LadyMustang65

Absolutely loved Samuel. He makes us laugh every time, and we really hope he makes it through. This routine was a little different than his others and maybe not quite as laugh-out-loud as his earlier ones, but it was nevertheless amusing, and he's just a very likeable guy to us. We each gave him a full 10 votes. The only other act we really enjoyed was the cats. Yes, it's variations on a theme, but they're cats. We have cats. We have always had cats. The only thing we have ever been able to get any of them to do on command is come for dinner. <lol> We did enjoy Da Republik dance group and Voices of Hope. They weren't great, but we enjoyed them. The trapeze duo was fine, but the overkill intro with Tyra's "their fall broke the internet" and "it was on every news station" just made us roll our eyes really hard. Good grief. She was nowhere near the flames, and she fell on her back onto a thick mat, just as she is trained to do in a fall. Yes, there is always the possibility that things can go wrong, but they train for those things, and I guarantee you she knows how to fall so she doesn't get hurt. I admit I couldn't do what they do at all, but on the other hand, if you're going to ding the cats for being repetitive, then ding these guys as well because it's the same tricks over and over again. I don't think we saw anything new last night - it just lasted longer. Two minutes or however long it is is about as long as I could watch these guys. We were starting to get bored by the end. We were also bored by the light show. It's mildly interesting in wondering how they do that, but we just don't find those kinds of acts entertaining for long. The 71-year-old dancer still just mostly gets into poses and is lifted by her partner. Not much actual dancing, and it's not that good when she does. Yumbo Dump - the less said about them the better. That was just painfully awful. The Sacred Riana is one we have enjoyed in the past but last night was just awful. It wasn't scary, and other than making Mel's picture appear on the doll, was there any actual magic in that act? It was ridiculous. The zombie army of look-alikes seriously wasn't scary, nor was her climbing the wall. And the abrupt cutaway was just weird. If she makes it through, I hope she's got more than that, because that was just awful. At the end of the night the only two we were really rooting for out of this group was Samuel and the cats. Anyone else can go home, and we won't mind.

Well, I guessed last week that I would be disappointed this week in who left, and I was/am. I am actually severely pissed that Cole is gone, especially given that he was absolutely brilliant last night. The two best routines - for our money anyway - were his and Hannalei's. We loved loved loved the Broadway piece. If this is what Travis can do with Broadway, he should always do Broadway. It was fantastic, and Cole was amazing. We also really liked the untraditional cha cha. Cole was our favorite guy. <sigh> We liked Magda but will not miss her as much as we would miss Hannalei. She has been and still is our pick to win it all. We like Slavik as well. He's been growing on us. Neither Darius nor Jay Jay really register. They're good but nothing stands out or grabs us. Realistically they're probably both better dancers than Slavik, but we just aren't clicking with them. Hate Jensen, sorry to say. We just don't understand what the judges are seeing. She is not as crisp or sharp as the other girls, and she dances "heavy." Not sure how to really explain it except most of the girls look light on their feet while Jensen doesn't. In the girls' group number there were several times she was behind the others in getting into position, and we saw what looked to us like a couple of bobbles, yet the judges said she was a stand out. We honestly do not get what it is with her. We started off Top 10 with 3 ballroom dancers, and the least of them is the only one left. Cole and Magda were both better than Jensen in ballroom. Ugh. :( I'm guessing Gennessy will be gone next week, which will be a shame. We like her way better than Jensen. Not sure who will go for the men but probably Slavik. I suppose in the end as long as Jensen doesn't win, it'll be okay. But we'd just much rather watch any of the other girls dance than Jensen. And on a shallow note, as WhineandCheez noted above, Cole was a dream looks and versatility-wise. We would rather watch him dance as well.

Yes! That's exactly what we were thinking. They need to just stop because that one was amazing!

