I hate to say it, but I just don't think America's Got Talent

Maybe it’s just me, but this latest incarnation of The Gong Show has gone from bad to worse. Sure, there are some acts with actual talent. But they seem to be few and far between. Did I actually sit through another performance by Dave the Horn Guy? Oh dear.

The “talent” on last night’s episode of America’s Got Talent was pretty sad. Is this really the best that America has to offer? Because singing and dancing with your sisters shouldn’t put you as one of the top 40 acts in the country. (yes, I know, the littlest sisters were adorable, but so are puppies)

There were a couple of good acts – I liked Realis (the acrobatic gymnasts) and At Last (the a capella group). I also thought that Mark the Kinfe was kind of funny. And I guess that for an 8 year old, Natasha Lee was pretty good too. The rest? Shouldn’t have been on tv at all.

The best part of the night? When At Last told Regis that they had a song for him, and Regis replied (in that great Regis voice) “Regis would like a little ditty!”. Fantastic.

The contestants aren’t the only ones without talent. Where did they hire the cameramen (camerawomen?) and editors for this show? Aside from the fact that there are plenty of shots where the performers aren’t in the center of the shot, over and over we see wide shots or footage of audience reaction instead of the actual act. I think I could do a better job with a camcorder and my laptop.

One more complaint (because, really, I haven’t done that enough tonight). When they had their extra performances tonight, did it seem like a few of them should have been switched with some of the actual performances from last night? Playing the glasses was way more impressive than Dave the Horn Guy. And the girl with the hoola hoops did the exact same thing as Hoopalicious last week (but Hoopalicious got to compete in the semifinal).

So after a mock disagreement, the judges hold off on their pick until tonight (which, by the way, is when they’ll know who the audience chose…hmmm…). And no surprise that Realis and At Last move on to the final. The biggest surprise? That I’m still watching.

Regis swoops in to do it again...

Does anyone else remember when Who Wants to be a Millionaire first came on the air? Regis was the big thing, and everyone joked about how he “saved” ABC. Watching America’s Got Talent makes me feel like I’m watching NBC’s attempt at the same thing.

Tonight’s episode of America’s Got Talent was more Regis than anything else. After he recapped what had happened so far, he explained that there were 15 acts tonight, but only 10 would perform. This I don’t understand. It has nothing to do with “we only have time for 15” nonsense. If you hadn’t spent 10 minutes recapping, 10 minutes talking about how 5 acts won’t perform, and nearly 15 minutes calling acts out of the audience, everyone could have performed. It’s totally a cop out; a way to un-do the fact that the judges let through some pretty pitiful acts. Come on – no one really wanted to see the 80 year old male stripper again, now did they?

Even with cutting a third of the contestants before we even started, the “talent” was thin tonight. A few acts were good. The first two actually – Taylor Ware (the yodeling girl) and All That (hot guys in jeans clogging) – and it made you think that the whole show was going to be good. But of course, we’re just not that lucky. We had to watch some guy dress up his dogs and a Vegas-style lounge singer. Sigh…

The format of the voting is a little different than on the rest of the Idol-inspired shows. Only two acts go through – one chosen by the judges and one chosen by the audience. The judges already have passed through the Millers (the harmonica kid, who is actually quite good, even though he performs with his much less talented older brother). So “America” gets to put through one more. Hopefully it will be All That, and since mostly the voters are teenage girls, the hot guys will most likely make it. Goodness knows I’m not going to vote (and did you see the phone numbers? Something about u love…what?) Maybe I’ll watch the results show tomorrow…ok, who am I kidding – it’s already programmed in my tivo. But I won’t be happy about it.

Climbing into a balloon? NOT a talent.

One more week until we get to start voting for the contestants on America’s Got Talent. So one last show of stupid human tricks. Fantastic.

As usual, there were a few good acts. I liked the two “juggling” acts, The Passing Zone and Mark, the world’s most dangerous comic. They were both great. I also loved the last act of the show, Quick Change Artistry. Each time they changed outfits, I asked my husband how they did that. It was amazing.

There were also more than a few really bad acts. From the fat Bulls dancers to the bird call lady, it seemed like the rejects from Letterman. And what about Flippy the Magnificent, doing a “strength” act with his blowup doll. What exactly is the thought process that brings you to come up with an act like that? Hmmm.

Next week we get to vote…my vote is for less Regis.

Does America Actually Have Talent?

I’m still undecided about this America’s Got Talent show. It is really ridiculous, with way too much Regis (and who would have ever thought there could be too much Regis?). But I still watched it, and I think I may be hooked.

It’s certainly not the “talents” that I like watching – it’s the judges. You can see singers on so many shows, but the look on the judges’ faces watching Leinid the Magnificent or the finance major-turned stripper is excellent. And, as one of my friends said, you can’t go wrong with Hasseloff.

There were a few acts that were actually good. I loved the hot cloggers (I think they were called “All That”) and the hot martial arts group. So I like watching hot guys. Go figure. I also liked Elliott the magician, especially the part where he took the one bird and “broke” it into two. The little girl who sang at the end of the show was also excellent.

So many of the acts, though, don’t really qualify as “talents.” Since when is stripping a talent? And while I guess they had to pass her along since they passed on the old man stripper, I don’t see why either of them were on the show. I guess I would just love to see the “judging handbook” for the show.

It seems like we only have one or two more weeks of this part of the competition before the acts start performing for audience votes. I am looking forward to seeing how that part of the show will work.

Since When is Juggling a Talent?

You know, I heard not-so-great things about the premiere of America’s Got Talent. But still, I was kind of bummed that I missed it. I mean, with Regis AND David Hasseloff, how could you go wrong? So thank goodness that NBC had the good sense to re-run the premiere tonight. Thank goodness indeed.

Now, the concept itself has done before – it’s a cross between American Idol and the gong show. They use the same format as Idol (3 judges, one cute girl, one Brit…) and with buzzers if they’re really bad. And with the “talent” it seems like a much larger version of Letterman’s stupid human tricks. But I LOVE stupid human tricks. And I’ve got to say, I actually enjoyed the show.

Some of the acts were actually really good. But we also had to sit through the grand master of the nose flute. And the impersonator (whose qualification, apparently, is that he can hear the voices). And the “shadow dancers” (also known as “the woman with the goat”). Although I did appreciate the balloon Regis.

The judging criteria are also considerably looser than on any of the other Simon Cowell shows out there. Somehow, acts like the horn guy and the senior citizen stripper made it through (and seriously, why was Hasseloff so interested in Bernie the Stripper?). But the judges were quite entertaining – I liked the interaction between the three of them, especially the moments when they leaned over and hit each other’s buzzers.

The editing on the show was horrific. Why did we have so much Regis? Did we really need to see him pull four acts at a time out of the audience? It made the show move really slowly. Since Simon Cowell is producing this (after all, the official title is Simon Cowell’s America’s Got Talent…really…), he should know better. One of the reasons that Idol works so well is that there is minimal Seacrest. There should also be minimal Regis.

Anyways, I’ll probably tune in next week. That is, unless, the Red Sox are on at the same time.