Lonesome Rhodes May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 Per usual, the open had gorgeous visuals with beautiful editing. If nothing else, SYCO has a top-flight production team. I have a bias against Julianne coming in. I noted they went to great lengths to make her out to be the "sweet one." It seems I am not alone in my take on her. Gabrielle (Mrs. Dwyane Wade (Basketball Star)) is so ridiculously pretty. She had her introductory AGT tour while her husband was taking his valedictory around the NBA. I typically love the acts like Gingvilla. He seems a cross between Barry Humphries and Prince Poppycock. He doesn't seem to have the true whimsy those two have/had. He did pick a perfect song. The magic act was really good. The cut/restored card effect was the most astonishing to me. The "magic" table itself is something that takes away some of the wonder, though. Italian piano dude was aight. But, he is a classic one-trick pony, no? The Mumbai dancers had at least two stunts I had never seen: 1) The poles. Beyond creative and super demanding. Wow. 2) A second acrobat stepping on another who is laid out in mid-air. Brilliant. I'm guessing they were on another Got Talent show. I definitely want to see more. The comedienne was better than all from last season. She still was not very good. I loved how Simon pursed his face when she mentioned fat and donuts with those big ol' Dunkin cups sitting prominently (at great expense) on the jidges' table. Kodi Lee was quite something. Fine by me he got the GB. Unfortunately, that cheats us out of at least one performance. I did enjoy watching Julianne attempting to conjure an appropriate shock face. I could just see her image wheels spinning in her head. What she settled on was unintentionally funny. An actress, she is not. Glad to see a danger act right out of the gate. When did we get one last season? Did we have even one? All in all, a very well done season premiere. 3 Link to comment
Vermicious Knid May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 Blind, autistic, and the last act of the night. Of course he was going to get the Golden Buzzer. An Indian dance group just won World of Dance. They did a lot of similar flying stunts. 6 Link to comment
kickedinthehead May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 (edited) Julianne's critiques sounded oh so natural (and not at all scripted from whoever wrote Heidi's lines). At least she doesn't do hand binoculars. Greg Morton (Star Wars voice guy) -- Um, I'm not really into "Star Wars" (gasp) so I didn't have much of an opinion of his act one way or the other. I don't see him making it past the quarter finals (if he makes it that far). Shin Lim 2.0 -- Fine, I guess, but lacked the "charisma" of his predecessor. Sophie Pecora, aka Grace Van der Waal 2.0 -- Actually, somebody elsewhere online called her a Grace/Chase Goehring hybrid, and... that's about all that needs to be said. Monkey -- Pointless. Italian pianist/contortionist -- This: Quote Italian piano dude was aight. But, he is a classic one-trick pony, no? Indian dance act -- If they're anything like most of the other dance acts featuring huge groups that we've seen in previous seasons, tonight's performance was just the first of many performances where they'll do more or less the exact same moves; except maybe they'll switch up the background a little. Jackie "Fabulous" -- Well, she did do something I never thought possible, and that's that she almost made me miss Vicki Barbolak... Gingzilla -- I kept thinking the name was JANEzilla. Aside from that... Gingzilla was no Prince Poppycock. The Human Fuse -- Seems like a nice enough guy, but... how many times have we seen this now? I'm surprised the wife wasn't sobbing dramatically (maybe she's saving that for the next episode). Kodi Lee -- As an auntie to a nephew with autism, I couldn't not be moved by this. Well done, Kodi Lee. Yes, the golden buzzer was predictable, but... one of the few singers whom I don't mind advancing. Edited May 29, 2019 by kickedinthehead 8 Link to comment
Juneau Gal May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 Here we go with the overblown tongue baths of the judges towards moderately talented people. Its tiresome and boring. And worst of all, I find it somewhat demeaning, for both the act and the audience. I guess maybe I am just tired of this whole format. Tired of comedians no funnier than the average person at a party. Tired of huge dance groups throwing the smallest members all around the stage. Tired of singing children. Tired of tragic or difficult backstories that are suppose to awe and inspire. Tired of one trick ponies like the Human Fuse, who flat out told the judges that's all he could do, there was nothing else. Tired of whatever Gingzilla's act is; and I love a good drag queen/king. Tired of the conceit that we are seeing an audition day or weekend when the judges have different hair and clothing after each commercial. Tired of whatever the hell it is Simon is doing to his face via Botox and fillers. And especially tired of the complete certainty that when we get to the final 12, over half of them will be singers, most of whom will have been on other TV competitions but still persist in acting like they have never sung in front of an audition before. Clearly this show has made me a bit pissy. It used to be my fun summer viewing, but now it is so fake and over-manipulated. 17 Link to comment
InternetToughGuy May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 9 minutes ago, Juneau Gal said: Here we go with the overblown tongue baths of the judges towards moderately talented people. Its tiresome and boring. And worst of all, I find it somewhat demeaning, for both the act and the audience. I guess maybe I am just tired of this whole format. Tired of comedians no funnier than the average person at a party. Tired of huge dance groups throwing the smallest members all around the stage. Tired of singing children. Tired of tragic or difficult backstories that are suppose to awe and inspire. Tired of one trick ponies like the Human Fuse, who flat out told the judges that's all he could do, there was nothing else. Tired of whatever Gingzilla's act is; and I love a good drag queen/king. Tired of the conceit that we are seeing an audition day or weekend when the judges have different hair and clothing after each commercial. Tired of whatever the hell it is Simon is doing to his face via Botox and fillers. And especially tired of the complete certainty that when we get to the final 12, over half of them will be singers, most of whom will have been on other TV competitions but still persist in acting like they have never sung in front of an audition before. Clearly this show has made me a bit pissy. It used to be my fun summer viewing, but now it is so fake and over-manipulated. I'm glad to see a negative review here, since I was afraid I'd be the lone person bitching and everyone would tell me off. I thought the show was a 0/10. I hate the new judges - so far, they haven't been shown to be personalities, just people to fill a spot. Last year on this forum, I was bitching about Mel and Heidi and hoping they would leave, but now I take that back. Unless all the time Terry Crews spends in the gym makes him look good in g strings, I will be mourning Tyra's departure for the foreseeable future. Something Gabrielle said was like "I'm just a girl from Omaha, Nebraska" - what the hell is that supposed to mean? Everyone has to be born "just" somewhere and I'm pretty sure every American not living in Los Angeles is disadvantaged when it comes to opportunity in that field. Greg Morton - I thought it was decent, though I've never watched any Star Wars movie, so quite a few impressions were lost on me. I do wonder how long it will take for the judges' laughs to fade into "It was a fun little audition, but you didn't step it up" (a critique that doesn't apply to singers, of course). Magic Guy - He has a name of course, but the boring act made it disappear from my memory (he's done it again!). Magic acts all follow the same formula of unveiling the trick for the first 10 seconds, then repeating it for another 3 minutes. No need to applaud if you know exactly what to expect. Sophie Pecora - She already has 500,000 subscribers on YouTube, so I don't know what she expects this to do for her. Of course to most people, it would seem logical that being on a show with 10 million viewers would help your career, but everyone's brain formats the second the finale credits roll, so nobody really goes anywhere. Grace VanderWaal is the lone exception - acts like Forte plunging toilets is the status quo. I've had a running joke for years that the guy who won in 2013 (Kenichi Ebina)'s gig is sweeping the confetti off the stage every finale - he only performs in Japan and his tweets get around 20 likes each, so I'm really not that far off. Monkey - This all applies to him as well as the rest of the reel of joke contestants bring out a very unique flavor of annoyance. It's like angrily shouting out into the ethers "who thinks this shit is funny?!". Patrizio Razzo - He played "that" song that is synonymous with piano; well, just the intro, so I'm theorizing that old picture of him with the piano certificate was right around when he quit playing. I thought the idea of fusing classical music with the dancing was stupid and his robot impersonation synced up perfectly with the level of emotion that I was able to express. V.Unbeatable - So this giant crew who supposedly live in squalor can apparently purchase enough food to get the energy to do this taxing type of dancing, international plane tickets, and custom jackets for everybody. Hmmm. The stereotypical display of "our life sucks *tear* .... I'm sorry" just makes me hate the act. I don't think they did the math, because them splitting the $630,000 (after taxes 😓) that many ways would probably leave them with enough to fly home. Jackie Fabulous - This routine stunk. The types of very basic jokes she told that made the audience laugh wouldn't have even occurred to me to say if I were in her position; not blowing smoke up my own ass, it's just that I would've considered them to be crap. The comedians on AGT are usually terrible, since their routines usually revolve around one trait about themselves that they will run into the ground (not like it was ever funny to start with). Gingzilla - It's odd how someone with such an obvious testosterone deficiency could grow that big, but at least no one will ever criticize his act to his face, lest they get their ass handed to them. I think the whole idea of being a drag queen is stupid - I mean, I can at least understand what the appeal in cross dressing would be, but wearing a puffy Victorian era dress and doing your makeup like a day old bowl of chocolate ice cream doesn't sound entertaining at all. Human Fuze - Since filming people dying for TV ratings probably wouldn't go very well, what do you think could possibly happen with this act? 10 minutes of "it's real dangerous" and random spectators holding their mouth in awe. The actual act lasts 5 seconds (for his wife's sake, I hope it's only his AGT performance that lasts that long). All of the danger acts are boring because they all go perfectly. Kodi Lee - I'm not trying to be funny, but why does every mentally challenged person have a name that comes up as a typo when written out? Another example would be Mychael or Jaymes - you're really not doing them any favors. I don't know if I am lobotomized because these auditions only annoy me instead of make me start crying and clapping like every audience member, but when you know they're clapping for "the person with a sob story......who by the way has this skill" it's rather infuriating. I hate this show so damn much, but I'll see you all next week and every week after 😴 7 3 Link to comment
