S13.E19: Live Semi Finals 2 (Tuesday's Show)

[Kelloggirl]

This was the worst of the horrible episodes of the semi-finals, mainly because it was so over-filled with singers and I couldn't be more annoyed at the lack of variety overall. I barely could bring myself to pay attention but what little I remember went something like this:

• Large lady largely off-key (sad, because I liked her)
• Dancing Dominicans Da Republik - looked like crash test dummies, but didn't have as much life
• Bearded Guitar Dude - meh but still the best thus far (faint praise)
• Angel City Choir - only heard them in the distance so can't judge fairly, but also thought meh.
• We Three - hate on principle.
• Daniel Emmett - hate on principle.
• Aaron Crow - at least not a singer, but too long.
• Brian King Joseph - yay, not a singer! Yay! Relatively speaking, loved it!
• Glennis Grace - polished and great voice, yet not memorable, but will go through I hope.
• Courtney - someone call the paramedics! Seizure alert. Also, Joss Stone called, she wants her schtick back. Bored now.
• Vicki Trailer Nasty - also yay not a singer! Not that funny. Cringeworthy at times, but I do like something about her. Can't explain it.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Kelloggirl

[ams1001]

9 minutes ago, Kelloggirl said:

Relatively speaking, loved it!

I feel like this pretty much sums up all of the "good" acts this season.

[lmdreamer]

I don't want to offend anyone but i have  noticed that a lot of the contestants are from other countries with some having even won or placed in their own 'got talent' show. The title of the show is "Americas Got Talent'. I think being a legal resident of America should be a requirement.

Again sorry if offended.

[InternetToughGuy]

21 minutes ago, lmdreamer said:

I don't want to offend anyone but i have  noticed that a lot of the contestants are from other countries with some having even won or placed in their own 'got talent' show. The title of the show is "Americas Got Talent'. I think being a legal resident of America should be a requirement.

Again sorry if offended.

The threads for this show seem to be free of the "umm....what did you say?" kinds of people - everyone is pretty catty/rude and it's fun. I'm not even American and I agree - I think we had Canada's Got Talent one year, but all of our knockoffs of American shows are downright embarrassing. Any real talent in Canada moves to the US anyways.

[anthonyd46]

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/entertainment/2018/09/12/americas-got-talent-michael-ketterer-garth-brooks/1281832002/

[Neet]

I love the sound of my own voice, er, keystrokes, too much to read other posts before writing this, so I may end up repeating what others have said. (I'l read the thread after)
Another season of mostly singers begs the question of why AGT does such great viewership numbers and is toted as a variety show when it's American Idol Jr., and at times due to the young age of the contestants, American Juniors Jr. (in June). Very bad joke aside, people still tune in with whimsy and wonder who will win, as if it won't be another precocious child who cannot perform in Vegas due to their early bedtime.
 

Christina Wells - I can't even remember what song she did, since vocal talent takes a backseat to her non-permanent, willpower afflicted sob story of being overweight. She doesn't even have to lose weight, I really don't care, but it's entirely possible for her to do so, so I don't get why there's a victimhood narrative around her being born this way. Tyra, the America's Next Top Model host, who criticized plenty of women for far less, starting that pity cheer of "ain't she beautiful?" was embarrassing, I doubt she believes that.

Da Republik - This whole thing looked like they were backup dancers for a teen idol singer, it was totally bland. Dance groups never make it to the finals of AGT because they're almost always a supporting act, much like instrumentalists for the most part.

Noah Guthrie - Way to act like the song he picked was a matter of life and death. IMO it was fine enough, as he's still a singer on AGT, which might just be enough to thrust him into the finals, sad as that is.

Daniel Emmet - I keep thinking he's that other singer whose entire backstory is "I'm such a dork xD girls won't date me...awkward geek!" so I can't really ascribe anything unique to this guy's personality. He has a good voice and the performance was good, it just seems like he's been brought back to the show repeatedly in spite of not getting enough votes, so it's unlikely for his fanbase (if existent) to vote him through.

Angel City Chorale - Being easily irritated over nothing, I don't need an exact reason to be irked at the conductor of the choir. I think she does a similar holier-than-thou routine that Michael Ketterer's video packages portray him to be. "I don't remember" is a repetitive occurrence of AGT-induced narcolepsy or protective memory loss following traumatic boredom every Tuesday, but I don't remember a second of this performance. When there's 150 or so members, why would you be expected to remember much of it when there's no people to latch onto? There are too many people, so there's less of a connection being made when watching them. I do remember that "uhhh also, it's 9/11!" speech that sounded like quite a pre-rehearsed plea for votes. They checked off all the sympathetic boxes with that one.

