Speaking of Leonid, and I say this as a straight man, Og he has an amazing body! I keep expecting him to put an exercise and diet video or book Be Magnificent With Leonid! or something.
This show has lost all credibility and who the hell are these freakin’ Brits picking America’s Most Talented for us?
They let go of Fallon and the singing red necks, yet kept Boy Shakira and that Arab dancer guy!? WTF!!!
I thought they kept the singing red necks. The tenors, right? They were celebrating with other acceptees.
Oh, and I think the dancer is Indian. Not sure, though.
They got rid of the rednecks. One of them actually said “No? You’re serious?” and genuinely seemed to believe this was a setup and that they were really going through.
Even as cheap, summertime, airwaves-filling garbage, this show is pretty bad.
The contestants range from seasoned professionals to people who have never been on a stage in their lives. Not a very level battlefield.
A good drinking game could be made from taking a drink everytime someone says;“The most important moment of my life.” or, “You’re what this show is all about.” or, “…take it to the next level.” You’d be pretty wasted about thirty minutes in.
Worst of all are the judges’ decision segements which go like this; “Because you were so terrible” (BOOM), “we are very sorry” (minor chord), “to have to tell you” (BOOM), that unfortunately" (minor chord), looooong pause, “we are sending you through to the next round!” (tinkling piano). What the fuck!?
And what’s up with the soundtrack? While I’m watching a profile of a singing contestant, I’m hearing a track by a popular, professional, recording artist playing in the background. Why am I not hearing the person who is being profiled?
But worst of all, of the entire running time, it seems that only about 10% is devoted to the acts. The show should be called, “America’s Got Judges”. Two of whom aren’t American and a third who is a washed-up drunk.
I don’t necessarily mind Boy Shakira and the Indian getting through. They’re different and they’re entertaining and the producers obviously loved them. But they aren’t talented. Boy Shakira’s got a lot of energy and a lot of heart but there’s just no talent there. It’s a bad celebrity impression. Likewise with the Bollywood dancing. It’s just not that special. He’s didn’t bother with a costume and not even that great of a dancer. It’s just that no one else on AGT has done Bollywood and they were impressed with the freshness of it.
The choices weren’t about talent. They used as criteria “could you headline a show” and the answer for many who got through is “no, not at all.”
But here’s what I don’t get. They brought 71 (91?) to Vegas. They narrowed it down to 35. We literally didn’t see half of the performers of these semi-semi finalists. Leonid never got screen time. That kid with the grandfather? No where to be seen. Who was that guy with the two kids all in ties? I’d never even seen them before.
But they spend 20+ minutes at the end of Tuesday prolonging the winnowing down to 35 people. Laughter. Joy. Exuberation.
And then Wednesday comes and, without any more performances they narrow those 35 down to 20…and spend an hour doing it. Wouldn’t it have been better for everyone (audience and performers alike) to give everyone more screen time and just hack the original list from 70+ to 20 in one fell swoop? That’s exactly what they did anyway but it saves quite a bit of time.
What about the Cruise Ship Singer that didn’t stick around to hear if he made it to the Semifinals? I am sure that others there waiting to hear the judges/producers verdict had lives and jobs that they were missing too. Doesn’t seem fair to me.
I’ve cut the show some slack so far because last year, it found one of the greatest singers of our time — Bianca Ryan — and she’s still decades away from her prime. This year, however, there is nothing even close.
Nope, it’s not even a celebrity impression. He calls himself Shakira, puts on a blonde wig and belly dances, but Shakira is not known for being a belly dancer. She’s a singer who belly dances a little in her performances. She doesn’t even wear the standard belly dance costumes. Even a bad impression would involve actually trying to look and sound like Shakira. It’s just a guy belly dancing in a woman’s outfit with a bad wig on. If they wanted a belly dancer I’m sure there were a lot more talented ones auditioning. That guy really had no business making it past the auditions. They’re supposed to be looking for talent, not just slightly interesting freaks that are fun to laugh at. The show really blew it but allowing Boy Shakira and some of those others past the auditions, they should call the show America’s Got Schlock or The Producers Of This Show Think You’re All Brainless Twits Who Like Watching This Crap.
I was out of town Tuesday and Wednesday, so didn’t catch this till the reruns last night. (Thank god I have no life – it would so interfere with my TV watching.) Agree that Action Figure’s fall looked fake – maybe he realized he was falling and hoped for a sympathy bye to the next round?
Boy Shakira and Bollywood Boy making it to the final 20 is just a freaking travesty. I think the middle-aged black woman would have been a better choice for final 20.
The blonde with the guitar who got knocked out at 10:58 – is she the one who dropped her thingie in the guitar? Because her guitar sounded seriously out of tune to me, I couldn’t believe she made it as far as she did.
Was glad to see the Hillbilly Trio go – they’re one-trick ponies, and the trick isn’t that entertaining.
I was glad the guy with the batons had such a great performance – but agree he’s not really a contender.
Does anyone else remember the Chinese acrobat from the audtions? I assume she got cut? Haven’t seen her since “You’re going to Vegas!”