silverspoons May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 (edited) Sophie, the singer that sang about her life in 7th grade, my daughter knew her right away. I guess Shane Dawson, asked people to follow her and did a video with her and now she has a huge following? I wonder if a following that that and a backing of Shane Dawson will get her a lot of people just voting for her on the app that do not even watch? I wish they had explained more about Kodi Lee. As a mom with a child that has autism and one that that struggles with creativity and music , iIwas wondering how he learned his music, memory, if he only knew so many songs. I was surprised to read that he can learn a song after hearing it only 1 times, it is a rare skill, I would have liked to hear that part of the story. I want to have a good comedian , it seems like they do not get enough time. I know it is suppose be to be equal time but the guy on fire got was 3 times as long as the comedy lady. I would have rather seen 9 minutes of comedy and 3 minutes of the guy on fire. Anyone else bothered by them flipping between taping days? Simon and Howie are harder to tell, they dress pretty much the same day after day and have the same "hair" look. Gabi went from long straight hair, to short hair to braids and back and forth. I miss the days when they did one city each show. Now we know they are just putting together shows with clips of people that fit that filmed over a period of time. Edited May 29, 2019 by silverspoons 5 Link to comment
Neet May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 (edited) So when is American Idol coming back? I used to think AGT was just a notch below it, but even with Idol losing a ton of steam, this show is just terrible. Greg Morton - Is America so obese that any contestant who happens to be over 40 years old and still alive earns some applause? He looked good for his age, but the crowd response is the same for anyone barely above middle age. Can't wait for this to be exposed in the next round or two, it just sounded like a voice actor's Fiverr demo reel. Eric Chien - On a side note, it's kind of weird how there are a lot of Asians on this show and none of them ever sing. It seems like it's either magic or the extremely played out LED display kind of thing, not that I want there to be any singers on the show. Good card tricks, but I tried not to zone out after a while because it felt like 5 minutes straight of "now you see it, now you don't", aka the same thing I want to do with the remote towards this show during the infinite low points. I'm not that attention deficient, but card tricks are usually slightly repetitive no matter how much of it is changed up. Sophie Pecora - Continuing the trend of every young singer being bullied for no discernible reason, that talking point seemed to get milked throughout the song, which was only about 1/4 singing and 3/4 fast talking like when someone leaves to go to the store and you spit out "ohyeahcanyougetsomebananas?"before the door closes. Usually, this kind of delivery is reserved for dorky boys who "break it down" in rap form for the chorus, but this didn't even sound like that. The song was pretty good but the rapid fire talking made it sound clunky. Montage of contestants - It was set to Julianne being annoying as hell and buzzing instantly, before people did anything, and for Simon, just like Mel B and Heidi used to do, with an infuriating defiant look on their faces. Good chance to test the efficiency of a remote's FF button. Monkey - Probably not the first hairy/fat/old man whose sole point of the act is "I'm gross and self-aware of it". Patrizio Ratto - The editing and his own demeanor during his interview making him look boring did a lot of the work to make this entertaining after the usual expectation subversion card was pulled. A lot of the strongman acts do seem this lobotomized when talking, so I actually didn't see it coming. I think it would've been better in the long run if he had just danced without the gimmick (although dancers never win) just because him starting off at the piano with a cheeky smirk on his face won't surprise anybody. V.Unbeatable - Bad choice for a name when they'll later be in tears begging the judges for a save option named after donuts, which sounds funny when written out. Simon has been moved to tears by so many of these struggling immigrants over the years and will never donate money to them for whatever reason, unless tight black t-shirts put too much of a strain on his finances. (he's not obligated to help them, obviously, but just saying) The routine was pretty good, but it's hard to be that involved when they and other dance acts are not likely to win. These groups are also quite formulaic after seeing enough of them, usually ending with the youngest kid being used as a team mascot and being front and center, nodding his head at the audience with his arms crossed. Jackie Fabulous - Maybe one joke reminded me that I don't have Bell's Palsy, meaning that my upper lip twitched in a precursor to a precursor of a grin, but that was it. The delivery wasn't great and the jokes themselves were mostly trash, such as "I'm fat and my Mom is Jamaican" leads to a "why ju so faht, guhl?!" impersonation essentially restating what she already said. I still remember Tom Cotter from 2012 just because he was one of the few comedians who simply said funny things without basing it off a gimmick, although Preacher Lawson was also great. Howie's sycophantic laughter at every comedy act is beyond pathetic, every chortle fit of his sounds the same. A lot of the stand-up material on AGT seems more like conversation banter than anything truly noteworthy. Not to sound like an armchair quarterback, but I think I could probably do better. And I say that comfortably in anonymity, knowing I'll never have to prove it to anyone reading. Gingzilla - Is it one big inside joke that the crowd always loves singing drag queens? Everyone who acts like this ("slayyy, yassss, queennn") seems to have an overwhelmingly unwarranted ego, everything about it is grating as hell and totally devoid of entertainment for me. Human Fuse - Why did he name himself after a description of sex? Nice to know that getting older doesn't spell doom to one's libido, I suppose. Anyway, how is this pansy who wears a flame-retardant suit and is so afraid of the judges he will conveniently die upon missing the crash pad to avoid their criticism supposed to be a danger act? Just kidding, but all these danger acts are the same. Long silences and gasping, the host warning viewers not to try this at home (what, you don't have a 40 foot slingshot in your backyard?), etc.. before the guy gets up and cheers. While the slight ratings bump would help NBC at the upfronts presentation next year, nobody's going to die on TV and if he did miss, they wouldn't have aired it. He gets voted through despite saying there's nothing else in his playbook. Nobody from the panel, nor he will remember this fact during the next round when he's "shockingly" eliminated for that reason. By the way, Howie's comment about it not raining outside was funnier than Jackie's entire routine. Kodi Lee - Good thing he doesn't also have sensory issues, or the applause + confetti from the golden buzzer would've ensured him to refuse to perform again. As usual, the judges prepared theatrical soundbites for how inspirational he is for being autistic/blind. Every time someone who is challenged in some way does an otherwise good job, the praise is still bathed in acknowledging the handicap, which I guess can't annoy him if he doesn't understand social cues anyway (not a joke) but the phoniness is irritating. It was a nice performance, though. I'm not sure how far sympathy buys gets you, but Simon looked like he was seeing dollar signs during some parts. Unlike teen/young adult pop acts whose marketability is limited and dependent on youth, Susan Boyle perhaps grows more valuable as she gets even more old and unsightly, so perhaps Kodi having autism forever adds great longevity in Simon's mind. It'd be nice if he could be a contestant first and "guy with condition" second, but that's not a selling point, so it won't happen. Overall, this show was a real drag (queen, yasssss) to get through. So boring and filled with unanimous agreeability by the judging panel, whose new additions suck. They're just annoying and added nothing, I'll have more nuanced whining about Julianne and Gabrielle in the weeks to come. Tyra goes by Terry now? We love you, we support you, we're here for you. ❤️Had to get that lame joke out of the way, but anyway, he was really useless tonight. Tyra didn't really do anything but be attractive (that was enough for me) and put weird emphasis on certain words/phrases, ex. "your AY-GEE-TEE JUH-GEZ", which I liked, halo effect aside. I didn't think she was the worst choice for a host, although Nick was fantastic. Terry's main involvement was saying "wow!" to the camera while someone was auditioning. Hopefully he's not getting paid per word. Edited May 29, 2019 by Neet 2 4 Link to comment
