Last night’s episode of America’s Simon Cowell-less version of Britain’s Got Talent was immediately more satisfying than Tuesday’s premiere for a few reasons.
#1 – Length: You could cram a two-hour talent show (like Tuesday’s premiere) full of the most objectively talented people in the world (not Tuesday’s premiere) and it would still be a two-hour talent show. This isn’t Transformers 2, guys. Brevity is the soul of OMG DID YOU SEE THAT CRAZY JUMPING DOG!?!
#2 – Kids: Better and more professional than their debut-episode counterparts, last night’s kids showed the nation that rhythm is king. Did you see Eric and Rickie? Dancing 8-year-olds whose polished choreography and will-they-won’t-they hand-holding made for a legitimately captivating performance (and an easy “yes” from the three judges). And no back stories! No cutting to parents offstage! My money so far is on these two to win the $1 million, or the Sea-Doo family pack, or whatever the grand prize is. Billy Elliot fan Arcadian Broad was also pretty dynamite and offered the night’s most heartfelt talking head (he just wants to “show everyone I do have something great inside of me to give out”). Niagara Falls.
#3 – Nick Cannon went an entire hour without mentioning his wife or the things he’d like to do to her: Self-explanatory.
#4 – The emergence of fun audition-round drinking games: Here’s an easy one: Drink every time a contestant introduction is flipped completely on its head, like when a stay-at-home mom is revealed to be a yodeling dominatrix or a young lady with the “most unique talent she knows” turns out to be carting her twin around in a suitcase. Or take a shot for every “thank you very much” uttered by the judges as they try not to hurt the feelings of a recently XXX-ed contestant.
One more thing: As I watched the cavalcade of “talent” gracing the AGT stage, I was struck by the catchphrase used by champion of democracyDavid Hasselhoff, whose signature line — “You guys are what this showis all about!” — raises more questions than answers. What IS this showall about, anyway? What is the criterion by which contestants are beingjudged? Is it raw talent? Perseverance? Fun? SO MANY QUESTIONS. America’s Got Talent feels a little directionless in this post-Susan Boyle world, where the rules of realityengagement have changed completely.
Next week we’ll focus more closely on individual performances, but this opening week seemed right for a breezy orientation as we all find our Season 4 footing. With that in mind, one last pro-tip: following along with other fans on Twitter can turn a solitary AGT experience into a uniquely communal one. Who can’t rally behind these?:
We are opinionated, but we are strong. God Bless America! What’d you think of auditions, PopWatchers? Are you surprised that AGT hasn’t changed things up a bit to try and capture some of the mania surrounding its British counterpart? How exactly do you define the “talent” in America’s Got Talent?
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This isn’t an offshoot of Britain’s Got Talent. AGT is the oringinal. Simon launched it here first and then moved it to Britain and beyond after the wildly successful first season her in America.
america!
I thought BGT was the original, like “Pop Idol” to American Idol.
http://tvdonewright.com/2009/06/24/tv-tonight-thursday-june-25th-2009/
I’m really thinking that we should get a magician winner this year. I mean it’s Vegas. That makes sense.
http://www.joeonthetube.com
All I saw last night were reaction shots of the judges and the audience, interrupted now and then by shots of the auditions.
Hey I like Nick Cannon, although I suspect that he is the new host because of who he is married to, People are curious and will tune in to find out who he is. I like him
I think we ALL know that The Hokey Pokey is what it’s really all about.
All I know was that Nick Cannon and I were thinking the same thing when the two ugly hoop acrobats were performing…GET A ROOM!!
I agree that AGT, and indeed the entire “Got Talent” franchise, needs a clearer focus than just “finding the most talented person/group/whatever.”
Since the Vegas performance is one of the prizes, they should put a lot more focus on making sure the winner can sustain a full-length show. Each round could involve a special challenge related to putting on a show, like requests or encores.
Also, why say you want an act that can sustain a full show if all we see are a few performances less than two minutes each? There needs to be a final two, and each finalist gets an hour-long televised show (with commercials, of course) as their final performance for votes. That way, we’d truly know who has the chops to sell out shows in Vegas like Terry Fator.
Also, they should have each act directly compete only with the most similar act each round, like a tournament. I’ll post the brackets I came up with for Season 3 in the next post, because I’m out of room here.
Here’s that tournament set-up I promised (post-Wildcard, since it works better). The five bracket winners would all compete against each other for the top two shows.
BRACKET 1 (Solo singers)
Eli Mattson vs. Daniel Jens
Bryan Cheatham vs. Ronny B
—
Queen Emily vs. Kaitlyn Maher
Jessica Price vs. Sarah Lenore
BRACKET 2 (Mixed musicians)
The Cadence vs. Jonathan Arons
Nuttin But Stringz vs. The James Gang
—
Kazual vs. Indiggo
The Wright Kids vs. The Taubl Family
BRACKET 3 (Classical vs. Tribute)
Neal E. Boyd vs. Shequida
Donald Braswell vs. Michael Strelo-Smith
—
Paul Salos vs. Joseph Hall
Derrick Barry vs. Dorae Saunders
BRACKET 4 (Dance groups)
Extreme Dance FX vs. Beyond Belief Dance Company
Texas State Strutters vs. Dallas Desperados Dancers
—
SickStep vs. DC Cowboys
Tapping Dads vs. Slippery Kittens
BRACKET 5 (Variety)
Jonathan Burkin vs. Elite
ZOOperstars vs. Matthew Piazzi
—
Shimshi vs. Bruce Block
George the Giant vs. Flambeaux
I really think this show should be cancelled. Look how “many” comments there are!
Anyway, it could be fun to watch all those performances, but I only saw the judges and the audience and very little of the performances themselves. It was extremely annoying and I just switched the channel after watching about a half of episode. I’m not coming back to this stupidity. Oh, and the judges are absolutely atrocious! What D. Hasselhoff know about talent or anything else for that matter and Sharon Osborne? Give me a break! What a freak show! And boring like hell.
I thought the show was hilarious! I TIVO’d it and just watched and it was much better than 1st. night. I especially liked the little fake outs, the ones you’d think couldn’t pull off what they purported to be their talent (like the old guy big-butt rapper with the balls coming out of his mouth…)but had everybody shouting “Vegas, Vegas’. It was entertaining.
Tyler – did you mix up people from last yr. on your round-robbin? Great concept, but I’m confused…they do need to categorize ralent better. I think that’s one reason why I don’t watch every week (or don’t bother to remember to watch or tivo).
Butterscotch – Yes, those are all of the Top 40 from Season Three (excluding Russian Bar Trio, who were replaced by Donald Braswell).
Let me know what’s confusing about my format, and I’ll try to clarify.
Thanks Mr. Fog. I think this article was much more fair and much more interesting than the last one you did.
But we are all confused. Why are we seeing an hour of rerun before the new acts. I can’t figure it out. Is this normal for AGT?
Now I’m asking you about format Mr. Fog, and I dished your last article about AGT format. Sorry
AGT is about what entertains you. Great talent is also a plus, but not everyone is entertained by the best talent. Different strokes for different folks.
I loved Keven Skinner. Real talent, and I was entertained. What does not entertain me are the too numerous shots of Nick Cannon and the audience. I wish they would stick to the contestants. How else will we be able to vote for the best unless we see them?