A couple of weeks ago, when the West Springfield Dance Team lost to what’s her name. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about that girl I don’t like. I feel like she’s all smiles and sweetness for camera, but off stage…
There’s no proof for how I feel, it’s just a gut feeling.
Watching this on Hulu - I don’t have cable - and it seems the West Springfield Dance Team’s act from the wildcard round was omitted from the web video.
You see Nick introducing them and then the video just cuts to the judges discussing it.
Is the act recording online anywhere? Would love to see it.
Thanks!
So, I guess the dance groups all watched West Springfield last week.
Big piles of bleah. I guess my five would be (in no particular order):
So, I guess one of the dance acts - but not Snap Boogie.
Could you make out what words they were spelling? I don’t know if it was bad timing, or the vertiginous camera work, but I couldn’t focus on them fast enough.
I agree a lot of the act were sort of meh compared with their earlier efforts. The magic trick just came across flat, no style. Gymkana without the ladder stuff was just a bunch of kids doing flips. The Skippers had a lot of problems. Snap Boogie was nothing special. Stephen Reckless made at least two big mistakes: wasting time off the pole and adding two other pole dancers, which basically just made what he was doing seem more ordinary. Diving into a 8 foot pool simply isn’t as exciting to watch, regardless of hard it may be.
But the Smage Brothers were a big exception for me. I’ve always been ‘meh’ towards them, but last night the act seemed to really jell and hold my attention on the bikers instead of getting distracted by random dancers/flashing lights/blasts of sparkles or whatever.
Anyway, ones I want to see go through: Smage Brothers and Landau Murphy.
For the other three slots, let’s see: Silhouettes (because they were great the first time, maybe…), Fatally Unique (yeah, copycatting, but it was well choreographed), and Anna Graceman.
At least there wasn’t an equivalent of the Funny Little People in this episode.
I caught up on this last night on the DVR. I do not understand the love for the two singers (Landau and Anna), to the point that I’m wondering if the sound on my TV is messed up. They are just… not good.
It’s simply a matter of taste. Yours is different than the studio audience, the voters, and the judges.
Kevin Skinner FTW
Fair enough, but usually even with differences in taste I can recognize someone performing well in a style I don’t care for. In this case, I like the style fine, but they sound to me to be singing off tempo and missing lots of notes. Anyway, no big deal.
My only complaints were:
Landau: Started out too slow and made me worry he was going to be boring. But then the temp picked up and everything seemed just fine to me.
Anna: Her performance seemed kind of weak compared to her other performances. I didn’t think she did poorly, just that she could have done better.
As for both of them being off temp and missing notes, who knows? Most of America is probably like me. Not knowledgeable enough to notice such things to notice when they happen (usually).
It’s kind of like when I’m watching Dancing with the Stars and the judges talk about toes being pointed in the wrong direction, or other criticizes, and I’m watching the replay unsuccessfully trying to see what they’re talking about.
So, the Miami All Stars and West Springfield booted it. (As an aside, I’ve never understood the love for WS - they’re a pretty good high school dance team with a schtick - which the judges finally called them on (plus, the routine this week was weak anyway)).
I think Silhouettes have shown that they’re a curiousity act - there just isn’t that much they can do with it (and, hence, back to “USA! USA!” again this week).
I thought PopLyfe’s act was back to the first week - the singer was OK (but not as good as she has been), but I thought the band was very weak.
Lys Agnes needs to stay out of her low range.
I liked the magic act - a nice story, well done. I like that the judges thought the leaking water was a mistake; in my mind, if the water doesn’t leak, it doesn’t seem as ‘real’ that he’s pushing his hands through. Although, didn’t one of his early acts involve porous glass? Not that repeating part of a trick is necessarily bad.
The Smage Bros were fine, but I think the limits of their act are coming up also, barring actually physically hurting one of their props (I think granny should stay away).
Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr (who I keep thinking is named Martin Landau (who was my favorite on Mission Impossible) was far and away the best thing - he practically did a Vegas act right there. I don’t like singers even in this competition, but he’s the best of what they’ve got.
Anna Graceman was fine - but I don’t like singers on this show, nor little kids - so two strikes for her.
Miami All-Stars - In my opinion, there are too many of them. And for last nights performance, I don’t think they stepped it up from last week’s.
Lys Agnès - Like everybody else I thought she sang way to low, and as Sharron said, it was unpleasant. However, I’ve liked all her other performances so I’m willing to give her a pass.
