S12.E15: Live Show 2

[Drogo]

Twelve acts will take the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood for the chance to win the $1 million prize, as judging is turned over to the American viewing audience.

[suebee12]

This is my first season of watching AGT. I have seen separate acts before but not the complete show start to finish. My question is...do they always over produce the acts in the live shows? I really enjoyed most of the acts without all the "extras"...if you are good, you do not need all the frills. Kinda' reminds me of American Idol. The first few years(the ones that Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken called the "ghetto years")were actually so much better than the later ones with all of the over-production. At least IMHO. Same goes for this show. Let them sing and dance!

That said, I loved the dog act tonight. Of course, I am rooting for them since I lived in Sarasota for over 40 years!(Not sure how that is possible since I cannot possibly be old enough to have lived there that long! LOL)

Edited August 23, 2017 by suebee12

[Diana Berry]

The dogs are the only thing  I enjoyed.

The last singer is very sweet but so  tired of not understanding a word they are singing ( i.e. grace from last season).

why didn't the magician's wife start screaming isn't that her part of the act?

underwhelmed tonite 

Edited August 23, 2017 by Diana Berry

[lor]

the mirror twins are awful. i hope they are voted off.

the show should just  give darci the prize.

[giaNtsandYankees]

I don't know if it's because I'm not feeling well, or not, but most of tonight was just meh for me. From what I can remember off of the top of my head:

 

Mirror Image - they're decent dancers. I'll give them that. They shouldn't sing. Maybe they should stick to dancing, and work on improving on that. But if they make it through (which I doubt, but I could be wrong) that might confuse people.

Johnny Manuel - beautiful voice, but I was not feeling the song choice. He did hit some good notes though. The judges seemed to like it.

Celine Tam - I was not feeling this, but at least she sung a Disney song, rather than a song a about romantic love, which I feel she is too young to understand or connect with.

Evie (? can't remember her name) - I refer to her as Grace Van Der Waal 2.0. My heart does go out to her, her family, especially her father. But I'm not just not connecting with her. Her performance did not do anything for me. Lovely girl, though. And my thoughts are with her father.

Mandy - She may make it to the finals. I have a feeling that she might. I'm sure Simon will sign her whether he wins or not. Me, personally, I cannot understand her at times. But good on her for pursuing her passion, and not letting her disability hold her back. As a person who is disabled myself, I'm doing my best to pursue my poetry, even though writing is extra hard for me these days. (I apologize for my little sob story, folks.)

The escape artist who's name escapes me - Well, at least his over the top screaming wife was not on stage (or out of earshot). His act is a tad predictable. He has to escape something; it seems like he has not escaped, and then he comes out in disguises. Things do go wrong, I understand that...but I still did not get it.

Masqueraders - Their genre is what my father played when I was growing up. I love classic soul music, but the music overshadowed their singing...unlike their previous two performances. I enjoy them though. Hopefully, they'll get through.

 

That's all I can remember for now...

Edited August 23, 2017 by giaNtsandYankees

[Maverick]

27 minutes ago, suebee12 said:

This is my first season of watching AGT. I have seen separate acts before but not the complete show start to finish. My question is...do they always over produce the acts in the live shows? I really enjoyed most of the acts without all the "extras"...if you are good, you do not need all the frills. Kinda' reminds me of American Idol. The first few years(the ones that Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken called the "ghetto years")were actually so much better than the later ones with all of the over-production. At least in MHO. Same goes for this show. Let them sing and dance!

That said, I loved the dog act tonight. Of course, I am rooting for them since I lived in Sarasota for over 40 years!(Not sure how that is possible since I cannot possibly be old enough to have lived there that long! LOL)

 Yes, the live acts are always overproduced (despite what Heidi says...she didn't think all the graphics and projected lyrics were overproduced?).    Not only are the acts overproduced, but it's basically forced on them (since you give away your rights to anything when sign the contract to audition).  There was one act a few years ago who was criticized by the judges for his performance.  He responded--on live TV--that if he had been able to do the act his way without all the bells and whistles it would have been better.  He was shut down immediately as a cry baby.  I assume he was promptly taken out to the desert and had to dig his own grave.  

[TJtrack99]

Live Show Week 2 rankings, presented in reverse order:

12. Mirror Image. Freddie Mercury is SPINNING in his grave. They slaughtered one of my favorite songs of all time. The dancing was passable, but ruining Queen is unacceptable.

Also 12. Demian Aditya. Is it just me or, even if it had gone right, did this seem simpler than his other 2? I thought the torch on the "support rope" didn't even look like it was burning. And then the box didn't fall right. I think it was all pretty fake (especially with the screaming wife) and I think that just got exposed.

10. Celine Tam. She sings fine, I just was not moved at all. I don't think she was Golden Buzzer worthy last time. *shrug*

9. The Pompeyo Family. They were certainly fun, it just didn't seem to do that much new. I liked the theming, though. I could see a "family act" boost in voting.