sigmaforce86 May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 Tuned in just to see what the new judges would be like but I didn't get to see much of the show so I can only observe that the first act (forgot the name) with the "impressions" wasn't that great and I didn't understand the applause. I did think some of his take on Star Wars was funny but the impressions not so much. Didn't like Sophie either, she had a story that was touching but to me she didn't have the talent to back it up, that wasn't really singing, it wasn't rapping either, not sure what it was. Just throwing this news story link in here because tornado warnings and storm coverage was the reason I didn't see more of the first hour of AGT which I assume happened to a lot of people. The story is about a different show but the sentiment is the same - if I have a choice between "we want to let you know a tornado is about to touch down near your house" and "You can see amateur singers and magicians" pretty sure I'm choosing the let me know where the tornado is option. The people who complained about the coverage overshadowing the bachelorette are certifiable, the meteorologist was right to say something about it. And special shout out to the snowflake who felt "personally attacked" by the meteorologists rebuttal, that's some high level me first thinking right there (fyi the twitter link in the news story is a dead end looks like the person deactivated their account). If I was that desperate to know what happened on the bachelorette or, in this case, AGT, I'd get it on demand the next day assuming my house was still standing (which it is, no damage, tornado went south of us). Not going to bother watching the whole show on demand but I think I'll go seek out a video of the golden buzzer act just to see that one. https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/im-done-with-you-people-tv-meteorologist-responds-to-angry-bachelorette-fans-following-interruption/70008381 4 Link to comment
giaNtsandYankees May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 (edited) I was left feeling underwhelmed last night. Hopefully things will pick up as the show goes on, but for me, Season 11 was the last good season. I know that I said it numerous times, but I'll say it again. Terry introducing Julianne Hough as "The Ultimate Triple Threat"?! Terry, I love you man, but referring to Julianne as "The Ultimate Triple Threat" is a stretch. She is a good dancer, but her actions tonight alone shows that her acting "skills" lean towards mediocre. I've only heard her sing once, and I thought her voice was okay-ish. Sorry folks. Julianne and her contrived, "Oh, I cannot hit the red buzzer, I cannot give a bad critique because I'm too niiiccceee...." Ay querido. By the way, I've watched "Dancing with the Stars" and have seen Julianne give some criticism that has earned her some dirty looks from the pro's (i.e. Maksim and Mark). All right...Greg Morton. It is a talent to take on different voices. It does work well for voice overs. But I'm not sure how far it will get him on AGT. Same with Patrizio Ratto. I almost knew where his act was going when he was playing the piano and where the screen cuts to a shot where a member of the audience is yawning. We've seen something similar with Christina Ramos on Champions. Starting subtle and then doing something somewhat wild. I'll have to add Human Fuze to that group. He pretty much admitted that he doesn't have anything else rather than launching himself while on fire. Sorry, dude, this isn't going to lead you to a winning "Now I Can Retire" check. I don't see them getting past the Judge Cuts. They may even be a part of the phantom eliminations that I'm sure takes place prior to Judge Cuts (when a lot of acts disappears. I know quite a few acts withdraws, but I'm sure quite a few also gets cut). Jackie Fabulous' introductory package made me chuckle a bit, and in her parts leading up to her act make me crack a smile so I did have somewhat good expectations from her, but her act fell flat for me. The whole, "You're fat! What have you been eating...people?!" did not work for me. Plus, I've heard that joke before. Hopefully she'll pick it up in Judge Cuts if we see her. Kodi Lee has a lovely voice. I don't care for the judges telling him that he is inspirational for being Autistic and blind. Being someone with disabilities myself, I do find it a tad patronizing. I'm sure many of us with disabilities want to inspire, but I'm sure we do not want to be labeled as an inspiration because of that disability. I'm sure we want what we do and accomplish to inspire. I'm sure we don't want people to say, "They've inspired me because they've done XYZ even though they're disabled" but for people to say, "They've inspired us because they can." What I've typed is a little redundant, but hopefully it gets my point across. But I do understand that this is AGT...after all. A good percent of the time, it's ALL about the backstory. In some ways it can be a way to get the audience to connect with the contestant. I'll keep watching though. And I'll look forward to everyone's snark! Edited May 30, 2019 by giaNtsandYankees 7 Link to comment
lambertman May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 3 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said: And special shout out to the snowflake who felt "personally attacked" by the meteorologists rebuttal, that's some high level me first thinking right there (fyi the twitter link in the news story is a dead end looks like the person deactivated their account). https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/im-done-with-you-people-tv-meteorologist-responds-to-angry-bachelorette-fans-following-interruption/70008381 To be fair, "I feel personally attacked" is a popular social media joke. The person only deleted that tweet and put up another one that says she was joking. 1 Link to comment
DaphneCat May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 7 hours ago, InternetToughGuy said: I don't think they did the math, because them splitting the $630,000 (after taxes 😓) that many ways would probably leave them with enough to fly home. I hate, hate, HATE that they ALWAYS spew on about "What are you going to do if you win a million dollars?" The show pays it out over 40 YEARS! That's right, a whopping $25,000 per year. While this is a nice sum of money, and I would never complain if someone chose to give it to me, this is NOT enough money to retire on (looking at you Human Fuze.) This show is to only to gain exposure for your act - not set you up for life. 7 hours ago, InternetToughGuy said: Human Fuze - Since filming people dying for TV ratings probably wouldn't go very well, what do you think could possibly happen with this act? 10 minutes of "it's real dangerous" and random spectators holding their mouth in awe. The actual act lasts 5 seconds (for his wife's sake, I hope it's only his AGT performance that lasts that long). All of the danger acts are boring because they all go perfectly. I agree, I too hate danger acts. On the rare occasions they go "wrong" the person gets minor injury and the trick falls flat. They then give the person a chance to "redeem" themselves by doing the same trick correctly. 4 Link to comment
hnygrl May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 (edited) I only watched the first hour or so. Not at all impressed. Gabrielle changed outfits (and hairstyles) waaaaay too often. And too drastically. Sister girl ain't never done this before and it shows. The Mumbai troop reminded me of The Kings who won World of Dance recently. Same thing, EXACT same thing. Seriously. it was like watching the Kings perform again. Either they win or place very highly. Best act of the night. Overall, same old same old. Pity votes for folks who are not that good and should've been sent home; now all psyched they made it through, little knowing they all (and I do mean ALL) will be cruelly cut the next round without even performing. Changing the girls around didn't do anything for the show (Although I still love me some Terry Crews. He's awesome squared). Still sucks. Still boring. Still couldn't make it through the second hour. Dang it. Oh yeah, Asian card trick guy. Yawn. After Champion's Asian card trick guy? Y'all need to let that go. I knew his vest was gonna change. I called it. Why else would it be so colorful and sure enough "it's all black now....wonder how long before anyone notices?" So...do we really need a whole season of this? I'd be okay with AGT skipping a year or two. Edited May 29, 2019 by hnygrl 3 Link to comment
Commando Cody May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 I was impressed with the Star Wars sound effects guy. It was really kind of amazing. I thought the drag queen was calling himself Jim Zilla, until I saw it spelled out. If he wasn't all dressed up like he was, I don't think people would be as lenient with his singing. I wasn't impressed with his singing anyway. It wasn't that good. For a dance troop from a poor country, they had very good dental care. The group must have a manager who told them all to get their teeth whitened. I thought the dancing part of the act could have been a little bit tighter, aside from that, I think they are one of the better dance groups they have had on this show. I enjoyed watching the routine. This year's Vicky Barbitol, or whatever, was not that funny, but at least a step above Vicky Barbitol, or whatever. I think she was far less trashy than Vicky. More likeable than Vicky. I don't get why some people get five minutes - like the magician - and some people only get a minute and a half to do their act. The magician went on for too long. It was starting to get dull. Oh good. Another teenage girl with an instrument who writes her own songs. Yippee. Can't wait for the next one. Yep. I wanted to see monkey's act, just because he was dancing on point. How often do you see a man on point? Not very. I like Gabrielle. I don't like Julianne. When Julianne came out with her high squeaky voice, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to watch a season of this. I was planning my exit during the first five minutes of this new season. She didn't win me over at all. I already think they made a mistake and should look for another judge. I like Terry Crews. I can't complain about booting Tyra and replacing her with him. 3 Link to comment
