S13.E13: Live Quarter Finals 2 (Tuesday's Show)

[Commando Cody]

Quote

A quarterfinal round.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Commando Cody

[ketchuplover]

Straight to commercial. Never saw that before.  I love SR but I agree with Heidi. She can do better. At least she's not copying her Asian routines in America.

Edited August 22, 2018 by ketchuplover

[Chit Chat]

4 minutes ago, ketchuplover said:

Straight to commercial. Never saw that before.

Same here.  Was there more to the act?  It cut to commercial as she was still climbing up the wall.  I thought maybe my local station did that.  I do find her very creepy.  I wouldn't want to be sitting right in front of her when she's doing her act.  

[Loves2Dance]

6 minutes ago, ketchuplover said:

Straight to commercial. Never saw that before.  I love SR but I agree with Heidi. She can do better. At least she's not copying her Asian routines in America.

Right...my husband, daughter and I froze like "Uhhhhhh..." I want to see her in the finals. I absolutely love her! 

[Superpole2000]

The last time I watched this show, it actually resembled a talent show. Tonight, I saw two acts (some odd woman standing still and not talking much and a special effects package of some guy "falling" digitally in a pre-recorded bit). What was the point of these acts? They seemed so far removed from the actual premise of the show, or has the show changed that much?

It was just so jarring, like tuning into The Voice and watching contestants perform a comedy routine.

[ams1001]

Running commentary...

• No metallics tonight? You disappoint me, Tyra. (I do like that color, though.)
• Hey, Tyra, is this live?
• Pay attention, Mel. You almost missed your chance to mug for the camera.
• That's a downside of the Golden Buzzer. By the time they get to the live show I've forgotten who they are (and Makayla was the most recent GB, too).
• Wow, those are some wide pants.
• (I told myself I'd be less snarky tonight. I'm not starting out very well, am I?)
• The set is pretty but this song is boring.
• Obligatory Howie-only-seven-can-go-through comment.
• Did she say "interpretated"?
• A UFO? Are they being abducted by aliens? Or are they the aliens?
• I don't usually love the big dance crews but they are so much better when I can actually see the whole performance! The gymnastics were pretty cool to watch, too.
• I actually heard Noah Guthrie on the radio yesterday (Sirius XM; I think it was the Coffeehouse channel.) 
• Yumb-oh my god. I know I said last week that the buzzers shouldn't be allowed in the live shows but I might have to make an exception. I'm with you, Mel, for once.
• He's not the funniest comedian I've ever seen, but I can't help but like Samuel. Doggie humor doesn't hurt.
• The kid-choir soloists have their own mics and I still can barely hear them.
• Judges, please stop buzzing each other.
• KITTIES!!!
• Oh, stop crying.
• Sorry, Glennis, but I found that kinda painful.
• Are we watching a movie or a magic trick?
• Mel, stop sitting there like a petulant teenager. You're being rude. I'm glad Riana picks on her. (And if it's all scripted/acting then it's just bad.)
• Bored.
• Did they really just cut to a commercial in the middle of the act? Was that on purpose or more technical difficulties? And then came back like nothing weird just happened...
• Okay, the ballroom dancers aren't gonna win but if I look half that good at 71 I'll be happy.
• I do not remember Front Pictures at all...did we actually see them audition? I feel like I should be more entertained than I am by them...
• Mel really looks like she doesn't want to be there half the time...
• Oh, please. The blindfold almost certainly had nothing to do with him losing his grip on her leg and she was not "inches" from the flames when she hit the mat. Unless she managed to land badly on her head/neck her risk of death from that fall was extremely low.
• Can we please retire the phrase "what just happened?!?!"

Edited August 22, 2018 by ams1001

[ams1001]

Okay, I was looking at comments on Facebook (don't ask me why) and someone said Riana was on a cable or tether to pull her up the wall and they couldn't close the broken doors to hide it when they lowered her back down, hence the abrupt cut to commercial. I guess that makes sense. (Still bored. The only real trick was Mel's head being cut out of the picture and moving to the voodoo doll, right?)

Edited August 22, 2018 by ams1001

[DietCokeJunkie]

I’m pretty sure I was not supposed to laugh as much as I did during Riana’s act. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Arguably the worst Quarter-Final in AGT histoire.

What is it with the comics?  Another one making me cringe with the chosen topic?  Worse, it was an obvious attempt at virtue signalling.  

Maybe it's just me, but one of the leads in the kiddie choir seemed waaaaay off key.

I love Riana's shtick.  But, tonight, it really was more comical than scary.  The whole thing is farce, but  until now it has been very well done.  Mel helped blow it by not having an outsized reaction when she was touched from behind by one of the blue Zombies.   If she were genuinely frightened, she would have leapt out of her seat and SCREAMED.  She barely reacted.  I figured out that the cut to commercial was due to the lack of a sensical ending.  Finally, her placement in the show tonight was in the worst possible spot which tends to forgetability.  Methinks she is a goner.  I wish I could argue against it.

I was stunned that Simon gave Noah a fab review.  Song was aight, but it was also against the mass market sound for males today.  SC has gone well out of his way on behalf of this lad this season.  I do not understand why.

The one act that really brought it, in my opinion, were the virtual reality projection artists.  I bet it's phenomenal to experience that LIVE in a theater.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Lonesome Rhodes

[Stompster]

* I really like Noah Guthrie. He'll go far, as they say.

* Tyra is useless. Not needed. Just go away. Please.

* Mel is also useless, and needs to shut her piehole... and have her flailing arms taped to her sides... and... and...

* Both Tyra and Mel need to drop the Oprah Winfrey yells.

* Why is Samuel J. Comroe introduced as "the comedian with Tourette"? Why not just "a comedian"?

* The judges actions after the Yumbo Dump act depleted any credibility the show has.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Gave the DVR FF button another work out.

What the heck was up with some of the singers mics? The Choir soloists were unintelligible, the first girl I couldn't understand a word she sang in the first 30 seconds, and Noah got drowned out by his female back up singers during every chorus.