8. The Masqueraders. They have a great story and great voices. I agree with the judges (and commenters here) who said everything was a bit overproduced.

7. Johnny Manuel. Love the song, but he hacked it to pieces to fit it in. Would have loved to have heard a full version. He did a good solid job with it though. Whitney and then (most recently) Jennifer Hudson songs...guy has a type!

6. Eric Jones. I was more impressed by the first 2 parts than the last of passing himself through. My fiancée went "Did he just go under the glass?"

5. Mandy Harvey. Now that the novelty has worn off a little, she's still a great singer and should be commended for everything. I just wasn't as wowed as I was the first time.

4. Evie Clair. Not sure I would have put her through on either of her other performances, but she really impressed me tonight. She sounded a lot better. Maybe it was playing along with herself?

3. Brobots and Mandroidz. Another great dance group. I'm still bitter about Just Jerk.

2*. Merrick Hana. Kid is adorable, might actually be a robot, and is a great interpretive dancer. Though he could have used a little more light on him to see him better.

1*. Light Balance. Was SO stoked to see them live. The dress rehearsal was AWESOME. Alas! I think they have the most potential, hence the *.

In conclusion, I definitely want Light Balance and Merrick to go through, and I'd be pretty happy about any 5 of my next 7.  Celine would be a stretch, and I am so over the other 2.

[suebee12]

So the acts themselves probably have nothing to do with the sets they are given? I mean Simon kept telling Johnny to hurry and join them...how could he when he probably was getting over altitude sickness from where they had him singing! And poor Celine was almost eaten by the thing from Little House of Horrors! Heck, even Simon mentioned it!

So I decided that listening was the way to "watch" the show. At least I didn't have to see all of the extras that were not needed! And the poor men in Masqueraders, you could not hear them. Again, it reminded me of AI...I want to hear the singers not all the background junk! Hopefully people will ignore the background noise and vote for the voices.

[Commando Cody]

I was so bored with all of the acts tonight. The dogs were cute though. 

Those twins were terrible. I wasn't really paying attention in the audition rounds. I have no idea how they made it this far. 

Sign your name on a card... whatever. 

Technical difficulties. Bad escape act. 

America's Got Sob Stories. 

[sharifa70]

I thought Brobots and Mandroids were too frenetic, and the light show distracted me. There was just way too much going on and I found it more exhausting than exciting.

Mirror Image has got to be a joke. Please tell me they auditioned as a joke and they're trying to get voted off. 

[dingochick]

My husband refers to Mirror Image as "Dual Spooge."

[CelticBlackCat]

I can't believe Mirror Image made it this far.  Tonight's performance was not a mirror image of each other; they were not in sync.  The butchering of Queen was horrendous.  If they knocked off the singing and stopped with the cutesy faces, and concentrated on actual dancing in sync, i.e., mirror image, they might get by as an act somewhere.  America's Les Twins?

[Rachel81]

2 minutes ago, CelticBlackCat said:

I can't believe Mirror Image made it this far.  Tonight's performance was not a mirror image of each other; they were not in sync.  The butchering of Queen was horrendous.  If they knocked off the singing and stopped with the cutesy faces, and concentrated on actual dancing in sync, i.e., mirror image, they might get by as an act somewhere.  America's Les Twins?

I died a little inside. I absolutely adore that song, and they butchered it to within an inch of its life. (This is as far as I've gotten in the show so far.) Simon's X hopefully cost them the chance to go through.

I prefered Mandroids to Jerk. I'll go hide now.

[tl613]

Mirror Image is a complete waste. Bello originally went home during Judge Cuts but these guys are still here? It's ridiculous. I actually wouldn't be surprised if they got voted through.

 

The escape guy was terrible. His act is just too predictable. Even if the box fell as it was supposed to, it would have been a pretty boring act.

 

I thought the magician was terrible as well. I'd have to watch it again, but I'm pretty sure he did not give Howie the card he chose. Also it was interesting that the camera obscured seeing where the card on the glass came from. Pretty sure it was just up his sleeve the whole time. It was pretty obvious he just went under the glass. Part of the illusion should be that he is holding the drape up, but he obviously wasn't. 

 

Evie is not not a very good singer. For awhile there I didn't even think she was really playing the piano. 

 

The deaf ear singer will go far. I could see her in the final two against the little girl Terry Fator. 

 

The episode was forgettable which which is why I probably don't remember the names of most of the acts. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Two absolutely no-brainer losers tonight:  Escape dude and Mirror Image.  Evie and Mandy were turrible, but the backstories may save them.

Overall, the quality this week was much better than last.

Production screwed Celine Tam.  No doubt.  Bad song.  Worst possible slot in the program (2nd), and the purple growth swallowing her was hideous.  Beyond that, Mel used one of the worst possible criticisms (song was too big for her) despite the fact that her critique had it exactly backwards.  She was NOT ALLOWED a signature belting song.  