Aaron Crow - Many of these magic acts aren't really new tricks, which I'm fine with because there's a limited number of concepts that can be used, but it's the same type of trick with a new skin of the magician wearing a costume or acting stupid/evil/crazy. The underlying trick isn't that impressive, and with Aaron, all it is is the usual judge pandering along with "here's 4 of (whatever), pick one" where he's sometimes able to leave room for error so he can still influence the result and make it seem like someone's choice. The act was good last night, though it's a bit redundant for these types of routines to keep going through because the result is always obvious. (Howie being in the box that wasn't smashed, whoever's card somebody signed is the one picked, etc..) His mute dialogue and menacing stare gets tiresome, as it's been done so many times and also reminds me of Riana (sp?) from this season, who was trash.

Vicki Barbolak - Comedy is subjective, though her 'trailer nasty' gimmick is getting very old. Is it fair to say that needing a gimmick can sometimes be a sign that you're not actually funny if all material needs to be pigeonholed into a single subject? Saying "I'm trashy, I drink a lot of alcohol, I'm gross" isn't always funny by itself if the reasons given aren't very clever. It seems like she's relying on these 'weird' statements as a crutch for being witty, and I also think she draws her jokes out far too long as the viewer can usually fill in the blanks of what she's going to say next. Not being a prick, just using her as an example because she's also a contestant, but it'd be like if Christina Wells did comedy instead of singing and her routine was always a variation of "does anyone else eat a whole pizza at 3 AM...no?" without any wordplay, subversion of expectations, etc.. It's just presenting a stereotype and then making more stereotypical observations about it. Vicki seems to make descriptions and tell pointless stories than actually make very many jokes. It's truly rare when there's a comedian on this show who simply tells jokes or funny stories without having an ailment or quirk of some kind that spills into their entire act; Tom Cotter is the only one that comes to mind. I don't like Samuel Conroe much, but he's at least capable of straying from Tourette's material. As always, Howie does his fake laughter on command like he's a plush toy whose stomach is being squeezed by an NBC executive to goad the rest of the audience into laughing along. Mel B always reacts to comedy like she's doing an analysis instead of having enjoyed it, despite saying "uhr sew funneh, eye 'ad uh propah bellah laf", so it's quite hard to see if the judges like it or are pressured to say they do.

We Three - It seems a bit difficult to put the song they did in a genre, unless I'm just stupid, but I was a fan. Family bands tend to come across as really corny, and they certainly do to a degree, but I thought it may have been the best performance they've done so far.

Glennis Grace - Is there any medical benefit to having 2-3 minute naps throughout the day? Because I must have taken one during this.

Brian King Joseph - He's talented, but playing a violin doesn't feel like it's commanding the arena like most of the other acts do. I'm kind of surprised he's made it this far, even though I think he's really good at what he does.

Courtney Hadwin - Another '70s karaoke night featuring her usual screeches and "oh, maw-maw!" fake-funk along with her Halloween skeleton bo-jangle legs shimmying along the stage like her whole lower half is double jointed. On a side note, what's with Howie and the other judges/Tyra being so vocal about saying "this is my golden buzzer!"? They pressed a button after seeing an act that they and the rest of the audience liked, that's it. Who buzzed which act through was hardly mentioned until this season, now everyone's acting like a boxing manager with a towel wrapped around their neck. Unless they just want to copy judge (I think they're called coaches) participation on The Voice, who knows.

One more thing, aside from it being contrived as heck that people made reaction videos to Courtney's audition (because she encouraged them to), why on Earth do people watch others reacting to things? The elderly reacting to things like current rap songs, I can understand the appeal, but how the hell is watching someone look at their computer monitor and go 'wow' an entertainment outlet to so many people? Nobody has a real reaction anyway, it's a bunch of twerps fanning their faces like they need smelling salts and dramatically prosing on about how "shook" they are and how their dry eyes are "literally crying". Having watched Courtney watch people watch Courtney makes me feel like I've been sucked into an annoying reaction video matrix.

*I edited this post in a few places a couple minutes after posting

Edited September 13, 2018 by Neet

[saber5055]

2 minutes ago, Neet said:

Tyra, the America's Next Top Model host, who criticized plenty of women for far less, starting that pity cheer of "ain't she beautiful?" was embarrassing, I doubt she believes that.