So disappointed to see Evan and Chelsea go last night. We enjoyed them both weeks. I was annoyed that Nigel tried to make it seem like Chelsea somehow misrepresented herself. I highly doubt that since she said in the package last week that she'd only had a little training. She may have said she could tap, but I doubt she said she was capable of doing an entire tap routine in a week. She's probably the only one in the group who'd had any training at all in tap, so kudos to her for stepping up to attempt it at least, but I just don't buy that Chelsea represented herself as a trained tap dancer. The choreographer should have been told to choreograph the dance in such a way that her part wasn't entirely tapping. She would probably have fared much better if she only needed to join Evan in tapping for parts of it. A talented choreographer could surely have come up with something that would have showcased both. We do not share the judges' obvious love for Jensen. Don't know what it is about her, but just nope. Her dancing does not seem as crisp and clean as some others, and she is severely lacking in personality. Did not really love either of her pieces last night. Love Cole and Hannahlei. If the show threw them under the bus with the two dances they got, I'll be super pissed. Hannahlei was a standout for us at the Academy and continues to be a standout. We love the way they both move. And they seem to have a great partnership. Slavik and Genessey have been growing on us, and I adore the way he stepped in last week and steadied Genessy when she got overwhelmed. Way to go, Slavik!! I want that pair to be around to the end as well. As for the dances, the opening number was okay but not great. We enjoyed the jive, but we could tell it was kind of sloppy in places. Were surprised to see a standing ovation for that. We did enjoy the smooth jazz, even though that's not a favorite couple for us. Did not care for the Bollywood or the African jazz. Stepping was okay. Choreographed well, I really enjoy disco. Usually Doriana's routines are just a lift-fest, and I don't like them because there's no way they can really master that many lifts in such a short time. I was glad she decided to have them do more actual dancing in last night's routine, and I enjoyed watching them, but it wasn't really good choreography, so in the end it was just okay. I don't know who is going next week, but I'm guessing it's not going to be Jensen, so I'll probably be disappointed again.

So the Human Fountains were a wild card pick then? Also, why are so we so very heavy on singers and dancers? 7 out of 12 fall into that category. Are we really that top heavy? Are we going to see that many each week? Or did they load them up for some reason? Out of this group, the only ones I'm really looking forward to seeing again are the Angel City Chorale and Shin Lim. Of the first five, the only one I remember is Courtney Hadwin, and that's only because people have been talking about her a lot. I'll probably remember the other four when I see them again, but right now I can't conjure up any recollection of them. Not good. :\

Why are the body noise guys going through? Ugh. We lost the creepy contortionist, the violin player, and the quick-change folks for those two idiots. Even zebra guy would have been a better choice - he was oddly entertaining and endearing. :( Also have zero interest in escape acts. I know that something can go wrong, but here's the thing: (a) if it does, I don't want to see it, and (b) if it doesn't, they're boring because they're all the same - you know they'll get out in the last second, so they're really not that suspenseful. The most interesting part of that act was watching the alligators. He was boring. But at least Samuel made it through. We personally find him to be very funny and endearing. It somewhat makes up for Oliver not making it last week, although I'm still annoyed by that. I often cannot fathom what the judges are thinking. smh

Hannahlei was our early favorite coming out of the Academy, and after tonight she remains our favorite for the women. We really love the way she moves. We are not fans of Jensen - for us she is not the dancer her sister is, and we are huge fans of Lindsey. And I honestly thought she did better with the second dance than she did in her ballroom specialty dance. Chelsea clearly struggled with the tap, but we honestly thought that, given her lack of training, she did a decent job with it. As others have pointed out, you don't pick up tap in a week, so we weren't expecting a whole lot from her anyway. Magda and Genessy were good. On the male side, we really loved Cole, Evan and Slavick. Darius was good as well. The jury is still out for us on Jay Jay. We enjoyed the show last night, although the judges still talk too much. But 11 dances in all? Yes, thank you! Also really glad they paired up the contestants. That's always fun. Not really ready to see anyone go, but if it were up to us, we'd send Jensen and Jay Jay home.

