Frankenstein123

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OHMIGOD HES TOTES ADORABLES OH MY GOOOOOooooh wait, I'm not a 15 year old girl (OR AM I??). Let's start this over... One of the good parts of not watching this show live is the fact I didn't have to sit through the Republican convention. I'm probably going to try to do that from here on out though, just to be able to make predictions. I have 18 kilos worth of coffee and red bull sitting in my living room and I intend to mix them together, we'll just have to see which gets me first, the sandman or the heart attack. Until then though, let's just get to the rankings: 7. Musicality - Someone has to be 7th and while I find them charming and likable, they are simply the act I'm looking the least forward to actually seeing again. If there's anything this show has taught me, it's that people relate much better to individual performers than group acts, which leads me to believe they wont make it very far, but at least we get 1 more week of sob stories involving murder (where DO you go from here, cannibalism? "Hello, my mom ate my dad. Please vote for me") 6. Sos and Victoria - Dancing is out, box magic is out, are they going to start swallowing pool balls next? There's obiously VERY little they can do to mix this up and David and Dania fell into this hole SEASONS ago. However I still enjoy seeing them and if you were to ask me if I would rather see them again or waste 3 minutes of a mediocre dance group or another rendition of Nessun Dorma *shudders*, then I'd still pick these guys. 5. Jayna Brown - The One Direction Guy broke ALL the rules and bucked the trend by finally doing what we've ALL been waiting for, give the golden buzzer to a singer. It's great to see singers finally getting some recognition on this show and hopefully this is only the beginning for them. Sacrasm mode off, I actually do really like her and she seems like a very nice person. I have a hard time seeing her compete with some of the older and more experienced singers, but I can't really complain about her getting the golden buzzer either, since she deserved it. 4. Outlawz - It's interesting to see dance groups fall further and further back season after season, what used to be a mainstay in damn near EVERY live show has now exclusively become THE filler/fodder group. The judges mentioned how most groups tend to be anonymous and I agree completely, so it was nice to see outlawz show some actual personality and as the most interesting dance group of the season they deserved to go through. 3. ThroWings - With the russian bar trio disappearing and duo guerrero out, I was happy to see these guys make it through, but as always with acrobatic acts, the questions is "What next?" 2. The Clairvoyants - There are two types of magic acts, ones that tell you they are tricksters up front and ones that try to make you actually believe what they are doing is real. This is the latter and do not be mistaken, this IS a magic act. The story of clairvoyancy is nothing but hocus pocus and BS to add mystery. And at the same time, I don't think they are deceiving the audience by doing so, they are after all an ACT in a variety show. And I find what they do to be polished, interesting, exciting and riveting to watch. They are a real dark horse this season and I can see them making it as far as Oz did last year. Doing a bit of research, they also do big stage show magic and card tricks, but have seemingly chosen to only concentrate on the mentalism to stand out on the show. 1: Viktor Kee - YES, by far the best act of the night and THE most deserving of the golden buzzer, but I'll accept him going through for now. The way he moves is just mesmerizing, objects feel like they are floating in the air and not actually being manipulated by human hands and he does it all with such ease and seeming lack of any effort that it's a thing of beauty to behold. It's interesting to have 2 strong juggling acts this season with Passing Zone and Viktor Kee, both being at the opposite ends of the spectrum yet both absolute masters of the craft. Only time will tell which will do better... I have no real complaints with the choices made this episode, although it felt weird having the kid comedian go out after they showed him as much as they did, kudos to him for not breaking down in tears and dealing with the elimination better than most adults so far though. And that's it, we have our top 33 and we can move o..oh what? There's a top 36 you say? But..but who...STEVEN, FLIP AND SILA? Welcome to the party. As you can imagine, I'm OVERJOYED to see Steven back and Sila Sveta must have gotten the producers golden buzzer as we can't have an AGT season without at least 1 multimedia act through. Flip have seemingly been added in to fill the gap of dance groups, but I'm so pleased for Steven and Sila that I don't even care. This is where things get a bit confusing. Every season we have acts shown in the auditions disappear once we hit the judges round, but in terms of the sheer number of established acts missing, this year might be one of the worst. A lot of time was spent on making us care for Patrick and Ginger, so what happened? Where is Dan Meyer? What happened to Elevenplay? This was supposed to be the russian bar trios big comeback, yet they are MIA. Elias and Zion? Tia Simone? The John Rothman Dancers?...Okay maybe it was a good thing we didn't get EVERYONE to return. I'm not going to bother with ranking all 36 acts and will just post my top 10 going into the quartefinals: 10. Ryan Stock & AmberLynn (knowing fully they have NO chance) 9. Jon Dorenbos 8. Lori Mae Hernandez 7. The Clairvoyants 6. Malevo 5. Steven Brundage 4. Julia Scotti 3. Passing Zone 2. Viktor Kee 1. Tape Face I would be overjoyed if any of my top 10 won, but If I had to pick the biggest immediate competition to the acts I mentioned, it would have to be Linkin Bridge, Brian and Grace. So who WILL be the winner? Well, let's tune in and see...