I remember when all the tabloids came out with pictures of Fat Tyra, and she freaked. She then came on Oprah's show wearing a bikini (albeit a more "modest" one than chicks wear today) and paraded around to prove SHE IS NOT FAT.

I took her "ain't she beautiful" to be more about "hey, be nice to this fat person and thank goodness it's not me, I look great, I'M NOT FAT, she is."

[InternetToughGuy]

21 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I took her "ain't she beautiful" to be more about "hey, be nice to this fat person and thank goodness it's not me, I look great, I'M NOT FAT, she is."

It's also possible that that was the only thing that came to mind on the spot, since going "Hmm...yes" after such a virtue signalling speech would just look awkward, though the exchange came off like a real life version of Facebook comments "No girl, YOU are the gorgeous one <3" even though the accuracy of those "beautiful" remarks would be determined in how many Calvin Klein circus tents are pitched (if you understand my metaphor).

[Neet]

Of course, opinions differ (however, mine is FACT), but why are a few people here saying Vicki is not funny, but still likeable? I find her quite irritating and that definitely carries over into what I think of her material, despite how much it sucks on its own merits. I'd assume that any comedian has to be likeable to be funny and vice versa.

[helenamonster]

Oof, this was interminable. Way too many singers and almost everybody let their nerves get the best of them.

Christina Wells cannot be coming to this competition with these bum notes and expecting to stick around for the finals.

Da RepubliK's routine was complete amateur hour, I was actually really embarrassed for them. Even without the missed tricks, it was so boring.

I want to root for Aaron Crow (his cheekbones, at the very least, deserve to be in the Top 5) but this was the same trick as last week with new window dressing, so he can vamoose.

Vicki Barbolak pronouncing Italian like eye-talian reminded me of my racist great aunties.

Courtney Hadwin is not a singer--she is a novelty act, and the novelty has quite worn off. She was out of breath before the performance was even over which demonstrates, to me, no professional training or even a remote awareness of what she's doing beyond copying singers of yesteryear. With any luck she'll scream her voice to shreds before she turns 18 and will then go away forever. And once again I resent this show for bringing out the side of me that wishes ill on a child, but the constant pimping of her as the second coming and designated winner has gotten on my last fucking nerve.

7 hours ago, bluepiano said:

(Have they yet actually mentioned she's from Holland? I fast forward though a lot of the introductions)

They haven't said she's from the Netherlands but her intro package this week featured a video of her son speaking Dutch. However, the show didn't specify it was Dutch and I wouldn't have known it was if I hadn't heard about her nationality on these boards. Presumably now people know she's foreign but if they aren't familiar with Dutch they probably still don't know exactly where she's from.

[Readalot]

I was at yesterday show including the taping of BTS. 

- BTS fans are crazy loud. They were good, they did their performance twice. During their performance, the judges table had stand ins.

- producers were really pushing Courtney’s performance. They asked us to be just as loud for her BTS. We were not. It was also the only act where they asked us to stand up the whole time. She was chugging down water or some liquid until 3 seconds before she started singing   

- the sibling group - no one in the audience was paying attention, Howie was right. 

- I think the act that the audience truly loved the most was King. He was fantastic. 

And other show tibits - 

-I think Heidi and Mel B are friends in real life.
- They must have really oily faces, at each break they used a sheet on their own to lift off the oil. Of course their makeup and hair people come out too, and will literally work on one hair out of place.
- Heidi is a goddess.
-Their kids came to say hi during breaks, they are adorable.
-Simon takes a lot of (potty) breaks. He comes back 5 seconds before they go live.
-During performances, Howie leans back and looks at Simon's reaction.
-During commercials and the intros is when they change the sets. Up to 25/50 people swarm the stage in a well choreographed routine to get everything done in a few minutes.
-Sound was amazing in the Dolby Theatre (ha!). However the show acts seemed overproduced. Could not hear most vocals and when Tyra talked. Haven't watched it yet so I don't know how this translated on TV.
-During breaks, if you sat close by, they allowed you to take pictures with the judges minus Simon.
-Simon was the most friendliest walking back to the judges tables, shaking everyone's hand and seemed happy about it.
-Simon got on the mike a few times and thanked us for being a good audience.
- One time he told us not to Boo when he "X"'d and he was serious. 
-You could get moved around a lot in the audience, I got moved 4 times. But for most of the time, I was in the VIP family area.
- One of Howie's Suitcase Girls (Deal or no Deal is back) got engaged during one of the breaks.
- They did the pretape for BTK too. Supposedly broke a record for how loud the audience was. They were pretty good.
- The scary knife guy walked right in front of me, I looked away, I didn't want to meet his eye, he was scary.
- I was sitting right behind where the King the violin guy was lifted up.
- There was easily 60 empty seats in the first level. If you ever do standby I'd bet you'd get in.
- They handed out mini metal flashlights for the choir number. Maybe cost $1? They collected them afterwards and threw them away! The only reason why I think we couldn't not keep them is they thought they would be used as weapons?

