S15.E15: Live Show 3

[helenamonster]

Quote

11 performers compete for America’s vote.

Original airdate: 8/25/20

[ams1001]

• Dance group was cool, but the masks felt weird because I'm so used to seeing the big smiles and stuff with that kind of dance.
• Nobody needs singer-dude's advice. Muted.
• Usama was...okay I guess. 
• I take that back. The club bit was annoying. (I do not find that kind of music to be particularly fun to listen to.)
• WAFFLE crew. Now I want waffles. 🧇 [adds to grocery list] 
• Severe thunderstorm warning...if it knocks out my power it might be the best part of the show...
• Australian kid singer...looks like her shirt is inside out...
• Little Drummer Boy...I liked him better the first time. Getting repeatedly blinded by those yellow lights didn't help.
• Mentalist...ugh, no. Okay, the optical illusions were neat. 
• My mom just told me it was raining so hard it triggered the motion sensor on their backyard light. 
• Bonebreakers: I couldn't remember who these guys were until I saw their name on the screen. Then I said, loudly, to my otherwise empty living room, OH GOD!
• They're hard to watch but that extended look we got at Howie staring at them with that weird expression on his face was worse. 
• Sheldon Riley...I was bullied so I went on AGT to not hide anymore (because The Voice Australia wasn't a big enough stage).
• Alan Silva...music's playing, Heidi's dancing in her chair.
• "What's going on? It's not over?" "Look at that!" "They're spikes!" Why do we need to hear the judges' inane commentary? Just let us watch the act. I'm sure we'll figure it out for ourselves.
• "What made you hit that golden buzzer?" The producers told me to.
• Christina Rae...eh.
• There was a lot of muting tonight. Alas, no power outages.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Another dreck week.  

Points to the mentalist for fessing up to subliminal messaging.  Of course, I don't trust that it was the reason for the uniformity of response. 

Haaaaated the drummer.  Again with tracked audio.  I tried like heck to hear the reports/strikes on the drums when I saw such.  Most of the time, I heard nothing from him.  It was infuriating to be played like that by SYCO.

Did the comedian bomb using jokes about bombs?  Ironic.

The checkerboard dancers were energetic and I liked them fine.  $1 million?  Nuh uh.

I appreciate the bearded singer's voice.  He can go home, though, with his pretentious choice to play originals.

Circus dude was aight, too.  The degree of difficulty is nowhere near where it ought to be, though.

The best moment of the night was when Sofia flat called Howie untrustworthy.  THAT, was greatness.  The lady is asserting herself nicely.  She wasn't kidding, either.  

 

[CrystalBlue]

I watched live, or more appropriately "live" since I'm a west coaster, out of obligation to myself so that I didn't disappoint myself by missing something important and reading about it here first.   I needn't have bothered really.  Not one of the dancing acts did anything new for themselves, and I don't see why the judges act so amazed at the same ole dance routines and moves.

I now believe it's in Heidi's contract to groove with the moves or move with the grooves or whatever chair dancing stuff she always does.  Heidi, stop it already, and please keep your tongue in your mouth.  Sofia gets in the swing of things too, but I think she just wants to be like Heidi.  Heidi looked normal and like herself tonight.  I liked Sofia's lipstick which complimented her gold lame gown.  Howie was in a sandwich tonight, which is what I was making during a commercial so I missed some commentary from the three wise judges on Alan Silva's silk acrobat routine.  Funny that they couldn't rustle up a guest judge.

Usama's stand up comedy routine was too edgy for the house.  Since a comedian will not win the million dollars and Vegas gig, at least he gave us something to remember and risked it all.

I still think a singer will win.  After tonight I think that Cristina Rae has an edge over VOOC Choir.  I personally don't like that song but she did it well.  That Australian kid singer bugged the hell out of me for some reason.  The Australian mystery face singer is much more interesting and likeable to me.  The sob story drug addict recovery singer was better but I don't think he'll come out on top.

[Vermicious Knid]

Bonebreakers; all of you with testicles had them try to crawl back inside, amiright?