marketdoctor May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 I enjoyed Eric Chien--because I thought he blended several techniques (vanishes, productions, the magic table) together, and did some of them extremely well. That said, I'm not sure what he'll follow it up with. I thought it was "Jim-zilla", but Gingzilla makes more sense. Some people with low T grow very tall as a side effect. That they were supportive of that act but not ballerina man was mixed signals, except for Julianne, who waited to see how good the ballerina guy was. Quote I hate, hate, HATE that they ALWAYS spew on about "What are you going to do if you win a million dollars?" The show pays it out over 40 YEARS I want to see someone say "I'm going to buy a certified used Camry this year, but next year I'm going to buy the complete Quantum Leap boxed set." I enjoyed it for what it was, but that was partly because I fast-forwarded through anything I thought was boring, and partly because I wanted to relax and have fun. Quote Anyone else bothered by them flipping between taping days? (Raises hand.) I understand that there might be more good acts in one city than another, or more good singers in one city and more good dancers in another, but either do a "best of the stuff we didn't show you", or just do one city at a time and divide up the two hours. Sure, we'll lose out on some details of where the next comedian went to elementary school in exchange for a few seconds of stock footage of an audition city, but we could at least pretend to be consistent. (The other option is to go full "Fool Us" and pick a look and stay with it, but they make such a big deal of fashion for women that that wouldn't work.) It wasn't perfect, but if they can shy away from "best SEASON EVAAAAH!" and realize that it's basically summer spray cheese and run with that, I'm OK.. Oh, and to answer a question, some people with autism and autism spectrum disorders have phenomenal pattern recognition, and can translate that into great musical ability, or other related skill. It can also be very frustrating if that doesn't translate, so *maybe* start with piano or keyboard, where it's easy to make a beginner have one note come out the way you want to. (Violin? Not so much.) 2 Link to comment
Commando Cody May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 3 hours ago, DaphneCat said: I hate, hate, HATE that they ALWAYS spew on about "What are you going to do if you win a million dollars?" The show pays it out over 40 YEARS! That's right, a whopping $25,000 per year. While this is a nice sum of money, and I would never complain if someone chose to give it to me, this is NOT enough money to retire on (looking at you Human Fuze.) This show is to only to gain exposure for your act - not set you up for life. The thing that bothers me about this is, the judges of this show probably aren't getting their million dollar salaries paid out over 40 years, but the contestants have to get theirs in tiny chunks. 9 Link to comment
saber5055 May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 I pretty much enjoyed last night's show. Okay, so I'm easy. I REALLY dislike the two new judges though, since they put the POC where the former POC sat and the blonde "cutie" in the same place where the previous blond "cutie" sat. WTH show, why not switch them up if you are going to switch them up. I kept waiting for Gabrielle to throw her arms up and shout, "Wot joost HAH pened?" Instead, Simon kept saying it. Which actually was pretty funny. I loved Shin Lim but I thought this card guy was good and I enjoyed his act, even if it went on about 10 minutes too long. It was new stuff for me and I was good with it. The singing teen girl was anything but. Singing, that is. But I knew she would go through because you don't rank on someone who says they were bullied. If we all looked back at grade school and junior high we'd discover we ALL were bullied. Only it wasn't called that then so wasn't "cool." It was just how life was as a teen, you got picked on for everything if you weren't one of the "cool" kids. I would have X'd her except TPTB want her to go through for some reason. I laughed at the Human Fuse telling judges he had nothing else, that was as good as his act gets. I laughed because absolutely NONE of the other acts got asked that question. That's my pet peeve with this show. Why not ask the piano/dancer guy how he is going to "step it up"? Speaking of, I thought he was okay, although I thought his "I'm so shy and can barely speak English" was a rip off of last year's "shy" girl who went all Mick Jagger as soon as she started "singing." She was never asked to step it up either. The tall ginger drag queen made me want Prince Poppycock back. Judges all thought this guy was perfect for a Vegas show and loved him. Makes me wonder if Poppycock wouldn't have won it all this year, Piers Morgan was such a dick the year PP was on. I can't stand all ginger man's facial hair though, it's so mega gross IMO. So I'm good with his leaving soon. I didn't listen to the comedian so can't comment on her, although I think she was a step or two higher than Trailer Nasty, thank the gods for that. I kind of didn't listen to the Star Wars voice guy either. So ... pass. Golden Buzzer Kodi I admit brought tears to my eyes, and I did like his singing. I just wish the judges would have told him he had a great voice and THAT'S why he got the GB. Instead they made the point he got it because he's "inspirational." WTH does that even mean? That other blind and autistic kids can sing like he can? So if you are blind or autistic and can't sing, you are a failure? I don't care for that message at all. The judges should judge on talent. Or maybe I'm asking too much. 7 Link to comment
Commando Cody May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 The blind kid was pretty impressive with his surprising talent. I know that there are different degrees of autism, so everyone is different. However, he showed an awful lot of emotion when he got the golden buzzer. I assume it happens, but it's not terribly typical for someone with autism to show much emotion. Loud noises are difficult and people are difficult to be around. Seeing the kid jump around in happiness was questionable. I'm not saying the kid isn't disabled. I'm just wondering if he has something other than autism. 1 Link to comment
Sounder May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 If you compare Julianne and Gabrielle to Amanda and Aleysha on BGT.......it looks as though Simon found two American women that look like the British counterparts. Though I don't think we'll get "Wot just haaaapennnnnd" from Gabby. The one thing NBC can't reinvent are the acts themselves. There's gonna be singers, card magicians, dance troups, danger acts.....same formula really. It's been my summer guilty pleasure for years now and it still is. Don't think we've seen the front runner yet......it's not Kodi but you never know. I really liked the movie trailer guy.....but he needs to be much more creative......but what he did do was spot on......but I guess since it didn't come out of a dummy.....it won't fly. 1 Link to comment
theabsolution May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 4 hours ago, DaphneCat said: I hate, hate, HATE that they ALWAYS spew on about "What are you going to do if you win a million dollars?" The show pays it out over 40 YEARS! That's right, a whopping $25,000 per year. While this is a nice sum of money, and I would never complain if someone chose to give it to me, this is NOT enough money to retire on (looking at you Human Fuze.) This show is to only to gain exposure for your act - not set you up for life. I hate correcting you on this but this is actually also not entirely accurate and I've seen it time and time repeated here. It's actually 1,000,000 over 40 years OR the present cash value of said 40 year annuity. Similar to the lottery, I would assume 99% folks take the lump sum which is generally half of the amount then you pay taxes on that so assume between 250K and 300K after all is said and done. Not 1 million dollars but ain't nobody taking an annual paycheck either. Just wanted to clear that up. 1 3 Link to comment
InternetToughGuy May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 3 hours ago, hnygrl said: I only watched the first hour or so. Not at all impressed. Gabrielle changed outfits (and hairstyles) waaaaay too often. And too drastically. Sister girl ain't never done this before and it shows. The Mumbai troop reminded me of The Kings who won World of Dance recently. Same thing, EXACT same thing. Seriously. it was like watching the Kings perform again. Either they win or place very highly. Best act of the night. Overall, same old same old. Pity votes for folks who are not that good and should've been sent home; now all psyched they made it through, little knowing they all (and I do mean ALL) will be cruelly cut the next round without even performing. Changing the girls around didn't do anything for the show (Although I still love me some Terry Crews. He's awesome squared). Still sucks. Still boring. Still couldn't make it through the second hour. Dang it. Oh yeah, Asian card trick guy. Yawn. After Champion's Asian card trick guy? Y'all need to let that go. I knew his vest was gonna change. I called it. Why else would it be so colorful and sure enough "it's all black now....wonder how long before anyone notices?" So...do we really need a whole season of this? I'd be okay with AGT skipping a year or two. I don't watch World of Dance, so this applies to anyone on there as well as any dance group on AGT - I can only assume the amount of truly great opportunities regarding dance are quite limited. Is what everyone is vying for being "shirtless shaved head muscle man #3" dancing in darkness for a Jennifer Lopez tour? Seems like quite a waste of effort and dedication, especially when someone like Susan Boyle gets paid to maintain her appearance with the "infinite off days" diet and exercise regiment. 2 1 Link to comment
Ohwell May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 13 hours ago, Juneau Gal said: Here we go with the overblown tongue baths of the judges towards moderately talented people. Its tiresome and boring. And worst of all, I find it somewhat demeaning, for both the act and the audience. I guess maybe I am just tired of this whole format. Tired of comedians no funnier than the average person at a party. Tired of huge dance groups throwing the smallest members all around the stage. Tired of singing children. Tired of tragic or difficult backstories that are suppose to awe and inspire. Tired of one trick ponies like the Human Fuse, who flat out told the judges that's all he could do, there was nothing else. Tired of whatever Gingzilla's act is; and I love a good drag queen/king. Tired of the conceit that we are seeing an audition day or weekend when the judges have different hair and clothing after each commercial. Tired of whatever the hell it is Simon is doing to his face via Botox and fillers. And especially tired of the complete certainty that when we get to the final 12, over half of them will be singers, most of whom will have been on other TV competitions but still persist in acting like they have never sung in front of an audition before. Clearly this show has made me a bit pissy. It used to be my fun summer viewing, but now it is so fake and over-manipulated. Amen! to all of this. I'll check in every once in a while, but I won't be watching like I did in past episodes. It's gotten too boring and predictable. 1 Link to comment
