chowderhead

All of the acts were very bad tonight. I am disappointed that the magician's 1st trick was his best and he has regressed since. 6 acts get through this week? and they six more next week? terrible way to cut and stretch things out.

calhoun07

Collins Key should just advertise himself for what he is: A MENTALIST. He knows a few fancy tricks, but what he does reminds me of stuff we've seen Kreskin do in the past.

While I don't think he will win the whole show, I do think that he has a ton of potential to polish his act and get better.

Josh-da-man

Tone the Chiefrocca - Getting old. The problem with their "one hit wonder" strategy is that they're driving it into the ground, and in the unlikely event they do win, they've blown their wad. We should have seen the last of them weeks ago. Thank you, Mel.

Red Panda - She just has the one thing she does, which is really insane. I really don't know how she does the thing with the bowls on the unicycle; I'd break my neck even attempting it. But she only has the one thing, and the last two times she broken bowls. Not a lot of places she can go.

Angela Hoover - There's a reason there aren't more comedians doing impressions.

Duo Resonance - Their act felt too short. Didn't connect with me at all. Seemed like it ended when they were just getting started.

Collins Key - His schtick is getting old. And pulling an audience member out like that just screams PLANT whether it was or not. The "Central Park" thing wasn't that impressive; he probably had "Empire State Building" written on his other arm and "Coney Island" somewhere else.

Innovative Force - Good show, I guess. But there are so many things going on at once and so many people on stage you sort of get lost in the pandemonium. Don't know if Mel B's criticisms were right or not since it was going so fast.

Dave Fenley - The beat boxing was kind of awful. Sounded like he was trying to spit a stray hair out of his mouth.

Taylor Williamson - He's a riot. Great delivery, and great persona he's developed.

Jonathan Allen - Sleepy, dull performance on a sleepy, dull song. ZZZzzzzzz.....

Catapult - This was kind of a mess. Schmaltzy, but not as schmaltzy as their last performance. The storyline was almost impossible to follow, I think I had to rewind and watch it three times before I got what was going on, and even then, there are a few key points I wasn't really clear on. A lot of the details, like the hat and pipe, got lost in the background when they were first established.

Cami Bradley - Okay performance, which should be enough to get her through.

Forte - I don't get the appeal here. They're basically Il Divo, or whatever it was called. Maybe Simon Cowell is keeping them in...

creekdipper

^ ^ ^

Think Josh's individual critique's are "spot on" right down to the stray-hair-spitting observation (I made the same comment) with a couple of exceptions:

Taylor W.--I really don't get it (neither does my wife). The "persona" is so annoying...he seems to always be "on" and trying way too hard to be funny. Some of the jokes are mildly amusing, but the fake Heidi rapport got old before this week (even Howard, who loves the guy, said, "Let's move it on). He reminds me of Bobcat Goldthwait or Gilbert Gottfried...I guess you either love him or hate him. Personally, I found him as annoying as Tom Collins or whatever his name is. Beavis & Butthead did this shtick a while back. Heh-heh-heh-heh....

And I don't get the love for "Cami" from the judges. Her breathy, clipped-phrase delivery is very "current", but she was off-key during part of the song (the bridge?). I checked with my wife, who was an award-winning vocalist in high school (All-State soprano), and she confirmed that my ears were hearing correctly. I like her personally but think people are voting more for her than her voice (same for Jonathan, Marty, and others).

Catapult wasn't quite as good as last time out, but they still demonstrate talent far beyond most of the other contestants, IMHO.

chowderhead

Probably would have locked up the gay guys and young girl's vote if Coney Island was written on his #tuchas

calhoun07

I certainly don't disagree with Collins' performance. I thought it was very weak and to insist that she wasn't planted fell flat to me. There wasn't enough believability that it wasn't staged. Though, generally, I think he's decent. With practice he could come close to being a modern day Kreskin. With practice. He's not there yet. I was shocked he made it to the top 12, though. He's riding on past tricks now, because I can't see how last night's performance put him in the top 12. I wouldn't have voted for him if I did vote.

Charlie Goose

Collins Key - I just don't understand the draw of a magician in this age of information.

Innovative Force - Too many girls to really absorb what they're all doing. I try not to watch too closely, because I have a feeling I shouldn't.

Taylor Williamson - Some okay material, but punctuating each joke with a HUGE open-mouthed grin & waiting for a response is desperate and hacky.

Catapult - Their worst performance. It was a little unclear what the plot was at first, and the blocking and apparatuses were off. Needed another 60 seconds. I still love watching their stuff.

Cami Bradley - Not really my type of performance, but when she wrinkles her nose I start to breathe funny.