Christina Rae did a good job but can we please have a moratorium on Hallelujah being used on all reality show performances ever. It's so overplayed. Big dance groups are always confusing to watch, too many things going on at once. Comedian was only mildly funny. Didn't pay much attention to the actual trick with the mentalist but enjoyed him showing how he messed with everyone's mind. I do like Sheldon Riley, even if the crystal masks are too much. Waffle crew, little Australian singer, drummer boy, ex-druggie country singer-all meh.

[InternetToughGuy]

Judging by the lack of comments for this episode, morale for the show is lower than I am to the ground. It's a pretty baseless remark since this forum and the official YouTube channel are hardly an overall representation of the audience, but it feels like everybody who pays any sort of mind to this show is entrenched in apathy. I do look forward to another Champions season, as the already multicultural contestants will be performing on webcam in different countries, even if you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Guess I'll watch as many performances as I can, since even if I am not a fan, I would still like to be rude.

Dance Town Family - Even if they were good, the sight of the masks has already sufficiently irritated me. Every time I see someone in public wearing one, I think "there goes the brainwashed drone", though I still have the social awareness to not start arguments that would end with me face down in dog shit on the sidewalk. It irks the chess geek within to see them dancing on black and white squares yet they're not moving one at a time. The act was a giant nothing, I don't know who would give a damn.

Nolan Neal - With his double initials, his stage name could be Eninen if he hoped to get ticket sales by people who are near sighted or illiterate. Since I haven't really watched in weeks, I guess the applause is a sound effect? If it were an AI program, anything with real intelligence wouldn't clap at this crap. Speaking of not watching the show, doing so made my acne clear up, the eye bags went away; I feel good. Why did I come back?

Usama Siddiquee - It's hard to fully believe in his schtick with his initials radiating patriotism. While it seems like he's just doing another version of that joke everyone knows (yelling "Hi, Jack!" in an airport), I am pretty glad to hear some material that makes voluntarily bald women throw things at the TV in faux outrage. Since most social justice warriors are within the same age bracket as I am, I'm prepared to wait another 70+ years until they all die for comedy to return to normal - I expect to live long due to a work-free life giving me the glow of a newborn baby, despite that also meaning having the bank account of one as well.

W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew - Since dance acts never do anything after the show, they just need to replace "Crew" with "House" and they'll have laid out a realistic career trajectory. I hope Heidi gets muscular dystrophy so she'll stop dancing/vibing with every musical performance. I don't think I missed much of this season, yet I don't remember who this act is at all. Those pyro cannons reminded me of the California wildfires; I heard the Berenstain Bears lost everything in that blaze. Damn...

Annie Jones - I only want "covers" during cold weather, despite having equally low tolerance for anyone singing them on the Winter Champions season. Even if I had a kid of my own and they did these kinds of performances, I don't think I could shake myself out of my default lobotomized state to pretend to care.

Malik DOPE - It seems like he performed last year, which is odd because this show usually makes the perception of time slow down to a crawl. It wasn't bad, but I'd rather see him play sitting down at a real drum set and see how much of his skills are objective instead of his gelatin legs slithering around the stage.

Max Major - My rapidly twitching finger wanting to X out of his performance is making it look like I'm sending a telegram. Howie closing his eyes to the performance represents the every man. Is it a coincidence he's handling large quantities of alcohol before his performance starts?

Bonebreakers - Their dedication to implementing an entirely calcium-free diet shows true commitment. A downside to this extreme flexibility would be the entire Kamasutra being uninteresting. A mildly philosophical thing I think about for every act or every person in general is do people pursue their inherent talent as a job because they like doing it or is it like a begrudged "I might as well"? Some examples are obvious like singing, but being able to twist your arms and legs around seems like a pretty limited field - seems hard to imagine they'd be joyful making a career out of it. Far too much thought has been put into an act whose name I will forget about by tomorrow.

Sheldon Riley - The talent pool is as shallow as for me to do a crippling head first dive into, but still compared to people who have to craft a real routine for their talent, most singers just show up and do a lazy ass cover. I view it from the perspective of playing guitar; it's not like every song has to be heavily practiced on its own, as having the general skill set carries over to being to play every song unless there's something about it above my skill level. If your vocal range is pretty much a done deal and you're always singing within it, then it seems like there's next to no effort required. Boring as hell.