InternetToughGuy May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 1 hour ago, Commando Cody said: I was impressed with the Star Wars sound effects guy. It was really kind of amazing. I thought the drag queen was calling himself Jim Zilla, until I saw it spelled out. If he wasn't all dressed up like he was, I don't think people would be as lenient with his singing. I wasn't impressed with his singing anyway. It wasn't that good. For a dance troop from a poor country, they had very good dental care. The group must have a manager who told them all to get their teeth whitened. I thought the dancing part of the act could have been a little bit tighter, aside from that, I think they are one of the better dance groups they have had on this show. I enjoyed watching the routine. This year's Vicky Barbitol, or whatever, was not that funny, but at least a step above Vicky Barbitol, or whatever. I think she was far less trashy than Vicky. More likeable than Vicky. I don't get why some people get five minutes - like the magician - and some people only get a minute and a half to do their act. The magician went on for too long. It was starting to get dull. Oh good. Another teenage girl with an instrument who writes her own songs. Yippee. Can't wait for the next one. Yep. I wanted to see monkey's act, just because he was dancing on point. How often do you see a man on point? Not very. I like Gabrielle. I don't like Julianne. When Julianne came out with her high squeaky voice, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to watch a season of this. I was planning my exit during the first five minutes of this new season. She didn't win me over at all. I already think they made a mistake and should look for another judge. I like Terry Crews. I can't complain about booting Tyra and replacing her with him. *Vicki Barbolak - It's impressive how an act can be so bad that it can embed itself so deep in my brain, especially since I am confident that her name shan't ever grace a marquee again, so I can only be reminded of her when a comedy act indirectly pays homage by having my look of displeasure start setting into rigor mortis (such a long winded explanation of saying she sucked). 1 Link to comment
DaphneCat May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 (edited) 53 minutes ago, theabsolution said: I hate correcting you on this but this is actually also not entirely accurate and I've seen it time and time repeated here. It's actually 1,000,000 over 40 years OR the present cash value of said 40 year annuity. Similar to the lottery, I would assume 99% folks take the lump sum which is generally half of the amount then you pay taxes on that so assume between 250K and 300K after all is said and done. Not 1 million dollars but ain't nobody taking an annual paycheck either. Just wanted to clear that up. Lottery is based on 20 year payout - this is 40 year payout and AGT gets to pick the interest rate. MIGHT get to 250K but might not. Either way no where NEAR a million dollars. Edited May 29, 2019 by DaphneCat Link to comment
ams1001 May 29, 2019 Share May 29, 2019 In no particular order... Not a huge fan of magic acts; guy had some neat tricks but I really don't get the massive screaming from the audience every time a card changes color or whatever. It's just so over the top. Hate "danger" acts. The very fact that this isn't live and they're showing it tells me nothing bad will happen. It's several minutes of setup and five seconds of flying through the air or whatever and that's boring. (And I really just can't watch sword swallowers and knife throwers and stuff where if things did go wrong it would be gruesome. Even when I know they're going to be fine (see: not live and showing it on TV).) (Also, where and when were they filming this that they were all bundled up in big puffy coats?) Sophie has a nice singing voice. Too bad she did so little actual singing. I wish we could go back to them discouraging people from doing original songs. Remember "nobody knows the song so they won't connect with it so you should do stuff people know"? Yeah, can we go back to that instead of getting every tween's seventh grade angst? (And this is coming from someone who can definitively say seventh grade sucked. Also, thinking specifically of Beach Avenue from many seasons ago whose song I even downloaded from iTunes and still like, but the judges basically told them they should have done a cover of something people know. They did another original for their second performance and were promptly cut.) I was really hoping Monkey was gonna surprise us and turn out to be an accomplished ballet dancer (ballerino?). When he went up on his toes I thought for a moment I would be right. Then bzzzzt. (Hell, maybe he is, and he just didn't get that far.) Tired of giant dance crews. They look cool...what we can see of them. But the camera is usually all over the place and then they do that slo-mo thing and it's so annoying. And after a while it just all looks the same. (And count me among those who find "we live in the slums of Mumbai but we can afford to fully outfit our huge dance crew" just a tad disingenuous.) Not sure how I feel about blind autistic guy. Is this something he really wants to do? The exploitative nature of some of the behind-the-scenes stories I've read make me wonder. Also someone above mentioned sensory issues that are common in people with autism. I wondered about that, myself (I have friends with kids on the spectrum and kids with sensory issues so that was one of my first thoughts), but I guess it didn't seem to bother him. It's hard to tell how much he really gets what's going on (also fully aware that people with autism often have more going on inside their minds than they are able to express, so who knows…except him, I guess). I was disappointed with hot Italian piano guy. I really just wanted to see him play something difficult and impressive and just be a hot piano-playing Italian guy. Then he started with Fur Elise and I thought, really? I played that in a recital when I was 11 (no, I can't still play it). Then he started the robot/dance/whatever that was and I was like, "next!" Oh, well, at least he's nice to look at. Re: weather interruptions - Every commercial break here had a weather warning for northern NJ/NY/CT, plus repeated crawls at the bottom of the screen during the show (strong storms and potential tornadoes that thankfully didn't make it down my way; all I got was a cool light show in the clouds, and one long rumble of thunder just after I went to bed; if it rained I didn't hear it). At first I was like, at least they're not interrupting the show...then I was like, well, maybe it wouldn't be terrible if they did.... 1 1 Link to comment
helenamonster May 30, 2019 Share May 30, 2019 I desperately want Eric Chien and Shin Lim to collab and make cards and coins and whatever else disappear and reappear all over the place. Gimme that close-up magic, my dudes! Sophie Pecora was cringe-worthily bad. It was so bizarre to watch the judges fawn all over her when they all looked like they were wondering how to let her down easy during the performance. I get it, nobody wants to be the asshole to the painfully shy, bullied middle schooler when she's bearing her scars to the world, but yikes. It was not good. 19 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said: The comedienne was better than all from last season. She still was not very good. I loved how Simon pursed his face when she mentioned fat and donuts with those big ol' Dunkin cups sitting prominently (at great expense) on the jidges' table. I was surprised they were okay with her ripping on The Biggest Loser, given it's an NBC show. 5 hours ago, marketdoctor said: (Raises hand.) I understand that there might be more good acts in one city than another, or more good singers in one city and more good dancers in another, but either do a "best of the stuff we didn't show you", or just do one city at a time and divide up the two hours. Sure, we'll lose out on some details of where the next comedian went to elementary school in exchange for a few seconds of stock footage of an audition city, but we could at least pretend to be consistent. (The other option is to go full "Fool Us" and pick a look and stay with it, but they make such a big deal of fashion for women that that wouldn't work.) The thing is, the judges don't travel to all the cities anymore. The true first round of auditions, that we don't see*, take place in cities around the country, but they are done in small rooms for the producers, not in front an audience or judge panel. The auditions that we see all take place over a few days in Los Angeles and are the acts that have already gone through that first screening process (or, more often than not, have been directly recruited by the producers). *The parts of the audition episodes where they show the acts in the waiting area are from the different cities. 4 Link to comment
Maverick May 30, 2019 Share May 30, 2019 4 hours ago, DaphneCat said: Lottery is based on 20 year payout - this is 40 year payout and AGT gets to pick the interest rate. MIGHT get to 250K but might not. Either way no where NEAR a million dollars. Or you can sell your payments to J.G. Wentworth, if you need cash now. 8 Link to comment
marketdoctor May 30, 2019 Share May 30, 2019 Quote The auditions that we see all take place over a few days in Los Angeles and are the acts that have already gone through that first screening process... That makes it worse to show the acts so far out of order. They have some idea of which acts are good and bad, and would absolutely know which acts are singing, dancing, magic, etc. It'd be very easy to have a mix of acts on each day, and even if there were some acts that got better or worse, it'd be straightforward to put together an episode showing one or two day's worth of acts. That's also why there's an easy way to fix the Golden Buzzer (aside from the Modified Mel B method: unplug the (Golden Buzzer.) Plug in a phone. Or a hair dryer. Or a portable DVD player, so we could watch something else during the boring bits.) The other method is to not use the Golden Buzzer until the second round. That would let the judges get a sense of each act, and see which acts are truly amazing, and which ones had one good performance. 4 Link to comment
