America's Got Talent -- Anyone watching? (1 Viewer)

Didn't find any other posts on the subject, making me wonder if anyone is watching this American Idol/Gong Show cross-breed.

Honestly, what makes some of these people remotely believe they actually have talent? The singing trio who bombed during their introduction? The break-dancing cow? The impersonator who thinks he can impersonate someone with real talent? Just about every single juggler? The nose whistling Napoleon?

At least the "good" acts are pretty decent. But even there, some of them should not have been sent to the next stage.

I watched ever so briefly until everyone started gushing uncontrollably over the five tapdancing guys in ripped jeans and tank tops. Then began rolling their eyes at the next contestant who actually had a decent (if operatic) voice.

That set the tone, and I then decided I didn't need to see anymore. I mean, WTF???

(Assuming, of course, I'm thinking of the same show...there seems to be a clone on every channel this summer.)

I'm watching, though somewhat horrified at what I'm seeing. A lot of it is crap, but some of it is good. It appears the producers are going for a vaudeville feel but I'm not sure such a mixture of acts is going to work. I mean, for example, a singing group being judged against a magician?

Very good: The young guys singing group (At Last or That's All or something). The ventriloquest guy who did the Godzilla routine. Possibly one or two others I can't remember.

The 11 year old girl who sang "And I'm Not Going": Very good (especially for an 11-year-old), but she had no soul or passion in her performance. It was technically good but the song called for more than that, and she didn't give it. I would think Brandy or the British judge would have said something about that.

Nah, I'm afraid I would just get hooked on it and thats the last thing I need right now. The previews though do look interesting/horrifying/WTF were they thinking, I would liken it to not being able to avert your eyes at an accident scene.

I'm still watching, but I have no idea why. It's craptacular and not in the good way. It wouldn't be that bad if the judges had more of a backbone, but we have two Paulas and a Randy. What this show really needs is two Randys & a Simon. They let through about 75% of the contestants, so the second round is going to be pretty much like the first (after seeing the World's Oldest Male Stripper on I've Got a Secret, I really don't need to see him again). Needless to say, I'm doing *a lot* of fast forwarding through this show.

Yeesh! What was it with tha bird caller? The happy maharishi? The Elvis singer? Francisco? The almost-naked dancer doing a dance piece with the inflatable male sex doll?

WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE?!?

BTW, did anyone notice Regis' reaction after he finished speaking to the almost-naked man? Priceless!

It's a poorly executed strategy that some fool thought would work. Those clearly bad acts are planted spots with actors inserted for comic relief and to highlight the other real acts. The show is awful and I have watched it more for the train wreck value. If I did not know better, it could have been an American idol spoof from Mad TV. My guess - reality shows have become so cheap to produce and such high viewership formats that someone just figured Regis, American Idol-like panel, and dog acts would work. I hope for our sake they were wrong.

I guess I just miss the gong show. I started watching this and "So You Think You Can Dance" mainly for the oddballs, but "Dance" has gotten past that and I'm enjoying the good dancers that are left. "Talent" will have some pretty good acts when they finish the semifinals unless the viewers screw it up. The problem is that most of them seem to have gotten worse after their first appearance, or else their acts were a good to watch once, but then get boring. I don't particularly want to see them again, but I'd love to know how the quick-change couple did some of their stuff.

God these judges suck! Their picks have been beyond horrible.

This is indeed a pretty horrible show. Can't believe it is doing so well in the ratings.

Just on a basic level, it is very slowly paced. They should have twice as many acts on in the running time.

And some of the contestants, that are so praised, are not good, at all. Like the rapping granny that won last night. Kind of cute, for a novelty act, the first time you see it (sort of a real life Tyler Perry). But for them to say she will win it all? Just depressing.

There was a pretty good band last night, a rock band with trumpets, sort of like The Hippos, that had a pretty catchy song, yet the judges hated them. Were we watching the same show? Meanwhile, they let every kid singer through it seems. And they went crazy over a harmonica player a couple weeks ago who wasn't half as good.

The whole thing looks rushed, put together at the last minute.

The idea is a good one, the execution is pretty bad.

Anyone watch tonight? Penn & Teller were supposed to be on, Regis kept mentioning it, yet they never showed. What gives?

They even talked about it to Burton "are you mad at P&T for showing how it's done?"

Was this just my local affiliate? Mtn timezone.

They were on there. They did a "man in the box, box breaks in pieces, put man back together" trick, then did it again with clear boxes to show how it was done. They were also on last night's Cris Angel and did a disappearing ball and cup trick, then a second time with clear cups. Penn said they were thrown out of the magic castle for that, and don't seem to be very liked by the magic community right now.

Oh ok, weird how we got screwed, no appearance.

As for the tricks, those are pretty old routines including the bit about being thrown out of the magic castle. They just play up the whole 'bad boy' of magic side. They are actually quite well respected in the community. Let's just say magicians will hang around with them unlike Valentino (the masked magician) who did all those magic revealed specials a few years ago.

I stopped watching after the 8 foot tall, Eastern European was allowed to go on because he cried. He was so creepy to look at, and I am still not sure what his "talent" was supposed to be. I didn't think cross-dressing as a showgirl was a talent.

This sort of sounds like "The Gong Show" for the 21st century. I have no plans to watch it, unless I'm in the mood for doing some MST3K-type jokes.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

Is the "Gong Show" comparison applicable?

No, on the Gong Show they at least stopped the bad acts. This one they not only allow them to finish but actually vote them on to perform again!

"The Gong Show" reminds me of an act they once had which created a bit of a scandal. It was essentially two very cute girls eating popsicles. But the WAY they ate them was incredibly suggestive! The act was so scandalous it was cut from the West Coast broadcast.

Why can't this show have something similar?

I only caught the quick change artist and the aftermath. The Britsh judge is a total pr1ck. He seemed to insult them just to be all Simon Cowell-like.

The judges seem to be totally inconsistent. They will say someone was disappointing, then give them a check, etc.

They seem overly biased toward the child acts, for one thing.

Not saying they should be meaner, but if a performance wasn't up to par, their critique should reflect that.

Imagine sports if the referees gave players a break for trying hard but still missing. "Oh, so he missed the catch, but was so close, and has so much potential... TOUCHDOWN!!"

Of course Piers is like Simon Cowell. He's only there because Simon doesn't want to be on-camera on every show.

I'm absolutely sure Simon's AI contract has a no-compete clause which would, at the very least, bar him from appearing in another television show in a judging capacity.

I stopped watching the show after Leonid the Magnificent's first appearance. With all the fast-forwarding I was doing, it seemed easier to wait until Friday night for The Soup to show the most train-wreck worthy moments. Now there's a can't miss show!