Yumbo Dump finally has to go tomorrow night? Right? I seriously don't want to see them in the Dunkin Save

I hope people will vote for the cats, but I'm not so sure.

The Sacred Rianna is sort of an odd act to get much of a sympathy vote (due to the trick not quite coming off right).....but hey, crazy things have happened.

[kickedinthehead]

Are singers only ever going to sing songs from "The Greatest Showman" now? 

Samuel made me laugh once -- which is more than I can say for Yumbo Dump (nice dolphin masks, though). 

The Sacred Riana... I don't even know what to say.

 

Cats FTW!

[suebee12]

Just finished fast forwarding through the entire show! I stopped for the cats(and they were not as good tonight) and that was about it. The biggest thing I took away from this show was that I wanted Simon to go take a shower, get dressed(button up his shirt) and look like he cares about himself. He looked so unkempt and almost dirty tonight....or is it just me?

[lynxfx]

What a s**t show this was. In both production (NBC should be ashamed) and in content. 

The only act I liked tonight was the acrobats. That Britney Spears remix was excellent. Fit perfectly with their routine and created more of an eerie ambiance than the entirety of Riana's act.

Speaking of which, that was the cringiest magic act I've seen on the show. If you could even call it a magic act. She didn't do anything and finding out that the cut to commercial was planned just makes it that much worse. I love unique or unconventional characters/acts but hers is so derivative of 2000's Asian horror tropes. It was interesting the first time, but she hasn't developed it beyond her dumb head twitch. Nothing about it is creepy. If she was actually a good illusionist, I could maybe give it a pass but for now I'm down on Riana.

The projection act looks cool on tv, but I don't know how much I could watch of it. I feel they will get the Mochi treatment.

The singing acts, uggh. The sound was so bad on most. 

Loved the cats, but I agree that there isn't much more to it now. I feel the same about any dog act. Still impressed by those cats.

World of Dance ruined any and all dancers/dance groups on AGT. They just can't compare.

Mel B must go. Impressed that Howie did that joke at her expense. Maybe that is enough to make her not want to come back. No loss there. You can take Heidi with you if you want.

I still just can't comprehend how poorly this show was on just a technical level. Sure keep saying "Live TV" as if no one else has ever produced a live show before. Curtains or doors break, I get that. Sound levels don't though. That should be dialed into perfection during rehearsal.  No excuse from a major network during their biggest summer show.

[Zuleikha]

I still like Sacred Riana, but I don't think this act was the most successful for a televised show. It seems like the type of thing that would work better live where the wall scaling would seem creepier. I also wasn't sure if the appearance of the Riana-lookalike-army was supposed to be an actual magic trick (in which case it didn't work at all!) or just a device to get to Riana's exit. Riana's exit was starting to seem weird and creepy and interesting but then the cutaway happened.

The actual trick was fine, IMHO. I'm sure it's not that hard for those who do magic, but since I don't, it worked for me. It just got buried with everything else. I wish Riana had used someone different than Mel B. though. Mel B.'s gotten so sour about things that she hurts the act. The one thing that I do really like is that Riana's acts all have a certain continuity to them--almost like she's building a story across the show.

[InternetToughGuy]

I can only stand to watch an hour of the show at a time (the other hour is for the day after) to keep me from falling asleep. So to comment on what I've seen so far:

Makayla Philipps - Issues is one of those songs everybody loves and I don't see why. Pop is a great genre when it's catchy, but I find the song to be whiny and too slow paced to get into it. Aside from singers on AGT being a near instant cue to go to sleep, it's even worse when the person just does a cover, since it does not differ from what you could just find on YouTube. I get why it's common for the singer to try and make the cover their own by slowing down some parts or whatever, but I always think it's a downgrade from the original version. Either way, there is already The Voice and American Idol for singers, so when AGT gets polluted with singers, it makes the show even more of a drag.

Da Republik - Sometimes I usually point out when watching some performances on this show that you can almost hear space around the music for a buzzer to come through and I was quite convinced they would get buzzed. The dance crews of the past few years seem to be doing nearly the same routines of "how many people can I flip over?" and it's incredibly boring. Dance crews are entertaining when there's a theme (like the "horror" groups from a few years ago) or if the group is small enough that it makes it seem like they're actually interacting with each other. 20 people in a clusterfuck all cartwheeling around to a soundtrack of panpipes and tropical birds cawing is lame.

Noah Guthrie - Music on this show is intolerable for me. I think part of the reason is because a lot of the time, the person was born with the talent and the show tries to make it seem comparable to the acts who have spent years practicing their skill. I have to wonder why he didn't lose weight, since I'm sure he knows how important image is for a singer (not a diss).

Yumbo Dump - This act is complete garbage. It's always rich when Howie is jumping up and down with support over inane tripe like this, yet for other times he can put on the serious face and say "this is the quarter finals, this isn't good enough!" to someone else. I emitted a pity laugh during the dolphin bit, only because they were milking the same unfunny joke for a full 2 minutes while having 3 X's. The judges offered fake commentary like "this act had everything, it was beautiful". It sounded like the producers had roofied their drinks, because there was hardly a hint of irony when Simon was speaking.

Samuel J. Comroe - I hate not having a proper analysis when it comes to picking apart stand up routines, but I can't think of another way to put it other than "this was shite". He was referred to as "the comedian with tourettes" which was promoting the sob story again and possibly to warn the audience that his routine was going to be "God damn fucking shit!". I don't know if excess swearing is permitted on this forum, so lemme know if it's not. Anyways, the audience had a low amount of laughter, so I guess overall, most people didn't think it was super great.

The Voices of Hope - I thought this act was good, but I hate how every one of these giant groups is assigned a pseudo leader, whether that be based on who is speaking the most or someone who is just shown on camera multiple times. There was a nerdy looking kid with glasses shown multiple times, which made me roll my eyes like an old spinster, because he wasn't one of the lead singers nor was he one of the outgoing members during the talking segments, so why single him out?