A bit late to the party, but don't count me out yet. Lopez failed to leave much of a mark since the judges cut round tends to center on the acts themselves and gives less air time to the judges tomfoolery (and considering this is George Lopez, maybe thats a good thing). Lets move on to my rankings: 7. Alla and Daniel Novikov - Frankly, after Charles and Rose I blacked out for a moment and completely forgot this act even existed...I...I think there was..dancing...and something to do with a pitbull, I can't for the life of me remember, but I know they will make for a great 11th place in a future quarter final. 6: Daniel Joyner - If someone had told me mutton chops were the key to being cool and popular my high school years would have been COMPLETELY different. Alas, I have to live them through this guy. It might seem like I have him quite low, but he impressed the hell out of me and I've already talked how much I enjoy this type of music so I have absolitely no objections to him getting through, although his clear competition on the show is Sal, who is probably going to end up getting much further even if he arrived on stage dressed as a slice of pizza. 5: Brian Justin Crum - It's like he was manufactured at a "Perfect Talent Show Contestant" factory, the guy is pretty much a complete package. I wasn't TOO impressed with his audition, but this was pretty magical and he shows control and vocal ability far beyond anyone else on this show, making him a CLEAR front runner and I think he's the one to beat this season. However, this always raises questions as to why he couldn't have just gone on a show like the voice instead, you can give a pass to opera singers and kids since there's really no other major show out there that accepts either group as contestants, you can even make a case for the crooners and country singers, who stay in a very narrow genre and thus have a much better chance here than on a show that requires them to change things up week after week. Brian on the other hand is pretty much a "standard" voice/idol/x factor singers capable of singing pretty much anything, so why he didn't try any of those other sh..oh..oh right...the..story...yeah, can't get QUITE as much air time how bullied you've been there, can you? Carry on then. 4: Blake Vogt - "You are someone I will remember" said Simon, but apparently none of the producers or editors did as we NEVER EVEN SAW HIS AUDITION. Seeing Blake Vogt's name pop up had me choking on my coffee as he's a pretty big name in the magic industry so seeing him here out of the blue was a surprise as I think he's the most talented magician to have ever appeared on the show. Now, before you all go checking my drink and declaring me insane, allow me to explain. Most close-up magicians on the show like Jon Dorenbos, Derek Hughes and even Mat Franco perform slight variations of tricks that have been around for DECADES, very rarely do you actually see someone coming up with their own ones (Piff was an exception). Blake on the other hand, is someone who actually COMES UP WITH and DESIGNS tricks, not only for himself but also for BIG names in the industry like David Copperfield and David Blaine, making him a true master of the craft. HOWEVER, there's something to be said for showmanship and Blake is a very bare bones vanilla ice cream magician when performing, not as charming, funny, fast or entertaining as his competitors and that's ultimately what will let him down. I'm certainly fascinated to see how far he gets, because I know 99% of the people watching the show will never know the full extent of his skill and imagination because he simply isn't a great performer (not terrible either by any means). 3: Ryan Stock & AmberLynn - As mentioned, you either love or hate these type of acts and I fall more towards the "love" category. I think they are one of the stronger sideshow acts we have seen on the show as they know how to mix the gross-out stuff with genuine humor and...charm. It feels odd to say that about a guy who is sticking a metal hook into his nose, but I found them both charming and likable and I look forward to the next act, despite knowing they have NO HOPE of ever making it to the semi finals. 2: Malevo - If we could somehow extract the energy these guys are creating on stage, we would never have to worry about power failures ever again, as just 2 minutes of them dancing would be enough to power 12 000 Nike sweatshops. I'm inclined to agree about the music, but they have SO much potential and I don't say this about a lot of acts on the show, but I qould genuinely pay money to see them live. Or at least blackmail a friend to buy me a ticket. I AM getting a bit of a "Siro-A" vibe from these guys though, mostly from the fact I think they will be unceremonially cut early on and leave us all wondering why and how for years to come. 1: Tape Face - Call me a cheat, but after his audition I've been on a youtube craze just checking out his other routines to the point of exhaustion and I absolutely LOVE what he does. He's truly original and wonderful and I hope he makes it as far as possible. The only change I would have made was add Sam Morril instead of the mom and son dancers, as they are clearly filler and Sam showed potential. It's a bit weird to see him cut this way considering how well he was received by the judges, but from seeing nearly every other one fall out so far I guess it's just NOT a good season to be a stand-up comedian this year.

Believe me, it's been frustrating me for years. As much as this show likes to consider itself a free-for-all where EVERYONE can compete equally, it's MUCH more difficult for some acts than others. It's one of the main reasons we kept seeing singers winning for so many years, they could sing new songs every round. And even in recent years the acts that have been successful are ones that can change things round after round after round after round (Comedians come up with new jokes, magicians with new tricks etc), but you can spend 35 years perfecting your acrobatic/danger stunts and even if you are the absolute best at it, eventually the judges will go "We've seen you do this already" and you are out. I guess it's just one of the many flaws of this show...

And off we go yet again, Reba showed a nice bit of personality and added some good humor to the episode so I wouldn't mind having her as a more permanent judge. Let's not waste time and get to the ranking: 7: Kadan Bart Rockett - As I mentioned when I was talking about Hara, I'm not the BIGGEST fan of box magicians, so seeing this didn't exactly blow me away. I've seen this trick about a thousand times by now and noticed the switch right away which didn't help so when he actually made it through, I was genuinely baffled. It's clear the kid is passionate about what he does and coming from a family of magicians there's some behind the scenes coaching going on that makes him a step above other kids doing this, BUT I can't for the life of me see him actually competing with adults like Hara or Jon and provide anything more than a simple "well, that was cute" moment. His inclusion makes even less sense when you consider a much better (at least IMO) magician got cut earlier (more on him later...) 6: Moya Angela - I'm going to run into some trouble if I have to keep commenting on the singers this year, as this was another vocally solid performance with an underwhelming song choice and lack of a strong personality. I'm not trying to dismiss her talent, I just have very little to say beyond "Yeah, was good"...umm...Cool...cool earrings? 5: Kadie Lynn Roberson - Is...is her father actually aware of where he is at? Does...does he need some help? Does he have a history of sleepwalking? Has anyone checked for a pulse? Every episode I get more and more worried...Thankfully Kadie Lynn seems as calm as calm can be, there's just something very likable about her overall, but we have more interesting singers through already... 4. Vello Vaher - Contortion, Howie. Contortion is the category he fits into. The diaper on his head might have confused you for a moment, but try to pay attention. I don't actually see these episodes live (the old "tape your eyelids open" method stops working after 6 AM) so I tend to stay away from reading any spoilers before I get a chance to watch it the next day. This time it lasted for about 5 minutes as the second I turned on the radio, I was bombarded with people going mental over Vello making it through. I'm delighted to see him make it this far, especially considering how similar this was to his audition. I guess the subtitle department just needed the extra work. 2: Deadly Games - The best kind of judging is done by not looking, isn't that right, Simon? Yeah these type of acts usually have a very short run on this show as they simply run out of ideas, but they stepped it up and definitely deserved their spot. They SHOULD actually incorporate stunts like the wheel falling in future rounds to add some more shock value, but for now they seem to have things under control. Although you have to wonder what the kid must be thinking seeing his dad continuously throwing sharp objects at his mom dressed in skimpy leather outfits. 2: Sofie Dossi - While this was a step up from her audition, I'm failing to see where she can take this in the next round. Acts like her and Vello have always had a difficult time with staying fresh round after round, so it will be interesting to see if she can manage it or end up like everyone else that has come before her. 1: Julia Scotti - Comedy is subjective. I say this as someone who has burst out laughing seeing his own drowsy/pimply face in the mirror and who regularly watches old infomercials on youtube while crying from laughter. Saying that, Julia Scotti has made me laugh and smile more than any other comedian on this show. A lot of stand-up comics seem like they are just spouting out rehearsed jokes with little to no connective tissue between them. It's much harder to make everything flow together and seem natural, which is exactly what Julia does. Whatever else happens, I'm rooting for her. I went into this episode nervously rooting for 2 acts, but after seeing both I was pretty confident they were both through and the tension would be gone once I saw them walk up on stage with 2 other acts that were going out. And surely they would never pair these 2 toge..t..o..oh...oh crap. Yes, I think Steven's elimination is one of the worst this show has ever done and from reading comments online, it seems im not alone. I had him down as a possible finalist in the audition rounds and saw a LOT of potential in him, certainly much more than the kid magicians who will get voted out, so seeing him thrown out so early was baffling. It's the first time I've felt upset over an elimination in a long time and I'm HOPING for a wild card of any sort. Next week looks interesting, with them revealing most of the lineup for episode 3 of the judge cuts and it not including MANY of the more memorable auditionees, it only leaves so many spots for acts to fill in the last episode and it will be interesting to see which will disappear without a trace (The drone dancers? Patrick and ginger? Sila Sveta? Dan Meyer? Russian Bar Trio? The Clairvoyants?). From the ones they HAVE shown, I'm most hoping for Tape Face and Viktor Kee to make it. Only time will tell...