Alan Silva - I am surprised that after several years, routines being performed alongside songs that don't compliment the performance at all can still strike such a nerve and form an instant scowl. What is the audience for this? I might attend just to witness the extremely rare person who is shorter than me, but I wouldn't even pay the taxpayer's money.

Cristina Rae - These songs that border on public domain make me shadowbox the TV. At least I can relate to the titular lyrics, as I say them out loud when realizing this is the last performance of the night. So, so, so, so, so, so, boring. Of course my usual viewing behavior is that of 5% attention, but I've kind of realized that there isn't a single attractive woman on the entire show. One hot gust of Tyra's morning breath in my face would make up for all of the suffering of this season.

As boring as this show was, I do want to watch the results show just to make a post. Just a few more weeks until this crap is over. Don't lose hope.

Edited August 26, 2020 by InternetToughGuy

[tomorrowgirl]

I was not compelled to vote for anyone, so I didn't.

[Babalooie]

5 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

Christina Rae did a good job but can we please have a moratorium on Hallelujah being used on all reality show performances ever. It's so overplayed.

As a public school music teacher, I've produced many talent shows and agree that "Hallelujah" has been run into the ground.  However, on last night's show, Christina did the best job.  That's why they closed the show with her.  This season it seems to me that there is an overabundance of  dancers.  Maybe it's just me.

[Swenson]

I was not compelled to even watch it......so i didn't.

[saber5055]

8 hours ago, InternetToughGuy said:

it feels like everybody who pays any sort of mind to this show is entrenched in apathy.

I guess that describes me since I couldn't get all up for any of last night's acts. I did take a few notes though, so here goes.

Dancetown Family had a bunch of good dancers. Combining that with some great lighting, set, background, videography and editing made their act an excellent one. They would not have been so impressive dancing on a regular old stage. I don't remember them from an audition show, but I liked them last night. Enough to vote? No. But still, enjoyable.

Singer dude ... didn't pay attention so no comment.

Usama comedian. The airport part was pretty good although sort of old news. Like almost a decade old news. Then he switched to dissing women, and dissing women again. And dissing women again. WTH dude. That was enough for Heidi, Sophia and me to give him the stank face. And the stank face he put on after his negative critique won him no favors, at least with me. I'm hoping he goes home to his wife/girlfriend/mom's house and finds all his junk tossed out on the front lawn and the door locked. Jerk.

WAFFLE crew. So they lost some best friends, but from what. COVID, drugs, shooting or they just moved away. Inquiring minds want to know. But this was another group that had an excellent professional video filmed at Universal Studios, so they need to thank the pandemic if they get voted through.

The mentalist guy ... what a bunch of BS. I drew a picture of a cartoon horse, but maybe having five years of art school prevents me from drawing a first-grade-level smiley-face sun. That whole act was a crock. I usually like mentalists but this guy ... no way, dude. You suck. Even I could figure out the watch being remotely controlled. Oh, sorry guys. Spoiler alert.

Annie singer little girl. She was pretty good, but I was irked she stole "Annie's World" from Aidy Bryant's recurring SNL skit.

Drummer guy. His playing might have been good or bad but no one could tell since the strobing lights put viewers into convulsing seizures. I guess that's one way to get through his act.

I liked the Bone Breakers but that yellow weird background ... WTH was that about. I guess I only like them because the three judges are so obviously freaked out. What a bunch of woosies. I did want their bodies to spell out A G  T at the end though, so  i was vaguely disappointed.

Jeweled singer has a great hook. He'd be just another club singer without the diamond mask. So good on him for thinking that up.

I love the silks guy, but what was up with the editing, the camera kept going to the judges when it looked like he was having a problem or taking too long to set up part of the performance. That might have been why Sophia had a RBF the entire time she was watching him. Girl, you gotta lose that stank face.

The show ended with a singer but my attention was totally gone by then so I don't know if she was good, bad or indifferent. Eh.