Who I’m rooting for – the wispy blonde girl who made it in at 10:58; Butterscotch; Cas Haley; the magician.
I didn’t watch last year – what happens next? I gather we get to vote – will this really go on for 19 more weeks as people are eliminated one by one?
God, no.
Anyway, I’m guessing they’ll use last year’s pattern: The finalists are divided into four sets of five, and we get each set in a one hour show. Audience votes – highest vote getter becomes a finalist.
Then there’s a fifth week, where they build up another set of five for a ‘second chance’ round. I think it may have been A) each of the judges gets to bring back a favorite who didn’t make it plus B) the two acts with the highest number of votes while placing second. Again, audience votes, highest is a finalist.
One more round, winner takes all.
What I cannot remember is how they revealed the winner. Did they just announce it at the start of the next week’s show?
Watched the rerun last night.
At the beginning of the show, I said that if Boy Shakira, Sanjaya Jr. or Leonid made it through, I was giving up on this show. Well, two out of three and I’m outta there for sure!
Some random final observations:
Ivan’s fall was totally staged. I agree that he planned it to try to get a sympathy “bye” into the next round, and now he has to wait a whole year. Good plan, dumbass!
Ya know, putting Boy Shakira through to the callbacks was one thing; it made for good TV, watching the Hoff get all bent outta shape. But the joke’s over, people! The little freak served his purpose, now send him home!
These moron judges didn’t think the baton twirler had enough talent to make it through, and yet they put through the guy in the cowboy drag with the whips? 
I loved the Redneck Tenors! The incongruity of these mulletheads singing with trained operatic voices made it that much more entertaining. They certainly at least deserved to be judged by the public.
The Glamazons…RRROWRRR! Definitely eye candy for my particular taste, and the only reason I would even consider watching again.
A previous poster mentioned that the chainsaw magician is fairly well known. Another top 20 finalist, the Popovich Pet Theatre, actually does several matinee shows a week at the theater at Planet Hollywood in Vegas.
On a related topic, last week I saw magician Nathan Burton, one of last seasons finalists, at Planet Hollywood. OK but not “WOW”.
Tell you one thing, though. After seeing this travesty, I have a bit more respect for “Idol”. At least most of the people who make those finals have something resembling talent. And that applies to the judges as well as the contestants. I mean, who the frack is Piers Morgan, anyhoo? And what exactly in Sharon Osbourne’s resume makes her qualified to judge a flea circus, let alone a talent competition?
No wonder NBC is dead last in ratings!
WTF Kevin James – that was dreadful!
I agree. I thought it was part of a lead up to a bigger trick and was very disappointed. From the great trick he did last time, to a trick a clever six-year old could do.
Yeah, using a novelty item, that is sold in stores at Halloween, as the centerpiece of your magic performance was not the best idea.
And giving Bollywood Boy backup dancers? That doesn’t seem entirely fair.
Believe it or not, Kevin invented that illusion.
Yes, tonight was very underwhelming for him, but remember, the stuff he does is all part of a larger act that he performs regularly to much acclaim. It is difficult for a magician who is routinely performing a 90 minute show to take the acts he does to fill those shows and cut them down to 1 minute. Most likely what he did tonight was part of a larger routine that he simply could not fit into the time frame. Not nearly enough time IMHO to truly show off the talent he has. I still voted for him though because I can guarantee that if he makes it through to the finals, he will blow everyone away!
My pet peeve for the evening though was that out of the 10 acts presented tonight, 9 of them were singers or dancers. No offense to anyone who liked the other acts (I enjoyed some of them myself), but singers and dancers are a dime a dozen.
Here is my opinon of some of the acts tonight:
- Kashif never should have gotten this far… period!
- Johnny Come Lately rushed through their all of their songs, including what they performed tonight
- The Glamazons looked great as usual, but their singing was slightly off.
- The Sidewinders did what they have always done. They didn’t do anything to step it up except take off their shirts… which doesn’t take much talent IMHO.
- In general, all of the singers seemed to me to be a little off tonight including the first girl who was the best of the singers tonight, but still not quite up to where she should have been.
- Between the Sidewinders and Kevin James, I can bet that you will see something bigger and better from Kevin James should he come back while the Sidewinders will still do the same thing over again.
That’s putting it nicely. A fake hand? That was beyond lame. I hope he’s not taking too much credit for inventing that one. Kashif was more entertaining.
Cas is great, yeah – but that ventriloquist is freakin’ amazing.
I just watched this week’s episode. Man, there was some great talent on that show.
Cas Haley - this guy is great. I just love the way he interprets songs. He injects so much life into them. I’ll buy whatever album he puts out.
The ventriloquist did a pretty good job. The Louis Armstrong impression was a little off, but overall a nice performance.
I hate to say it, but I enjoyed Boy Britney tonight. I laughed myself silly. Gotta give him props. And he’s got the moves.
I thought the singers with the beat boxer were really good - the judges didn’t seem to think so, but on TV they sounded great.
And I like the Second Story guys, because their act is just so odd, and yet compelling.