Oh boy, the time has come to face the judges cuts *big gulp* The Judge Cuts/Vegas Week/The Callbacks/Judgment Week/Sob Story Exhibition Hour portion of this show has always been the most frustrating for me. It's the one part the show has never managed to completely nail. You can forgive just about anything in the audition rounds as it's meant to be lighthearted and it's hard to argue with the results once the public gets to vote, but seemingly countless man hours have been spent in boardrooms trying to figure out how to make this stage of the show NOT end up being a complete and utter clusterfuck, which has happened far too many times. All that being said, I was happy to hear they were sticking with the format from last year as it's ones that has actually worked and provided at least SOME clarity, with 20 acts each episode you get to know exactly who got cut and who got through. But even this isn't perfect, 4 episodes of 20 acts gives us 80, but a quick memory check will tell you there were a LOT more than 80 acts that got 3 YES's in the audition rounds, so where are all these people? Did they miss the bus? Are they held up in purgatory? Is it a case of "first 20 through get a chance" while the rest get hosed away by a team of security guards? Clearly theres a stage between the audition rounds and the judges cuts where either the producers or the judges PICK 80 acts they want to see again, but we are never told this as they hope we have all collectively developed amnesia. Things get even more confusing when acts appear in the live shows without ever taking part of the judges cut or getting a golden buzzer like last year. I'll end my tiny rant here by just saying that theres room for improvement when it comes to this stage... I'll just move on and try ranking the 7 acts that went through and mention some that didn't at the very end. 7: Edgar - We already had a stronger singing group in the same episode get through, so while I have nothing against Brady Bunch over here I just don't see them as anything special or memorable either. But I guess SOMEONE has to be filler/cannon fodder. 6. Linkin' Bridge - They are growing on me and I have a feeling they might make it VERY far, but they need to show a LITTLE bit more personality and less sob story for me to truly get behind them. It could also not be any more obvious who Simon is trying to push as the winner this year... 5: Ronee Martin - She's an absolutely POWERHOUSE and one of the more deserving singers currently through. I find it hard to really get excited about her with so many good variety acts around, but she's definitely a pro. 4: Hara - I have a small secret I'd like to share with you all and it's the fact I'm not the biggests fan of box magicians. Maybe it comes from being a fan of magic and seeing so much of it that these tricks have become very standard and bare bones or a past childhood trauma where I got stuck inside of a cardboad box without my knowledge, but I've always preferred the close-up comedic magicians and card tricks. That being said, Hara is just such a showman it's hard NOT to be entertained and impressed even if you know exactly how the trick is done. And he's shown versatility by doing away with the effects and can hopefully continue to combine the two in the future and scare the crap out of Mel B again. 3: Lori Mae Hernandez - Personality. That's the key word here. I can't help but smile every time I see her and I think Howie's analogy of what a comedian vs a comic was pretty spot on as her quirkiness saves her even when the material isn't the spot on. I wouldn't mind it at all if it all came down to her and another comedian I will be talking about in the next episode. 2: The Passing Zone - YES!!!! Very very happy these guys made it through, as they are one of my very favourites. This ranking is based more on what I know they CAN do rather than the act they actually did in the judges cut, which was amusing and funny, but only the tip of the iceberg. I'm a TINY bit worried that the whole "deal" they have going on with Simon is pushing them down a very narrow path that might end in their doom, but I have enough faith in them to hopefully make it work and not blow their load too early. 1: Jon Dorenbos - WELL THIS TOOK A DARK TURN. I was thinking we could get through an act without a big story to go along, BUT NOPE. MURDER. That aside, this was an excellent trick performed to pretty much perfection. Now I HAVE seen this done before, but what sets Jon apart is his great delivery and the absolute ease with which he performs these tricks. While I doubt we'll be seeing another magic act win so soon, it's another strong year for them. Overall a very strong episode where just about anyone could have made it through (don't get your hopes up gorilla man, I said JUST ABOUT everyone). In a perfect world I would have sent Duo Guerrero through instead of Edgar as what they do is just SO impressive and we don't have too many danger acts left, but I can live with these decisions. The episode left me in such a good mood I decided to watch both the judges cut episodes back to back, which maybe wasn't the greatest idea....

