America's Got Talent

Plot synopsis:
Tuesday night brings a whopping three hours of "America's Got Talent," including the final hour of auditions and a two-hour run through the Vegas round.First, 8-year-old Avery and the Calico Hearts, a singing trio, pile on the saccharin with a rendition of Justin Bieber's "Baby." The judges all enjoy it, even Piers, but he doesn't want to send them through. Sharon and Howie's votes are good enough to keep the sweetness coming. They're going to Hollywood.A guy named Kevin Shelley says he's going to break 48 1-inch-thick pieces of wood with his head. He asks Nick to hand them to him one at a time, and the guy does it -- alarming fast. His head bleeds a bit, but he seems to have all his faculties. A medic stands by just in case, telling Nick, "That's not right." Piers says that whenever people ask him what it's like to work with Howie Mandel, he's going to show them the video of what Kevin just did. Howie wants Kevin to come back and do something even more dangerous. It's a yes. Sharon says she can't see it in Vegas, and it's a no. Piers agrees with Howie. Kevin's in, and leaves with an ice pack on his forehead.Here comes the montage: Dezmond Meeks, a singer and pianist, riles the crowd with an old, sweet rendition of "Georgia on My Mind"; a juggler named Thomas John plays "When the Saints Go Marching In" with a ping pong ball and... yeah, this one you had to see; and a female singing quartet called 4Play (get it?) stuns the judges and crowd with a version of Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy."J. Chris Newberg plays "short funny songs." Piers doesn't find him particularly funny. Howie thinks he's a "funny guy." Piers says he's great, except he's not funny. Howie's a yes, Piers is a no, and Sharon is a yes.King Diamond, is a 61-year-old blast from the past who looks like he just landed out of an episode of "Shaft." He wants to entertain the world. It takes everyone a moment to figure out whether he's good or terrible. But once the it's clear he's terrible, he gets three X's quickly. Nick comes on stage to dance with King Diamond to smooth it all over.CUT (Chicago's Ultimate Tumblers) is led by a man who says the group's mission is to keep kids out of trouble. One of the girls who talks about how her coach is a mentor and father figure tears up as she tells the story. The girl becomes the focal point as her teammates are supposed to do flips over her off a small trampoline, and one of them jumps right into her. She's knocked sideways and gets up to get back in position -- and goes even higher. The rest of the act is completed without incident. Piers tells her it was just about the bravest thing he's ever seen. Howie wants to see it less raw and more polished, but votes yes. Piers loves them raw and sends them to Vegas.A guy who Howie says looks like Art Garfunkel (look him up, kids), goes on stage wearing nothing but a robe. He immediately threatens to disrobe. He eventually does, after pulling off a series of boxers and briefs. The crowd watches in amazement and disgust (in equal portions). All three judges dismiss the rather cheesy act.A montage of terrible acts, including a really bad opera singer, a guy who tells stories with balloons, and an awful 55-year-old pop singer, follows.A couple of old pals, 67 and 81, who met singing karaoke take the stage promising to show something we've never seen. The show is called "Meet Me at Fairfax and Third." The 81-year-old plays piano and croons while his 67-year-old pal randomly does a headstand on a wooden chair and dances, upside down, to the music. The music is drowned out by the crowd's cheers. Piers calls it "utterly ludicrous" but that there's "something horribly good" about them. Howie loves it, saying that sometimes A and B are nothing, individually, but together "this is what you get."That's it for the Season 6 auditions.SECOND PARTThe judges are on their way to Vegas -- or at least in a fancy tour bus going from the airport to the place where the auditions are being held. They have to decide who will perform on Day 1, who will wait for Day 2, and who will go home right away. There will be 48 spots in the next round.The judges welcome all the acts to Vegas. Piers asks 10 of them to stand up. He says the judges have agreed to send them home immediately -- because they've decided to put them straight through to Hollywood.They are:Silhouettes (Minneapolis)Squawk Opera (Minneapolis)Lys Agnes (Minneapolis)Professor Splash (Houston)The Rhinestone Ropers (Houston)The Fearless Flores Family (Houston)Melissa Villasenor (Seattle)Captain Stab-Tuggo and Maybelle (Atlanta)Team ILuminate (Atlanta)Miami All Stars (Atlanta)The remaining 38 spots will be determined in Vegas. The first day will feature the judges' favorite acts. They will have the first chance to make it to the next round. The rest of the acts are considered standbys and will only get a chance to make it if the favorites don't fill up the 38 spots.The acts are grouped together and first up is the "Danger" group.Juggler Charles Peachock ups the stakes, introducing fire to his act, going so far as to light his legs on fire while he juggles torches that are also ablaze.The judges are impressed. Next is Kevin Shelley, who broke all those boards over his head in Atlanta. This time, he's breaking concrete with his elbows and standing on swords while an assistant breaks concrete blocks on his back. But the blocks don't break. The Yellow Design Stunt Team -- a group of bike performers -- try to impress the judges. Frank Miles, who juggled stun guns, puts a knife into one of four styrofoam coolers. Then, asking Sharon to choose a cooler at random, he