'America's Got Talent' recap: Angry mob boos a sob story
Jul 16, 2008, 10:48 AM | by Jaya Saxena
Categories: 'America's Got Talent', Mini TV Watch, Reality TV
The battle was on this week to please what David Hasselhoff called the "toughest crowd in America's Got Talent history," and indeed, this week's audience actually did seem a little sadistic. It didn't matter if the jeers were deserved or not, the fired-up seat fillers demanded to see just about everyone get X'd.
First up was Michelle Wallace, who believed her rendition of "All By Myself" was a "gift to share with the world." But the only mark she made was challenging the record for fastest buzz-out from Piers Morgan in show history. Okay, so maybe the audience had a reason to be vicious. I thought they'd respond similarly to Tina Turner impersonator Dorae Saunders, who threatened/promised to "lip sync and dance like you've never seen before," but I have to admit, it didn't take me long to fall in love, or at least experience pangs of jealousy, for those legs. Whatever it was, the judges felt it too, and Saunders was off to Vegas. Check out his performance below, and then, check out the rest of my recap...after the jump!
Okay, so how to describe ZOOperstars!? Breakdancers, in balloon costumes of Lego men and cockroaches, grooving to "Tootsie Roll." They were heckled a fair amount, but as my cousin and I watched this spectacle, he proclaimed it to be the greatest thing he's ever seen. I didn't really know what to think, but as long as you're backed by 69 Boyz, do whatever you want and it'll be fabulous. (Check it out for yourself, below, if you missed it.)
Anyhow, seeing how it's all been fun summer fluff until this point, I wasn't really prepared for an episode of America's Got Talent that would spur a genuine emotional response from me. But then came Donald Braswell, the ex-singer who damaged his vocal cords 11 years ago (shades of David Archuleta?), and though his doctors were convinced he would never even speak again, he was back on stage and ready to sing (and sing Josh Groban at that). You’d think the audience would be suckers for a recovery story, especially with a voice as powerful as Braswell's. But no, they booed, to the point where the judges had to turn around and shush them. And then, suddenly, they started cheering. Loudly. So either the entire audience suffers from short-term memory loss, or NBC is trying to trick us with their sneaky editing skills.
So is a lip synch act enough to win in Vegas? Can we ever get enough Sharon Osbourne reaction shots? And was the audience really booing at Braswell or just angry about being forced to listen to Josh Groban? Let's get your take in the comments section below!
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