The magician was pretty good, but his presentation absolutely needs refinement - as does that of the dog family.  I think he'll get cut but the doggies will get through.

If Mirror Image advances, the FCC needs to step in and investigate.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I find Mirror Image entertaining just because it's such a train wreck it borders on parody, but the twins are complete unaware how silly they look. 

Even if it didn't mess up, the escape artist's trick was exactly the same as his last two, without sand this time. 

Overall, just a lousy show. I'm glad I start it late so I can ff through most of it. 

[Ellee]

I'm new to AGT.  

Is this just like all reality shows that 'write their script' while claiming that it is 'all real'?  So who is in, who is on the bubble and who is out is all predetermined by TPTB? 

Just a cynical me question.  

[UsernameGoesHere]

I haven't seen the show yet, but I've never been so glad to hear that an act fell flat on their face (the escape artist)! Now he and his boring, repetitive act can finally go away, and he can take his annoying wife with him. YES!

[Babalooie]

1 hour ago, Ellee said:

So who is in, who is on the bubble and who is out is all predetermined by TPTB? 

I am always suspicious that the producers have the say-so over the final outcome.  I have not seen a copy of the AGT or The Voice contract, but I have for American Idol.  That is the case on AI - the producers have the final say-so.  On another monkey-shines note, it seemed that The Masqueraders were lip-synching their 1959 recording.  I'm glad they got one last hurrah.  They seem like nice guys.

[marketdoctor]

Quote

This is my first season of watching AGT. I have seen separate acts before but not the complete show start to finish. My question is...do they always over produce the acts in the live shows?

Great question!  Answer:  Yes.

For some reason, they think the idea of a singer standing there and singing isn't great TV.  <sarcasm>That explains why Adele has so much trouble selling albums.</sarcasm>.

The worst were the singer surrounded by so many candles, I thought Lil' Sebastian had died again--and all that CO2 couldn't have done her voice any favors.  Maybe it was ventilated enough not to do harm, but I was concerned she was giving her lungs a waxy yellow build-up.  Not at all her fault.

It's still not as bad as the time a few years ago they put Emily West inside a giant dress--big enough to distract from her singing, and IMO cost her a few places.

I also wondered if producer meddling was why they went with a blowtorch through a steel cable instead of the more conventional rope-on-fire for the escape artist.  I felt sorry for him if the heat or something else (candle wax/soot, possibly) jammed his equipment.  It was a good escape otherwise, and I liked Simon asking if he was alive or dead.  If a dent on the coffin-slide was the problem, then it was just a show-dinger's problem.  (Quantum sorry.)

I liked Eric Jones, but he should have quit with the card trick (overproduction might have been the problem there as well.)

Edited August 23, 2017 by marketdoctor
Improving punctuation.

[LadyMustang65]

I felt bad for Light Balance.  Their dress rehearsal was terrific, but they missed out on the thrill of getting to perform live.  I hope they make it through.  Have hated the escape artist all through this competition, but I still felt bad for him as well.  Wonder what was up with the stage crew that we had two acts get messed up.  I can't remember another time when someone's act got messed up like that. 

I love Merrick and hope he goes through.  I thoroughly enjoyed the dog act - more so this time than any of their previous acts.  I think it was the costuming and the presentation.  How can you not love a dog in a zebra or giraffe or lion costume?  I'd like to see them go through as well.  I agreed with Mel on Celine.  I just didn't like that song for her at all.  I had no issue with the giant rose, though.  Not sure why that caused Simon such a problem.  It's one of the few choices that made sense to me since the song was from "Beauty and the Beast." 

We liked the magician and the deaf singer.  We have enjoyed The Masqueraders before but thought they were overwhelmed by the back-up music this time. 

Mirror Image continue to be horrible.  How did they get this far?  Overall, we thought it was a pretty good show last night with a couple of exceptions.

On a side note, we loved Mel B's hair last night.  I also like Tyra's outfit.

[Frankenstein123]

Well wasn't that a wonderful trainwreck?. I don't think I've seen AGT screw up so magically in years, from Howie's inappropriate and awkward attempts at jokes, to Mel B storming off during Damians comments, endless technical errors, Tyra running around like a headless chicken in a zebra costume trying to keep it all under control and then her forgetting Merricks age this was some good old fashioned car crash TV, which actually made it curiously entertaining in all the wrong ways:

12. Mirror Image -It's only appropriate this segment ended with one of the worst jokes Howie has ever tried to get away with, and that's saying something. That would have been the most cringeworthy part of the night if I hadn't just sat through their performance. Okay fine, the dancing was better this time but as  it's just a disjointed mess of an act without any focus. It's like everything you hate about popular "teen" youtubers together at last in one awful package. What I'm trying to say is, Disney will probably be in touch with them soon to pitch the idea for a show nobody will ever watch so they should be just fine in the future.