About the judges, they all kept talking over each other while Heidi was trying to speak, which was irritating as hell. I've noticed a lot of people have no qualm just interrupting each other when talking; I think it's one of the rudest things you can do. On a side note, Heidi and Mel were still yelling like banshees - I can't imagine anybody finding that charming or funny; I imagine the contestant has to suppress their annoyance.

I think I complain so much only because the shows are terrible, not because I was never held as an infant. More to be sour about tomorrow!

[TaraS1]

The comedian seems like a nice guy, but an entire routine about sick dogs and homeless people?  Painfully unfunny.  And I don't get his accent at all.

I did like the acrobatic duo at the end, though.

[Babalooie]

10 hours ago, ams1001 said:

(And if it's all scripted/acting then it's just bad.)

Yep.  I came here to say that it sounded like all the judges had scripts to follow, and boy, are they BAD actors.

 

7 hours ago, suebee12 said:

and look like he cares about himself.

And I'll  add that Simon's face is extremely puffy.  Recent Botox, maybe?

[LadyMustang65]

Absolutely loved Samuel.  He makes us laugh every time, and we really hope he makes it through.  This routine was a little different than his others and maybe not quite as laugh-out-loud as his earlier ones, but it was nevertheless amusing, and he's just a very likeable guy to us.  We each gave him a full 10 votes.

The only other act we really enjoyed was the cats.  Yes, it's variations on a theme, but they're cats.  We have cats.  We have always had cats.  The only thing we have ever been able to get any of them to do on command is come for dinner.  <lol>  

We did enjoy Da Republik dance group and Voices of Hope.  They weren't great, but we enjoyed them.  

The trapeze duo was fine, but the overkill intro with Tyra's "their fall broke the internet" and "it was on every news station" just made us roll our eyes really hard.  Good grief.  She was nowhere near the flames, and she fell on her back onto a thick mat, just as she is trained to do in a fall.  Yes, there is always the possibility that things can go wrong, but they train for those things, and I guarantee you she knows how to fall so she doesn't get hurt.  I admit I couldn't do what they do at all, but on the other hand, if you're going to ding the cats for being repetitive, then ding these guys as well because it's the same tricks over and over again.  I don't think we saw anything new last night - it just lasted longer.  Two minutes or however long it is is about as long as I could watch these guys. We were starting to get bored by the end.  

We were also bored by the light show.  It's mildly interesting in wondering how they do that, but we just don't find those kinds of acts entertaining for long.  The 71-year-old dancer still just mostly gets into poses and is lifted by her partner.  Not much actual dancing, and it's not that good when she does.  Yumbo Dump - the less said about them the better.  That was just painfully awful.  

The Sacred Riana is one we have enjoyed in the past but last night was just awful.  It wasn't scary, and other than making Mel's picture appear on the doll, was there any actual magic in that act?  It was ridiculous.  The zombie army of look-alikes seriously wasn't scary, nor was her climbing the wall.  And the abrupt cutaway was just weird.  If she makes it through, I hope she's got more than that, because that was just awful.

At the end of the night the only two we were really rooting for out of this group was Samuel and the cats.  Anyone else can go home, and we won't mind.

[Frankenstein123]

So is this just an annual thing now? Each year before the second quarterfinal, the interns take over tech duty? At least this meant the judges had to step up and actually do some, y'know, JUDGING for once.

 

12: Quin and Misha. I guess "She's dancing like she's never danced before" stands for "Being completely motionless while some guy uses you like a scarf". Yeah, I was bored out of my mind during this too, there was a brief moment in the middle where the live feed cut out the music...THAT added a TINY bit of excitement, but I doubt that was intentional.

 

11: Yumbo Dump. I just watched two fat naked dudes run around pretending to have fake dolphin sex on stage. We truly live in the golden age of Television. 

 

10: Voices of Hope Children’s Choir. But...I asked nicely..."Please no more Greatest Showman songs". This looked like one of those stripy coloured "Technical Difficulties" test screens that you get on your TV, which fit the show perfectly last night. The whole thing was pleasant and nice enough, but not exactly impactful in any way. Props to the camera man for finding the kids that weren't doing anything and broadcasting them on live TV.

 

9: Makayla Phillips. Perfectly servicably forgettable...Actually, I'm pretty sure that sequence of words there is as broken as the show was last night. It's hard to deny that she has a good voice and can sing, but I feel that's a given on this show at this point and I heard nothing here I haven't heard before. There is something Ariana Grande-ish about her that's at least a tiny bit interesting, but she clearly hasn't found her own style yet...


8: Da RepubliK. This was a step-up and they are a good dance group overall, I still didn't really see anything THAT special or unique that would make them stick in my mind in the end. I'm glad we have moved past the "play 5 seconds of an annoying tune, follow up with 5 seconds of an even more annoying tune" style of dance crews, but these guys were still lacking something to really make them stand out for me. Y


7: Duo Transcend. I think what they do is really impressive and if there's any justice in the world, they should be rewarded for all the hard work by getting through. But I can also admit when an act isn't for me and this is just one of those cases...I've seen them 3 times now and they simply fail to engage me and I'm in the clear minority right now so it's probably my own fault rather than theirs that I was wondering about what weird Sacred Riana'd version of Toxic was playing behind them rather than enjoying the act itself

 

6: Noah Guthrie. I woke up this morning with a bad cold and a slight fever. That might be the reason why I'm about to do this next: defend a singing act on this show. I LIKED IT! I dunno, I enjoyed the song well enough, thought his voice suited it perfectly and overall the whole thing was enjoyable to listen to. Heck, I'd rather listen to this on a loop for the next 24 hours than hear another song from The Great Showman.

 

5: Glennis Grace. Speaking of that, the next episode of "Who wants to be the next Greatest Showman" saw Glennis get fashion advice from a woman who consitently looks like she's been dressed by a team of lemurs. Yeah, she sang it well and all, but failed to really elevate the song or reach any new heights and I feel she's capable of doing it with a less overused song. 