eliminates the coolers that don't have the knife in them by doing forward flips and breaking the coolers with his weight (if he lands on the knife, he's in big trouble and, in his words, "definitely not going to Hollywood.") He nails it -- holding a fake bloody knife tip to his stomach for effect as he breaks the very last empty cooler.The next category is vocal groups. Mona Lisa give it their all, and 4Play are shocked with their own performance. They tells the judges the nerves got to them. The judges confer and send them home immediately.Next are the acrobats. Trapeze artists, tumblers and jump ropers go at it, and a couple of pole dancers -- a man and a woman -- fill out the group. Steven Retchless, the male pole dancer, wows the judges with an even better performance than he showed in the auditions. Soleil Rousseau, the woman, says she wants to prove that pole dancing is OK to do. She cries as she explains that her parents likely don't approve, but support her despite that. Howie asks her how she thought she compared to the other pole dancer. She says hers was more graceful and his was "mostly strength."Next are the magicians. They're carefully watching each other. Fantastic Fig, 76, is back and the others are watching. Another magician says Figs card tricks aren't real magic. Michael Turco, who's been watching and knocking the others, runs into trouble with his illusion when a door gets stuck.The animal acts stumble, too, when some a dog has trouble jumping rope. The talking parrots face off. But this time they both struggle. Echo doesn't want to speak -- and doesn't even wave "bye-bye." His owner quips that they aren't going to get "bye-bye," and Howie suggests otherwise. Meanwhile, Vegas Birds has a parrot that paints -- or at least they think it does. Sharon asks the bird to paint a rose and the painting looks nothing like a rose. Backstage, Echo says, "I don't like it. I'm going to fly."The classical singers are next, and Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., is nervous because he isn't classically trained like his competitors. Cindy Chang is helping keep his nerves in check backstage. Cindy's audition doesn't go as well. She seems quite nervous and shaky. Howie says he didn't like it and Piers agrees it was a little bit off. The judges send her home immediately, and we have to listen to Coldplay, just in case we don't feel bad enough for her. Landau is devastated, but he won't try to fix her.The next group is the bands. The Fiddleheads are the first of the bands to really capture the judges' attention. Pop Lyte are the youngest band in the category. They promised to win Piers over with an electric set. The judges agree that they did step it up from the first audition.The dance acts are next, and Fatally Unique. Their human pyramid fell during rehearsal and one of the dancers was taken away in an ambulance with her neck stabilized. Another injured dancer is part of LD Dance, who has a severely twisted ankle. She goes on despite being in pain. Snap Boogie, who's been watching the other dances in awe, says he wishes he could do "all that stuff." He's a street dancer and he shows the judges what he does best. Piers and Sharon love it. Fatally Unique's injured dancer comes back with a busted lip and fractured nose. They've altered the routine just enough to take the injured dancer out of the final stunt.The female singers are next. Dani Shay, the Justin Bieber look-alike, is nervous going up against great singers. She's going to do an original song, which Piers calls "a massive risk." She stumbles halfway through her song and stops. She doesn't continue after stopping. The judges call her back, as they've done with the acts that they've sent home immediately. Sharon tells her that they need to hear her sing a well-known song. Asked if she's willing to do that, Dani says, "OK."The comedians go next and they have trouble performing to a 7,000-seat arena that's empty, but for three judge. J. Chris Newberg, the guy who sings short, funny songs, does alright. Gichi Guy does his one-liner thing.Dani Shay is ready to come back and perform "Trouble" for the judges, which she says she just learned in a couple of hours.The novelty acts, who acknowledge they're just "weirdos," include a drag queen who butchers a Tina Turner song. Those Funny Little People, the dancing gnomes, do a new routine with a female gnome in the mix. Piers seems to hate it, and so Howie has them come down to the judges table so he can get a picture with the gnomes standing around an annoyed Piers. The Kinetic King works up an elaborate domino-like set up with popsicle sticks and who knows what else, which took about six-to-eight hours to build and amazes the judges.The male singers bring their different styles, looks and sounds to the competition. Ryan Andreas wants it badly and seems to have his nerves more under control, but later says he's "not super-happy" with this performance. Dezmond Meeks, who's made a life out of random singing gigs, is hoping this one sticks.There's massive drama as the judges discuss all the acts and try to figure out who should stay and who should go.Coldplay's back, which means there's some bad news coming. People cry as they're sent home.Gichi Guy and J. Chris Newberg are in. Magician Scott Alexander is in. Charles Peachock, Frank Miles and Yellow Design Stunt Team are in. Pop Lyte and the Fiddleheads are in. Those Funny Little People and The Kinetic King are in. Echo makes it. Mona Lisa is in. Fatally Unique are in. Dezmond Meeks is in. Snap Boogie is in. Pole dancer Steven Retchless is in. Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., is in. Zuma Zuma are in. Dani Shay is in.