11. Brobots & Mandroidz - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/filler

10. Evie Clair - They could just as easily have skipped her performance and just commented on her intro, because that's all this act is about. Her voice is fine and she's a sweet girl, but there is really nothing here to make her memorable when she is on stage. I actually really like the song she sang too, but she made the whole thing uncomfortable by looking like she was terrified those candles were there to attack her.

9. Demian Aditya - Demian has been pretty open about the fact he was specifically asked by the producers to only perform "escape illusions" because the show has never had anything like that before. WELL MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THE PRODUCTION CREW ARE TOO WASTED TO HAVE A CLUE HOW TO EVEN SET ONE UP PROPERLY. This was just a mess. I'd feel sad for Demian, but even if everything HAD gone right, it would have been the exact same "WATCH ME WASTE SOME CO2 AS I APPEAR BEHIND YOU" fake-out we had seen before minus the wife going crazy.

8. Celine Tam - Wait what? Actual criticism? For a child? Looks like we'll be seeing posh spice taking Mel B's place next year. She's right though, round 1 of mini-divas was won by Angelica as this was a song too big for Celine. I do think we will be seeinga round 2 despite this though.

7. Eric Jones - I actually really like his cool, calm delivery and he has a decent command of the stage, but this was another fairly disjointed performance lacking in anything too amazing. It didn't help that I immediately noticed some pretty big mistakes either. "Is this your card, Howie?". No, no it really isn't (take a look at the signature position). I've seen him do much better on Penn and Teller Fool Us so I know he has more in him, but I was left underwhelmed this time.

6. Johnny Manuel - I was fully expecting him to oversing this and make me annoyed at him, but it turned out to be a fairly pleasant performance. Although I was too busy staring at the band in the box underneath him, wondering when a curtain would fall so they could disappear as Piff jumped out of a trap door. Now THAT would have won my vote.

5. Pompeyo Family Dogs - Cute sums it up best. But in a night full of disappointments, some dogs doing the conga line was pleasantly entertaining.

4. The Masqueraders - I just like the music these guys make, so I'm probably overrating them as the harmonies really weren't great and the backing track was trying it's best to drown them out. Also the middle guy looks like  a retired Samuel L. Jackson, which makes the whole act at least 110% better.

3. Merrick Hanna - Yeah, I'm still on board the hype train. He's starting to run out of new moves and at times the dance didn't fit the music, but he keeps improving round after round and has figured out how to make an act like this work on the big stage. The projection added a ton too and that coupled with the music and the kids charm created something kind of enchanting on stage.

2. Mandy Harvey - Speaking of enchanting, I haven't really felt much of anything while listening to the singers on this show but Mandy managed to take me away for a moment and left me wanting more.

1. Light Balance - What did Mirror Image accidentally trip over a cable while somersaulting backstage, because I call sabotage! Despite all of that, this was just brilliant. It's easy to compare them to Team iLuminate and just write them off as a copycat, but they have found their own style and I really REALLY hope people get behind them as this is one of the collest things we have seen all season.

I found this entire episode to be a hot mess, which makes the results that much harder to predict.

We can probably count Mirror Image (unless reddits "vote for the worst" plan works out) and Brobots out. Demian has a lot of fans online, but most of those are probably people from Indonesia who can't vote anyways and his mess of a performance should be a certain death sentence.

Mandy, Merrick and Johnny I'd consider locks to get through. I'm also not willing to believe Celine will go anywhere so soon, at worst she'll be in the dunkin save and still make it out one way or the other. The same probably goes for Evie I'm afraid, like it or not people will eat her story up and if she doesn't make it to the top 5, she'll likely still be sent through by the judges.

That leaves 4 acts competing for 2 spots and hell if I know what will happen. It seems unlikely a magician would go out this early, but people seem to have caught the same mistakes I did during Erics performance. Any way you look at it Light Balance SHOULD make it through, but we know what has happened to similar acts like Siro-A in the past. The good news is that should they fail to make it tonight, they at least have a good chance of ending up as the wild card as an apology for the technical problems and not actually being able to peform in front of the audience. I like the Masqueraders, which automatically means they are in danger, if a music act is getting the axe tonight, I can see them as the likeliest one. The Pompeyo dogs could honestly end up ANYWHERE, top 5, dunkin save or bottom 3 I have NO idea. So I'm just gonna go by gut feeling:

12. Brobots & Mandroidz
11. Mirror Image
10. Demian Aditya
9. Pompeyo Family Dogs
8. Eric Jones (loses judges choice)
7. The Masqueraders (wins judges choice)
6. Light Balance (win dunkin save)
5. Evie Clair
4. Celine Tam
3. Merrick Hanna
2. Johnny Manuel
1. Mandy Harvey
 

[KarateKate]

The heavy hand of production is just so grating.