Landon Swank - He’s never impressed me. Even when he does, what I consider, a good trick I’m still thinking, “Meh.”
Anna Graceman - I think she’s a great singer, although I thought the backing vocals sounded cheesy. Still, I would be happy if she makes it to the finals. Although I have a feeling she won’t.
Silhouettes - I loved their first couple of performances. The one where they tried to go 3D was, to me, a disaster. And I got excited this week when they were going to go back to their standard routine. And then I watched and felt none of the magic of their first two shows. I think part of it was that they needed less dancing and more imagery.
Smage Bros. Riding Shows - Like Swank I’ve never been that impressed. They did do two or three good tricks, but over-all, “Meh.”
PopLyfe - After the music started I wondered what the heck happened to the singer’s voice. Their performance was OK, but not Vegas worthy.
West Springfield Dance Team - I really wanted them to do well, and then they came out and were boring. What a shame.
Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. - I’ve been impressed since day one. He needs to be in the finals.
Team iLuminate - At first I was thinking Fighting gravity rip-off, but since their video game performance I like them better. They also need to be in the finals.
I love Landau to pieces. I want him to win because I think team iLuminate are already taken care of, there’s no way they aren’t going to get a contract. But Landau needs the love.
It was a bit of a slip last night I think when he openly replied to Nick Cannon (whom I abhor beyond my ability to adequately express…please bring back Jerry Springer. Or pretty much anyone else.) that his fans were saying something about smacking down Cannon for last week and he used the word nigger. I’m sure some people recoiled from that, I hope it doesn’t hurt him.
I’m on the West coast so we see the taped version. They obviously edited out that word. I had no idea :eek:. Now it’s off to Google to see the exact, unedited quote.
There seems to be some debate, but what I heard, and what other heard, was that he needs to slap “Nick” upside the head.
And the other reason to not have kids on the show is that they cry when they get voted off.
I suppose that since I complained about Landau before, I should post now to say that I thought he was very good this week. He seemed so much more at ease, to the point that I was wondering if he had a couple drinks before the show :).
I thought there was a pretty clear separation between the top 5 and bottom 5. Personally I would’ve put through the magician rather than Poplyfe, but they were close. I think iLuminate should win in a walk, but I wouldn’t be surprised if any of the four remaining acts ends up winning.
I think there is a clear divide between Iluminate/Landau and Silhouette/PopLyfe.
I’m rooting for Landau (and breaking my ‘no singers’ rule), mostly because you can just see him improving week-to-week. Assuming the back story of no performance history is true, and seeing that apparently they have coaches, he is listening and responding amazingly well to what he is being told.
As long as he doesn’t decide to ‘show his range’ (Russian bar, Lys, Miami dancers, the juggling guy who went from dangerous to playing the piano with his balls, the western act that added their horse, I’m sure I’m missing some) and break out some hip-hop or punk, he’ll be fine.
On Project Runway, the judges don’t want people who are safe. They want their designers to take risks.
On America’s Got Talent, it’s usually the other way. Performers are much better off not taking risks. There are exceptions of course, but in general, it’s better to either not take a risk, or if you do then take a small one.
Also, if your act has energy and excitement in it, don’t decide to get serious later on and do a mellow performance.
For example, if you’re a singer who sings pock, or rock, or whatever genre of music, and it’s upbeat and up-tempo, don’t decide to mix things up with a ballad.
Of you’re a dancer or dance group and you start out fast, doing jumps, tumbles, or whatever, then don’t do a slow dance later on.
I hate hate hate HATE the stupid silhouette people! and I’m tired of all the love they get!
They are a novelty act that I’ve seen before, and they’re not even very good at it. The group that did the same thing at the Oscars however many years ago did their act to perfection…this group is a one trick pony with their USA crap. The time they tried to branch out (heh…they used trees…) they were terrible. It also doesn’t speak well of you as a group that you have to show a picture of what you’re doing because you can’t accurately show what you’re doing.
They have multiple times now taken out acts that deserved to be there (like Landon Swank!!!) I am continuously unimpressed with them and don’t see the tons of love they get.
Sorry…that has been brooding for a while and I needed to get that out
My Landau love just got boosted even more by his very sincere distress at beating the little girl, and his reaction was immediate and continuous, I don’t think for a second that it was anything other than completely real. And I love him for that, he’s a generous sweet spirit.