S11.E18: Semi Finals 1

[Lonesome Rhodes]

3 minutes ago, Jordan27 said:

Editing the show is not fixing. 

And placements, pimp spots and favorable groupings are more conspiracy theories by watchers with no evidence to support it. 

I'll stop with this...The show last night was LIVE.  Malevo was given a special effect slo-mo to cap their performance.  This goes well beyond any lighting or staging.  A dance team was given a hero effect not seen by any human in that auditorium by digitally altering a......dance move 

There is an enormous amount of reporting through the years, including direct quotes from participants and producers, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of placement, and the manipulative decisions taken.

Cheers.

[marketdoctor]

Quote

I've missed a few semi-final performances here and there - are the husband and wife mentalist act still in the competition?

 

They're on next week.

I think everyone involved with the show has their bias; how much of that is intentionally changing the outcome and how much of it is honest differences of opinion, and how much of it is simply being bad at their jobs (not mic'ing Malevo's drumming, for example, or sound mixing of a singer) is an interesting question.

[Drogo]

Very few rules here, folks-

Everyone is allowed to post their opinion about the show: the contestants, the performances, the judges, the production, etc.  No one is allowed to be rude to other posters, tell them how to post, or call them names. 

If you're bugged by someone and can't seem to just ignore them, here are the instructions on how to let the site do it for you.

[backformore]

Just chiming in to say how annoying I found that Lori Mae kid - she comes across as an entitled spoiled brat.  I cannot shake that in my head, she is the bar Mitzvah boy from SNL: 

Not so much the jokes, just the intonation and the self-satisfied look after she tells a joke. 

[LadyMustang65]

16 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Anyone else catch Howie in his lie as to how much coinage was on the table?  Ultimately, it appeared that there was $1.11 (it certainly was not $1.67 (to match the state values)).   But, the lie was early on.  Howie looked at the coins and quickly realized it wasn't close to what it needed to be, and he said it looked like $1.67.  

Of course, the director missed shots which would have definitively proven it one way or another.   It could have been more amatuer hour garbage, or he was told to stay off any of those shots by a producer.

To me, it was an example of a "chosen" act getting benefits beyond doubts, if not facts, by the jidges - a form of fixed contests.

The act was still the best of the night, imo, but Howie's shenanigans were quite the tell, to me.   

I think you missed the point.  It didn't add up to the $1.67, and Jon admitted as much.  Howie didn't lie - I think he thought it was supposed to add up to $1.67, and that made him say that.  He was expecting it to add up, thinking that was the trick.  But it wasn't.  Jon said so.  He appeared to be confused for a second, and then told them to look at the quarters.  The trick was that the quarters were all from the states that the judges landed on.  So, I would strenuously disagree there were any shenanigans.  The trick went off as it should have, except for Howie's expecting it to be something it wasn't and so attempting to see something that wasn't there. 

[LoneHaranguer]

On 8/31/2016 at 0:08 AM, Commando Cody said:

Opera might work in other countries. I have my doubts that an opera singer will win in America's Got Talent.

One might if we were looking at a good singer, rather than just one good for her age, and we really just have the judges word that we shouldn't expect more from someone that age.

19 hours ago, rr2911 said:

Grace - Someone posted that they don't like to criticize kids. Well, maybe that's why Grace is still in this thing. No one had the guts to tell her the truth. She sounded terrible, her voice was terrible, and like many have said, I couldn't understand her.

Neither could the person doing the closed-captioning. I think she was overwhelmed by the situation she was in.

12 hours ago, Jordan27 said:

The trick wasn't the amount, it was the states on the quarters.

I suspect the trick was designed to go multiple ways, depending on what happened at the board, and he initially fumbled what the judges should have been looking for.

[Zuleikha]

 It didn't add up to the $1.67, and Jon admitted as much.  Howie didn't lie - I think he thought it was supposed to add up to $1.67, and that made him say that.  He was expecting it to add up, thinking that was the trick.