4: The Savitsky Cats. SIMON.exe has stopped working. And I like cats. Cats have absolutely zero motivation to do anything besides sleep and quietly hate you, so while there WERE mistakes in the act, the fact they still managed to get back on track in the end was impressive enough. I also feel like we've seen more unique tricks from these cats than we ever did from the Pompeyo dogs. Also, whoever put together that intro package about the cats needs a raise. Netflix, get on top of that. 

 

3: Samuel J. Comroe. The screen was distracting, but I think he did a great job overall. I also liked his little opening jab regarding Yumbo Dump, just makes acts like these feel so much more natural when they can comment on the actual show they are on and not JUST use stock material from their library. He's not quite Preacher level yet, but he's getting better with his delivery each time...

 

2: The Sacred Riana. I'm not even sure if I should consider this a magic act at this point, Heidi was spot on when she said the tricks themselves aren't that impressive. BUT as a bit of performance art with some magic thrown into it? IT'S GREAT! She's consistently interesting and fun to watch, even when the act turns into a complete clusterfuck in the end. Now on to what EVERYONE has been going crazy about...The cut to a commercial was clearly intentional and actually a pretty neat idea on paper that went along with the story she was telling on stage. You ramp up the tension, do a big climactic trick where you climbs up a wall and finish with a scream, only to fade to black and leave the audience in suspense/wondering if you got tickled to death by your clone army (OOOOH SPOOKY). The execution just didn't entirely work, a lot of it thanks to the entire episode beforehand being a giant mess, but just a quick glance at the OVERWHELING amount of people screaming "JUSTICE FOR RIANA, WE WANT TO SEE THE ENDING, SHAME ON YOU AGT" on youtube will let you know that a LOT of people didn't get what she was trying to do and just ended up confused. I think the timing of the actual cut to commercials was just badly done, maybe a fake glitch effect or a quick fade to black would have made the thing better, I'm not sure. I just know it didn't work the way she intended, BUT considering the amount of people who are now convinced she was "robbed" by AGT, it might all end up helping her in the end.

 

1: Front Pictures. I was ready for them to just do another random visualiser graphics show, but no, this was a clevel and engaging little bit with an actual story that took full advantage of their technology. It kind of reminded me of a level from Luigi's Mansion or something else from Nintendo. Artistic, clever and fun, everything I wanted it to be. Yet I'm worried about their future, because I think a lot of people will just see this as a big exoensive tech show and nothing else. Their lack of a backstory doesn't help...

 

Honestly, the scariest part of this episode wasn't Riana or any of the technical issues, but the amount of Greatest Showman tunes we had to endure. A mess of a show overall, with thankfully enough decent acts to keep the thing floating. PREDICTION TIME:


Yumbo Dump can safely be dumped outside, same with Quin and Misha. Like you said, Da RepubliK too. Unfortunately, I have to bite the bullet and say that the last act in the bottom 4 will be Front Pictures. Just considering the show's history with projection acts and the lack of a clear story/personalities to hang on to, I have a hard time seeing the usual AGT audience voting for this. I'm SO hoping to be wrong, but I'm prepared for the worst.


On the other end of the table, Glennis should be safe, as should Samuel due to his adorableness alone. I also think Riana will easily make it through, being the most watched and talked about act last night, coupled with a LOT of people thinking she genuinely got screwed over.

 

The rest of them could end up anywhere, it's damn near impossible to predict so I'll just follow my (highly wrong) gut as usual and say the results will be roughly like this:

12. Yumbo Dump
11. Quin and Misha
10. Da RepubliK
9. Front Pictures
8. Noah Guthrie (lose judge's choice)
7. Duo Transcend (win judge's choice)
6. Voices of Hope Children’s Choir (win dunkin save)
5. The Savitsky Cats
4. Makayla Phillips 
3. Samuel Comroe
2. Sacred Riana
1. Glennis Grace

[Cindyluwho]

I  enjoyed Voices of Hope, but I couldn't watch them. The Teletubby  costumes freaked me out.

[seltzer3]

Impressed with the cat owners.  They have such poise, when the cats refused to do the tricks.  I liked where the cat was crawling on the shoes of one of the owners.

So I was reading comments on youtube (take this with a big grain of salt).  Some of them (People that watched this in the audience) said that  the sacred riana was climbing on the walls and disappears (along with the riana clones)...then reappears behind Mel B.  But someone in the audience was so freaked out that the audience member actually fainted (probably why there some muffled screams).  So the producers had to cut that part.

The cut magic trick sounds similar to what she did hear at 3:50.

Edited August 22, 2018 by seltzer3

[saber5055]

Unless George Ivan Domingo was at the Dolby Theater and saw Riana's act live, I tend to believe an earlier poster who stated the doors got stuck and Riana's cables were shown, thereby ruining the act IF viewers were allowed to see that. Besides, an audience member "fainting" and others screaming and running away from the "terrifying" Riana would have been gold, pure gold. No way would TPTB miss airing that. Or someone would be posting it online today.

Plus if she "appeared behind Mel B," why would the audience behind SIMON run off? No one behind Howie or Mel or Heidi ran away? Alrighty then.

[Mr. Sparkle]

1 hour ago, seltzer3 said:

The cut magic trick sounds similar to what she did hear at 3:50.

It was much better in Asia. The judge sold it a lot better than Mel B. 

[Zuleikha]

 Some of them (People that watched this in the audience) said that  the sacred riana was climbing on the walls and disappears (along with the riana clones)...then reappears behind Mel B.  But someone in the audience was so freaked out that the audience member actually fainted (probably why there some muffled screams).  So the producers had to cut that part.

I tend to believe an earlier poster who stated the doors got stuck and Riana's cables were shown, thereby ruining the act IF viewers were allowed to see that.

If either of these are true, I think the show screwed Riana over. Neither of them would be her mistake. The show's tech team should be more than capable of handling that setup given all the magic shows they do. I think she would deserve a wild card pass. But I'd also like confirmation that either of these are true.

I don't watch the live show--I just watch the acts on the official YouTube channel. Can someone explain Front Pictures to me? Are the people live on stage and moving with the projections? Or is the whole thing a projection? I assumed the former, but at times the lighting seemed to make the main guy translucent! 