And we are here, we are FINALLY here, many of us didn't think it would ever happen, but we have finally reached the final e...what?...Oh it's just the end of the auditions? There's still 2 more months of this? But....but...Oh fine, let's get on with it then. Dorothy Williams - There's something to be said about an act that knows EXACTLY the right moment to stop. And thankfully she did, until Nick decided we all needed a sequel. It's a bit of a sham to end up with this as our final golden buzzer, considering EVERY OTHER act in the episode was much much more suitable, but I've long given up the hope that the golden buzzer would actually be used for anything meaningful, so it being used as a cute little skit to make a 90 year old woman happy? Sure why not...actually, I know MANY reasons why not, but HEY at least we are finally back in full form now, right? We made it through an ENTIRE season last year without a single joke act in the live shows, but now we are back to the good old days...the good...old...*sigh* let's just move on. John Bernhardt - Trying to play an instrument that sounds like an alien being sucked through a black hole can't be all too easy and while this shouldn't make the lives, it was at least entertaining. Outlawz - I don't think theres a single thing a dance crew could do at this point that would be genuinely surprising, at this point they've just become the cannon fodder for the show, something you put early on in your live shows to pass the time between more interesting acts, but these guys showed enough personality and style to be at least a bit interesting. Cody the Twirler - I'm not sure there's much else for him to do, but those were some impressive moves and the Glenn Miller music actually made it even more fun, but apparently that's too "old fashioned" so onwards to Nicki Minaj it is next round. Daniel Joyner - If you are a crooner or a soul singer, this looks like the season for you. While looking like the love child of John Belushi and Michael Buble certainly has its upsides, It's going to be hard for him to compete with Sal. Ilan & Josh - They should follow tape face's advice when it comes to singing, but the beatboxing was good and there's potential here for something even better. Steven Brundage - Stop me if you've heard this already, but I've seen this guy before. He was on Penn and Teller: Fool us not too long ago and actually managed to be one of the few ones to fool them, he was also a BIG viral hit years ago for getting out of a speeding ticket using his tricks, so I'm quite familiar with him and know what he CAN do and he's a serious contender for a spot in the finals. Rubics cube solvers have become a staple in various Got Talent formats in other countries, some have even WON, but it never really caught on here. This guy however, is a in a WHOLE new class and I look forward to seeing him prove that. Sila Sveta - Is every multimedia act REQUIRED to have a foreign stage director at this point? I imagine you just get thrown out if you say you are ACTUALLY from America. The flying bit was a neat gimmick and i've always enjoyed these acts, but it's starting to get a LITTTTTTTTTLE bit old, so I hope they can spice it up (no, Mel, not you) even more next round. The Passing Zone - I thought I could make it through an episode without recognising someone, but now we are already at 2. Was season 11 really a soft reboot of the show? Did we miss a memo somewhere saying this was just going to be season 1 all over again? Was RL Bell actually Prince Poppycock? Well I remember these guys very well and they actually made it all the way to the final back in season 1. They've always stuck with me as the best juggling act we've seen on the show and were one of my favourites back then, so seeing them here again was a treat. I'm really not sure they can recreate what they achieved first time and get as far as they did, but they are absolutely fantastic at what they do and always entertaining to watch so consider me a fan. RL Bell - Oddly enough, this guy felt like a breath of fresh air, certainly one of the more quirky/entertaining singers this season. Although I think he's being set up for a big failure and will either go full on cornball or dull his act down to a complete stop. Moya Angela - Fantastic vocals indeed, it'll be interesting to see if Simon's golden buzzer manages to get far based on her story alone, because there are certainly MUCH better female singers than her this season and Moya is one of them. While I'm not quite ready to throw my arms in the air and scream "BEST AUDITIONS EVER! like Heidi, I think it's been a very VERY solid season/soft reboot of season 1 so far. The judges cut has always been the most frustrating part for me, with acts disappearing and appearing out of nowhere and the ultimate decisions being questionable, but I'm going in rooting for at least 15 acts (Tape Face, Passing Zone, Ryan Beard, Julia Scotti, Viktor Kee, Malevo etc etc) so if at least half of them make it, I have someone to root for. And I'm hoping the picks by the guest judges will be more interesting...it's going to be the screaming old man isn't it?...it totally will...

I've had a lingering feeling of dejav vu follow me throughout this season and this episode was no different. Maybe we've just reached a point now where it's hard to truly come up with something nea and unique, but a TON of acts the past few weeks have felt like slight variations of things we've seen done before. All that being said, the show continues to be immendely entertaining and the editing/pace of it is better than ever with them getting the judges goofing off vs good acts vs bad acts balance pretty spot on. So I remain hopeful for it equalling last year once we get to the live shows. Christopher. With the way One Direction is going, they might need to rent Christophers rig soon to actually put on a concert. Ah, Christopher...one of my earliest talent show memories. Grab your marshmallows and sit around the campfire, time to go back in time. Back when I was a younger couch potato there used to be a show called "30 seconds to fame", a talent show/kardashians prequel where people would compete in front of a live audience, trying to keep them entertained for 30 seconds. Christopher was one of the more fun and memorable winners so it was quite cool seing him pop up here. All that I've seen from the guy, he's a one trick pony, but it's a very entertaining trick I wouldn't mind seeing again. Kadan Bart Rockett. I spent most of my youth trying to make my sister disappear, but it never worked. If ONLY I had thought of the saw. This was pretty basic and brings to mind the question of how we should treat kid acts that objectively can't compete with adults, but it was cute and fun enough for the audition rounds. Pato and Ginger. We haven't really had a decent dog act SINCE the Olate dogs, right? As such, this was refreshingly fun to see, if not HIGHLY manipulative. Simon is also OBSESSED with dogs even more than Sharon, so expect him to go nuts once we hit the live shows. Ryan Beard. Singing comedians tend to get a bad rap on this show, but this was fun and a great way to open the show. I can only hope he keeps this shtick up and by the look of his sweater, we don't need to too worried about him finding a mate and running out of material. Dan Meyer. I'm certifiably insane and masochistic so WAS watching the show back in season 3 when this guy tried to audtion and failed as a wild card. So immediately I was like "I remember this elderly fabio!" and he's certainly gotten even better. The only question acts like this bring is WHAT are they going to do next, he might have done himself a disservice by starting THIS strong. Throwings - I can only imagine their real names sounded like foreign sex toys if put together. It will be fun to see how they stack up to the Russian bar trio and the tripwire couple. Brian Justin Crum. Nice to see Brian get some time off from his busy broadway career and end up h..o..oh what? Bullied car driver? Oh, oh I'm ruining the story here. Sorry, sorry, I'll just shh. So Brian the bullied gay car driver making ends meet *winkwink* was a golden buzzer opportunity, but apparently Nick missed the memo. Now I have to admit his voice is excellent, but I think I've figured out what my main issue with most singers on this show is, and it's the fact that they are iften objectively great singers with inspiration stories, but little to no actual..personality or..style..or something that would draw me in. Maybe this just comes down to personal taste, but while I found Brian's voice to be top notch, he just failed to grab me in any way. Still, if any singer is going to make it far this season, he probably deserves it the most. I couldn't resist freezing the frame and check what we had in store next week and whatever it is, it looks bonkers. The last audition rounds are usually when the editors just give in to dementia and dial the crazy all the way up to 11, so it will be interesting.