Yeah, you could tell that Howie totally messed up Jon's rhythm by initially confirming the wrong result. Howie was supposed to say that the change was wrong, which would lead to Jon revealing that the real trick was the quarters. Although I think the quarters were messed up, too. Didn't one of them not match? Because Jon had the rapid-fire patter, he was able to glide over it to get to the big map inside the journal reveal. It reminded me of that magician last year who messed up his card trick but recovered so smoothly that a lot of people (including me!) didn't initially catch that he messed it up.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Howie thought he was doing Jon a favor by "misstating" the amount as $1.67.  I say it was an intentional act - a lie - to benefit Jon.

The argument becomes the reason(s) he did it.  I see shenanigans, others do not.

[Apatee]

4 hours ago, Zuleikha said:

Yeah, you could tell that Howie totally messed up Jon's rhythm by initially confirming the wrong result. Howie was supposed to say that the change was wrong, which would lead to Jon revealing that the real trick was the quarters. Although I think the quarters were messed up, too. Didn't one of them not match? Because Jon had the rapid-fire patter, he was able to glide over it to get to the big map inside the journal reveal. It reminded me of that magician last year who messed up his card trick but recovered so smoothly that a lot of people (including me!) didn't initially catch that he messed it up.

I think he was worried about time. The show was running behind and he might've gotten a whisper to wrap it up. Howie having trouble making out the change and reading out the quarters was slowing it down a lot; not to mention Simon missing the target.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Apatee

[friendperidot]

not trying to add to any conspiracy theory, but with the quick glimpse I had of the coins, I only saw one penny & it would require 2 to make anything 7 cents in American coinage. But it was a quick glimpse and the trick was in the states on the quarters anyway.

[UsernameGoesHere]

I finally watched the full episode, and Musicality's video package was ridiculous! The kids all listing off the labels they've been given in their life. Good LORD. The show should be ashamed of that crap. Not to mention they sounded better in the video than in their actual performance.

Tired of the Mel/Simon antics. It's not funny, especially when an act doesn't get to be judged because Mel is busy acting like a 3 year old.

Laura Bretan really wasn't getting enough pimping, I'm glad they gave her a sob story.

[helenamonster]

On 8/31/2016 at 8:11 PM, AZChristian said:

Prude Alert.

Howie's comment about the wife in Deadly Games was - IMHO - inappropriate.  He said to the male part of the act, "Your wife is HOT.  She's so HOT that I couldn't give her a standing ovation because . . . " (as he looked down at his crotch).

If I were Howie's wife or the male part of Deadly Games, Howie would have been in BIG trouble.  

The way Howie talks about women on this show (and perhaps elsewhere, I wouldn't know) really bothers me. It's either gross or condescending. Has no one bothered to give him the memo that it's 2016?

11 hours ago, LadyMustang65 said:

I think you missed the point.  It didn't add up to the $1.67, and Jon admitted as much.  Howie didn't lie - I think he thought it was supposed to add up to $1.67, and that made him say that.  He was expecting it to add up, thinking that was the trick.  But it wasn't.  Jon said so.  He appeared to be confused for a second, and then told them to look at the quarters.  The trick was that the quarters were all from the states that the judges landed on.  So, I would strenuously disagree there were any shenanigans.  The trick went off as it should have, except for Howie's expecting it to be something it wasn't and so attempting to see something that wasn't there. 

Ah, okay, this makes sense. I'm glad things worked out for Jon, but bringing the judges into an act (especially a magic act) is always a huge risk because they take forever on their end. Also, I've mentioned this before, but...I'm not trying to be ageist, but when will these acts learn that pretty much all of the judges are at a point in their lives where it takes some time to read small print? It really holds things up when Howie has to pull out his glasses or whatever, and it can sometimes be embarrassing. I remember a couple years ago one magic act did a trick that required one of the judges to read an analog watch and recite the time it was stopped at, and it took forever and made it seem like the judge (can't remember who) couldn't fucking tell time.

[AZChristian]

If the coins weren't supposed to add up to 167, why was the "magician" adding the numbers up on a calculator while the celebrities were throwing the ball.  If they weren't supposed to add up, his use of the calculator made no sense.  

[Taeolas]

The adding on the Calculator is a distraction, to hide the true trick and/or to give him a way to do hand movements to palm the right quarters after they are picked. The actual total and numbers are irrelevant, and had he been able to pace properly, it would've lead to the "Magician got the wrong answer to the trick" fakeout that is very common nowadays. 