[seltzer3]

29 minutes ago, Superclam said:

It was much better in Asia. The judge sold it a lot better than Mel B. 

Riana would purposely scare and troll the asian female judge (Anggun) in every act she did.  It helped that the Anggun was a good sport about it (although I think she is legitimately frightened).  I think Riana is trying to make Mel B the Anggun.  However, Mel is totally not wanting to be a part in her act.

[Taeolas]

23 minutes ago, Zuleikha said:

I don't watch the live show--I just watch the acts on the official YouTube channel. Can someone explain Front Pictures to me? Are the people live on stage and moving with the projections? Or is the whole thing a projection? I assumed the former, but at times the lighting seemed to make the main guy translucent! 

 

I think Front pictures is a man moving on stage, but the full effect has to be watched on screen; he (or rather they since there were 2 or 3 performers) are moving carefully synced to the video. 

I was really impressed by it. On stage he probably looks like he's writhing on the floor. Or maybe there are some poles and cables he uses to lift and twist in the air. But on screen, I was really impressed by it and hope he goes through. Thankfully they weren't affected by the technical problems through the show. 

 

The cats, I'm sold on as well, and hope they make it through. 

 

Riana was robbed. Not sure I care as much for her act; Shim Lee (I think that's his name?)'s clearly the superior magician this year; but she gets kudos for staying so in character. Hopefully she either gets the votes or gets in through other shenanigans due to technical difficulties. 

 

The comedian was okay enough; I had some chuckles and he had a nice message at the end that he got around to in a roundabout way. Hope he makes it but won't be disappointed if he doesn't. 

 

Skipped most of the rest of the acts so no comments on them one way or another; other than enough with the singing. The dance group and acrobats were okay enough; didn't wow me as much but wouldn't mind them going forward. 

[Zuleikha]

Riana was robbed. Not sure I care as much for her act; Shim Lee (I think that's his name?)'s clearly the superior magician this year; but she gets kudos for staying so in character. Hopefully she either gets the votes or gets in through other shenanigans due to technical difficulties

 

They're such different magicians, I wouldn't know how to compare them. Shin Lim is a better close up magician, but he sells his acts on his website. He must be relying on specialty props, too, and not just his excellent sleight of hand skills. Riana also is presumably using sleight of hand for some of her stuff, too. 

Magic is such a weird thing to evaluate for me because it's this weird mix of skills. Is being a good magician being able to engineer your own illusions? Is it having an innovative illusion? (which I would argue neither Riana nor Shin Lim do. Her tricks are classics and his are all variations on similar card magic) Is it just the presentation? For me, it's a combination of all three (with the first by far being the least important). 

What I love about Riana is how thoroughly she embodies her character; how coherent she is with her presentation, and her choice of horror. It seems like horror magic should be this overdone thing, but I've never seen anyone else do it... heck, I've never seen anyone else do it even in my local sideshow circuit where you'd think it would be an obvious gimmick. There was that goth magician several seasons ago, but other than being goth, he wasn't horror in his presentation at all. He was almost perky. Riana's scare factor is obviously wearing off now in the format of AGT, but I think in her own stage show, she'd be genuinely frightening.

Shin Lim is my pick to finish higher, if not all out win, though. 

[ams1001]

16 hours ago, InternetToughGuy said:

I think I complain so much only because the shows are terrible, not because I was never held as an infant. More to be sour about tomorrow!

I know for a fact that I was held quite a lot as an infant, because I didn't sleep at night and I was born in the fall so it was often too cold to take me for a car ride (which only worked for as long we were actually in the car, anyway), so my parents walked many, many laps around the coffee table in our tiny house (not a Tiny House™ in the HGTV house-porn sense; but a normal house that was not much bigger than the little condo I currently live in) while holding my cranky little self. I heard a lot about it growing up. My parents weren't bitter or anything. ? (I still don't sleep but no one will carry me around anymore. ?)

The shows are definitely terrible. Can't wait until the results tonight!

 

10 hours ago, TaraS1 said:

And I don't get his accent at all.

I was wondering what his accent was last night and your comment prompted me to google him. His bio on his website says he is a "Los Angeles native" so now I am even more confused by the accent. Just part of his character, I guess.

 

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I tend to believe an earlier poster who stated the doors got stuck and Riana's cables were shown, thereby ruining the act IF viewers were allowed to see that.

That was me, based on a (speculative, I'm assuming) comment on facebook. Either it was planned and badly executed, or it was tied in with their technical difficulties (which were clearly more than just some doors that wouldn't close, considering the flickering screens during Samuel's performance). I could go either way at this point.

 

1 hour ago, Zuleikha said:

He must be relying on specialty props, too,

There are some "Shin Lim's tricks revealed" videos on YouTube; I watched a little of one of them (I think it was the trick from the judge cuts episode) and according to the video it involves magnetic cards so they stay together and look like only one card, but are easily separated by sliding them apart. (I didn't watch the whole thing because I got bored. The guy takes too long to explain it.)

I guess it's a good thing I didn't see The Greatest Showman since I don't recognize any of the songs.

Edited August 22, 2018 by ams1001
Something weird happened. I blame Sacred Riana.

[lb60]

#CanThisJustBeOverNowBecauseThisSeasonSucks

Please and thank you!!

[rr2911]

Oh, oh, the results show is starting in a few minutes! A few comments about yesterday's show:

. Riana was awesome even though the whole trick didn't go as planned

. Front Pictures were great as well! I do enjoy these type of acts.

. Cats! Ugh!! They NEVER should've gone through in the first place. They were sloppy and uninterested in performing.

.  Duo Transcend were good but I wouldn't be surprised if the dude isn't slightly blind. I bet he had some type of operation but the show uses this story as their sob.