Tags: non fiction

Review:
Americas Got Talent (AGT) has proved to be an influential show for some who seek to show off their talent on live television, what with having genuinely great acts on their show.
It feels like you're watching some beautiful cake get iced over a thousand times than necessary; the show has its cheek turned away from talent and toward view count, and it's obvious.
Most of the show revolves around back stories and really dumb stories about the judges; very little revolves around actual talent.Although AGT is, admittedly, a television show, the reason this is so frustrating is because it's a competition as well.
America casts their votes in based on who they think "did best." That means genuine talent gets booted off just because America felt that another contestants story was touching, and they wanted to support it.
The Hunger Games made fun of such television by having these over- the-top crazy dressed characters dictate the show and color the contestant stories to impress the audience; it's very sad to say that such a thought is not far from the concept of this show, where 1) As long as you have a decent act and 2) A good story, you win the heart of your audience.
The judges also need to realize this is NOT American Idol, the search is for talent, which is exactly what the bird lady was trying to say.
I do not care about the big name judges, or Regis, on the show I want to see people who can recognize talent!
Based on the fact that "American Idol" judge (and media mogul) Simon Cowell was behind this show, I watched its premiere episode.
On "America's Got Talent", David Hasselhoff clearly withholds his vote (he's third in the rotation) for a time when an act is bombing,, so as to prolong whatever unintentional comedy is going on.
Piers Morgan has Simon Cowell's flamboyantly sharp tongue without having established any credibility with audiences (I mean, who IS this guy, anyway?), and his reaching for other judges' buzzers is the most shameless exhibition of ego I've ever witnessed on entertainment television.
Regis Philbin emcees, and why NBC is paying that kind of money for a job that a lot of lesser lights could do just as well is beyond me; Philbin's presence adds nothing to the show's entertainment value.The talent is fine- at least the good acts are- and the idea is fine.
If NBC wants this show to last, I suggest they get Morgan under control, and impose time standards during auditions, requiring judges to give every contestant some guaranteed minimum of time, to avoid another misfire such as the one that occurred with the ventriloquist.
The main thing is to get the judges looking more impartial and professional; once the voting and elimination processes begin, the home audience is not going to take kindly to things that appear to skew a contestant's chances..
I love the idea of a talent show that focuses on more than just singing, especially the same old adult contemporary music that we hear over and over and over again on the likes of American Idol, Star Search, or any other popular talent competition.
The problem is that when it comes down to it it ends up being nothing more than a singing competition with some other performers thrown in for good measure, but without a shot at winning.The "judges" constantly berate people for not being diverse or "mixing it up" enough, which flies in the face of what the show is supposed to be about.
When it comes down to it the judges, and America, do not consider anything other than singing to be real talent, and that is a shame, because the variety is what could be the shows strongest feature.In defense of the show, there is much more variety than you will see on American Idol.
Simon Cowell manages to try another spin-off of "American Idol", despite of the failure with his previous attempt "American Inventor".It follows the same guidelines than "American Idol", you know, a host the three stereotypical judges, an obedient crowd for audience, and some entertaining contestants plus many more that are shown only for their humiliation on national TV, that is actually what most of the public seems to dig anyway.
Even more, giving it is an open talent contest, half of them are singers what gives Cowell a chance for a shot closer to the "Idol" success.Regis Philbin does his job, he always manages to look as a nice guy, I don't think he contributes rising the show interest but is not responsible for the poor overcome either.Moving on.
And it guarantees the show will be sold in Germany too.Piers Morgan, who I don't have any clue who he is, takes the role of the wise and balanced judge completing his stereotype with a British accent that in America seems -wrongfully- to be synonymous of a higher intellect.Finally Brandy.
And of course, that means "America's Got Talent" season two.So, if you're tired of this worthless "reality TV" crap and you want a truly funny sitcom or an intelligent, engrossing drama that addresses relevant issues of today, either get HBO or complain to the Parents Television Council and tell them to stop complaining every time something interesting happens on TV.