InternetToughGuy May 30, 2019 Share May 30, 2019 7 hours ago, ams1001 said: Re: weather interruptions - Every commercial break here had a weather warning for northern NJ/NY/CT, plus repeated crawls at the bottom of the screen during the show (strong storms and potential tornadoes that thankfully didn't make it down my way; all I got was a cool light show in the clouds, and one long rumble of thunder just after I went to bed; if it rained I didn't hear it). At first I was like, at least they're not interrupting the show...then I was like, well, maybe it wouldn't be terrible if they did.... You just know someone who "lost it all in the tornado" will audition next season - luckily their love of music pulled them through (a passion so deep, they only know 3 chords on an acoustic guitar). Definitely not looking forward to that or any other sob story for this year, especially since Christina Wells' "sob story" last year was her being a victim of attempted exercise. 2 Link to comment
InternetToughGuy May 30, 2019 Share May 30, 2019 6 hours ago, helenamonster said: I was surprised they were okay with her ripping on The Biggest Loser I don't remember Olate Dogs being mentioned 😂 Link to comment
DaphneCat May 30, 2019 Share May 30, 2019 8 hours ago, InternetToughGuy said: You just know someone who "lost it all in the tornado" will audition next season - luckily their love of music pulled them through (a passion so deep, they only know 3 chords on an acoustic guitar). You are SO right. The "sobbier" the story the more the judges tell the person they are great. Am I supposed to like some no talent performer because they have a pathetic story and conversely, am I NOT supposed to like a talented performer because they did not face "adversity"? Does that mean that if that Monkey person had had a sob story they would have put him through? Link to comment
camom May 30, 2019 Share May 30, 2019 Quote V.Unbeatable - So this giant crew who supposedly live in squalor can apparently purchase enough food to get the energy to do this taxing type of dancing, international plane tickets, and custom jackets for everybody. Hmmm. The stereotypical display of "our life sucks *tear* .... I'm sorry" just makes me hate the act. I don't think they did the math, because them splitting the $630,000 (after taxes 😓) that many ways would probably leave them with enough to fly home. They were good, but I couldn't help wonder how these poor kids from the slums managed to get to L.A. They all looked healthy (not underfed) and had good teeth. I know there is extreme poverty in India, but I have a feeling these performers don't come from that background. 1 Link to comment
Booklady1017 May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 12:55 AM, Lonesome Rhodes said: Per usual, the open had gorgeous visuals with beautiful editing. If nothing else, SYCO has a top-flight production team. I have a bias against Julianne coming in. I noted they went to great lengths to make her out to be the "sweet one." It seems I am not alone in my take on her. Gabrielle (Mrs. Dwyane Wade (Basketball Star)) is so ridiculously pretty. She had her introductory AGT tour while her husband was taking his valedictory around the NBA. I typically love the acts like Gingvilla. He seems a cross between Barry Humphries and Prince Poppycock. He doesn't seem to have the true whimsy those two have/had. He did pick a perfect song. The magic act was really good. The cut/restored card effect was the most astonishing to me. The "magic" table itself is something that takes away some of the wonder, though. Italian piano dude was aight. But, he is a classic one-trick pony, no? The Mumbai dancers had at least two stunts I had never seen: 1) The poles. Beyond creative and super demanding. Wow. 2) A second acrobat stepping on another who is laid out in mid-air. Brilliant. I'm guessing they were on another Got Talent show. I definitely want to see more. The comedienne was better than all from last season. She still was not very good. I loved how Simon pursed his face when she mentioned fat and donuts with those big ol' Dunkin cups sitting prominently (at great expense) on the jidges' table. Kodi Lee was quite something. Fine by me he got the GB. Unfortunately, that cheats us out of at least one performance. I did enjoy watching Julianne attempting to conjure an appropriate shock face. I could just see her image wheels spinning in her head. What she settled on was unintentionally funny. An actress, she is not. Glad to see a danger act right out of the gate. When did we get one last season? Did we have even one? All in all, a very well done season premiere. I didn't know what to make of Gingvilla, but I admit he was pretty funny. I loved the Mumbai dancers and enjoyed the magic act. I really enjoyed Kodi Lee and was amazed by him. The Italian piano dancer guy was good but I'd have to see him again to see if there's more to it, or just a one trick pony like you said. The comedienne was just ok. Again, I'd have to see her again to have a better impression of her. Link to comment
Booklady1017 May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 1:44 AM, kickedinthehead said: Julianne's critiques sounded oh so natural (and not at all scripted from whoever wrote Heidi's lines). At least she doesn't do hand binoculars. Greg Morton (Star Wars voice guy) -- Um, I'm not really into "Star Wars" (gasp) so I didn't have much of an opinion of his act one way or the other. I don't see him making it past the quarter finals (if he makes it that far). Shin Lim 2.0 -- Fine, I guess, but lacked the "charisma" of his predecessor. Sophie Pecora, aka Grace Van der Waal 2.0 -- Actually, somebody elsewhere online called her a Grace/Chase Goehring hybrid, and... that's about all that needs to be said. Monkey -- Pointless. Italian pianist/contortionist -- This: Indian dance act -- If they're anything like most of the other dance acts featuring huge groups that we've seen in previous seasons, tonight's performance was just the first of many performances where they'll do more or less the exact same moves; except maybe they'll switch up the background a little. Jackie "Fabulous" -- Well, she did do something I never thought possible, and that's that she almost made me miss Vicki Barbolak... Gingzilla -- I kept thinking the name was JANEzilla. Aside from that... Gingzilla was no Prince Poppycock. The Human Fuse -- Seems like a nice enough guy, but... how many times have we seen this now? I'm surprised the wife wasn't sobbing dramatically (maybe she's saving that for the next episode). Kodi Lee -- As an auntie to a nephew with autism, I couldn't not be moved by this. Well done, Kodi Lee. Yes, the golden buzzer was predictable, but... one of the few singers whom I don't mind advancing. Yeah, I'm not a big Star Wars fan, so I appreciated what Greg did but wasn't into it. I'd like to see what other imitations he does though. That was a perfect description of Sophie, she's definitely like the other two. While I like the lyrics of her song, I didn't get the whole talking bit she did. I'm not a big fan of danger acts. 2 Link to comment
Booklady1017 May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 5:18 AM, silverspoons said: Sophie, the singer that sang about her life in 7th grade, my daughter knew her right away. I guess Shane Dawson, asked people to follow her and did a video with her and now she has a huge following? I wonder if a following that that and a backing of Shane Dawson will get her a lot of people just voting for her on the app that do not even watch? I wish they had explained more about Kodi Lee. As a mom with a child that has autism and one that that struggles with creativity and music , iIwas wondering how he learned his music, memory, if he only knew so many songs. I was surprised to read that he can learn a song after hearing it only 1 times, it is a rare skill, I would have liked to hear that part of the story. I want to have a good comedian , it seems like they do not get enough time. I know it is suppose be to be equal time but the guy on fire got was 3 times as long as the comedy lady. I would have rather seen 9 minutes of comedy and 3 minutes of the guy on fire. Anyone else bothered by them flipping between taping days? Simon and Howie are harder to tell, they dress pretty much the same day after day and have the same "hair" look. Gabi went from long straight hair, to short hair to braids and back and forth. I miss the days when they did one city each show. Now we know they are just putting together shows with clips of people that fit that filmed over a period of time. I agree about Kodi, the comedians and the flipping from taping days. Link to comment
