America’s Got Talent Qualifiers continued with week 4. Instead of three rounds, the live shows feature a “Qualifiers” round consisting of 55 acts over the course of five weeks, before the big finale (Read our Recap).
Only TWO acts will advance on Wednesdays to the final performance episode, based on America’s vote. An 11th spot will be determined by votes from four wildcards chosen by the judges.
One more Qualifier Round come after this week before the September 13 and 14 finale.
This week’s episode was…underwhelming. As much as the judges hype up the talent, with a few exceptions, I’m not going to remember most of these acts. The problem may be that we’ve only seen them twice now.
Think about other singing competitions. Some favorites don’t emerge until they’ve performed several times. Talent needs to grow on fans. Simon keeps complaining about not knowing who certain artists are, but how can we when they’ve barely performed?
AGT in its current format is an attachment-free variety show. If the format stays the same, it’s likely a non-Golden buzzer act, like magician Shin Lim, won’t ever win again. I became a big Shin fan, but not until closer to the end of the competition. Now, the judges pimp their buzzers, who usually perform last, and they predictably advance.
I haven’t voted once this season, because I don’t care. The acts I enjoyed the most this week will not go through: Lee Collinson, Harper (she’s a riot), and Bayley Graham, the tap dancer. The judges only liked Harper and criticized (unfairly) the other two.
Merissa Beddows made a mistake taking the comedy out of her impressions act. If the format allowed, she could possibly come back and fix that. But she’s not coming back. Oh well! Her clever audition had me thinking she’d make the finale.
Speaking of magicians, one of my favs, Piff the Magic Dragon is scheduled to perform on Wednesday’s results show. Yay!
Now, it’s time to vote! Later on Wednesday, we’ll put up a post revealing your results.