On the note of Celine's song being too big for her... she sang a Whitney Houston/Mariah Carey duet as a solo. That's basically too big for anyone. 

That said, yeah. 

[piequinn35]

Aw that sucks for Light Balance, they were the only one I was looking forward to last night, the others I don't care about, uhm maybe except the deaf singer!

So what if they didn't record the rehearsal what now agt?

For Demian's technical problem, blame it to his wife hahaha, jk where was she anyway?

Haha I agreed with Mel about Celine, she didn't step up this time. :P

[Parker]

6 hours ago, Ellee said:

I'm new to AGT.  

Is this just like all reality shows that 'write their script' while claiming that it is 'all real'?  So who is in, who is on the bubble and who is out is all predetermined by TPTB? 

Just a cynical me question.  

Nope, there is no reason for the show to do that.   They are there to make money.  It doesn't really matter who goes through for that to happen.  But, if they were found to be rigging anything, the show would be shut down and they could be prosecuted. 

These are just like the charges against Idol and other vote shows which are just basically conspiracy theories with no evidence.

[Frankenstein123]

55 minutes ago, Parker said:

Nope, there is no reason for the show to do that.   They are there to make money.  It doesn't really matter who goes through for that to happen.  But, if they were found to be rigging anything, the show would be shut down and they could be prosecuted. 

These are just like the charges against Idol and other vote shows which are just basically conspiracy theories with no evidence.

Exactly, there is no reason to "write a script", all the acts you are voting for have been selected by the judges/producers in the first place anyways. If they want specific acts to do better than others, they can enforce that through the introducton videos (sob stories) or judges comments, but generally it really doesn't matter who wins or gets through. There's no need to resort to vote manipulation when the voters are easily swayed by the comments anyways. And if any surprises happen along the way then that's all the better as it garners the show more attention and publicity, which is all that really matters.

Edited August 23, 2017 by Frankenstein123

[Babalooie]

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 1:17 PM, piequinn35 said:

CFor Demian's technical problem, blame it to his wife hahaha, jk where was she anyway?

They showed her in the audience making her Macaulay Culkin  "Home Alone" face.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Babalooie

[Parker]

3 hours ago, Frankenstein123 said:

Exactly, there is no reason to "write a script", all the acts you are voting for have been selected by the judges/producers in the first place anyways. If they want specific acts to do better than others, they can enforce that through the introducton videos (sob stories) or judges comments, but generally it really doesn't matter who wins or gets through. There's no need to resort to vote manipulation when the voters are easily swayed by the comments anyways. And if any surprises happen along the way then that's all the better as it garners the show more attention and publicity, which is all that really matters.

We don't know who selects the acts in the first place.  And no reason to think they want anyone to do any better than another.  

The sob stories are meant to draw in the audience, not necessarily tilt the contest.

Plus, the evidence doesn't support the audience is easily swayed by the comments as we have seen many voted through over the years who they didn't support and vice versa.   AI, for one.

[Parker]

Wow, what an uneven show, but first the good and bad...

The Bad...

Mel B.'s hair....is she trying to imitate a superhero character every week.  At first I thought who is that old judge taking her place.

Tyra's clothes...a zebra on drugs.

Mirror Image...more later...

The overproduction of music on the Masqueraders and Celine.   It really hurt them and could send one home when they both, based on talent, deserve another round.

The show's stage problems with Light Balance and Demian.  Probably spelled doom for the magic act.

Mel B. and Simon water fight 42.

The Good...

Tyra's hair....

Tyra actually fitting in.

And now the acts....

12.  Mirror Image....I have nothing against any of the other acts and will be fine if any of the other 11 get through, but MI is just annoying.  Listening to them talk and touch each other is creepy.   Please go away.

11.  Demian...unfortunately,  the act didn't work and even if had, I think he would have been in trouble.

10.  Brobots...not bad, just more interesting acts.

9.  Eric Jones...fun tricks, but easily figured out.  I have done magic.

8.  Johnny Manuel...no idea what he was singing, or more like screaming and then some big notes.  Underwhelmed.

7.  The Masqueraders...should be higher, but I have to grade on what I saw and the background music was too much.

6.  Merrick Hanna...fun to watch and creative.

5.  Pompeyo Family Dogs...most fun act...what a lot of practice that took...made me smile.

4.  Celine Tam...my favorite going in,  but I have to judge on what I saw....the background music was too much, but it's obvious she is talented.

 3.  Evie Clair....moving and beautiful...shouldn't have been voted off before.

2.  Light Balance....visually stunning....love them...could be a threat to beat all the singing acts.

1.  Mandy Harvey....would have been number one without the backstory, but wow, that was emotional, beautiful and she could be a threat to the kid singers.

I hope my top 7 go through, but I could see Manuel jumping up.  The rest so, so, but please noooo MI. 