Forte - Great stuff, if you like this sort of music.

whotony

I domt think the girl was a plant but the card was. I think somehow the card was put under her seet knowing she would be there.

Josh-da-man

Most of the time, when magicians bring out a member of the audience it's a plant.

A lot of ways this could have been done, but a plant is the most obvious one. Could have been done with a spy, slip the card under the seat, see what her characteristics are, then go from there.

CPA-ESQ.

She was definately a plant. When the said 'polka dots' she looked around and reached into her bag, pulled out her phone and was saying 'is this ok' - she was clearly trying to sell the act.

- The ball trick is easy to figure out. there are 2 compartments in the bag. compartment #1 has random balls that the judges first take out to verify. When they have to select a ball for the act, the bag holders open up compartment #2 which has all the same thing written on each ball.

- I guess the twitter thing could be rigged, or he can just write some popular spots on different parts of his body.

He is interesting, and if he did his 4 acts so far he could fill up 30 minutes in a show in vegas.

creekdipper

Not to mention the fact that a 'random' choice would probably have looked like Ethel Mertz.

creekdipper

What's funny is to hear Howie & Mel claim that Forte has made them "like opera".

"Opera" is not about singing songs with melodies & hooks. Opera is about acting out the story & singing the dialogue. They're thinking "musicals" or "show tunes".

They wouldn't know 'opera' if it big them in their B-O-O-T-Y.

creekdipper

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...16770261_n.jpg

Hang yer head in shame!

Hopefully no future Miley's in the bunch.

TomOpus

Had to be a plant. They always ask "Have you ever met?" and the plant will say "We have never met." Well, doesn't mean she never met someone else in his crew.

Nausicaa

I'm just watching this now.



The nerve of Mel B to criticize Red Panda because she's "see it before", moments after praising the BOOTY guys, who she chose to bring back to perform the same shitty song.

discostu1337

Taylor is still the best act, glad he made it.

Collins makes me want to punch him in the face and all of his "tricks" keep getting worse and more confusing. He literally did nothing, just stood there, and made it through.

The grade school talent show girls need to go.

Josh-da-man

The Mitsi dancers were much better than Innovative Force. They kind of got screwed over in the vote when the judges chose Chicago Boyz over them and the Military Spouses placed higher than they should have.

Nausicaa

The trick seemed obvious to me. Hand out red envelopes or whatever to all the age appropriate, attractive-ish girls coming into the theater. Producer notes which one gets the date envelope and notes her clothing. Clothing items are included on the list and put on the balls. There are two bags of balls for each judge, one with a mix of clothing items, and one with just the items they are supposed to pick. They get the first bag to "verify" which is then taken away (iirc), and they end up drawing from the second one. Girl comes on stage, and her outfit matches their description. The Twitter part, is impossible to verify, so it could have just been faked. Alternatively, he was wearing long sleeves and pants, so he probably had all three written on his body and could reveal whichever he needed to, since they told him the answer BEFORE he revealed the writing on his arm. I'm guessing each arm, and one on his stomach.

Sound about right?

You guys were right though, terrible acts across the board. In prior seasons, the judges would occassionally say how an act looks like a children's pageant or high school talent show. This whole episode, and to a lesser extent the whole season, kind of feels that way. Just not a lot of great acts. Even Dave let me down tonight with his terrible and out of place beat-boxing.

And what was with Howard's praise for that Cami girl? She sounded awful! She was missing more notes than she hit and the dynamics were just bizarre.

dino88

Too many things could go wrong if the girl wasn't in on it. She could have swapped envelopes with a friend, lost the envelope, gone to the bathroom during the performance, etc. And if they simply handed out envelopes to strangers, how would the producers know about the phone? If they saw the phone, how would they know she would realize those were the polka dots Key was referring to so quickly? She could have been holding a friends phone at the time the producers saw her or she could have left her purse with a friend when she went on stage. She was a plant.

Nausicaa

Good points. I forgot about that phone, and how quickly she pulled it out. So it was even more staged than I suspected. Their interactions on stage were super awkward. And I did notice she had quite the stage pose when she was up there.

Oh, and is anyone else tired of the hyperbole on this show? There were two acts that Howie called best in class. He said Angela Hoover was the "best impressionist out there today" or something like that, and I can't remember the other but it was similar and equally crazy.

Crocker Jarmen

The main thing turning my off from the show is the judge's over enthusiasm. Yes, these are all talented people performing, but I feel like the judges want me to believe this material is more amazing than it really is. I can't watch when they have that comedian on, because everytime he says something mildly amusing or witty, they'll cut to a reaction shot of Howard or Howie, laughing like it's the funniest, most inspired observation in the history of comedy. It is embarrassing.