This felt like a "Golden best of hits from the early years" episode, you got a quick change act, a magician, a sideshow act, a contortionist, knife throwers and even a nice sob story singer. Nothing we haven't seen before, but plenty of quality representatives from the usual categories. The Baron of the Universe - this guy fell straight out of a traveling freakshow act from the 1900s and as usual, I loved it. Not that he really DID anything above the usual, but his personality and looks were easy to get behind. Of course it gave the judges a chance to act like this was the most disgusting thing they had ever seen, well maybe if you actually LOOKED for once it might not surprise you? No? Okay, continue feeling surprised the next time then. Quick change couple - Piers Morgan's favourite type of act makes a return. As usual, this was impressive, but will fail to leave an impact in future rounds becasuse there's really nowhere else you can take this act. A clear example of the format of this show simply NOT being suitable sometimes. Deadly Games - Read what I wrote above, remove the Piers comment and add in a segment where I talk about how hot the lady looked. Elias & Zion - Are we SURE these weren't just the blues brothers shrunk to a VERY small size? I don't regularly enjoy the childen getting through based on how cute they are, but these 2 were so enjoyably quirky/strange I actually loved them. Calysta Bevier - Oh hello lady, you are going to sing, right? Yup, that's singing alright, sure is. Well that was nice singing and all but what makes you different from the others? Oh cancer? Oh I see. *golden buzzer is pushed, everyone loses their mind, best act ever* Look, I'm not trying to make light of her condition, I'm sure what she went through was HELL and it's great things went alright in the end. But objectively speaking, was she in any way better than ANY of the other singers so far even in THIS same episode? No. She got the buzzer because her STORY made for good/inspirational TV. I was worried this show would return to it's "singers with sob stories get all the praise" ways when Simon was announced and so far with ALL 4 golden buzzer acts being singers, it's proven to be true. And it's just a bit soul crushing, because time and time again we've seen variety acts faulter because they run out of steam due to overexposure and they could ACTUALLY use this golden buzzer to skip a round and feel more fresh the next time around, where as singers actually need the extra performing time to gain confidence. But enough with the soapbox, yay golden confetti and music woo. Ronee - Someone had to give Simon the chance to show off his "cut it" hand motion, there's probably a stage hand nervously staring at this hand, waiting to cut the music as soon as he raises it. Oh as for her? Probably the best singer so far, does that mean she gets the golden buzzer? HAH of course not. Vello Vaher - Haha Estonia? What weirdo freakish nation is THAT, I bet they all eat polar bears, who on earth actually lives there? *looks at passport* Well, guess this is where I reveal the dirty secret that I'm from Estonia. So you can imagine my surprise when seeing Vello's slightly creepy smile pop up, I thought someone had been messing with my feed again. I've actually seen him in VARIOUS talent shows around here and he's always been a bit of a one trick pony, so I don't think there's much of a future for him on this show, but good on him for trying and subjecting people to our horrible accent Julia Scotti - Like you, Iw as thinking "is...she..no probably not..no wait is she?" the entire time, but good on her for not making a huge deal out of it and turning it into another sob story. Most of the comedians on this show have always been the "smile, slight chuckle" variety for me, but she ACTUALLY made me laugh out loud which easily makes her my favourite one so far. Hoping for good things to come. Jon Dorenbos - Loved his energy and the fact he did something that showed a VERY good grasp on techniques that require VERY fast hands and a lot of misdirection. I'm a fan of magic and have been waiting for a really impressive one to show up and he certainly was one.

I grew up in a bad neighbourhood without one eye and a legless dog and every day I had to break rocks to surv....what?...OH oh sorry there, for a moment I thought I was a contestant on this show, MY BAD, let's start over. *ahem* So this was another solid episode, while not quite reaching such gems as tape face for me, there was PLENTY to like. A TAD bit crowded with the singers this time but not bad enough to detract too much from the episode. It was also wonderful to see the triumphant return of Heidi's hand binoculars, which as we all know have the magical power to zoom in on pecs. A few thoughts on some of the more memorable acts: John Hetlinger - They should have brought this guy along to space, he would have made for GREAT entertainment once staring at the empty, dark void got old. By all means this is a joke act, but an entertaining and likable enough one. Can't wait for him to do Aqua next. Jonathan Nosan - I just imagine an office party during christmas and THIS guy out of nowhere doing this exact same act. His moves weren't that much more impressive then all the other contortionists we've seen on the show, but the fact he looked like he belonged on Wall Street shoveling money into his limo made it a quirky/fun gimmick. DJ Demers - I was wondering if Drew Lynch would bring in more comedians taking advantage of their disabilities and he did it PRETTY damn well. The set wasn't long enough to know exactly HOW good he is, but he knew how to work the crowd and had a quick quip ready for the judges, which I think is mandatory in any comedian, coming up with jokes on the spot. Anyways, looking forward to seeing him end up 2nd place. Grace VanderWaal - If Joni Mitchell and Tiny Tim had a baby...This was an unexpected golden buzzer (I can't write that word without hearing Mel B's accent in my head now) from Howie, who usually goes for comedic/joke acts but I can't blame him too much as there was something charming about her. Of course by this shows standards that means she is a rising star and the next biggest best most amazingly amazing of the amazingliest thing ever along with Taylor Swift (GOOD LUCK WITH THOSE RELATIONSHIPS, KID). BUT, If I had to pick between her or the opera girl from last week then I would easily pick her as it's more to my musical liking and IT WASN'T NESSUN BLOODY DORMA AGAIN. The Amazing Sladek - I'm pretty sure I've seen this guy in at least half a dozen episodes of the Sopranos. Danger/acrobatic acts continue to be impressive and he had a quirky personality that made the whole thing more fun. It's hard for acts like these to really stay in the competition and face the 6 year long marathon that is a season of AGT since they tend to show their best stuff early, but I'm certainly looking forward to more. Eleven Play - I saw something similar in BGT this season, but this was MUCH better and actually well thought out. The potentialk for this is IMMENSE and at times it felt like I was watching a professional opening act during the Olympics. At the same time, it's VERY easy to have this stay as a one trick pony and just be forgotten early on. Time will tell. Malevo - Whch Robert Rodriguez movie did these guys jump out from? I was expecting Banderas to just be twiddling a guitar in the corner somewhere. This was just a BLAST of energy and what I loved most about it was the variety of things happening on stage, it felt like they were changing things up every 10 seconds and bringing in something new. Definitely something I root for. BRING ON WEEK 3