[Irlandesa]

12 hours ago, Ellee said:

I'm new to AGT.  

Is this just like all reality shows that 'write their script' while claiming that it is 'all real'?  So who is in, who is on the bubble and who is out is all predetermined by TPTB? 

Just a cynical me question.  

As others have suggested, there would be ramifications for vote fixing.  And I don't really see much incentive for them to do that.

But yes, a lot of it is scripted.  For instance, every time you see Simon stop a singer and ask him/her if they have another song, and then that new performance is so amazing, that's likely scripted.  Producers or someone had them practice both, told them they were going to sing X and Simon has them sing Y.  That creates a moment. 

I know on AI, they'd see the dress rehearsal so they would know what they're going to say.  So when you see them skeptical and then blown over, it's likely part performance.  Again, a moment.

They can certainly make a performance weaker by telling an act that something will be available to them but then it's not.  For instance, with singers and dancers, they can have the performers prepare for having a specific song but then take that song away a few days before the performance and make them prepare something else.  The resulting performance might not be as sharp as it otherwise would have been.  But if the audience votes them through, then TPTB will abide by that decision. Judges decision is the "out" that allows TPTB to keep someone they want to keep more than the audience.

Someone upthread said that the escape artist was told to keep doing escape artist acts.  That's another way to sabotage an act, whether intentional or not.  It became repetitive. 

[helenamonster]

Generally when young singers get praise on this show, it's because they have a voice that far exceeds their age. The problem with Celine Tam in this episode is that she exactly sounded her age. I'm meh on Angelica Hale, but she does not sound like a little girl when she sings. Celine does. Granted, a little girl that can sing, but it gets exhausting after a while for me.

Mirror Image...those are the faces I see in my nightmares. Why are they so shiny? And their mouths are so big...God and there's two of them and they make my skin crawl. They also have no talent. Lol when they showed their parents I was expecting all of this fawning (they seem like kids who have never been told no in their lives) but Mom and Dad seem just as exhausted with them as the rest of us. Maybe they encouraged them to go on AGT in the hopes that they might get their big break and move out.

Merrick Hanna is still a favorite this season. He did a great job at adapting his act for the live show and the bigger stage, and he's just so freaking adorable. No sob story, no emotional manipulation. He's just here to create and dance and it's so refreshing.

I too feel bad for Light Balance that AGT couldn't get their shit together. This kind of act is not new but they've done a good job of making themselves distinct from similar groups like iLuminate or Wrecking Orchestra. The bit with the wolf was really cool.

Evie Clare's family weirds me out. I cannot understand how they think that the best time to jump start their daughter's singing career is when the dad is on death's doorstep. I get that he maybe wants to see her get her big break before he goes, but it's all just too much. And apparently they've got all these other kids? I feel bad for them. They should be spending what precious time they have left with their father but instead their getting dragged out to LA to cheer on their sister. Or are they all getting to live their dreams too? It also just bothers me how much they're leaning on this story to push her through. Doesn't she want to succeed on her own merit, not because people feel sorry for her? It's so gross. I feel bad for what the family's going through but gtfo with this emotionally manipulative bullshit.

I laughed at Demian Aditya fucking up. He's a one-trick pony (although apparently the show is forcing him to only do escapes?) and the act is so tired. Glad they put the wife on mute (I was hoping she wouldn't show up at all but damn they still cut to her), but him showing up all Teh Smug ONCE AGAIN as someone trying to salvage what appears to be his demise is hilariously awful.

On 8/22/2017 at 10:45 PM, TJtrack99 said:

Also 12. Demian Aditya. Is it just me or, even if it had gone right, did this seem simpler than his other 2? I thought the torch on the "support rope" didn't even look like it was burning. And then the box didn't fall right. I think it was all pretty fake (especially with the screaming wife) and I think that just got exposed.

What I thought happened was that the blow torch wasn't burning through the rope fast enough, and I think I saw a crew member go out and try to either get the flame to go faster or just cut the rope so the box would fall. Whatever he did I think messed up the rigging (or maybe it wasn't set up right to begin with) which is why the box got stuck. Presumably I think it was supposed to crash into the spikes, Demien would run out with the fire extinguisher, people would wonder where he was, and then he'd reveal himself the same way he had the other two times.

On 8/23/2017 at 9:43 AM, marketdoctor said:

The worst were the singer surrounded by so many candles, I thought Lil' Sebastian had died again--and all that CO2 couldn't have done her voice any favors.  Maybe it was ventilated enough not to do harm, but I was concerned she was giving her lungs a waxy yellow build-up.  Not at all her fault.

Those weren't real candles. If you look closely they were those fake candles with a plastic wick that moves back and forth like a flame. When I worked in catering we used them at several venues that didn't allow real candles.

On 8/23/2017 at 7:36 PM, Parker said:

 3.  Evie Clair....moving and beautiful...shouldn't have been voted off before.

Evie Clare was never voted off, she was put through in judge cuts.