- I met someone from the choir, Vicky’s husband and Courtney. They were all very nice! 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Readalot

[Kelloggirl]

Thanks for the insider perspective, Readalot! Just as we all suspected, Courtney is being pimped HARD! Nice to know Brian Joseph King got a lot of audience love, he deserves it. He has a sad story, but it doesn't feel so manufactured and genuinely is something he fights through during his performance, so I'm OK with it. 

WHY WHY does Daniel Emmett keep making it through? He has a nice voice but is otherwise Blandy McBlanderson.

[Kelloggirl]

10 hours ago, Neet said:

Of course, opinions differ (however, mine is FACT), but why are a few people here saying Vicki is not funny, but still likeable? I find her quite irritating and that definitely carries over into what I think of her material, despite how much it sucks on its own merits. I'd assume that any comedian has to be likeable to be funny and vice versa.

I'm one of those, so I'll 'splain. I do think that a comedian has to be likeable to be funny (although if you're schtick is to be a dick/insulting, maybe not), but I don't think a comedian has to be funny to be likeable. I don't find her irritating, because I guess she reminds me of a friend of the family who was kind of bawdy and whose jokes were hit or miss - I loved her, but would mostly just roll my eyes at her jokes. And I guess every now and then I do kind of chuckle at Vicki, like "Oh Aunt Vicki, you're so embarassing." But if you find her irritating you already don't like her, and thus don't find her funny. Whereas I like her and wish her material was funnier and made me laugh more. Does that make any sense?

[saber5055]

14 hours ago, helenamonster said:

With any luck she'll scream her voice to shreds before she turns 18 and will then go away forever.

She can use AGT's $1 million bucks to buy throat spray while she rests on her private island after winning this show.

12 hours ago, Readalot said:

I was at yesterday show including the taping of BTS. 

Great post. Thanks for the insight and filling us in on what goes on IRL. I might like (or dislike) some of these people more (or less) if I were able to attend a live taping and see/hear everyone in person. Lucky you!

[Amsterdamker]

Well, that was disappointing show.  Living in Amsterdam, Glennis Grace is on the news here.  All the 'media' people were giving her well wishes for her upcoming semi-final performance.  After the semi's, there was also an interview with her on Dutch tv that if she makes it to the final, her son will fly over and she was so shocked by Simon's comments.  

 

Agree with above, no mention of her being from the Netherlands, but I was happy to see at least Dutch. yeah.. I know most people probably won't recognize it, but hey, it's something.  And I see her wardrobe hadn't improved much, but even though I'm not really a fan, I did think she did a great job. The best that she could have and thinking that will bring her to the finals.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Amsterdamker

[lb60]

16 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Vicki Barbolak pronouncing Italian like eye-talian reminded me of my racist great aunties.

Or the Duggars!  

I was irritated/offended by her pronunciation.

14 hours ago, Readalot said:

-Simon takes a lot of (potty) breaks. He comes back 5 seconds before they go live.

I'm guessing smoke breaks.

Great post. Thanks for the behind the scenes info.

[Lemons]

20 hours ago, lmdreamer said:

I don't want to offend anyone but i have  noticed that a lot of the contestants are from other countries with some having even won or placed in their own 'got talent' show. The title of the show is "Americas Got Talent'. I think being a legal resident of America should be a requirement.

Again sorry if offended.

It is weird that they call it America's Got Talent but people travel from other countries to audition.  It should be called "America doesn't have that much talent so we need foreigners"

[sharifa70]

2 hours ago, Lemons said:

It is weird that they call it America's Got Talent but people travel from other countries to audition.  It should be called "America doesn't have that much talent so we need foreigners"

No American judges, either. That makes me laugh.

[CelticBlackCat]

Readalot:  Thanks for sharing your insider's POV!  I'm curious what vibes you got from the people in person, mainly Simon.  You say he was the friendliest shaking hands and thanking the audience, but he is clearly the boss, right?  Heidi is a goddess.  Is that her physical appearance or does she have charm in her personality that adds to her persona?  What did you think of meeting Courtney?  Did she seem excited, or did she put on a shy girl act?

