Tango64

The magician’s act was very underwhelming this time. It’s just a light hanging on a string, manipulated by someone offstage. No amount of graceful movement and hand waving will make that impressive. At least the judges called it out. i think the set designs with the huge digital moving graphics often work against the acts. Especially the dance groups where we need to see what they’re doing and not have it lost in all that moving background.

That preview of Rayne threatening violence on her host family because they want to buy a chicken to feed her dinner is crazy. That woman would be out of my house that night, her bags thrown in the street, and no help getting to the airport. By the way, I don't remember hearing she's vegetarian. Is she driven to this violence only when she sees the animal looking cute before she eats it?

Is it just me or does it seem like they're doing a lot more nasty, mean-spirited competition between the contestants? I know it's all producer-driven, but in the past I thought the contestants on this show were known for being very supportive and encouraging each other. Now it's all "Here's a twist that's gonna take you down, Mary! Sucks to be you!"

I went to a neighbor’s barbecue last week. When I was served an underdone burger I broke it open and shouted, “It’s rawwww!!!” Then I hurled it against their lawn mower. i don’t think I’ll be invited back.

The drone act is pretty cool, but where do you draw the line? Can a group of acrobatic jets do a demo over the parking lot? Can someone do a huge fireworks show outside? Can 100 skydivers (plus an AGT camera crew) jump out of a plane 5,000 feet over studio? As with previous outdoor performances, it seems like a different category of acts that shouldn't compete with people doing something on a normal stage. Plus, the drone act got the benefit of it being pre-taped and edited.

I despise Corona.

Well, you can eat a raw egg but you can’t eat raw chicken. There may be some risk but it’s not the same as eating raw chicken. And the egg was partially cooked. I actually thought it looked pretty good, maybe just a tad under how I like my eggs Benedict.

I noticed that the dog had moves where he was facing away from the woman, not looking at her, and then responded to the next cue. That alone is a pretty neat trick for this kind of dog act. The dogs are usually laser focused on the handler the entire time, so having it look away for a time and then stay on track is pretty impressive.

Corona is a real psychopath. She warns him that’s she’s just been soft-whatever bullshitting him and she’s going to pop off on him. He tries to respond by saying he’ll just try to make her laugh, and she dead faced says, “Wrong answer.” That woman is going to hurt you. Seriously hurt you, emotionally if not physically or both. At least she’s giving you a heads up. She seems to think that calling it something cute like “popping off” and acknowledging it makes it okay. It doesn’t.

Statler uses her long list of supposed maladies to be just plain rude. I’ve been exhausted mentally and physically after a long flight, but I could never be so cold and uncaring as she was. You can manage a smile and a few kind words before explaining how tired you are and asking them to understand. Especially on the occasion of reuniting with your love. Inexcusable.

For all the judges’ giggles over “early riser,” do they not even understand the name “hot box” pretzels?

Loved how the dog products woman's whole pitch was "Your dog's gonna die. Here's some useless flavored water that won't help with that." Reminds me of a radio commercial that used to run on an AM station here. "Hi, I'm Steve, the director of sales here at 750 AM. I don't have a dog, and I won't get a dog until all my cats die, but if I had a dog, I'd take him to Debbie's Doggy Daycare..."

Cheesy magician was on the show in season 14 and eliminated in judges’ rounds. They’re just taking anyone who shows up.

I’ve made a game (a very easy game) of spotting when they’re in an AirBnB or VRBO. Very clean, generic interior with no personalization, no normal signs of daily living. The rare genuine residence really jumps out in comparison. And the “send me everything you know about this person” email is always formatted the same way, always succinct and complete, and written in a formal way that 20 somethings don’t do anymore. And of course, “let’s meet at this public park. Here’s the address…”

Next season should be Gordon Ramsay’s Neurosurgery Stars, with contestants who cut hair and have aspirations for designing hats. Then hold them accountable for brain surgery and ridicule them for failing. Entertainment!

The "scary" magician stuff is getting old. Also, I noticed that the mealworms that spilled onto the judges' table were dead, probably freeze dried. The closeups showed them moving but were filmed another time. Bet the judges nixed the idea of live worms.

What is wrong with Dempsey? She seems pretty level headed and normal. She has seen how selfish, obsessed, and irresponsible Statler is, so why is she this eager to latch onto that? Are there no somewhat less crazy women available in the UK? I will say two things in Statler's favor: She looked very nice in those talking head interviews and so far she's not bragging (lying probably) about her sexual exploits.

That was delicious seeing the cutlery designer -- who is competing to be a "food star" -- fail to demonstrate the unique quality of the butter knife. I laughed when he said, "Look, it can slice butter!", just lopped off a huge slab of butter onto his toast, and then sat down.

"I'm on a big cooking competition. I have one hour. What should I make? Oh, I know. I'll make this tasty dish that requires a 37-hour cook time." We see it over and over.

I heard next week's challenge is to build a bridge across the Thames in 24 hours. And write a jingle for it.

There seems to be a relatively new career specialty in the tv industry now: the ability to act totally awestruck, amazed, and astonished at mundane performances or reveals. AGT features some of the most talented in this field, with the editors spending about 60% of the time showing the judges and Crews being out of their mind with disbelief. See also: The Masked Singer.

The domino act was okay once they got to it, but all the fake drama over emptying the theater and then everyone whispering was ridiculous. I laughed out loud when everyone was being soooo quiet and then the domino twins take their mics and boom out "HI! GREAT TO BE HERE!"

It would be helpful and very interesting to show some of the judges' discussion that leads to the final decision. Maybe not every episode, but certainly for the finale. Let's see a bit of their recap, disagreements, and convincing one another. But alas, that would detract from the big dramatic reveal at the end, and that is the raison d'etre for a show like this. Maybe they could make it available online afterward.

So one team developed a wine bottle that would be bought only by women (or men wearing lipstick) and only for romantic moments. The other developed a bottle to sell only for New Years Eve. So limited, in addition to all the other flaws. And it might be just me, but the lipstick prints were gross. I don’t want to look at that on my wine.

When Danny boasted “I’m turning this whole oven into a smoker!” I immediately thought about the cooks who have to use it the next day to feed thousands of people. They might not appreciate the lingering smoke flavor in their croissants or whatever, and I doubt the show scrubs ovens when they’re done.