Category Archives: Reality TV
AGT Results Recap: August 29th
From Left to Right: Comedian Tom Cottor, Host Nick Cannon, Sand Artist Joe Castillo, and Earth Harpist William Close
Only three acts were eligible to advance to the finals of America’s Got Talent this week. Surprisingly, the competition actually got serious. There were 12 acts performing for a spot in the finals. Certainly more than three of the acts deserved to advance, but the AGT is finally realizing its potential. The tough eliminations made the hour exciting.
The hour opened with an unnecessary commentary on the semifinalists from guest comedian Steve Harvey. Harvey seemed to do a terrible job at crudely connecting the acts to his own personal life. He wasn’t funny at all. On the bright side, he was simply honest when it came time to talk about Tom Cotter, saying that he is pulling for him to win the competition. It’s a nice sentiment, but Harvey’s appearance was still a waste of time.
To make the show last an hour, Nick Cannon told the viewers that the results would be announced differently this week. First, the four acts with the highest vote totals would be announced in no particular order. Then, the three finalists would be revealed. The first grouping was Joe Castillo, Turf, and The Scott Brothers. It was a great performance night Tuesday with all these acts performing reasonably well. However, none of these acts seemed like standouts on Tuesday. That being said, of the three acts, it makes sense that Castillo got one of the Top 4 spots.
America’s Got Talent: Semifinals Round 1
The Scott Brothers
Overall, this season of America’s Got Talent has been subpar. The live shows started with 48 acts, more than half of whom did not deserve to be seen again. Including the YouTube show, roughly two-thirds of the acts seen on live television have been eliminated. That seems about right, although there are still some acts that shouldn’t have another shot. Only three acts out of the 12 performing are advancing this week.That being said, Tuesday’s show was full of talent. It makes the decision for who advances genuinely difficult for one of the only times in the entire season. However, as with the last quarterfinal performances, it seems too much of the best talent was put on one show.
Andrew De Leon
Andrew De Leon is a talented opera singer. His performance of “Ave Maria” was technically good, but it wasn’t special. There’s no doubt he would be a better singer with training, but, unfortunately, he went from singing in his bedroom straight to the national stage. The crowd seemed a lot less engaged in this performance than last week’s performance. There’s no question De Leon has a lot of natural talent, but he does not have star quality. If he was grouped with other acts or was in another stage of the competition, his performance might have been sufficient. However, it isn’t sufficient this time. De Leon’s time on AGT is most likely over. Read the rest of this entry
Weekly TV Update: August 27
NBC’s Utah affliate KSL refuses to carry The New Normal.
Last Thursday, Jerry Nelson died at 78 years old. He was the voice of the Count on Sesame Street.
Dancing With the Stars viewers have chosen Sabrina Bryan to be the 13th contestant on that show’s all-star season.
Anthony Bourdain, host of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations, will take his show to CNN after its upcoming season is over.
The former voice of Dora the Explorer, Caitlin Sanchez, attempts to sue Nickelodeon again because she says her lawyer committed fraud. In the original lawsuit, Sanchez claims she was fired for hitting puberty.
AGT Results Recap: August 22nd
Carly Rae Jepsen
Tuesday night’s wildcard edition of America’s Got Talent was one of the few times this season that the show wasn’t a complete disappointment. The talent wasn’t overwhelming, but at least the night had a more competitive atmosphere. The results were not completely obvious, but there were some clear standouts who seemed destined to take spots. It would have been a perfectly adequate week, if America voted correctly. Instead, Wednesday’s results show was a letdown.
The first result was between Ben Blaque, Sebastian “El Charro De Orro,” and the Bandbaz Brothers. None of these acts completely deserved to advance, but they all had the same basic skill levels as performers. That being said, it wasn’t surprising that Sebastian made it through to the semifinals. He won’t win the competition, but he is reasonably talented.
After Sebastian advanced, it was time for a performance by the cast of a Broadway musical version of Bring It On. The performance was average. It certainly wasn’t amazing, but it was a good time filler.
