]
Since six are going through I hope it’s the four best I listed plus Jonathan Allen and Duo Resonance.
I only caught the last half hour, so I’ll watch the recap tonight, but who were the other two wild card picks?
The wildcard picks that performed tonight were Duo Resonance, Tone The Chiefrocca, and Red Panda. I don’t think Howard has revealed his yet.
First off, ouch for the KriStef Brothers. Hope Kris is okay and they can compete next week.
Second, I can support Howie’s bringing back Red Panda. She was eliminated by a personal family conflict, so it’s good she got another chance.
As for the acts, it did start slow and get better. I don’t agree with Nobody this week.
To me, I liked Jonathan Allen better than Forte. I understand that with this arrangement, Forte was solid and strong through, while Jonathan struggled a little with the soft voice. But just on song choices, I preferred his over Forte’s opera. That’s my personal opinion. I did get the emotion.
I do agree about Cami having that quirkiness thing that tweaked her performance, but overall it was pretty good.
Amusingly, two you ranked lowest I ranked highest.
I liked Dave Fenley, except for the beat box thing. I felt that didn’t add to the song, it interrupted the flow and broke the flow. I did like his singing, and did enjoy his more soulful rendition of that Spice Girls song. And I enjoyed him up there by himself with his guitar, not an overblown production.
For Taylor Williamson, the part that was annoying to me was his continued drooling over Heidi. That’s far worse than what Howard was complaining about Dave Fenley’s lauding Mel. Dave just seems to be fawning because of her giving him positive comments and support. Taylor is coming off like a creepy stalker.
But except for that, I liked Taylor’s act. I thought the jokes were funny. He was edgy, that whole “black dogs really like big white bitches” line was shock-funny. And the camel who “I hope she has a nice personality”.
Angela Hoover was okay. Her impressions were excellent, but the material was spotty to me. I didn’t follow the transition from “celebrity moms get praised for doing what regular moms do all the time” to the Ariana Huffington thing and the nursery rhymes. Once there, she made that set up work and I laughed, but getting there was off to me. And then she dropped the line at the end about Republicans. Now I realized she was playing Ariana with that line, so I hope America does, too, and didn’t Howie it.
Catapult actually had a very good story, but it was a little hard to follow at the beginning. Partially because the ship didn’t come off as a ship. I went back and watched it a second time through, and the story is there and it’s great. But the first time through, it rushed in with the rowboat and the octopus, down in a tiny corner, then the girl jumping, and a song about falling, I was having to search for the pattern about why people are falling. It didn’t come together until the crab with the hat and the seahorse with the pipe. Then it started to make sense and the whole story came together. The octopus took the fisherman. His lover sees it, and jumps into the ocean to go find him. She goes to the bottom in the kelp, sees the the hat and pipe, follows the trail to the whale, where she finds him in the belly. They both jump out the blowhole (which was in the wrong spot) and then ride the anchor back to the surface, and leave the octopus behind. Unfortunately, I think the rushed opening didn’t make that clear enough and that was the confusion Mel mentions.
I have to agree on Duo Resonance that the box got in the way. Not really physically, but metaphorically. Last week they were sensual with the gliding dancing and sliding around, there was a lot of interaction. This one had the box between them, and even though he was doing the hand balancing on top and she was doing flexibility in the box, it didn’t flow well, and there wasn’t much connection. And they really only did two big moves, which were good, but left me wanting more.
Collins Key’s act wasn’t as good this week. It was similar to the last one, with the words in the box. Now it would be easier if the girl was a plant, but I could see some ways to rig it even if she weren’t. The trick in my mind would be how to screen the audience to find a girl interested in giving him a date and putting her in the right seat. I think it could be done with judicious use of line interviews. Maybe casually wandering around the line, finding someone who shows interest, then making sure she ends up in the right seat?
I’m also thinking that there were several different balls in the bags when the judges first check, then the bag handlers made a switchout when he asked the audience to check under their seats. Some kind of a force was in effect.
Once that happens, it’s pretty easy. One thing he did do I liked was after the trick was over and he was standing there, he pushed back his other sleeve to reveal that arm was blank. The easy way to handle the twitter pick of location would be write Central Park on one arm, The Empire State Building on the other arm, and the third choice on his belly. Then just reveal whichever was selected. He probably did that, but use a leg instead of the second arm. Still, that was smooth in an otherwise non-exciting trick. It just didn’t have the pop that his other tricks have had.
Innovative Force was interesting for me. Yes, a lot of bodies moving around. I kinda saw some of what Mel complained about being sloppy - one big throw the girl overthrew her catchers but landed on her feet. It didn’t stand out so bad to me being out of synch with the music, but that might also have been masked by the swooping cameras.
I’m glad Red Panda got to come to Radio City Music Hall and perform. Putting it on a raised platform was a way to up the ante, but somehow it just didn’t come across any more interesting. Yes, she throws bowls onto her head while riding a unicycle. It’s amazing the first time, but then what?
And finally Tone the Chiefrocca and B double O T Y. I have to say, this rendition was the worst yet. I’m with Howard and his buzzer. But I do disagree with Howard on one point, don’t give this fool a sitcom. He just gets louder and more annoying every time he’s brought back. He’s screaming and interrupting and I’m starting to want to punch him in the face. Go post your tryout video on the internet and enjoy counting the views. That’s the highlight of your act and should have been the furthest you went. Go away.
My picks for advancement:
Angela Hoover
Dave Fenley
Taylor Williamson
Cami Bradley
Jonathan Allen
Catapult Entertainment
StarvingButStrong, they revealed Howie’s wild card last night because the KriStef Brothers had an injury, so they brought in the extra wild card to fill this week’s slate. They should announce Howard’s Wild Card tonight during the results show, for next week.
Okay, I can see a lame improv group doing that. Sure, a touring show might take shortcuts to tie in to common college themes. Certainly they’re not going to pick something about the selection matrix, how would you improv that?
Well, certainly he probably has some ideas about things for each of his characters to do. I imagine he’s practiced doing various things with them, so he can pull something out of his hat more easily. I still don’t see that the same as scripting his jokes. He has to tie it in to whatever theme he has the audience select, and I think it does take true creativity on the fly to make those connections well.
For example, I didn’t follow his George Clooney comment. It didn’t work for me, because I didn’t see what the joke had to do with Clooney or the Revolution. But his Sting joke, while the singing was weak, it did convey the essence of Sting and the Founding Fathers, so it worked for me. He probably was prepared to try to sing Sting’s comments on whatever theme, and maybe he had some stuff in mind about Clooney.
Bottom line is I thought is act was unique, and he was fairly funny. Angela is more spot on with her characters, but she’s also crafting the jokes ahead of time.
Thanks!
Was Red Panda even in the quarter final rounds? I don’t remember seeing her.
No, she wasn’t, which was a major reason Howie picked her as his wild card - he wanted her to have the chance to perform for votes. Melody Cabellero (the young girl balancing act) took her place in the quarter-finals.
Red Panda was selected to go to the quarterfinals, but had a family emergency and couldn’t attend, so they sent the contortionist girl in her place. So letting Red Panda back in is fair.
One other comment: Mel was inconsistent in her comments and advice. On Jonathan, she said he shouldn’t have tried something new with the softer sounds and should have stuck with his strong point, but then on Cami she said that we know Cami can sing soft and sweet, she should have amped up more and shown us something different. Hey Mel, which is it? Show us something new and different, or give us more of what we know you do best? Pick a side.