Andrew De Leon

Last night America’s Got Talent was a little light on the entertainment again. NBC is killing the show. Each week, viewers only get two hours of new acts followed by several repeats throughout the week. In the past, we saw three to four hours of new acts and they were repeated once. It doesn’t help that each hour only has 5 full performances and four short ones mixed in with a bunch of boring montages consisting of people kissing or people with pets or some other boring activity the producers think will make the audience go “awwwww.”

On Tuesday, AGT was still in Austin. I think this is the first week NBC has aired both parts of a city’s auditions back to back, which helped with understanding Howie Mandel, Sharon Osbourne, and Howard Stern in the Snapple Chat.

The first act was the Aurora Light Painters. They painted with light. I really don’t know how to describe what they did without being captain obvious. The Aurora Light Painters somehow manipulated light and took advantage of a cameras light sensitivity to put on an interesting show. It wasn’t one of my favorites, but the judges loved it. (If anyone knows how the Aurora Light Painters performance works, please leave a comment. My head hurts just trying to figure it out.)

Eric and Olivia, a singing and guitar playing duo, were next and are NOT a couple. They had to tell that to everyone repeatedly. The duo performed Maroon 5’s Moves Like Jagger as a lounge song because Olivia has a bluesy voice. You couldn’t tell what were performing until the chorus. Howard loved it and the other two judges like it too. Personally, if I can’t tell what song your singing until you get to the chorus, you’re doing something wrong. I’ve heard Taylor Swift cover an Eminem song and punk bands cover Katy Perry songs, yet I could clearly tell what they were singing. To be fair, Eric and Olivia did deserve to make it to Las Vegas, but they need to pick songs that are more appropriate for their style in the upcoming rounds.

Eric and Olivia were followed by Richard Grossman. He is a terrible opera singer, who thinks he is a professional. Grossman got feisty with Howard’s supposed rudeness. Howard wasn’t rude, just being honest and Grossman couldn’t take it.

Mind reader Eric Dittleman, who duct taped his eyes shut, impressed everyone with his ability to guess what the judges drew on a piece of paper without having seen them draw those items. Howard drew himself, which wasn’t surprising since he couldn’t draw anything obscene. (Hey, he’s still Howard Stern.) Howie drew an ear. Sharon drew glasses that looked like the ones Ozzy wears. Dittleman guessed all three items without a problem. He went to Vegas. While Dittleman deserves it, I don’t see him getting past the Vegas round because his act is better suited for an intimate setting or college campus.

AGT finished the night with the man that everyone is talking about today: Andrew De Leon. He looked like Marilyn Manson (a comparison that is so overplayed), never sang in public before, and sang opera beautifully. De Leon will go far in the competition, but those contacts have to go because they take away from his performance.

The “yes” and “no” montages aren’t even worth mentioning. Hopefully, AGT gets better because at this rate I’m not going to make it to the finale.