As for the show potentially rigging results...do they manipulate acts to try and influence people to vote for certain ones? Certainly. But it wouldn't make sense for them to ignore the votes and just put through who they wanted. The genius of shows with audience participation like this is that the viewers are telling the producers exactly what they want to see. Even if the producers can't understand why America likes certain acts more than others,  why would they get rid of acts that would likely bring them their biggest ratings? I definitely remember several seasons of American Idol where I stopped watching when I didn't like any of the remaining contestants.

I haven't seen it yet this season, but sometimes between judge cuts and live shows the judges/producers will completely change who they're trying to push through, suddenly harshly criticizing and screwing over acts that they had championed in the earlier rounds. When they're doing judge cuts and auditions, they have no absolute way of knowing how the tv viewing audience will react to each contestant. I can't think of any specific examples now, but there have definitely been acts that the majority of the viewing audience hated in the first two rounds that the judges kept lavishing praise on, but then when they got to the lives they completely flipped their script and would say things like "I don't even understand why you're here" despite enthusiastically putting them through in the previous episode. Because as auditions and judge cuts are airing they can see how people are reacting and then realize that they might have made a mistake in anticipating what people would like.

[sue450]

Parker...Johhny was singing the song from "dream Girls"  as far as vote rigging and such American Idol always had this small print on the screen at some point in the show that the producers have final say and the show is for entertainment purposes only

[SnarkyTart]

8 hours ago, sue450 said:

as far as vote rigging and such American Idol always had this small print on the screen at some point in the show that the producers have final say and the show is for entertainment purposes only

That's true.  All the talent competition shows are registered as entertainment shows, which means they have zero regulations as far as voting and/or manipulating results.  It's the registered game shows (such as Jeopardy) that have strict legal regulations where everything has to be above board. 

[Parker]

On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 11:15 AM, sue450 said:

Parker...Johhny was singing the song from "dream Girls"  as far as vote rigging and such American Idol always had this small print on the screen at some point in the show that the producers have final say and the show is for entertainment purposes only

Final say does not mean "rigging" or "conspiring".   If any show was caught cheating, (especially Idol) it would cost them millions and possible prosecution.   No reason to risk that.

[SnarkyTart]

Back in the AI season of Corey Clark (blergh), when he claimed that Paula Abdul had been having an affair with him during the show and had promised to help him on the show, the F.C.C. declined to investigate his claim or to investigate American Idol itself.  The reason was that reality competition shows are registered as entertainment shows and aren't regulated by the F.C.C. laws that apply to actual game/quiz shows.

Edited August 30, 2017 by SnarkyTart

[anthonyd46]

On 8/28/2017 at 5:42 PM, Parker said:

Final say does not mean "rigging" or "conspiring".   If any show was caught cheating, (especially Idol) it would cost them millions and possible prosecution.   No reason to risk that.

Rigging might be the wrong word, but some people do get more sob stories than the other plus if someones fan base is more social media savvy than the other it definitely helps their chances. So no there is no rigging per say, but enough of a sob story + fan base could equal success even if the talent isn't there. The order of the acts makes a difference too even though voting is open from the beginning of the show, people will remember something towards the end of the show versus the beginning. 

Edited August 30, 2017 by anthonyd46

[anthonyd46]

I guess youtube ups and downs isnt a bad way to tell if an act is getting traction:

 

Mandy 17k up 273 down  

Demian 26k up 3k down - Eliminated

Evie Clair 8k up 943 down - DS AC

Light Balance 22k up 441 down

Masquarde 3k up 143 down - DS Eliminated

Eric Jones 8k up 1k down - DS JC

Merrick 13k up 1k down

Johnny 14k up 395 down

Mirror image 3k up 4k down - Eliminated

Celine 31k up 3k down 

Robots 3k up 689 down - Eliminated

Dogs 6k up 347 down - Eliminated

 

So pretty much most acts with over 10k ups go through easily. The exception being Demian, but since there was a malfunction that could increase the views. By looking at this I have to think Celine with 31k is going to the finals no matter what even if she is terrible next round thats quite the following.

Edited August 30, 2017 by anthonyd46

[Parker]

10 hours ago, anthonyd46 said:

Rigging might be the wrong word, but some people do get more sob stories than the other plus if someones fan base is more social media savvy than the other it definitely helps their chances. So no there is no rigging per say, but enough of a sob story + fan base could equal success even if the talent isn't there. The order of the acts makes a difference too even though voting is open from the beginning of the show, people will remember something towards the end of the show versus the beginning. 

That was a lot of "ifs" and "maybes".   Those might help and might not. 

A fan base has nothing to do with the show.

And all have some talent.

The order is a cliché that has been quoted for a long time.  No evidence of it actually mattering or if it does, how much?