All the rest of you:  I've fallen off watching AGT for the past month or so but love keeping up with what's going on here.  I haven't read too much because I thought of spoilers, but at this point, I probably won't sit and watch each episode in full.  Your posts are so funny and hilarious!  I wanted to Quote and highlight some of the ones that made me laugh, but that would be the entire thread.  (Seriously).

My hope at this point is that Shin Lim wins, and if not him, then Brian.

[Lemons]

19 minutes ago, sharifa70 said:

No American judges, either. That makes me laugh.

Oh yeah!  I never thought of that!  No wonder they love the European acts so much.

[Readalot]

5 hours ago, CelticBlackCat said:

Readalot:  Thanks for sharing your insider's POV!  I'm curious what vibes you got from the people in person, mainly Simon.  You say he was the friendliest shaking hands and thanking the audience, but he is clearly the boss, right?  Heidi is a goddess.  Is that her physical appearance or does she have charm in her personality that adds to her persona?  What did you think of meeting Courtney?  Did she seem excited, or did she put on a shy girl act?

All the rest of you:  I've fallen off watching AGT for the past month or so but love keeping up with what's going on here.  I haven't read too much because I thought of spoilers, but at this point, I probably won't sit and watch each episode in full.  Your posts are so funny and hilarious!  I wanted to Quote and highlight some of the ones that made me laugh, but that would be the entire thread.  (Seriously).

My hope at this point is that Shin Lim wins, and if not him, then Brian.

Yes Simon is the boss no doubt. He was our “host”, the only one that would periodically address us. - I wasn’t super close to the judges table, but Heidi did radiate beauty. All the men took pictures between Heidi and Mel B. and families and kids with Howie. They all appeared nice in their interactions and not fake. - I met Courtney the night before at my hotel. She was there with her dad. I told her congrats and she has a lovely voice. She thanked me. Then a few minutes later I asked her if we could take a selfie and she said yes and we did. I think she was genuine in her shyness and timid ness. 

[Readalot]

15 hours ago, Kelloggirl said:

Thanks for the insider perspective, Readalot! Just as we all suspected, Courtney is being pimped HARD! Nice to know Brian Joseph King got a lot of audience love, he deserves it. He has a sad story, but it doesn't feel so manufactured and genuinely is something he fights through during his performance, so I'm OK with it. 

WHY WHY does Daniel Emmett keep making it through? He has a nice voice but is otherwise Blandy McBlanderson.

Yes honestly she was the only one they kept hyping. I will be shocked if she does not win. - while waiting to start his act, the audience around King (in front of me but just out of my reach) were high fiving and such and he attempted to reach everyone. He oozed appreciation to the fans and just being there.

Oh yeah Vicky did not try out first on her own  she was discovered on You Tube and approached by the producers.

I have tickets for the Tuesday finale show. I hope we get to go again! 

One more thing, during the break after King’s performance, Simon went on stage and hugged him lots and talked to him the whole break. King was the only one to get a judges love on stage. I think they showed this on the results show. 

[AwesomO4000]

The thing that I got from all of this was: I miss Hans.

[Wings]

Samuel the comic with Tourette’s is far better than Vicky and many other acts, as well.   Hopefully he has been seen enough.  I had hoped he would make the finals.  

ETA.  I see he is in the finals.  I watch this show with a lot of FF and there are way too many shows. Quarter finals, half finals, fooler finals, the best of finals, semi finals, ha you think this should be over finals and the finals you forget to watch but hear who won on Today the next morning.  

Edited September 15, 2018 by Wings

[ams1001]

2 hours ago, Wings said:

ha you think this should be over finals 

that is exactly how I feel by the end...

[backformore]

On 9/12/2018 at 7:58 PM, lmdreamer said:

I don't want to offend anyone but i have  noticed that a lot of the contestants are from other countries with some having even won or placed in their own 'got talent' show. The title of the show is "Americas Got Talent'. I think being a legal resident of America should be a requirement.

Again sorry if offended.

Yeah, I had a hard time when the regurgitator competed,  and it turned out he had already been on 2 other countries "got talent " shows. I think once you've completed, you've chosen that country.

Maybe the name should be, "America DOESNT got talent,  so we had to import it."

What's sad is that Vicki is one act that is representing America.  I swear, if vicki performed at a coffee house open-mic night, she'd get no more than polite, embarrassed applause. Is that anyone  REALLY laughing? I mean, besides howie.