I feel sorry for the people who got chosen to be on this show that have great talent, I hope they are not disappointed..
He is at best.........not a good judge of talent.
The judges think people tune in to watch them.
Talent-wise -- and I confess I have seen almost every season -- the only actual "acts" I remember are the car wash guy who could imitate Sinatra (I think he won) and a 10 year old girl from Vegas who did a version of Wild Horses that gave me chills (she was booted, probably because her voice and age did not match, and that always freaks out the audience).
They never seem to know what they are talking about, they judge the acts on entertainment value rather than talent, and they are all biased and opinionated.
In fact, one of the judges' favorite acts was the "rapping granny," who was only mildly entertaining and hardly talented at all.
very idea of a talent contest which takes into consideration all and every talent is absurd from the start considering that there are no standards for the acts to be judged, just unknown judges who give there owned biased opinion on what they think should and shouldn't be considered talent.
We also here can watch your show America got talent, and it is a great show no matter of bad rating.
Created by Simon Cowell of American Idol fame, AGT is a talent search show which is similar in format to American Idol and the Gong Show.I don't normally ever watch network TV, and i'm not really big on reality shows at all, but i have been watching this because i thought it would be somewhat interesting..
a panel of 3 judges (david hasselhoff, brandy, and piers morgan) vote on the acts as they perform, and a negative vote from all the judges eliminates the contestant.
i know they are set up like "token" judges from Idol, the nice one, the straightforward one, and the in-between one, but regardless of who they are, and not to belittle their specialty (acting, music etc) they don't seem unbiased when judging competitors..
hasselhoff dosen't know if he's coming or going, and will approve just about anyone, brandy usually does a halfway decent job, and piers, while being the "token" sharp tongued, tell it like it is brit, is totally unappreciated in his time..
i'm sure no one wants to see a little girl cry because she came in front of America and got told that she sucked, but does that mean she automatically gets pushed into the finals?
the other thing is that a lot of the people who have been in the finals are actually professionals in the field of their "talent"..
He adds a nice comedic touch to the show, if you ask me.First of all, America's Got Talent is a very diverse show, and it features all kinds of talents, if you can actually call some of the acts "talents." My main gripe with this show is every single episode, except for the final few of course, are structured exactly the same way.
Then there will be a slew of horrible acts that will most likely get X'd out by the judges, but there is always a great act in between that may have a legit shot at winning the competition.
And on top of that, most of the time when someone is going to be great and get high reviews from the judges, they will show the contestant giving a pretty in-depth explanation of their past, and things of that nature.
It always gives the shows a good close, but like I said, it sometimes can feel slightly predictable.The judges are pretty much the stereotype of the trio from any show like this, but I like them, and they all have their own personality.
And by the time it comes down to the final two, there is always a talent that is unique compared to all the previous winners of the competition, and all the winners are set apart.Most people will prefer American Idol to this, but I happen to disagree.
"America's Got Cheap Novelty Acts" would be a better title.They shouldn't pretend to sincerely be about quality when a no-talent "rapping granny" is the judges' choice.P.S. Should I even mention that "America's GOT Talent" is improper English?.
I have watched this show on and off for a few years now and what I enjoy most is seeing the vast variety of talent (and occasionally the so-awful-you-can't-look-away acts).
However, it seems that this year in particular, there is so much time devoted to the judges goofing around and getting up on stage to do the act with the performers.
This year they tossed out some of the most original and outstanding talents in favor of singers.It isn't only that they ended up with a plethora of singers, it's also that the singers they had left in the top 10 were, in at least three of the cases, not as talented as some of the performers who were tossed out.While I agree that some of the best lost to the public vote, that problem exists because of the judges; they are the ones who set the standard for the audience to follow.
And, of course, there were some outstanding talents that the home audience didn't even get a chance to vote for.Finally, the focus on finding an act that can headline in Vegas is not helping the show.
This is a great show with amazing acts and talented people that is super entertaining to watch, but here's my problem, the judges suck.
I watch the end of the show and the Judge Cuts every single time and the guy\girl I like who has ACTUAL TALENT loses and the person who has so much less potential wins.
This is a no-brainer, I mean it's obviously not fair to the contestants that the British guy (the most offensive of the three), say, can hit Brandy's buzzer if HE's decided the currently-performing act is not worthy of any further consideration.
Some of the contestants have been good, and one in particular has been fantastic: the 11-year-old Bianca Ryan (I think that's her name - we'll be hearing it again, undeniably), who belted out And I'm Telling You like nobody's business.
I have no problem with the choice of acts or the trigger happy judges who buzz just because they don't like the contestant's looks.