America’s Got Talent: The Wildcard Show
Todd Oliver and Irving
America’s Got Talent has been filled with disappointment this season, so on a show where the judges bring back 12 eliminated acts, it seems logical that this would be the worse show yet. Strangely, it wasn’t. There were still some sub-par acts, but Tuesday’s wildcard show was a good night overall. It was a shot at redemption and some of the acts made their case quite well. Fortunately, no act was a complete waste of time unlike previous nights.
Spencer Horsman
Spencer Horsman is an escape artist, who was extremely disappointing in his quaterfinal performance. He was behind a blank screen performing his escape, so the audience could not see what was happening. Clearly, he had more potential, so Howard brought him back. Horsman showed his potential this time and has proven himself to be a fantastic act. This time he trapped himself in a glass box and filled it with an excessive amount of wet cement. He was attempting to escape the box before he buried himself alive. He was able to keep the crowd on the edge of their seat because the danger level was higher than ever before. Horsman will be back. Howard made the right decision to reinstate him.
AGT Results Recap: August 15th
Gabby Douglas hosts with Nick Canon
After one of the worst performance shows of an already disappointing season, twelve acts from YouTube were facing elimination on last night’s America’s Got Talent. Of the 12 acts, only two really deserved to move on to the semifinals. This has been the pattern all season. There was a small chance that AGT would find a star through YouTube who would enter the competition and save the season, but this was unfortunately not the case. Instead, most of the acts that performed on Tuesday night were terrible, which made the results far too easy to predict.
The show opened with host Nick Cannon introducing Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas as a guest host for the hour. She received standing ovation from the audience. It was a bit unnecessary to have Douglas appear on the show and her presence seemed a little awkward, especially when she was asked to read from the teleprompter. Nevertheless, AGT had to try something to attract its viewers since talent has been lacking, but having Douglas on the show just didn’t work.
AGT: The YouTube Show
Romeo Dance Cheetah
After a two week break for the Olympics, America’s Got Talent returned last night with the worst show of a terrible season. It was so bad, changing the channel was actually recommended.
The YouTube show has always been hit or miss. Some acts have thrived in past seasons, such as Jackie Evancho. However, most acts crack under pressure and bomb because they have never performed in front of a live audience before. Ten of the 12 acts that performed fell into the latter group. Only two acts from last night’s AGT deserve to go through to the next round.
Clint Carvalho and His Extreme Parrots
Clint Carvalho introduced America to Kitten, who he called “the Evel Knievel of parrots.” Kitten did a freefall from the 180-foot Robert Treat Tower, flew through the lobby of the theater, over the heads of the audience, and into Carvalho’s hand. It was amazing to see such a well trained bird. However, this cannot be made into a show because it would get old fast. Carvalho says he has more birds and stunts that are just as good, so we shall she what happens.
Weekly TV Update: August 13
NBC interrupted the closing ceremonies to preview Animal Practice.
Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is eyeing reality show offers.
Another Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps, is interested in reality TV. Phelps will appear on a Golf Channel show that helps amateur golfers improve their game.
Two and a Half Men gets a new guest star: Miley Cyrus.
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria has been suspended for plagiarism.
Sharon Osbourne is Leaving America’s Got Talent
After a dispute with NBC involving her son, Sharon Osbourne has decided to quit America’s Got Talent. Obsourne has been with AGT for six years. Her reasons for leaving NBC may be justified, but another change is going to be hard to handle. Sharon Obsourne wasn’t a great judge. She was too lenient with the contestants, even the terrible ones. She always wanted to be nice to the contestants and apologetic to the ones who had no talent. It may not have been reasonable, but it was part of the show. The AGT judge panel thrived on polarity. The other judges’ harsher personas have been at odds with Osbourne for her entire tenure. It was always good television. The classic arguments will be gone. The instinct of telling the men to “behave” will be gone. Howie Mandel is about to become AGT’s longest tenured judge and he has only been on the show for three out of its seven years. There is a huge possibility that a lot of the entertainment value will be gone from the show once Osbourne departs. Of course, it all depends on who replaces her, which has yet to be determined.
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