Well this was an enjoyable start to the season. I was worried that with Simon's return the show would go back to the way it used to be with an overload of mediocre pop singers taking up most of our air time. Thankfully my fears were unfounded (so far) and the episode was a nice mixture of singers/variety/comedy. I also enjoyed the chemistry between the old judges and Simon, everyone seemed to be in good spirits and nothing felt forced. I was worried they would play up the "Simon is the MEAN judge" card like they used to with Piers, but was pleasantly surprised to see him act like does of Britains Got Talent. If anything, Heidi seemed the hardest to please this episode. Speaking of which, I also watch BGT so I can say that Simon has gotten a lot more mellow over the years and has a strange liking to a lot of weird/bad acts he tends to send through just to amuse himself. Only time will tell if everything continues to work as nicely as it did here, but so far I'm enjoying what I'm seeing. My 2 cents for some of the more noteworthy auditions: Ryan Stock - Sideshow gross-out acts are dime a dozen on this show, but I enjoyed the added spice of comedy and showmanship that Ryan brought on stage, as opposed to the usual "I haven't showered in 2 years and only listen to hardcore punk rock LOOK HOW EDGY I AM" style other similar acts have gone for. I don't think he has much of a future on the show simply due to the limited appeal, but it's going to be fun seeing him again if only for the reactions. Laura Bretan - Another year, another rendition of Nessun Dorma. Child singers have become one of those categories on this show that just DON'T impress/surprise any more. The fact that Simon can still go "SHE CAN SING LIKE THAT AND SHE'S ONLy 12? OMGWTFPANCAKES NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN MY LIFE" after spending 10 seasons on BGT either means he thinks we are stupid or has developed alzheimers. That being said, I found her charming and likable enough to not be TOO annoyed by the golden buzzer. Hara - Easily the most visually impressive act of the episode. It seems people are getting tired of FX dancers after years of stuff like Fighting Gravity, Team Iluminate and especially after Kenichi's victory. It's probably what cost Siro-A the final spot last year. That being said, this was an unique spin on the formula by essentially being a magic act disguised as a special effects show. And I think it looked much more impressive/interesting than the usual mess of random graphics most dance groups have had in the past. History has proven to not get too excited over these acts as they tend to burn out before the final, but I still find them impressive to look at and I'd take one of these over another singing kid ANY day. The Clairvoyants - I want a swing like that in my living room. I don't care if I don't have space, I want one. I thought this was great fun, of course all the mentalism mumbo jumbo is BS even if Simon is violently shaking a candle in his living room trying to fend off curses and witches. It' all a trick, but part of the fun is making it look so smooth and easy that people begin to doubt. They performed a trick I haven't seen in a long while and did it with enough style/showmanship that I look forward to them in the future. Tape Face - A prime example of why I watch this show, something unique, quirky, fun and unpredictable. He's been EXPLODING on youtube and seems to be gaining more popularity with each minute so he might have quite the fan base by the end of this. There's really only 2 ways this act can go now, either he will completely bomb by choosing the wrong skit to do or go very far even when people initially doubted him (like the regurgitator), either way I'm rooting for him. Overall, a VERY promising start to the season. Looking forward to the next 1,473 weeks of this.

While I agree with most people that he didn't deserve to win and I was rooting for others, Im going to give him the benefit of the doubt here and believe he never exaggerated his stutter. People like to point out that he stuttered less during the pre-recorded segments, but those could all be edited and filmed multiple times all the while he was in a much more relaxed atmosphere. In the semi-finals and forward he had to perform live in front of HUGE crowds, it's not that hard to imagine nerves, anxiety and adrenaline had their own say in his ability to speak. As someone who stutters himself, I can tell from experince that it gets MUCH worse when I'm nervous or anxious even just a LITTLE.

He's definitely taken inspiration from him, but I think his comedic style and delivery is still very much his own. I understand you though, it's hard to sometimes not think "Well I like him, but he's kinda similar to X and X is better", but at the end of the day, Paul is Paul. He's not trying to be Terry nor Ronn, he has taken inspiration from plenty of places and put his own spin on them None of the magicians came up with the tricks they did either, but they made it their own with clever presentation (let's just ignore the rope thing ever happened and we can all live a MUCH happier life). I have to say I enjoyed the interactions as well. The show is CONSTANTLY running out of time and rushing through segments, but if we could just remove a lot of the extra crud like dunkin lounge, overly long judges comments, etc then it would be interesting to see more backstage interactions between the contestants. Basically, less of the judges antics and more of the contestants. Reading their twitter feeds this year you really got the sense that they were all quite good friends who were rooting for eachother.

Well guys, the nightma...I mean AGT finale is over and we have a winner. WOW I was certain once Drew was called up there that he would win and we would have an absolute SHITSTORM on our hands, but somehow, by some miracle, it didn't happen. It's official now, the only thing America loves more than Ventriloquists is voting comedians into the second place. I don't know about you lot, but I was on the edge of my seat until the very end of the results, despite not really caring who would win (anyone but Benton would have been fine with me). Sad that PIff didn't make it to the top 5, but based on last night it's kind of understandable and he has so many fans already that out of everyone here, he kind of needed the victory the least. SUPER happy the regurgitator got 4th, he was never going to do better because it's a divisive act that turns a LOT of people off so the fact he could win so many of them over to even get 4th is really quite impressive. It's been a very interesting year filled with interesting, humorous acts that have provided us with some REALLY memorable moments and with Paul being one of the main standouts and the eventual victor, I think it's safe to say this season has been a success. NOW WHERES MY GODDAMN CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE.

He DID regurgitate it, you could clearly see it on his tongue seconds before he spit it out and Howard went "There it is". It's kind of hard to see because it falls in such a weird angle, but it's definitely there, just like the smoke last week (camera turned away the second he regurgitated it, when the camera went back it was near his right ear) There WERE numbers on the envelopes, theres a very clear 3 on the one Heidi gets and a 1 on the one Mel B gets, for some odd reason he decided to give them the envelopes in a way that basically hid the numbers unless you specifically looked for them. He should have had the envelopes the other way from the very beginning, numbers clearly shown, but I guess he just messed it up.

It's an odd thing for sure, they used to have a 90 second time limit, but now it's just all over the place. For the actual lengths though: Drew actually went on for 3 minutes, as did Gary. Derek, Paul and Stevie got about 5 while Piff and Oz stretched it nearly to 6. It would be interesting to know if they actually limited Drews and Gary's performance or not. Oz kind of NEEDED all that time, but theres really no reason Derek and Piff got to go on for THAT long.

I get why people would be disappointed with Piff (I laughed harder during his act than anyone else last night, but the actual trick was sloppy), but I'm really quite shocked to see a lot of people say that Paul was a failure. I think he did what a good ventriloquist SHOULD do and that's bring a bunch of puppets alive on stage and make it feel like an actual conversation between different people. I thought it was funny, charming and entertaining. Maybe people have just come to expect more gimmicks out of him after the Howie mask or wanted to hear new voices (which he is CLEARLY capable of: ), but overall I still don't see how he was a disappointment.