Booklady1017 May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 9:52 AM, giaNtsandYankees said: I was left feeling underwhelmed last night. Hopefully things will pick up as the show goes on, but for me, Season 11 was the last good season. I know that I said it numerous times, but I'll say it again. Terry introducing Julianne Hough as "The Ultimate Triple Threat"?! Terry, I love you man, but referring to Julianne as "The Ultimate Triple Threat" is a stretch. She is a good dancer, but her actions tonight alone shows that her acting "skills" lean towards mediocre. I've only heard her sing once, and I thought her voice was okay-ish. Sorry folks. Julianne and her contrived, "Oh, I cannot hit the red buzzer, I cannot give a bad critique because I'm too niiiccceee...." Ay querido. By the way, I've watched "Dancing with the Stars" and have seen Julianne give some criticism that has earned her some dirty looks from the pro's (i.e. Maksim and Mark). All right...Greg Morton. It is a talent to take on different voices. It does work well for voice overs. But I'm not sure how far it will get him on AGT. Same with Patrizio Ratto. I almost knew where his act was going when he was playing the piano and where the screen cuts to a shot where a member of the audience is yawning. We've seen something similar with Christina Ramos on Champions. Starting subtle and then doing something somewhat wild. I'll have to add Human Fuze to that group. He pretty much admitted that he doesn't have anything else rather than launching himself while on fire. Sorry, dude, this isn't going to lead you to a winning "Now I Can Retire" check. I don't see them getting past the Judge Cuts. They may even be a part of the phantom eliminations that I'm sure takes place prior to Judge Cuts (when a lot of acts disappears. I know quite a few acts withdraws, but I'm sure quite a few also gets cut). Jackie Fabulous' introductory package made me chuckle a bit, and in her parts leading up to her act make me crack a smile so I did have somewhat good expectations from her, but her act fell flat for me. The whole, "You're fat! What have you been eating...people?!" did not work for me. Plus, I've heard that joke before. Hopefully she'll pick it up in Judge Cuts if we see her. Kodi Lee has a lovely voice. I don't care for the judges telling him that he is inspirational for being Autistic and blind. Being someone with disabilities myself, I do find it a tad patronizing. I'm sure many of us with disabilities want to inspire, but I'm sure we do not want to be labeled as an inspiration because of that disability. I'm sure we want what we do and accomplish to inspire. I'm sure we don't want people to say, "They've inspired me because they've done XYZ even though they're disabled" but for people to say, "They've inspired us because they can." What I've typed is a little redundant, but hopefully it gets my point across. But I do understand that this is AGT...after all. A good percent of the time, it's ALL about the backstory. In some ways it can be a way to get the audience to connect with the contestant. I'll keep watching though. And I'll look forward to everyone's snark! I agree about a lot of the stuff, especially Julianne. I remember too how she was on DWTS. I also don't like when they do those silly filler scenes with the judges. Most of the time they are dumb. On 5/29/2019 at 11:30 AM, DaphneCat said: I hate, hate, HATE that they ALWAYS spew on about "What are you going to do if you win a million dollars?" The show pays it out over 40 YEARS! That's right, a whopping $25,000 per year. While this is a nice sum of money, and I would never complain if someone chose to give it to me, this is NOT enough money to retire on (looking at you Human Fuze.) This show is to only to gain exposure for your act - not set you up for life. I agree, I too hate danger acts. On the rare occasions they go "wrong" the person gets minor injury and the trick falls flat. They then give the person a chance to "redeem" themselves by doing the same trick correctly. I don't like the danger acts either. Link to comment
Jennabelle88 May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 On 5/28/2019 at 11:55 PM, Lonesome Rhodes said: The magic act was really good. The cut/restored card effect was the most astonishing to me. The "magic" table itself is something that takes away some of the wonder, though. Kodi Lee was quite something. Fine by me he got the GB. The magic act was really good for me too. It was different from anything I'd ever seen, and after so many magic tricks are just different variations of the same things, I appreciated this. However, it went on for far too long. It loses excitement and wonder after sitting through ten minutes of repetition. Next! I was BLOWN AWAY by Kodi Lee. I naturally have an affinity for people with disabilities, but the voice that came out of his mouth truly shocked me! I'm all for him receiving the GB! On 5/29/2019 at 12:44 AM, kickedinthehead said: Greg Morton (Star Wars voice guy) -- Um, I'm not really into "Star Wars" (gasp) so I didn't have much of an opinion of his act one way or the other. I don't see him making it past the quarter finals (if he makes it that far). I have to respectfully disagree. I'm not really into Star Wars either, but I was thoroughly entertained by him. I wonder if his imitations are strictly SW, or if he can do other people/creatures as well. THAT, to me, will determine how far he can actually make it. On 5/29/2019 at 5:53 AM, Neet said: Sophie Pecora - Continuing the trend of every young singer being bullied for no discernible reason, that talking point seemed to get milked throughout the song, which was only about 1/4 singing and 3/4 fast talking like when someone leaves to go to the store and you spit out "ohyeahcanyougetsomebananas?"before the door closes. Usually, this kind of delivery is reserved for dorky boys who "break it down" in rap form for the chorus, but this didn't even sound like that. The song was pretty good but the rapid fire talking made it sound clunky. Overall, this show was a real drag (queen, yasssss) to get through. So boring and filled with unanimous agreeability by the judging panel, whose new additions suck. They're just annoying and added nothing, I'll have more nuanced whining about Julianne and Gabrielle in the weeks to come. First of all, this singing comment cracked me up, but I can't say you're wrong! Second of all, I enjoy the judges. I love all four of them. I think Gabrielle basically thinks everyone's wonderful, and Julianne has mixed emotions now that she's "learned" to work the red buzzer, but they're so beautiful, I can let quirks fly! I like Howie alright and LOVE the different glasses he wears. And of course you can't go wrong with Simon! On 5/29/2019 at 11:43 AM, hnygrl said: Changing the girls around didn't do anything for the show (Although I still love me some Terry Crews. He's awesome squared). Still sucks. Still boring. Still couldn't make it through the second hour. I really enjoyed Terry Crews. He didn't contribute a whole lot, but his facial expressions and one-liners are quite entertaining to watch. 2 Link to comment
Booklady1017 May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 On 5/29/2019 at 12:43 PM, hnygrl said: I only watched the first hour or so. Not at all impressed. Gabrielle changed outfits (and hairstyles) waaaaay too often. And too drastically. Sister girl ain't never done this before and it shows. The Mumbai troop reminded me of The Kings who won World of Dance recently. Same thing, EXACT same thing. Seriously. it was like watching the Kings perform again. Either they win or place very highly. Best act of the night. Overall, same old same old. Pity votes for folks who are not that good and should've been sent home; now all psyched they made it through, little knowing they all (and I do mean ALL) will be cruelly cut the next round without even performing. Changing the girls around didn't do anything for the show (Although I still love me some Terry Crews. He's awesome squared). Still sucks. Still boring. Still couldn't make it through the second hour. Dang it. Oh yeah, Asian card trick guy. Yawn. After Champion's Asian card trick guy? Y'all need to let that go. I knew his vest was gonna change. I called it. Why else would it be so colorful and sure enough "it's all black now....wonder how long before anyone notices?" So...do we really need a whole season of this? I'd be okay with AGT skipping a year or two. I don't mind Gabrielle because she brings a fresher and more positive energy than Mel, but Julianne was too over the top imho and I'm probably still thinking of how she was like on DWTS and I didn't like her as a judge there. I do like Terry Crews. Tyra was ok, but she didn't do much for me. On 5/29/2019 at 2:55 PM, Commando Cody said: I was impressed with the Star Wars sound effects guy. It was really kind of amazing. I thought the drag queen was calling himself Jim Zilla, until I saw it spelled out. If he wasn't all dressed up like he was, I don't think people would be as lenient with his singing. I wasn't impressed with his singing anyway. It wasn't that good. For a dance troop from a poor country, they had very good dental care. The group must have a manager who told them all to get their teeth whitened. I thought the dancing part of the act could have been a little bit tighter, aside from that, I think they are one of the better dance groups they have had on this show. I enjoyed watching the routine. This year's Vicky Barbitol, or whatever, was not that funny, but at least a step above Vicky Barbitol, or whatever. I think she was far less trashy than Vicky. More likeable than Vicky. I don't get why some people get five minutes - like the magician - and some people only get a minute and a half to do their act. The magician went on for too long. It was starting to get dull. Oh good. Another teenage girl with an instrument who writes her own songs. Yippee. Can't wait for the next one. Yep. I wanted to see monkey's act, just because he was dancing on point. How often do you see a man on point? Not very. I like Gabrielle. I don't like Julianne. When Julianne came out with her high squeaky voice, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to watch a season of this. I was planning my exit during the first five minutes of this new season. She didn't win me over at all. I already think they made a mistake and should look for another judge. I like Terry Crews. I can't complain about booting Tyra and replacing her with him. I agree with most of your points especially Julianne and Tyra. Link to comment
helenamonster May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 On 5/30/2019 at 2:31 PM, camom said: They were good, but I couldn't help wonder how these poor kids from the slums managed to get to L.A. They all looked healthy (not underfed) and had good teeth. I know there is extreme poverty in India, but I have a feeling these performers don't come from that background. From the bits and pieces that have come out about the show's inner workings over the years, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the producers who decided to lean more heavily on the poverty angle, not the actual group's. People who have auditioned before have said that during the screening process when the show is trying to learn more about you, the frequently dumb contestants down to the most basic and easily identifiable trait they can and then over-exaggerate that for maximum dramatic effect. Like when these kids were going through it, I can imagine it going something like this: V. Unbeatable: "We're a dance group from India." AGT: "Oh, India, huh? That's a country with a lot of poverty, right?" VU: "Uh, yeah, but we're [Indian equivalent to American middle class]." AGT: "No yeah that's great. Talk about the poverty in your intro package, guys. You don't have to say you're poor but just talk about how there are people who are poor and we'll get some solid B-roll of the slums in Mumbai, people will jump to their own conclusions, and you'll sail straight to the quarter finals where you'll be the first act we eliminate." I get a little frustrated that the acts go along with this, but then I remember that if they don't the show will jettison them for acs that will. You have to play the game a little bit if you want to stick around. 4 Link to comment