And then does the show actually manipulate that.   Idol always said it was a blind draw.  So more conspiracy theories would have to be believed.

21 hours ago, SnarkyTart said:

Back in the AI season of Corey Clark (blergh), when he claimed that Paula Abdul had been having an affair with him during the show and had promised to help him on the show, the F.C.C. declined to investigate his claim or to investigate American Idol itself.  The reason was that reality competition shows are registered as entertainment shows and aren't regulated by the F.C.C. laws that apply to actual game/quiz shows.

Or maybe the reason was there was no evidence. 

But, if the show was actually caught manipulating vote totals, the show could sued or ruined.

With many millions on the line, the show would not do that or have any reason to.

[SnarkyTart]

20 hours ago, Parker said:

Or maybe the reason was there was no evidence. 

The FCC wouldn't know if there was any evidence or not, as they declined to investigate based on the fact that they consider AI and other reality shows to be entertainment, and not regulated by Section 73.1216 of the Commission's rules that govern game shows.

Back in the days of TWOP, the prospect of American Idol and other reality competition shows (such as AGT and all the dancing shows) being "rigged" was always an active discussion on many forums.  You used to be able to go to a .gov website and see each TV show's license to broadcast and find out what genre they were registered as, and posters were often directed to that link.  The reality competition shows were all registered as "entertainment" vs, say, shows such as "Jeopardy", which was registered as "game show".  I can't find that page anymore, perhaps someone else with more time and/or interest can if it still exists.

Fans of many of these shows were often filing online complaints with the FCC claiming rigging, manipulation, and vote tampering and asking the FCC to investigate, thinking that reality shows were governed as game/quiz shows and were compelled by the FCC to be above-board, honest, and transparent.  I've read several FCC responses to these complaints, and they all looked nearly identical to this one (which is still online from a 2007 FOIA request regarding "Big Brother"):

Quote

Thanks for contacting the FCC via the online inquiry form, with your inquiry (designated IC Number: 07-W13271938), regarding the reality show 'Big Brother.' We will close your inquiry IC Number: 07-W13271938 with this response:

Section 73.1216 of the Commission's rules governs the broadcast of licensee-conducted contests, ie., a contest conducted by an FCC-licensed station in which a prize is offered 'to members of the public.' Since the show 'Big Brother' is conducted by a network programmer (vs. an FCC-licensed station) and does not offer a prize to members of the public, it is not regulated by the FCC.

A "game show" in which 'selected contestants' (vs. 'members of the public') participate is governed by Section 509 of Title 47 of the United States Code (USC), and regulated by the Department of Justice. However 'Big Brother' does not appear to meet the definition of a "game show." Rather, it is a 'for entertainment only' program, somewhat similar to professional wrestling in that it is a pseudo-contest in which the outcome is fully, or in some measure, predetermined.

http:/www.governmentattic.org/docs/FCC_Complaints_GameShowCheating_DrugUse_2003-07.pdf

There used to be a lot more such FCC replies specific to AI available through google searching, but most of it has gone down the rabbit hole.  It might be suggested that powerful TV networks do their digital best to keep these kinds of discussions away from the public eye...but that would be to suggest manipulation and we would have come full circle on this conspiracy.  :-) 

[CelticBlackCat]

Thank you SnarkyTart for doing the research and providing a great response.  (You don't seem snarky at all!  LOL).

[SnarkyTart]

36 minutes ago, CelticBlackCat said:

Thank you SnarkyTart for doing the research and providing a great response.  (You don't seem snarky at all!  LOL).

Awww, thanks!  I expected replies of tl;dr :-)

[Parker]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 2:43 PM, SnarkyTart said:

Back in the days of TWOP, the prospect of American Idol and other reality competition shows (such as AGT and all the dancing shows) being "rigged" was always an active discussion on many forums. 

Active discussions do not constitute evidence of anything.  There are also active conspiracy theories on the internet of many things.  People love conspiracy theories.  The problem is they are never seem to be true.

There is no reason for Idol or other shows to rig voting when they have millions at stake.  Idol was always going to make money no matter who won or who was voted off.  

Idol didn't even get the final two right 4 out of the first 6 years.  If they were going to rig it, that would have been the time to do it to possibly increase viewership.

[SnarkyTart]

My original, rather detailed reply was a response to your statements that:

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 11:43 AM, Parker said:

But, if they were found to be rigging anything, the show would be shut down and they could be prosecuted. 

On ‎8‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 2:27 PM, Parker said:

But, if the show was actually caught manipulating vote totals, the show could be sued or ruined.

With many millions on the line, the show would not do that or have any reason to.

I hoped to shed light on the facts about this because, though often believed, it's simply not true that the show has any legal or criminal liability.  As to whethe these shows do or would rig or manipulate outcomes, I don't particularly care.

Edited September 7, 2017 by SnarkyTart
edited for unintended snarkiness