I see a lot of negativity and disappointment echoed around this final, but I actually quite enjoyed it. I think the main problem is that people were expecting AMAZING "WOW" moments because this is the finals, but everybody who got there fell into two categories: A. acts that have already shown their biggest surprise moments in order to get this far and B. acts that have been small all along and never attempted to do anything huge. On that note, I shall individually try to give my impressions on all the acts: Oz Pearlman - WHAT a start to the finale, it's a shame the rest of the night couldn't keep this level of excitement up, but Oz certainly delivered. You can probably guess this trick quite easily if you are a fan of mentalism, but thats not really the point. It was a perfectly executed, well presented and very very slick piece of magic that left you with that "WOW" feeling the show was looking for. In terms of skill as a magician, Oz has been the best magic act all season and the only one who could compete with Mat Franco. He's also one of the only acts who leaves you with the impression that he has a LOT more in store and is only showing a small portion of what he knows. Uzeyer - I found this to quite fun and entertaining. His biggest problem is that he showed us his biggest and most dangerous acts far too early (a problem that MANY of these finalists had) so anything he did today would have seemed underwhelming in comparison. He's such a great performer and has SO many different things he can do that it's a bit of a shame he's only become to be known as danger act. He showed us some new things today though and I found the stairs bit quite impressive, doubly so if you consider he was hurt. Benton Blount - Yup, that was singing alright. You know I could sit here all week and try to come up with things to say, but at the end of the day I'm simply not a fan of him and nothing he could have done would have impressed me. He's a decent singer with a boring and forgettable stage presence. Unfortunately he has a huge fan base who will help him get far. Gary Vider - The introduction video was STILL the best part about his act, but I actually thought he improved a tiny bit from last time. He's definitely a hit or miss comedian and for me, he misses more than he hits, but there was nothing really bad about him last night either. I just wish his routine was a bit more cohesive and had an overall theme, rather than just him coming on stage and telling 5 completely random and unrelated jokes. Piff the magic dragon- I actually really liked this, if you think of it as a comedy routine then I think it was a very strong one. The problem is when you start looking at it as a magic act, in which case one of the tricks was botched and the other one was a letdown. But I'm not really understanding what people were expecting from him, he's always been a very small close-up magician with a gimmick. I simply don't think he HAS some big "WOW GIVE HIM THE MILLION DOLLARS" finisher, which confirm my suspicions that he's simply not an act that works on the big stage, Fun, enteraining and great on a small stage and I would definitely pay to see him, but his tricks have always been small and thats just what works best for him. Paul Zerdin - Again, I see a lot of people being disappointed in him and I think they were expecting another gimmick. But I think he made a good decision in just going back to basics and showing us what a great ventriloquist he is. I found his whole act engaging, charming and funny and he even managed to recover nicely after a few slip-ups. Unfortunately for a lot of people it seemed like a step back and this is another case of an act blowing all their biggest surprises too early in the competition. The CraigLewis Band - Say what you will about singing acts on this show, but these guys really do deserve to be here. At times it felt like watching a guest performer rather than a competing act. They tend to get shouty at times, but besides that they look great, sound great, perform great and are very very fun to watch. I'm not really into the idea of a singing act winning again, but these guys are a cut above the rest of them in the competition. Derek Hughes - Oh Derek, Derek, Derek...The only truly big bomb of the night unfortunately. I think a lot of what I said about Piff applies to Derek as well, he's simply a small close-up magician with a comedic presentation, he was never going to have a million dollar worthy "WOW" trick and he's never claimed otherwise. But where Piff's act was still amusing and funny, Derek fell COMPLETELY flat tonight. I get what he was going for with the DJ and the dancers and the banter, but it was just going nowhere for a very long time and I think he could feel it. He seemed to get more and more nervous and the whole thing just came across as uncomfortable in the end. The terrible camerawork on this show didn't help either, when he was supposed to show people that the 3 ropes had all changed sizes and 1 had gotten longer and 1 smaller, the camera instead decided to focus on Howie's increasingly bewildered "get me out of here" face, leaving the whole first part of his act completely ruined. It's like if they had zoomed in on Mel B's boobs the moment Oz was revealing what was written on his letter. Stevie Starr - He's been doing his act the longest out of anyone else here and tonight it really showed. He's just a great entertainer who knows how to wrap the entire audience around his finger and keep then engaged and entertained. Week after week he's shown us new things and he even manages to be funnier than many of the actual comedians on this show *coghgaryvidercough*. Has he been doing this exact same act for 30 years now? Yes. Is it still impressive and unique? YES. I can only imagine the outcry if he won this show, but in terms of uniqueness, he's hard to beat. Drew Lynch - Giving this guy the last spot in the finals pretty much secured his victory I think. I know a lot of people dislike him and think people are only voting out of pity. And while that might be true to some extent, he IS a pretty good comedian and a strong writer even without the stutter. I genuinely did laugh at some of his jokes last night and he has a natural stage presence about him. I find his material much funnier than Gary Viders and although he's not the strongest comic they've had on the show, he's not JUST getting by basedon pity votes alone. Phew, that's FAR too many words up there. I'll repeat what I said above, I enjoyed this finale quite a bit, but at the same time it left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. It's a shame too, because I find this lineup to be one of the strongest in AGT history. We know all of these people are talented and deserve to be here, but last night didn't really leave us feeling amazed, everybody just sort of did what they've always done. It's a case of poor planning for most of the acts, they used up their biggest/most impressive bits early on in the competition, leaving them all feeling a bit underwhelming in comparison. But if we ignore the fact that nobody really WOWE'd us, it was still a fun night with the only real failure coming from Derek. I'm even more confused about who will win after last night, with most of the acts not stepping it up, it's nearly impossible to tell what will happen, but I shall try to group them into 3 categories. Definitely out of the top 5: Uzeyer, Derek and Gary. One underwhelming due to injuries, one failure and another one that simply doesn't compare to the rest. Maybe in the top 5: Benton Blount, CraigLewis Band. With the variety acts the way they were, the singers could really pull an upset by simply being a little bit more impressive. Most likely in the top 5: Piff, Oz, Paul, Regurgitator, Drew. I think Drew, Paul and Oz are locks, whereas Piff and Regurgitator might surprise and be replaced with some of the singers. Final overall predictions: 10. Derek Hughes 9. Gary Vider 8. Uzeyer 7. CraigLewis Band 6. Regurgitator 5. Piff 4. Oz 3. Benton Blount 2. Paul Zerdin 1. Drew Lynch But it's still anyones game, so who knows.

Rachel Platten, Terry Fator, Mat Franco, Penn & Teller sounds like a fantastic lineup...Wait WHAT? Freelusion? Special guests? What did NBC just panic once they realised all the stage preparation they had done for Freelusion was going to go to waste? "We spent like 5 bucks on that second robot AND made it purple this time, GOD DAMN YOU VOTERS. Okay okay, lets just bring them back as special guests, nobody will remember who they were next week anyways, make them all wear bald caps and moustaches or something."