I may have to officially hate Martina McBride for wasting her golden buzzer on the 71-year-old ballroom dancer. Great for her to be doing that at her age. I'm several years younger than her, and I don't look that good (by a long shot!) nor can I move like that either, but as ballroom dancing goes, she's just not anything special. There was very little dancing in that routine, just a lot of lifts, and many of them not done that well. As far as I'm concerned, Martina killed Oliver. That crap act took his spot. Yes, I'm bitter he didn't make it. I thought he was one of the better comics by a long shot. I would have taken both of the boy kid singers over the two they put through. Couldn't understand anything the band sang, and the singers were overwhelmed by the music, so we just didn't enjoy their performance at all. And we didn't like either of the songs the ex-Glee guy did. His voice has an interesting quality to it, but we hated both of his attempts. By contrast, both of the young boys had beautiful voices and much much better performances. The cats got through, so yay for that!! We love them. And The Sacred Riana got through, so that was also good. But those were the only two acts that made it through that we had any interest in at all. We would have rounded out the 7 with both boy singers and Oliver. Then possibly the Udi dance group - even though we didn't care for them, lots of people like that style - and maybe the acrobatic brothers. Overall, very disappointed with the acts that went through last night. On another note, I hated Grace VanderWall when she won a couple of years ago. Saw her recently on the Late Late Show with James Corden. She was much more enjoyable then. Still can't understand most of what comes out of her mouth, but her voice is not as annoying, and the tune was a nice catchy, bouncy one. Still wouldn't pay money to see her and would probably never buy any of her music, but she was definitely better, in our opinion anyway, so maybe with a few more years under her belt, she'll actually be pretty good.

As the mother of a transgender child - female to male - I can attest to the fact that, once they start testosterone, their voices really do change dramatically. When my son first started to transition, we kept the answering message on his cell phone for reference. It only took a couple of months before his voice was noticeably deeper, and now you would never know he was not born male. In fact, if it were not for caller id, I would be hard pressed to tell which of my sons I was talking to on the phone; they sound amazingly alike. It is not the same going male to female. While their voices do tend to get a bit higher and softer, it is often the case that they never really sound female without some kind of vocal training in addition to the estrogen. So, yes, I do believe he is transgender. Given the general animosity that is still prevalent in our society against transgender individuals, there would be absolutely no reason for him to lie about that. Last night seemed to be one of the better rounds for us anyway. We liked the contortionist; he was kind of creepy but in a good way. We loved the punster, but then we love a good pun anyway, and most of his were good. I know that kind of thing is not to everyone's taste, but we genuinely laughed out loud watching him. The senior comedian was okay. He got a couple of laughs out of us. He wasn't great, but he wasn't terrible,, and I'm okay with seeing seniors get through on an easier pass. Although something didn't add up, so maybe I misheard something? I thought the guy said he was 87, but Howie said they'd auditioned together 40 years ago when the guy was 28, which would make him only 68. Did I mishear something? Jump rope girl was good. Not sure what more she can do, but she was more fun to watch than some other acts they've put through. We also like the transgender singer. He had such a lovely voice. We were expecting him to be Heidi's golden buzzer since she's the only one who hasn't used it yet. Not sure what's with that. Motorcycle guy was good as well, but I'm hoping he's got more in his tank because that would get boring pretty quickly. Almost forgot - we really liked the violin guy. That must be so hard to be losing all feeling so young. We really enjoyed his performance, though. Everyone but Heidi has used the golden buzzer. Tyra did the dance troupe. Howie, Simon and Mel used it on singers.

And I think this is exactly why I got the impression that the guy was a bit "too gay" for Nigel. This show has always been about supporting and encouraging. Even when dancers are just plain bad, I don't remember anyone being that just outright nasty and cruel. If that guy watches the show, he's going to hear what Nigel said and may be crushed. Nigel's reaction was just disproportionately negative to what the guy did in his audition. Nigel may not have liked the choreography, but the kid had some skills. He moved very fluidly, showed personality, and his leaps were good. To listen to Nigel, you'd think this kid was Sex levels of bad.

Another mixed bag for us. I love Broadway, so I enjoyed the Broadway kid. His routine seemed very "Broadway" to me. Maybe a bit over the top in places, but I liked the way he moved and thought he showed enough promise to be put through. I suspect (and I admit it's not based on much) is that he was simply too "gay" for Nigel to be comfortable with. We were totally uninterested in the brain-surgery girl or the creepy girl. Couldn't believe they went through. We loved the last guy - he was really interesting and fun. And we enjoyed the salsa couple. We didn't think this week's tapper was as good as last week's tapper, though. But tap seems hit-or-miss to me. Sometimes I'll love it and sometimes not so much.