Happy Belly May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 (edited) I hate kid singers . I hate the amount of singers on this show. Stop coming here and go to The Voice Or American Idol. I want diversity in my acts. I loath the dang sob stories. It pisses me off on Dancing W/The Stars, Big Brother, The Voice, Idol..that I actually root against the teller of such sob story. Look, we all have had tragedy in our lives. Mine was my apartment went on fire when we werent home and we lost everything, including our 3 cats and 1 parrot. Can I win AGT now? My final hate...Juliette Hough. I loath her and her brother. Why did you do this to me AGT? Why? Edited May 31, 2019 by Happy Belly I must learn to spell right 4 Link to comment
InternetToughGuy May 31, 2019 Share May 31, 2019 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Happy Belly said: I hate kid singers . I hate the amount of singers on this show. Stop coming here and go to The Voice Or American Idol. I want diversity in my acts. I loath the dang sob stories. It pisses me off on Dancing W/The Stars, Big Brother, The Voice, Idol..that I actually root against the teller of such sob story. Look, we all have had tragedy in our lives. Mine was my apartment went on fire when we werent home and we lost everything, including our 3 cats and 1 parrot. Can I win AGT now? My final hate...Juliette Hough. I loath her and her brother. Why did you do this to me AGT? Why? I'm pretty sure American Idol's age requirements are 15-29, which eliminates all the overweight middle aged women and kids who had a high fever the day after they were born. I don't watch The Voice because the judges seem even more full of themselves than the other shows, not to mention based on how I've never heard of any of their names, the accolades and prestige of winning The Voice seems comparable to being the highest paid athlete in the WNBA. It seems the show was so bad, your brain is already trying to forget Julianne's name (who could be blamed for that?). I thought it would be better to have her than Heidi, since she's much better looking and I figured Heidi was as annoying as it could get, but her looks pretty much go out the window since Julianne is so annoying, picturing Terry Crews in fishnet stockings is almost a more pleasing image. Edited May 31, 2019 by InternetToughGuy 3 Link to comment
tinkerbell June 2, 2019 Share June 2, 2019 The piano player/contortionist's act was given away by TWO separate shots of Simon rolling his eyes and yawning with boredom. And then, in case we missed it, a man in the audience giving a big yawn. So I knew that boring piano act was going to turn into something else. Something I wondered, the dance group from India. They are from poverty, living in squalor. But how did they get costumes, airfare, time to train and rehearse? Someone invested money in this group, right? The two new judges are ok. It's obvious that this show combined multiple days of filming, based on the changing looks of the two female judges. I dont like that a costume change involves such an extreme change in hair and makeup, that they are hardly recognizable. Jackie fabulous was NOT fabulous, not at all. But the judges were all laughing from the point when she said she got fired from being a lawyer. How was that funny? And what is it with Simon getting all flirty with any middle aged female comic? 2 Link to comment
SG11 June 2, 2019 Share June 2, 2019 I agree that the format is tired. On the new judges, isn’t it weird that they had to approximate replace the last 2? I mean, does the contract require “the black girl” and “the beautiful blonde girl people can automatically hate?” I like Hough but I was hoping that she could be more analytical and insightful, and yes, critical because she’s actually a performer. Hopefully she will loosen up. And too soon to tell on Gabrielle. She seemed to think every act was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Maybe she can learn to critique too, although very little of that goes on by any of the judges. Any why does Simon think wearing a worn, V neck $6 Haynes white t shirt is appropriate. I expect to see him with a can of beer in a recliner in that awful getup. The acts all seemed like stuff we had seen before, only not as good. The voice guy was terrible. The piano routine and the drag queen were boring. The 2019 Asian Magician guy was, Ok, some trick were good but repeated and too long. His magic table made some tricks look like special effects which is not interesting. It was cute that the Producers felt they needed to slice in Howies comment about “look the backs of the card colors is changing” so the people who could keep up were spoonfed what was going on. I had just noted that I was glad we weren’t treated to another act that was anointed and chosen to be a Finalist no matter how bad they were like the insufferable Precher Lawson. They we got Jackie Fabulous or whatever her name was. Not remotely funny, lasted about 30 seconds, At least her material wasn’t insulting pander like Lawson. Maybe she will get better. The dance act, zzzz. The only thing worse than the poor country dance act BS is the huge kiddie dance aka dance recital complete with kids not doing anything. Or, the massive choir propped up by diversity and poverty and goodness and light and 50 other people. Ugh. Young Bullied Girl with kitschy cool voice was a poor Grace Vanderwal imitation and Somin says she’s different. No, she’s yet another one. The worst thing was the awful preening and greatest thing ever comments and my life is changed after hearing you lies. They absolutely minimize and insult and disrespect the handful of great act that do show up with this overblown, over the top comments on so many mediocre acts. It makes all their comments have less value. 2 Link to comment
saber5055 June 2, 2019 Share June 2, 2019 13 hours ago, tinkerbell said: I dont like that a costume change involves such an extreme change in hair and makeup, that they are hardly recognizable. I was mesmerized by Julianne's eyes, they kept jumping from looking like normal people eyes to resembling black holes in a skull. To quote Spock: "Fascinating." 1 2 Link to comment
Lonesome Rhodes June 2, 2019 Author Share June 2, 2019 14 hours ago, SG11 said: Any why does Simon think wearing a worn, V neck $6 Haynes white t shirt is appropriate. I expect to see him with a can of beer in a recliner in that awful getup. It was cute that the Producers felt they needed to slice in Howies comment about “look the backs of the card colors is changing” so the people who could keep up were spoonfed what was going on. The worst thing was the awful preening and greatest thing ever comments and my life is changed after hearing you lies. They absolutely minimize and insult and disrespect the handful of great act that do show up with this overblown, over the top comments on so many mediocre acts. It makes all their comments have less value. I guarantee you that that custom tee shirt with cotton from Jupiter (Saturn, perhaps?) cost at least $200. Editing in Howie's exposition was an excellent insight into just how stupid, literally stupid, TPTB believe a significant chunk of the audience to be. Sadly they are not wrong. Sob stories and being led by the unseen hand have proven to work like charms. Perhaps Simon has invented an obvious corollary to participation trophies: Participation judges. Credibility? Star power and personality trump all. Again, he is quite correct. Sadly. 2 Link to comment
saber5055 June 2, 2019 Share June 2, 2019 20 minutes ago, Lonesome Rhodes said: I guarantee you that that custom tee shirt with cotton from Jupiter (Saturn, perhaps?) cost at least $200. I'm sure you are correct. It cracks me up that someone would spend $200 to look like an unemployed dude wearing a $2 tee he bought at Goodwill. 21 minutes ago, Lonesome Rhodes said: Editing in Howie's exposition was an excellent insight into just how stupid, literally stupid, TPTB believe a significant chunk of the audience to be. To be fair, he might have been narrating so the masses of people watching on black-and-white sets would know what was happening. 3 Link to comment
Commando Cody June 2, 2019 Share June 2, 2019 45 minutes ago, saber5055 said: I'm sure you are correct. It cracks me up that someone would spend $200 to look like an unemployed dude wearing a $2 tee he bought at Goodwill. $200 to Simon is probably like $2 to the rest of us. I agree with whomever brought up Julianne's eye make up, up thread. She looked like a raccoon. I wonder if someone really hates her, or she ignored the advise to not go out in public looking that way. 1 Link to comment
SG11 June 3, 2019 Share June 3, 2019 3 hours ago, Commando Cody said: $200 to Simon is probably like $2 to the rest of us. I agree with whomever brought up Julianne's eye make up, up thread. She looked like a raccoon. I wonder if someone really hates her, or she ignored the advise to not go out in public looking that way. I thought she looked great, although the miniskirt reduced the time worrying about her eye makeup. Link to comment
SG11 June 3, 2019 Share June 3, 2019 Um are people talking about costume changes and makeup changes etc aware that these are clips from different auditions? 2 Link to comment
lb60 June 3, 2019 Share June 3, 2019 (edited) Random thoughts on the premiere. My favorite act of the night was V.Unbeatable, but like some others, I'm thinking they don't actually live in the slums of Mumbai. I hope Sophie has a good therapist because, yikes! Eric Chien is no Shin Lim, but I won't mind seeing him again. He needs to shorten the act, though. Gingvilla is no Prince Poppycock, but I won't mind seeing him again. Not sure about dancing piano man yet. I usually loathe comics on this show, and the judges laughing uproariously, but I didn't hate Jackie Fabulous, just the name. I am not a fan of danger acts. IMO, no one has done "A Song for You" as well as Elliott Yamin, on Season 5 of American Idol. I really hope the show doesn't exploit Kodi Lee. /sarcasm Julianne's eyebrows scare me. I'm not usually a fan, but I like Terry in this role. <waves to saber5055> There you are! Edited June 3, 2019 by lb60 1 1 Link to comment
Vermicious Knid June 3, 2019 Share June 3, 2019 Well Kodi Lee is at least getting something out of the show now and not over 40 years. His upcoming gigs are sold out. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.