My Lucky 7's are

1. Riana

2. Duo Transcend

3. Glennis Grace

4. Samual Comroe

5. Noah Guthrie

6. Makayla Phillips

7. Those dam Cats - I don't like them but I think America will vote for them, especially people who have cats!

[Jessa]

On 8/21/2018 at 11:06 PM, DietCokeJunkie said:

I’m pretty sure I was not supposed to laugh as much as I did during Riana’s act. 

We laughed out loud at her entire routine, but not a single giggle for the comedian. 

[helenamonster]

Yumbo Dump are stupid. They should not have made it to the quarter finals. But they are champions in my heart.

I can't tell if this show constantly cutting to the kids in Voices of Hope who weren't actually singing was deliberate trolling or just part and parcel of the bizarre technical difficulties that were going on.

The Stavitsky Cats are getting a little repetitive but I don't care. They are amazing. And they did have a few new tricks tonight. I hope they still have a few more to sprinkle in if they make it to the semis.

Cry me a river, Glennis Grace. Doesn't she have like eleven albums or something, and was a semifinalist in the Eurovision Song Contest? This show knows we all have Google, right? Also, nobody anywhere in the world is allowed to sing a song from The Greatest Showman ever again.

I really like The Sacred Riana and I'm bummed she had an off night. I agree with the poster upthread who mentioned that she appears to be building a narrative with each round. This week she went from being creepy/the one who's bringing the curses to the one who's running from them. I hope she can squeak through and we can see more.

Haven't watched the results yet but actually really don't care who gets through. I'll miss The Stavitsky Cats if they leave and I think Riana deserves another chance, but this was the worst quarter final in a long time (and not just because of the behind-the-scenes fuckups, though those didn't help).

[InternetToughGuy]

Thoughts on the second half of the show; I forget the order in which they performed, so it'll be random:

The Savitsky Cats - I guess it's one of those acts where you have to critique it based on what it is, rather than overall entertainment level. Not sure if that's a fair gauge of quality, much like the "good for your age" thing that I'll get into later. Of course you'd have to wonder how you could get a cat to do anything, so that's impressive, but overall, it wasn't very entertaining. I always thought it was odd when acts like this or a magician either finish part of their act or as they're transitioning to the next part of it, they'll face the audience and do a pose like spreading their arms. Apparently that would be classified as "flair" or adding showmanship, but I never think it adds anything. The owners of the cats are real hot, though!

Quin and Misha - This is another one of those acts where all the focus is on one person, despite the other person doing just as much or arguably more work. This performance in particular was extremely boring, I have no idea who would go to Vegas and pay to see this. Howie was right with his critique of the woman being "good for her age", that's all there is to this act. Howie's joke about him being sexy was funny. The whole young man and old woman pairs dancing schtick seems like nothing more than a TV trope "ah ha, she's a spicy little thing!" when in reality it's just lame.

Front Pictures - Best act of the night. It looked like it would take a ton of rehearsing to match every required movement, never mind the technical prowess. Hopefully they go through.

Duo Transcend - My recording of this was just a black screen for half of it, but from what I did see, it was every bit as boring as it usually is. I have no idea how to explain why something like this is boring, but it just is. It's been on pretty much every season and it all looks the same.

Glennis Grace - I don't remember why she was crying, but it was annoying anyways. I looked her up recently and she has had a lot of success already. It seems at this point, only imbeciles are fooled into thinking these adult singers have had no accolades at all.

Riana - This act is garbage. Making "le epic spooky face" while the judges enact their obviously scripted/exaggerated terror doesn't make this entertaining. I don't know what the premise is supposed to be other than not talking - I think without the judges there to coax the audience into reacting, that this act wouldn't be well received. Expanding it into an hour long show in Vegas would be absolutely dreadful (ripping off Simon's vocabulary).

 

Overall, I had 2 bad viewing sessions to make for one really bad episode. Snooze. I'll probably complain about the results tomorrow.

[Neet]

Makayla Phillips - I know the catalogue of songs is pretty shallow, but it seems like "Issues" is sung a lot on these shows. From what I remember, it was alright, but she's probably fodder. Tyra saying "so gorgeous!" was kind of a facepalm, as if complimenting her appearance is the only thing that matters. Not that she meant it that way, of course.

Da RePuBLiC - Can't remember the silly formatting of upper and lowercase letters in their name, which is already kind of obnoxious and referencing their birthplace, and that totally hasn't been done enough. ("we're from Dominican Republic, know what I'm sayinnnn?" every time they're on - it's not that big of a hardship) Anyway, it was fine but isn't the 2nd performance spot of the night typically referred to as the death spot for AGT/Idol? It's hard to imagine them going through, since dancers never win.

Noah Guthrie - He was pretty good, I thought he was covering someone else's song before saying it was an original. Wouldn't care much if he stayed or left, but IMO he seems like one of the better overall singers/performers.

Yumbo Dump - Total garbage, and another one of these stupid meme acts that makes it through several rounds before being "exposed" as talentless by the judges who were repeatedly oblivious until the show gets truly competitive. They wore dolphin masks and played some music and that was all it took for the judges to bounce in their chairs and strike their Xs off of the screen, with Simon doing that type of annoying deadpan joke where he proclaims the beauty of something idiotic. The Human Fountains seemed well (no pun) aware that their act was a joke, yet Yumbo Dump were squealing with glee at the praise they received as if they "got what they deserved".

Samuel J. Conroe - After Vicki's 0/10 performance, it's nice to see that being unfunny isn't a matter of gender. At the very least, Samuel did a common thing in standup routines where the final line tied together with everything else he had said, as opposed to copying Vicki and throwing out a bunch of loose "I have Tourette's!" lines. Humor is subjective, of course, but I thought it was easy to predict what he was going to say and commenting on the size of dogs is a pretty mundane topic. Seinfeld (the show) was always about mundanity and nearly everyone seems to like it, so perhaps my criticism is that his routine reminded me of old women impersonating their pets in that high-but-low dog voice "mmm I would like a treat - oh, my owner's home!" while sticking their tongue out and imitating the dog's panting and what not while I have to feign a smile. I hated Sam's last performance, too. His jokes just aren't that clever, there's no subversion of expectations. Even though I didn't like him, I was pissed at Simon not saying anything about his routine except for some generic "you're great", with the bulk of his dialogue being "Riana's cursed the studio, hehehe! hold me!" The judges constantly talk over each other with mindless stupidity instead of talking about the act, who is typically standing on stage wearing a fake grin of displeasure that they rehearsed all week just to get ignored by people paid to review them.

