The CMYKs’ Monday Performance

A less-than-stellar crop of acts were facing elimination on last night’s results edition of America’s Got Talent. This whole season has been a disappointment and the performances are not really getting better. Even though four of the 12 acts were advancing, it seemed not even four of them deserved it. Once again, an average act looks fantastic against relatively poor competition. This continues to be the case this season.

The first result featured Michael Nejad, Shanice and Maurice, and Nikki Jensen. It really wasn’t hard to know that Shanice and Maurice would be the ones making it to the Top 24. They were clearly the best of out the three. However, that says very little about their actual talent. They were adequate on a night when Jensen’s singing went downhill and Nejad was horrible. They got lucky this time.

After the first result, Cirque du Soleil performed. It’s a shame America’s Got Talent tends to feature amateurs. I’m not saying that the acts should be expected to be as good as professional circus acrobats, but there’s been hardly any star quality this season. It was a nice  part of the result show when the viewers got to see actual talent performing.

The second result grouping was Lil’ Starr, The Scott Brothers, and The 787 Crew. If it was up to me, none of these acts would have made it past Vegas. The show did not find 48 talented acts during auditions. The only thing it did was follow its formula. Out of these three acts, it makes sense to say the Scott Brothers performed the best. They still weren’t that good, but they got voted through to the next round anyway.

The next result could not have been more obvious. The three acts that got grouped together were Jarrett and Raja, The American BMX Stunt Team, and David Garibaldi and His CMYK’s. On a night where the acts were very poor, The CMYK’s were one of the few acts that deserved to advance. As Howard said, they took the whole night. Subsequently, they got voted into the Top 24.

Next, Will.i.am performed his new single, “This Is Love.” Of course his performance skills don’t compare to the acts competing this season. There’s a reason he’s famous and the contestants are on a reality TV show. Nonetheless, it was nice to see actual talent for one of the few times this season. He was really good at getting the crowd into it.

The final result of the night was the judges’ pick. I never liked this rule. There is always a possibility that an act that got a lower vote total would be picked by the judges. Their judging of talent can be pretty poor at times. There’s no real reason to give them any more power. After The Distinguished Men of Brass was sent home, it was a choice between Edon and Todd Oliver. Todd Oliver hardly deserved a high vote total and it’s surprising that Edon was in either 4th or 5th place. Howard showed remorse for the first time this season when he said that he “want[ed] to say Todd Oliver,” but the decision was unanimous as they voted for Edon.

As it turns out, all of Howard’s predictions were correct. It was a really easy result to decide. The acts that advanced remain the average talent among horrible performers. However, the show needs a Top 24. Maybe the next group of acts will step it up from their previous performances, but that is hard to believe at this point.