[Tango64]

That drum performance was ridiculously bad, or "just stupid" as my high school band drummer son said. Jumping around the stage hitting a drum once in a while, in no particularly impressive fashion, and you couldn't even hear the drumming most of the time over the awful soundtrack. If the guy has real drum skills, he needs to show them off in a way that focuses on, you know, the drumming. But of course the judges were dazzled by the spectacle of it all.

Agree with another poster here that the editing on the silks act was wierd and confusing. A couple of times I thought he had messed up and had the silks tangled, or maybe he was just not making transitions smoothly. But with the editing I couldn't really tell for sure. 

[Archer27]

I just watched last night's episode. My top 5: Cristina Rae, Nolan Neal, WAFFLE crew, Sheldon Riley, and Alan Silva.

As many have state,d, wrong song choice for Annie Jones. Doubt she will make it through. Malik Dope is talented, so he may make it through. If you have watched videos of Usama Siddiquee's performances at comedy clubs, he tells the same joke about his name/airport...he needs new material. Dance Town Family are great, but I do not like them as much as WAFFLE crew. Bone Breakers - just no. 

 

[CrystalBlue]

I agree with ITG about the Dance Town Family wearing masks. Annoying, unnecessary and cut into my escapism from current world events.  Pro tip for comedians:  Never call one of the lady judges a tramp.  (Heidi didn't seem to appreciate it and I think it honestly hurt her feelings.  Sofia was embarrassed and outraged on her behalf.)  It continues to be refreshing to not have an audience if only to allow the judges (Howie) an opportunity to judge, instead of just gush, without the booing.  Agree that the mentalist guy, although he makes a nice appearance, had a lame act.  I'm not buying it, although I did wonder why they had the Sunny California poster on the set.  (I mentally drew a palm tree.  Ha!)  Drummer act was irritating because I feared that I might have a seizure and banging around to an overly loud soundtrack didn't impress me.

[bluepiano]

I think I watched this episode in record time, since I fast forwarded through the boring singers and also most of the judges' comments. No point in listening, since every performer is "amazing," "super talented, "a star," and "best act of the night." I guess if you don't get a standing ovation that means they didn't like you? I feel like it's been years since a live performance got any kind of critical or even mildly negative review.

The hip hop based dance crews are all running together in my mind.

The mask wearing by the salsa dance group was ridiculous. Way to virtue signal. For that alone they should be eliminated. I want to watch this show for escapist entertainment. Not to see what I see when I walk out my front door.

So Usama is going to make jokes about his name every time, like the comics who base their entire act around their stutter or physical disability? And funny how times have changed. 9/11 used to be considered a national tragedy. Now it's fodder for comedy. Sorry to be a downer, but I wonder if the families of the 9/11 victims think this stuff is funny. (The tramp joke was bad too. Bye bye dude).

Drummer with his pre-recorded tracks was terrible. Again. I'm convinced the judges have no concept of what good drumming or real music is. Anything with a beat, right? 

Heidi, please stop "dancing." 

When Terry did the intro for Nolan Neal ("tragedy, "second chance in life" etc). I thought, wait, it's not time for Archie Williams to return yet. Sorry, if someone has success and every advantage and then screws up their life by getting into drugs, that's not a tragedy. That's a bad choice. Tragedy is when you are the victim of something outside your control, like being in a wheel chair because you were hit by a drunk driver. Please stop selling this guy on a contrived sob story. (Beyond that, I think he's an okay singer, but I can hear that kind of growly voice at any coffee shop open mic in my city. At least I could, pre-covid).

I "played at home" with the mentalist, and my mental image was of a bus, not a smiley sun face. Wonder what that says about me? I actually enjoyed his act, but probably mostly because he wasn't a singer and there was no dance music.

Starting with the mask wearing dancers, through the bad drumming, mediocre singing, the unfunny comedian, and the boring judges, this episode really put me in a foul mood. 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by bluepiano

[saber5055]

49 minutes ago, CrystalBlue said:

I'm not buying it, although I did wonder why they had the Sunny California poster on the set.

I didn't see any of the so-called subliminal suns in his act, but he was fooling with a Rubik's cube while walking so I looked away from him because I figured the Rubik's was some distraction thing, so I stared at the California poster instead, thinking it was just part of the Universal Studio set. I did not see the word SUNNY on the poster though, just California written like it would be on a post card.