Voices Of Hope - They're way better than that 3000-member choir from last week and it helps that the ages of its members are closer because it's easier to imagine that "family" dynamic that choirs love to talk about, whereas the other one has people with an age disparity of up to several decades and we're expected to believe they all know and like each other. Aside from that, the song choice and choreography (as much as they can do while pretty much standing up and swaying their arms) was better. On a snarky note, I wish they'd quit showing that little kid with the glasses; he's so freakin' annoying to look at for some reason. Maybe because he's one of the "chosen ones" that represent the group despite barely doing anything, much like the other choir's conductor seeming to claim ownership of it.

The Savitsky Cats - More of the same, but it was still fine. The judges are so inconsistent with their criticisms, where a singer doesn't need to step it up at all, but cats with a limited moveset need to do more to draw their attention. I don't know what they're expecting, fire?

Glennis Grace - She sings well, and that's it. I didn't read any of the above posts yet, aside from catching a glimpse of one saying she's apparently very experienced already. What's another lie, after Courtney "Introvert" Hadwin, or any other "I'm actually a pop star in my foreign country" story.

The Sacred Riana - I hate her even more than Tape Face or that sad clown from last year, what she does isn't even a fucking act. Every time, it's some mild magic trick like opening a box (likely with a string on it) while needing the always unfunny judge interaction as the foundation of the "act". One of them's cursed again, oh my! There's no way they will ever give her real critique because they can't break character and acknowledge that it's a girl who is performing as a demonic witch, and is not real. The producers have committed to this irritating "11 acts + 1 ghostly presence infiltrating our studio...what does she want?!?!" shlock, meaning she will be spoken to as such, and never as a contestant. Heidi alluded to how weak and lacking of anything the performance was, leading to Riana's default annoying response of turning her head to the side for the umpteenth time. I'm seething at the computer!

Quin and Misha - If age doesn't matter, stop bringing it up. Oh wait, it's the entire crux of why she's here. The whole point of the act is "old woman who dances with a fraction of the skill of the other dancers...but SHE'S OLD AND DANCES AT ALL!" Heidi sounded so rude when she said "and Quin, you were there, too" or whatever she said. Wasn't he doing most of the work? I saw him panting after the performance, but Misha wasn't. All I remember her doing was letting him spin her around.

Front Pictures - Possibly the best VR/tech, etc.. act the show has ever had. I usually hate these, since it's almost always a group dancing with LED light suits on and having this forced pretentious "life is beautiful xoxoxo" narrative, but this one was seriously impressive. Good choreography, graphics, and there was some humor. Mel somehow didn't understand the premise, just like she "DUN GET IT" with most acts.

Duo Transcend - They're obviously good, but I never think these balance/strength acts translate well on TV. It's like, I understand how much power that takes to do all of those moves, but it gets repetitive. Howie had a funny joke to Mel and she did that fake storm off act before coming back to the desk upon realizing the crowd didn't give a shit. Wouldn't it be great if the acts wouldn't get upstaged by these judge routines? I thought the guy looked a bit annoyed.

Long story short, a few good acts and a ton of trash. I hated most of it, but will happily get back in line for the next 2 hour serving before lamenting how much of a waste of time it was.

[bluepiano]

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 10:35 PM, lynxfx said:

What a s**t show this was. In both production (NBC should be ashamed) and in content. .

Even more disgraceful that the production goofs was the behavior of the judges. I realize that after all these years they legitimately don't like each other, but you'd think that for the mega millions they make, they could at least summon up a degree of professionalism and not act like kindergarten brats. The producers should read them the riot act. (Though I guess that when someone has more money than they can spend in several lifetimes, being fired isn't much of a threat).

Thanks God I tape this show and can fast forward, but there were almost no acts I could stand watching start to finish. I generally always fast forward through the singers on this show. I stayed with Samuel Comroe through his entire act, waiting desperately for one funny line, and it never happened.

I think that after too many years on this show Howie Mandel has truly lost his mind, because I believe he was serious that a couple of fat guys wearing stupid dolphin masks was some kind of "important" and serious statement about preserving the environment. Watching all the judges praise that ridiculous dolphin mask spectacle  was embarrassing. Maybe they were just trying to find a reason to justify putting this terrible act into the lives. Why buzz their first three "sounds" when it was the same crap they'd been doing all along?

Edited August 23, 2018 by bluepiano

[Amsterdamker]

I'm all for cats and I thought Front Pictures was excellent.  I'd pay to see both.  I'm American living in the Netherlands and I don't understand why they haven't mentioned one time in the tv broadcasts that Glennis Grace is from the Netherlands.  She's on talk shows here occasionally when someone music related dies or an anniversary of someone's death.  They have a round-table discussion about it and then she'll sing.  Okay.. talk shows here are not really anything like the ones in the US. 

 

I find it odd.  We knew that there are dance groups from the Philippines and the DR.  Solo acts from Japan etc.  Is it because it's not a sob story?  "I grew up in the rich country of the Netherlands... I have had to struggle so hard to put food on the table (HA!).. blah blah blah.. " =D

 

And as for her wardrobe, I can only say she's from the Netherlands.  It's not uncommon her to be dressed in that 'style'.

[Neet]

6 hours ago, bluepiano said:

Watching all the judges praise that ridiculous dolphin mask spectacle  was embarrassing. Maybe they were just trying to find a reason to justify putting this terrible act into the lives. Why buzz their first three "sounds" when it was the same crap they'd been doing all along?

Every dumb meme act like this gets belly laughs for a few rounds, then the judges turn on the contestant and say "dis is the live shows, time to step up" even though the act is inherently a one-time giggle/viral moment type thing that isn't meant to perform again. The judges (producers) love ushering all of this crap to the higher rounds and then wag their fingers in disapproval and stunned surprise that a shitty act has no longevity.