I watched the first three seasons of the show and thought it was semi-fun watching all the contestants vie for the judges' votes performing acts ranging from magic shows to acrobats, and from acting to dancing.
However, this show also allows singers to compete and, as a result, a large number of winners (if not all) are singers.There are already multiple singing reality shows including American Idol, The Voice and the X-Factor; therefore, I think we do not need singing to dominate America's Got Talent especially when it showcases other talents BESIDES singing.This show grew old on me after the third season, as it becomes predictable after the auditions that the winner will no doubt be another singer.Grade D-.
What I do not understand is this: Why did the judges send almost everyone to Vegas and then afterone day there (it seemed to the TV audience) they told 25% ofthem they had to go home?Seems they did not do that good a job in the beginning when the judges could have eliminated many acts that "could not sustain a 1-hour Vegas Show" in my opinion.
That should be the criteria for all acts.Then the judges had mini talent shows just for them to eliminate more.
Probably a little of both.As with the Idol Show this one, too, shows too many bad acts and a lot of tears.
I understand the ratings are lower this year anyway.And, another thing, can't the judges refrain from asking all the time: Do you think you can win this competition, do you think you have a million dollar act, how will winning this change your life, what will winning mean to you?
We are not allowed to watch the whole shows (good or bad) because the judges' stupid caprices which are bizarre to a freak extent more often than not !
Therefore (America's Got Talent) is the (top of silliness) or the too dull copy of (American idol) or whatever the successful formula of TV's shows in the 2000s done by (Simon Crowell)'s lucky intelligent faculty.
Just a casual viewer's opinion: The program is somewhat disappointing this season in the fact that so many acts going thru so obviously do not represent potential "Las Vegas" show performance entertainment.
From the singers to the magicians, to the daredevils, to the things in which I have no idea what to call it, America's Got Talent is the ONLY quality show that I want to watch over and over, season after season!
I stopped liking this show a few years ago, there are to many cringy little kids "beating" actually talented adults, almost all of the kid singers make me want to jump off a hill.
I've wanted talented acts like dangerous stunts, magicians or dancers.
If I wanted to go to Las Vegas, then I would see great performers like magicians or Terry's ventriloquist act.
Piers Morgan - Judge America's got Talent.
Just like the British version of the show Britains Got Talent, only it is in America.Same sorts of talents, but as you can expect the talent competition is much more fierce as there are more people in America, therefore loads more potential talent.For some reason most of the acts seen on this programme really do seem to be of a professional standard.
Piers is some stuck up pompous idiot who likes to talk down to people, same as when he judges British acts and David Hasslehoff is just an actor.
And on that same note, the same goes for Brandy Norwood only she was much less talented and more annoying so who was she to pass judgement?Putting all that aside, I guess you could say the same for any judge really, but the judges are needed otherwise the whole thing wouldn't work, so if you can tolerate them the whole shows not really that bad..
I think the merging of contestant back stories with their auditions is a brilliant and clever stoke by the producers, making the show connect with people in a very real way, a fact most judges show great respect for..
THE BEST SHOW says Simon Cowell about America's Got Talent!!!
I can't believe Simon Cowell is saying such great stuff about America's Got talent.
The past couple years have seen a lot of competition show a la "American Idol" and America's Got Talent attempts to replicate the magic of the show, and in a way only seems to draw because of pure curiosity as opposed to actual talent.
"Talent" seems to want to showcase acts less for the merit and more for the sheer novelty.That said, it does have it's magical moments like "Idol" does.
Kenny Shelton?) over more worthy competitors and the frequent Pier Morgan channeling Simon Cowell just reduce a show that lacks a lot of charm anyway.So, in the end, I'm mixed about America's Got Talent.
After a few weeks however it seems that the people with the most talent on the show are being eliminated just because it is not the style of the judges.
This show, like "American Idol" is looking for the next big talent, and most of those who have succeeded in going on to the finals are singers.
America's Got Talent but not in the Judges.
I also feel the judges allowed some people to pass through the first round to attract viewers who want to see goofy acts, for example, the male who was dressed up as an angel.
He did this by buzzing acts within the first ten seconds, before they had a chance to get started (Actually this was a good thing).
The judges said they wanted other talent than just singers.
It's good for America because somewhere there is potential and talent for people in this world.
If the act is really good the judges don't press their buzzers.
If the act is really bad the judges press their buzzers.
For some acts one judge presses their buzzer.
This show also, like all reality shows has a British judge.
The judges from Season One were Piers Morgan, Brandy, and David Hasslehoff.
Piers can get annoying and mean to the children at times but aside from that the judges are good.