Yeah, BIG FAIL mentalist. Seems like his last act or two were pretty weak as well.

I didn't notice the masks on any of the dance groups. I only notice when people in my grocery are not wearing them. Otherwise, I pay no attention.

[rr2911]

Yesterday's AGT show continued this season's recipe, good and bad performances, bad judging and of course...sob stories. Let's get right to it!

11. Annie Jones - Either the show's sound system was out of whack or the judges were lying to Annie. She was so out of tune I wanted to go to my tv settings to see if speakers were working.  Poor little girl, she was awful!

10. Alan Silva - He was boring. Even the thing with the spikes was so predictable and anti-climatic.

09. Bone Breakers - I thought their outfits clashed with the color of the stage. It was difficult to see. Regardless, what else are they going to? Every contortionist has done the same thing in the past.

08. Usama Siddiquee - I liked him better in his audition. I thought he crossed the line with his 911 references, and got worse with women jokes. But...he didn't call Heidi a tramp. He said, "If I called you a tramp..." 

07. Dance Town Family - I thought they were good, but they're going to suffer what other dance groups suffer, and that is.......everything move they do it's been done before! Nothing new. Just old rehash stuff.

06. Mailk DOPE - I would've liked to see him play the drums with minimal movement. In other words, play the drums sitting down, but not jumping all over the place. And then to make things worse, he had a drum track going on! Without the track, how would he had sounded?

05. Sheldon Riley - He was the 5th best of the night to me. Not because I liked him, but because there weren't better performances. He has an ok voice, but I don't like his face mask costume thing.

04. Nolan Neal - He was ok. I liked his first appearance better. He's not the best singer but his sob story will help. 

03. WAFFLE Crew - I did think they were entertaining, but they had about a couple of blocks to expand on their performance. How unfair is that? That just rubbed me the wrong way. They had a back story so they will definitely go through.

02. Christina Rae - Ok, She's a very good singer, but "Hallelujah" has been sung so many times..geesh! There is only one singer that comes to mind when I want to hear this song and that's Josh Groban! I had a feeling she was going to put her own flavor in the song. There is just some songs you leave alone, and that's one of them. She'll make it for sure and that shot at the end showing her little boy will be HUGE FOR VOTES!

01. Max Major - I've read a lot of people didn't like him. Since I like magicians, I enjoyed his act. He isn't in the same league as some others that have crossed the AGT stage, but entertaining nonetheless. My wife did draw a sun without a face, which I thought was fascinating. I drew a cloud. Close enough!

 

I think these contestants will be going through....

. Christina Rae

. Nolan Neal - sob story

.Sheldon Riley - sob story

. WAFFLE Crew - backstory 

. Malik DOPE

Even though I like Max Major, I don't think America will feel the same way.

In other forums, Usama Siddiquee is being bashed and rightfully so. You just don't joke about 911...period! However, AGT knows the material that each contestant is going to use, so they are as much to blame for his tasteless jokes!

 

Race For the Sob Story Award........I think Archie Williams is still in the lead.

 

[ams1001]

18 hours ago, ams1001 said:

WAFFLE crew. Now I want waffles. 🧇 [adds to grocery list] 

Went to grocery store. Forgot list at home. Did not get waffles.

 

26 minutes ago, rr2911 said:

01. Max Major - I've read a lot of people didn't like him. Since I like magicians, I enjoyed his act. He isn't in the same league as some others that have crossed the AGT stage, but entertaining nonetheless. My wife did draw a sun without a face, which I thought was fascinating. I drew a cloud. Close enough!

I like him; I just don't generally like mentalist acts.

I did not draw anything, mentally or otherwise. I might have missed the instruction to do so.

 

14 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

The best moment of the night was when Sofia flat called Howie untrustworthy.  THAT, was greatness.  The lady is asserting herself nicely.  She wasn't kidding, either.  

Aw, I missed it! I muted a lot of the judge commentary.

[Vermicious Knid]

Wonder why they didn't have a guest judge this week.

I completely forgot the aerialist act. But yeah, I also wasn't sure if he was messing up, it was the editing, or I'm just not familiar enough with the skill.