[vast wasteland]

On 8/21/2018 at 9:09 PM, Stompster said:

 

* Tyra is useless. Not needed. Just go away. Please.

* Mel is also useless, and needs to shut her piehole... and have her flailing arms taped to her sides... and... and...

* Both Tyra and Mel need to drop the Oprah Winfrey yells.

* Why is Samuel J. Comroe introduced as "the comedian with Tourette"? Why not just "a comedian"?

 

So Much Yes.  Especially to the "Why not just a comedian?"

But a really close second to "Tyra is useless. Not needed. Just go away. Please."

And I'll give third place to Tyra's "dates."

[bluepiano]

8 hours ago, Neet said:

Every dumb meme act like this gets belly laughs for a few rounds, then the judges turn on the contestant and say "dis is the live shows, time to step up" even though the act is inherently a one-time giggle/viral moment type thing that isn't meant to perform again. The judges (producers) love ushering all of this crap to the higher rounds and then wag their fingers in disapproval and stunned surprise that a shitty act has no longevity.

That's a great description of what was happening UNTIL the judges went nuts for that stupid dolphin shtick and tried to convince us that YD is a great act after all. It was one of the most bizarre things on what's shaping up to be the most bizarre season of AGT ever.

 

6 hours ago, vast wasteland said:

So Much Yes.  Especially to the "Why not just a comedian?"

Because judged as "just a comedian" he's not in the least bit funny. On AGT, once an act is introduced via their sob story (disease, disability, dead relative, age) that sticks with them for as long as they're on the show. So they can never be judged solely on the basis of their performance, which they would be if this show were truly about talent. In reality, it's some kind of feel-good, faux humanitarian updating of "Queen for a Day." (for those of you old enough to get the reference.)

Edited August 24, 2018 by bluepiano

[Lady Iris]

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 12:23 PM, Frankenstein123 said:

5: Glennis Grace. Speaking of that, the next episode of "Who wants to be the next Greatest Showman" saw Glennis get fashion advice from a woman who consitently looks like she's been dressed by a team of lemurs. Yeah, she sang it well and all, but failed to really elevate the song or reach any new heights and I feel she's capable of doing it with a less overused song. 

I wanna buy you a drink for the 'team of lemurs' comment! I'm still tee-heeing over that one!

[Vermicious Knid]

Quote

That's a great description of what was happening UNTIL the judges went nuts for that stupid dolphin shtick and tried to convince us that YD is a great act after all.

I am convinced Simon at least was trolling everyone with that.

Lemurs are much too classy for this show.

[saber5055]

I caught the rerun of this last night so was able to look for things based on posts here. My biggest notice was watching the audience behind the judges during Riana's act. Every single person was laughing their butts off when Riana appeared behind Mel and put her hand on Mel's shoulder. Audience behind Simon was just sitting there, which makes me think that was a cut-in edit, not real time. It also disputes thought that some audience member fainted and the rest ran from the theater in terror over the horror that was The Sacred Riana. The only horror I saw was her crap act. I think Mel B agrees with my assessment.

I thought the cats were as good as before. If they were suppose to "step it up," then ask those multiple singers to "step it up" next time too. Although I could do with less "ta da!" from the women. That broke the flow IMO.

Front Pictures totally lost me, I was so bored I went back to doing something else during their act that was way too long.

I liked Duo Transcend. They could just stand on the stage for two minutes and I'd enjoy them. Yes, I'm shallow.

I loved what Glennis was wearing. It's totally something I would wear myself. Which I guess says more about me than Glennis. Lemurs, bring me that jacket.

[Wings]

25 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I liked Duo Transcend. They could just stand on the stage for two minutes and I'd enjoy them. Yes, I'm shallow.

For me they are meh.  I don't believe he is losing his vision.  He said he was legally blind in his right eye in the first audition, that is all I remember hearing, anyway.  That I believe.  Anyway I doubt they would be using up the last time he has with his sight perfecting and act that has an expiration date.  I suppose they are hoping to make a passel of money before that happens, maybe.  Their act did not scare me into thinking it is dangerous.  I think the 'accidental drop' was staged and the judges were not in on it. 

Edited August 26, 2018 by Wings

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, Wings said:

Their act did not scare me into thinking it is dangerous.

The guy could be totally blind and using a white cane and seeing-eye dog and I could care less. I didn't think about the "danger" of their act, just that it was beautiful to watch, and both the man and woman are gorgeous athletes. That was the point of my post, it was not about some sob back story. I don't give a care about any of those fakety fake stories, and that includes the singer (with 11 albums) who has been "stuck at home with her kid, unable to perform," or the girl who is so "painfully shy she can't even speak in public." I like or don't like acts based on what I see ... and hear, in the case of all those singing acts moving forward.

[Wings]

3 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

The guy could be totally blind and using a white cane and seeing-eye dog and I could care less. I didn't think about the "danger" of their act, just that it was beautiful to watch, and both the man and woman are gorgeous athletes. That was the point of my post, it was not about some sob back story. I don't give a care about any of those fakety fake stories, and that includes the singer (with 11 albums) who has been "stuck at home with her kid, unable to perform," or the girl who is so "painfully shy she can't even speak in public." I like or don't like acts based on what I see ... and hear, in the case of all those singing acts moving forward.

I was just talking.  I shouldn't have quoted you because my comments were not addressed to you, just rambling about the act.  Sorry to have irritated you.  :( 

Edited August 26, 2018 by Wings

[Zuleikha]

 Their act did not scare me into thinking it is dangerous.  I think the 'accidental drop' was staged and the judges were not in on it.

The act is dangerous; all aerial acts are. But the danger isn't the point--beauty is. Duo Transcend has a solid reputation for training hard and well to minimize their danger. The accidental drop was real, per people who know them in the aerial community.

I think the impact of most aerial acts is lessened on TV. The height doesn't communicate well. IMHO, that's why most of them don't do well.