Michael Corvin

Speaking of the judges idiocy, for weeks on end, even prior to Music City Hall all we heard was how big the stage was. You gotta have a big act or the stage will swallow you. The theater will chew you up and spit you out. Insert any of another half dozen hyperbolic statements.

Cue this episode with Dave Fenly and Cami Bradley. Judges' reaction to both: "Now here's what I love, an act stripping it down to the bone and simplifying it."
Really? We've just had 4 weeks of listening to how big the stage is and how acts need to fill it and they love how they pared it down to a stool and a microphone?WTF?

I'm also with Howard. Howie telling half the acts that they are the one is fucking ridiculous.
Innovative Force making it this far is a joke. 90% what they do, you can see on any high school, college or NFL sideline. Not really a million dollar act when a thousand other dance/cheerleading/school teams do it. The fact that Dave Fenly went home while they moved on makes it worse. I knew they wouldn't send 3 singers through, but I thought for sure Cami would have been the one to go.

I'm fine with the rest going through. I like Collins Key, but that performance was a bit of a mess. It needed more of a presentation than it got. I think he got a pass because of his previous tricks.

I'm confused why Catapult was so confusing for everyone. It was pretty straight forward. Octopus sinks guy in boat. Lover jumps into ocean to find him, sees some mermaids, crabs, & squid on her journey before being swallowed by a whale. They reunite and whale blows them out its blowhole and they journey back to the surface. I think it did suffer from the 90 seconds though.

I agree with Taylor beating out Angela. Forget what judge said it, but while her impressions were good, the jokes just weren't there. Taylor's awkward delivery coupled with his jokes makes it an easy choice. I also agree that we don't need a judges' reaction shot after every punchline. It kinda weakens the joke, IMO.

I like Forte. Definitely edges out Jonathan.

creekdipper

We've decided to go Recap show on Wed. from here on in. Put the saved hour to good use (at the very least, can catch up on unwatched DVDs).

Michael Corvin

D'angelo & Amanda - started out routine but brought it with the water. Forgot which dancers tried water previously but they fell short. D'angelo & Amanda rocked it.

Marty Brown - Played it safe. Probably a little too low key to advance.

Chicago Boyz - athletic and impressive but at the end of the day it's a buncha guys jumping rope. Not my bag. Picking the trendy 'it' song of the moment Blurred Lines didn't hurt.

Leon & Romy - Fun, fast and frenetic yet easy to follow. I liked it. Not sure if it was 'moving on' worthy though.

Anna Christine - Fantastic rendition on Wild Horses. I'd still trade her and Cami to have Dave back.

Kenichi - Very cool, but the video game thing was better. The background video during the judges was kind of a cheat to get more than :90 seconds though. Very clever.

John Wing - Pretty good. He would definitely benefit with more than :90 seconds. Took a bit to get into the flow. I like Taylor Williamson better.

Brandon James - Good but not as good as last time. Felt like he was forcing it, or something. Maybe it was the song selection. I dunno, I can't put my finger on it. He's better than Jonathan though but maybe not quite as good as Forte.

Kristef Brothers - Quirky, funny and wow, that was some crazy shit on the chair. I didn't like them the first couple rounds, but they're slowly winning me over.

American Military Spouses Choir - Thank you Howie for bringing up the fact these ladies are skirting by on their husband's service duty. They are very talented but not all that spectacular compared to the other acts.

Timber Brown - Not sure about that performance. I know the water adds a degree of difficulty and danger but it was kinda ho-hum. The background was very distracting.

Jimmy Rose - Crisp, clean and executed flawlessly. Not a whole lot of 'wow' factor though.

So sick of Howie & Howard's over the top hyperbole. "Best AGT night ever!!11001!!01 I thought it was a rough/slow night. Kenichi is the only one I'm 100% behind. Behind him, maybe the Kristef Brothers. If push came to shove, I'd toss D'angelo & Amanda and Jimmy Rose in the mix for variety. Wouldn't really miss the rest.

My guess; America will probably put through Chicago Boyz, Anna Christine, Kenichi, Kristef, John Wing & [can't decide] either Jimmy Rose or D'angelo & Amanda.

calhoun07

I didn't watch the whole episode, but I did check out John Wing. I thought his "magic" was rather generic and the bowling ball trick was bottom of the barrel. That's something I'd expect in a Red Robin by the magician working for tips, not somebody vying for a million dollar act. Yes, they did it faster than most, but it was fairly standard stuff. It didn't grab me at all.