There's no shame in doing mushrooms, especially with some steak and rice. Now if I would have glue-shamed you THAT would have been a disaster. In all seriousness though, I didn't mean to offend you and I'm sorry if I did, it was meant to be a playful/jokey response. I offer you this cup filled with half-melted chocolate as an apology. I asked my bestest friend in the whole wide world *coughgooglecough* and he helped me find this link: http://www.today.com/video/want-to-find-out-what-a-professional-regurgitator-does-are-you-sure-524567107757. Apparently he's just doing the coin trick again. As for kids trying to copy him, that's a danger with ANY act and I feel the responsibility lies with the parent to teach their child what is okay and what is not. Stevie himself always starts by saying "Do not attempt to do what Stevie is about to do" and they even have "Do not try this at home" written right underneath him even when he's drinking soap. So they've thought about it and done their best, the rest is up to the parent. They can't ban dangerous acts from TV simply because kids might copy them, they would have to get rid of most of them that way (Whats to say kids dont try climbing up ladders, locking dogs into boxes and throwing knives at eachother?) Yeah, it's been a problem from day one. I feel it's less to do with what the judges want and more to do with what they think the public wants. Considering how badly variety acts did in the first 5 seasons or so and how easy it was for the singers to get through, the judges started to try and push them further and further in hopes of making them more appealing to the voters. The variety acts always need to work harder and come up with new stuff CONSTANTLY to impress people, but singers can just redo their audition song for the finals(happens a LOT in Britains got talent) and be praised like the next coming of Jesus. It's unfair, but history has shown that people simply do not vote otherwise.

I think that was season 7? But yeah the show used to be really bad with acts like that, constantly sending through absolute garbage that everybody knew would get buzzed. But I feel like it's gotten better recently and they've been doing it less and less. The only objectively awful act last year was Juan Carlos and we can argue all week about whether some of the acts this year should have made it to the live rounds, but nobody was put through simply based on how awful they were to begin with (unlike Big Barry, Mary Ellen, Ronith, Ronny B,Mauricio Herrera, Sam B etc etc). I'm okay with certain acts getting through the audition rounds just for the fun of it as long as they stay far away from the live shows, where things are supposed to get serious. Ah yes, Tom Papa from the great "Tom Papa and Tom Mama" gang, who could forget him? I believe thats the same year we had William Overtell and David Baldguy in the top 5 as well. I'm just going to asume someone slipped you bad mushrooms and you are trying to talk about Tom Cotter, who I don't think has had much of a career after AGT. He seems to be doing fine enough but he's not really a major success or anything, even Taylor Williamson gets around more.

It's a headline show, but for a limited time only. As for the winners, Terry Fator is really the only big success story with a full time Vegas show going on for years and years now, he's pretty much a staple of Las Vegas. Bianca, Michael Grimm and Landau are still active in music, they are by no means household names and their albums didn't really go anywhere, but they still seem to get gigs and be doing well enough to support themselves and live off the prize money/concerts. Olate dogs is apparently quite active and Kenichi is quite popular in Japan, even created his own app. Neal Boyd seems to have mostly quit singing altogether and concentrates on politics. Kevin Skinner is the only one that really got the short end of the stick, he's completely fallen off the map and none of his websites function any longer. The only info I can find on the guy are rumors that he tried committing suicide and has severe mental health issues. Can't see AGT trying to promote that any time soon...

I feel like the whole "You get your own 90 minute show in Las Vegas" part has been made to be too much of a crux and ultimately it's a curse in disguise. Too often we are forced to think "Well, this is good and all, but would I REALLY want to watch this for that long?" and the judges used to base their decisions off of that, basically limiting the acts to only a certain variety. Are we supposed to prefer acts that can easily last 90 minutes and ignore the ones that need less time? I'd rather watch something mindblowing, unique and skillful done in 5 minutes than sit through 90 minutes of mediocrity. The prize is supposed to be a bonus after all, the acts are more or less given the same amount of time on AGT itself. Would I go and see Uzeyer and Regurgitator? I and I'm sure many others say yes to that. Both of them have been doing LONG sets for years and years now, Uzeyer has whole routines consisting of stories that include juggling, balancing, ladder climbing and many other parts. We are only seeing a small portion of what these guys can do on AGT, concentrated "best of" bits from larger routines they've done before, theres so much more they can fill a full show with.

Fairly interesting how 3 of the front runners are all British, while BGT has been struggling to find decent acts for years now. Granted, Regurgitator WAS on BGT, but he was voted out in the first semi-finals in favor of a generic singer. I blame the general bad attitude towards variety acts on that show, only the worst of the worst ever seem to get through to the live shows, making acts not even WANT to audition. Hell, Siro-A auditioned this season to BGT as well, but didnt even GET to the live rounds (yet a fat kid jiggling and a completely tuneless singer on rollerskates did). AGT has thankfully grown and gotten out of this slump and variety acts are finally seen as more than just "HAHA LOOK AT THAT WEIRD PERSON, LETS MAKE FUN OF THEM" fodder for the judges.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this happen on past seasons, but each time it's just fallen completely flat because they keep doing it with acts that have no hope of getting through and the whole "Well, Mel B, what do YOU think?" part made it even more obvious because they never ask the judges BEFORE an act is sent through. It's basically just the producers laughing somewhere going "Eh judges, bet you dont know what we are gonna do now, DO YOU? HUH? DO YOU? BET YOU DONT, TELL US ABOUT HOW LITTLE YOU EXPECT WHAT WE ARE GONNA DO NOW, BET YOU HAVE NO IDEA, Damn we are clever"

I'm of two minds when it comes to Uzeyer. One one hand, he failed last night and wasn't really showing us anything new to begin with. Howard was right in saying that acts should be judged based on their last performance and sending him through was unfair towards competitors who didn't screw up. Some of them were underwhelming, but nobody really failed at what they set out to do. On the other hand, the guy has been consistently entertaining and unique from day 1 and has so much passion and heart for what he does that you can't help but love him. He screwed up, but he also took the biggest risk and didn't give up even after failing, he was ready to go right back and try again and we know how good he is so theres no doubt he would have succeeded. I guess if any act deserves a second chance it's him and at the end of the day, I'd rather see him end this journey on a positive note and come back better than ever than to hear another mediocre rendition of a 40 year old song. It's also quite hard to be mad when you see his genuine reaction and just how humble he is about it all. Heres hoping he can prove the viewers right by doing something incredible in the finals.