 

It did sound like the 4th quarter was Hawaii, when it should have been Wyoming, but that could have been just lost in the wrap up music or a tongue flub due to the rushing. We were never presented the quarter to verify it after all.

 

As for the intro blurbs, as someone noted, they are a necessary evil due to it being a live show and some acts needing more setup time than others. But even if an act doesn't need more than a mic and a backdrop, they still deserve an intro blurb. For fairness sake, every act should have about the same time window; including intro blurb, actual act, and judge commentary. Some acts (like comedians) are able to use the full time for basically their act. Others can use different elements for different targets (intro blurbs tug at those who are affected by the heartstring pullers). But in the end, each act does get the same total time (more or less) to present themselves for voting.

 

(Personally, I skip most of the intro blurbs and judge comments... but I also skip most of the singing acts and lately even many of the comedian acts; managed to squeeze the 2 hour show into 45 minutes or so. :) )

[bluepiano]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2016 at 5:11 PM, AZChristian said:

Prude Alert.

Howie's comment about the wife in Deadly Games was - IMHO - inappropriate.  He said to the male part of the act, "Your wife is HOT.  She's so HOT that I couldn't give her a standing ovation because . . . " (as he looked down at his crotch).  

Did he really do that? (Guess I wasn't paying close attention). That's crude and juvenile, especially for what's supposed to be a "family show." Saying she was HOT five times was enough.

It also annoys me that almost every time there's an act with a bunch of shirtless muscular male acrobats or dancers, Heidi and Mel B. have to make some leering comment. Jeezus, gals, just go to Chippendale's already.

Maybe I'm the prude.

Edited September 2, 2016 by bluepiano

[Indy]

1 hour ago, bluepiano said:

Did he really do that? (Guess I wasn't paying close attention). That's crude and juvenile, especially for what's supposed to be a "family show." Saying she was HOT five times was enough.

It also annoys me that almost every time there's an act with a bunch of shirtless muscular male acrobats or dancers, Heidi and Mel B. have to make some leering comment. Jeezus, gals, just go to Chippendale's already.

Maybe I'm the prude.

I'm with you. I mean, sure the Deadly Games wife and all of Malevo are hot but it comes across as a bit inappropriate for the judges to be constantly drooling over them.  Comment on their act, not their abs. 

[JeezumCrow]

On September 2, 2016 at 10:33 AM, AZChristian said:

If the coins weren't supposed to add up to 167, why was the "magician" adding the numbers up on a calculator while the celebrities were throwing the ball.  If they weren't supposed to add up, his use of the calculator made no sense.  

It's a misdirect. He adds up the value and asks if the coin value matches and - oh no! They don't match! The magician screwed up the trick!

 

.........until he reveals the states are on the backs of the quarters, which was the trick all along. 

Edited September 4, 2016 by curlyblackeggs
Typos

[SnarkyTart]

2 hours ago, curlyblackeggs said:

It's a misdirect. He adds up the value and asks if the coin value matches and - oh no! They don't match! The magician screwed up the trick!

 

.........until he reveals the states are on the backs of the quarters, which was the trick all along. 

Is it possible the "calculator" was triggering magnets in both the board and the footballs the judges were throwing, so that the balls would end up where the magician wanted them (to coincide with the coins)?  Also, it really did seem like a fumble when the 4th state coin wasn't revealed, and we were told to believe the magician's assertion that the 4th coin was, in fact, Hawaii.

[Jordan27]

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 0:37 AM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

I'll stop with this...The show last night was LIVE.  Malevo was given a special effect slo-mo to cap their performance.  This goes well beyond any lighting or staging.  A dance team was given a hero effect not seen by any human in that auditorium by digitally altering a......dance move 

There is an enormous amount of reporting through the years, including direct quotes from participants and producers, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of placement, and the manipulative decisions taken.

Cheers.

A slow mo effect is an advantage? 

And so-called advantages of placement are highly subjective.  This past week the so-called pimp spot received less votes than the first to perform so advantage doesn't necessarily translate into success.

Again, shows only want to make money.  You have given no reason why anyone would attempt to so-call fix a show when there is no benefit for them.