Hawley Magic Performing on Tuesday

Four of 12 acts were set to advance on last night’s America’s Got Talent and it was once again the boundaries of what should be considered true talent. The live shows started with 48 acts and a lot of them didn’t deserve a shot. The semifinals will consist of 24 acts, many of which will be misplaced. However, there’s nothing the show can do about it. The judges were never shown a good selection of talent this season. Past seasons have certainly been better, so this is not the best the show can do. It just seems that they got incredibly unlucky this time around. This is the point where the competition is supposed to be getting serious, but it’s difficult at this point to take the show seriously.

The first result brought Turf and Tim Hockenberry to the stage. I was initially surprised. Then I remembered that both acts usually advance when only two are brought on stage. Turf did not deserve to advance, but four acts had to. America probably got it right. After all, both of them are talented. It was clear though that Hockenberry outperformed Turf  on Tuesday. The judges usually say the talent is overwhelming and it would be true in most seasons. However, the acts that have been advancing might have already been gone in a more competitive season.

Next, a package was shown of Howie pulling pranks of the contestants. The only purpose this served was to eat up time. It was not entertaining and it only looked like Howie was continuing to play a cheap role. AGT has been guilty of including unnecessary material many times this season seemingly just to fill air time. The serves as evidence that the show does not know how to produce quality television.

The next result had choices of the Lisa Clark Dancers, The Aurora Light Painters, The All Ways, and Big Barry. All these acts were terrible on Tuesday, especially Big Barry. It wasn’t surprising that none of them advanced. After they were subsequently eliminated, Howard asked to have a word with Barry and apologized. He said that the argument on Tuesday’s show was between him and Howie and that he was worried about the other acts but that he was glad Barry was here. Howard showing a soft side sort of disappointed me. He was completely right and should be able to back his convictions. The show isn’t supposed to be about finding an all-around good guy. It is not as exciting when Howard humors any of the contestants and he really didn’t need to apologize to Barry. As awful as he is, I have a feeling it still isn’t over for him. Considering Howie’s history as judge, he’ll probably bring him back in the wildcard round.

After that was a performance from country artist Gavin DeGraw. I was excited to see some actual professional talent to compensate for the failure the show has had. DeGraw’s performance was actually a bit sharp. So far, the show hasn’t managed to make anything good happen. He wasn’t bad of course, but I was hoping for him to really show the acts how it’s done. He didn’t do that.

The next decision was between Hawley Magic, Tom Cotter, and Lion DanceMe. It was obvious that Cotter was going through as the other acts were not nearly entertaining. He would have advanced even if his competition wasn’t this bad. He’ll go far in the competition and will go further in his career. He’s one of my favorites.

After the third result was a performance by the acrobat team Traces. This was exciting and I was amazed by some of the stunts they did. Again, it’s a shame amateurs are known to audition for AGT. These guys don’t need exposure, but their talent doesn’t even compare to this season’s selection.

Now, it was time for the Judges’ Choice. After archer Ben Blaque was eliminated, it was a choice between Danielle Stallings, and Donovan and Rebecca. I was happy to see that it was at least somewhat of a toss up. It would’ve been better if I cared who was picked, but neither of these acts are going to win. Donovan and Rebecca advanced in a split decision from the judges, though it’s hard to imagine them lasting much longer.

America’s Got Talent has been slightly improving lately, but it isn’t getting that much better. I don’t know who else will be in the semifinals and it may not be that exciting to find out. Throughout the season, AGT has been a competition between the mediocre. It looks like it’s staying that way through the Top 24.