We were way out of touch with the judges this week . . . more so than usual. This was the first week we really liked some of the makeups, but naturally the ones we liked, the judges panned. <sigh> In the first pairing, we much preferred the first one to the one that the judges said won that pair. That blue just didn't appeal to us at all. We loved the bounty hunter , . . not the backstory but the actual look itself. It was very cool looking with the 'mask' on, and it was beautiful when she took it off. Since I know nothing about the Aztecs really, I couldn't tell whether it fit the challenge or not, but honestly I thought that was just a gorgeous make up and probably the one I've liked the most all season. I really disliked the winner. I did not like the colors - it seemed very garish to me, and that kind of bug-eyed look was just not appealing at all. And the bronze-ish one with the feathers in the headdress that the judges disliked so much was another one that I really liked. And I also thought's Mel's (I think it was hers with the flowers?) was just gorgeous. As my dad would say, "To each his own!"

Okay, Gunnar has always had his issues, but when he become such a colossal jerk? I get it that he's upset about seeing Avery and Alanna together, but (a) you'd think he just might be glad that he found out what Alanna was like before he got any further into her and (b) I don't give a damn how much your poor little feelings have been hurt, you don't leave the stage in the middle of a performance unless you're dying. If the guys let him come back to the band, he better count his lucky stars because that crap was just so far over the line, it's not even funny. Gunnar needs some serious professional help right now. Don't like Avery with Alanna, but I do still love Avery. Who'd have thought at the beginning that he would end up the most steady, solid and likeable person on the show? I get why Jessie feels she can't take on Brad. She doesn't have money, and he was able to throw her under the bus in the divorce, so she now has a 'record' of being unstable. That's a very tough uphill climb. But I'm at the point where I want her to just grab her son and take off. The longer she lets Brad fuck their kid up, the harder it's going to be for him to ever recover. I generally like Daphne, but I am so over bratty kids who know their parents have made mistakes and had to learn the hard way but still absolutely refuse to give them any credit for knowing what they're talking about. We had Maddie get mixed up with the rapist manager, and now Daphne is being exploited on a stupid reality show. I was really hoping she would refuse to mention her mother on air. But no. And Maddie needs to pull her head out of her butt, recognize that Bieberwannabe is a douche, and hook up with his friend, the one who actually seems to care about her and respect her. This is probably going to be hard to believe, but I actually do still like the show. Or maybe it's that I still have affection for most of the characters? But I am frustrated by some of these ridiculous story lines. Honestly, the writers need to understand that to balance out all the melodrama, there needs to be at least one healthy, happy relationship. There has to be. Because no one really wants to spend an hour each week watching a bunch of people be completely miserable. From time to time there have been hints - Deacon and Rayna were a good couple for a bit, Scarlett and Gunnar were a good couple for a bit, Juliette and Avery were a good couple for a bit. But they never allowed any of them to stay that way. It's one thing to have a relationship hit a snag they have to work together to get past, but that's not what the show does. The show just dumps on them and makes them be awful to each other. Just one healthy adult relationship - is that really too much to ask? Finally, I am actually looking forward to seeing Juliette come back and go after that cult. That, if done right, could be hella fine entertainment!

Thank you for posting that clip. I had completely forgotten about that. I agree it was so much better that first season they used it. Wish they'd bring it back for that purpose.

70 person Children's Choir: We missed most of this one because we tuned in a bit late. Seemed okay but not-quite-ready-for-prime-time. Quinn and Misha: She was in great shape for someone her age, but the dancing was just okay. Great for 71 but otherwise just okay. Telekineses guy: Nope. Jeffrey Li: Loved his voice, and he was a cutie! Light show people: We got bored and stopped watching. Daniel Emmet: Beautiful voice! We loved the song he was doing originally, but we loved the second song even better. Amazing that he could learn it that quickly with all those distractions going on. He just has a really lovely voice. Our favorite act of the night. Naked guy with teacups: Oh hell no. Trapeze Artists: I can recognize that what they do is extremely difficult and requires a lot of training, but honestly we got bored after a very short while. There's only so much you can do in an act like that, and it gets repetitive after a while. Annalyse Nock: Bored. As soon as we saw her lying on the ground and the guy running towards her, I told my husband, "She's fine. She'll jump up as soon as the guy gets over to her. This is all for show." And yup, as soon as the guy got there, she rolled over and got up completely without any help smiling. This is so darn predictable it's not even remotely exciting at all. Last Girl Singer: Surprise surprise. Yet another singer gets the golden buzzer. 3 out of 4 acts so far have been singers. And she was okay but might have done better with a different song. Aside from the fact that she has no idea what a "natural woman" is or feels like, she's no Aretha Franklin. We always used to enjoy this show and sometimes we still do, but honestly it's gotten so predictable at times. I'm tired of singers getting the Golden Buzzer, especially when they're usually just not that spectacular. I thought Darcy the ventriloquist was Golden Buzzer worthy because she was very good and the act was a bit different. But many of them have been nothing more than pretty good. We honestly don't even pay attention to the sob stories any more. As soon as they start in on one of these extended intros, unless it's got animals in it, we tune it out. Don't care. You want a show where best sob story wins? Bring back Queen for a Day. Otherwise, it's a talent contest, and you do not suddenly become more talented because your dad died or your wife left you and took your truck or you have some kind of illness. I personally would rather just see as many acts per show as we could. And see more variety - where were the magicians and comedians and strength acts? Heck, I'd love to see a good juggler or baton twirler. I'd even be up for watching more chickens try to play the piano.

Which is too bad because with probably just a little bit of effort they actually could discover some new talent. Wouldn't that be special?

I said much the same thing to my husband last night. I am so sick and tired of them telling the b-boys that they need a "signature" move and complaining about not seeing anything new when we sit through a bazillion and a half contemporary dancers who are absolutely indistinguishable from each other. Angst, bicycle feet, stretch your arm out, jump, hold your head and look distressed, etc. It's the same damn thing over and over again. Yet no one ever tells them they didn't show us anything new. And what was up with them saying they were only going to put the best through, and then they proceeded to put through multiple sub-par dancers that even they said needed improvement? Your transitions were terrible, you fell out of your spin, you need to work on your emotions, you need to keep working . . . come get your ticket. Jeez Louise, there's going to be a ton of cannon fodder at the Academy. Only ones we really liked last night were the tapper and the animator/tutter. We thought they were very good. "Baby" should have been sent home. The twins should have been sent home. I agreed with Twitch that the guy with the wheel should have gone through . . . at least given the other crap dancers they put through. (Not that he was a crap dancer, because we thought he was pretty good, but he was definitely better and more interesting than some of the ones they put through.) The salsa dancers didn't really wow us, and I wasn't sure why until I read the comments about the 'nude' panties, and I think that was the issue. It was very distracting and made me feel kind of icky to watch. WhineandCheez is right - matching panties would have been the way to go. Overall, this was a very ho hum set of auditions, we thought.

Exactly. I hate when little kids sing 'adult' songs, even when they're not overtly sexual. There's always something lacking because the kids have no real idea what they're singing about, so it's impossible (unless they've been really well coached) for them to convey the proper emotion or feeling. I was too distracted by her 'little girl speak' to really even think about what she was singing. It was always just painfully obvious she was a kid by the way she pronounced her words. That's why I thought it was kind of refreshing that one time when the young girl sang a Disney song. Yay! Something age appropriate for a child!

I had not heard that. We'll be sad to see it go, but I agree the talent pool seems to be a bit thin the last couple of seasons. So far this season we have not been wowed by any of the makeups. We can appreciate the tremendous amount of work people are doing, and I freely admit I couldn't do 100th as well as they do, but I can remember in past seasons being just completely blown away by at least one makeup, if not several, each week. We've watched every season except the first, but I have to admit we didn't remember at all probably half of the contestants. What would have been cool for a final season was if they brought back every single winner (I know that would probably be impossible) and pit them against each other to come up with a "Grand Champion" of Face Off. That would have been awesome.

In defense of Howie, I will admit that she brought Janis Joplin to mind for my husband and I as well due to the raspy quality of her voice, so I don't think that comment was entirely out of line. Of course, she also brought to mind Joe Cocker . . . . But singing can be very subjective - we liked her performance and thought she was better than a lot of singers that have been put through. But that's us. I will also say that we were not familiar with the song she sung and because she shares the same affliction many singers have in that they cannot enunciate worth shit, we had no idea what she was singing about, so the sexual references were totally lost on us. For which I think I'm actually grateful because ordinarily we can't stand children singing adult lyrics. In fact, that's really a pet peeve of mine.

Little Sophie: She was cute, and we knew they were going to put her through, but I honestly wish they'd set an age limit as I really don't want to see her again. Quick Change Couple: We enjoyed this one mostly because it's the first time we can remember having both of them do a quick change, and then having Tyra do a quick change was awesome. But there's only so much you can do with an act like this. We thought they were good enough to get another round, but they won't win. Noah: We liked him. Caterpillar Guy: Why did anyone on the show think we wanted to see that crap? We undoubtedly missed a good act to give that ridiculousness air time. :( Future Kings: We enjoyed them and were happy to see them get to another round. Virtual Reality Guys: Honestly, we were so bored by this act, but this is the type of thing that probably is experienced differently in the auditorium than on tv. Miss Trish: Loved her voice!! Very Motown. We're looking forward to seeing her again. Scorpion Guy: I know these acts can go wrong, but we just don't like them because they all follow the same pattern. Anxious assistant who hypes tension and artist escapes at the last possible second. At this point I'd actually prefer to see one who got out so fast they weren't even close to being in danger. Hans - International Superstar: We did not expect that and found that we enjoyed it immensely, even though we didn't expect to. Samuel the Comic: We were rolling with him. Just loved his entire act. But then we also enjoyed the comic who built his routine around his stuttering as well. But I'm a sucker for anyone who can take something like that and just roll with it and have fun. Courtney: We really liked her a lot, but having read the comments here, I'm disappointed to learn that she was a contestant on another version of the show. But she was good, even though she reminded us of Joe Cocker. :)

I had forgotten about them, but we really liked them, and we liked the song. Thought it was very catchy. Our reaction to the "coffee house" comment was, "What's wrong with coffee houses?" Yeah, it wasn't the glitzy stuff that they usually get, but honestly I'm just a bit tired of the overblown, overwrought, pop type singers. A nice coffee-house singer would be a nice change. :)

I'm having a real hard time right now remembering most of the acts from last night. The little girl who did the animal noises was cute. Loved that she kept giggling. I can't see her making it all the way to the end, but I don't mind that she made it to one more round at least. I liked the guys doing the acrobatics. The belly noises guys were okay. I actually thought it was kind of amazing the sounds they were making, but it's also kind of off-putting to watch them 'work.' Not sure how much more they can do. That 'comic' was horrible. What was Simon thinking? His comedy wasn't funny - it was just really awkward and nasty. Ditto the couple comics. God grief, that was uncomfortable. No, just no to both of them. We liked both the singers. Were not as crazy about the dance troupe. And I am annoyed that they showed a bunch of different dogs in the waiting area but we didn't see any dog acts. Boo hiss!

Glad to see the show back. We liked the first girl (I don't remember anyone's name at this point) - different and really interesting. As others have said, I'm not sure how that will translate into other styles. Does anyone know why the dropped the choreography round? She seems like a perfect candidate for that. We also really liked the tapper and that first ballroom couple. Ballroom trio was okay. With the way the judges were talking, we were expecting them to put that one guy and the girl through but not Kiki's brother. Kiki grew on me last season, so I'm okay with his brother. Am I right in thinking they're not doing that team thing they did last season with the All Stars? We really did not care for that at all. I haven't been able to find out too much information about this year's format, so I don't know if they're completely back to the way it used to be or if there are more surprises in store. But we're looking forward to it.