Hi, I’m Eric (@eric_ascher in the comments and on Twitter) and I will be live blogging this season of America’s Got Talent here on mjsbigblog. I want to thank mj for the opportunity, and I want to thank all of you for (hopefully) sticking with me. I am a Simon Cowell fan – yes, I even liked X Factor, and even the American version – and that is why I’m watching this show. America’s Got Talent is now Simon’s last remaining American TV show. Even though he isn’t a judge, he is executive producer and lots of his signed artists appeared on past results shows. Fingers crossed that means we get Alex & Sierra at some point this season. But I digress. The show starts in 20 minutes, and I’ll be here.
The peacock from NBC. THIS SUMMER STARTS NOW. Alice Cooper in the background. School’s out Talent’s in…
No more opening credits? BOO. I miss the almost like but not quite the same as X Factor theme music.
Lots of people thinking that 1 million dollars will change their lives. Its only about $500,000 after tax…but anyway.
Judges and Nick Cannon walk out. Golden buzzer introduced-overrules the other judges and sends someone right through.
This is similar to X Factor’s style from what I can see so far. By that I mean it is more documentary-like than Idol.
Adrian Romoff is 9 years old, plays the piano and likes science. He is talking about emotions and not being a robot. He SKIPPED 5 grades. Two years until college. Well, I’m not sure if we are supposed to like him or hate him, but I like him so far. I don’t like his parents but I like him. DAMN he’s good. If anything, he is too good. Has he ever been outside? My brother is watching with me and says he looks like me. Ok then. They all like him, Howard wasn’t sure if he was playing the whole thing. So he proceeds to play another song. Howie makes a Harry Potter comparison, says he will be on the moon before coming back for the next round. He’s through to the next round.
Tap dancers in a montage. They are pretty great. Look 100% in sync. Through to the next round.
Two classical dancers turned circus artists. Also pretty great.
Acrobatic breakdance comedy show. Ok then. They didn’t deserve to be montaged from what I saw there. Better then the other dancers so far.
Some terrible comedians lead into our next main act.
Dan Naturman talks about why he isn’t married. He’s good. He is not worthy of a standing O, and even he agrees with that statement. The judges love him though, they all say yes.
49 year old Rokardy is from Cuba, and does hand balancing. For 49 he’s AMAZINGLY strong. I’m actually watching this in shock. He just keeps GOING and GOING, higher and higher. 4 judge standing ovation, and well deserved. Heidi talks about how smooth the movements are, Howard jokes about his assistant Carlos not having much of a role, before talking about how happy he is Rokardy auditioned. Carlos is apparently his son. 4 yeses. I’m happy with the amount of good talent so far. Not many bad auditions and the few that have happened were montaged.
Donnie Valentine is a singer from Champagne, Illinois. He is in his 40s. And he wants to tour, because he thinks he has an incredible range. Bracing myself for the worst. And it is pretty bad. To the point Howard and Heidi start pretending to dance while Mel B and Howie are trembling in fear. Howie shrieks his no. Donnie Valentine was officially rejected.
Wow, an act with a guy slapping bald people’s heads. Howie actually goes up on stage and, when the guy puts on gloves, gets slapped. And its four nos.
An old woman who is a hula hooper. I officially spoke too soon about the lack of bad auditions.
Mike Greenstein from Queens, NY is 93 years old. He pulls vehicles with his teeth. I’ll believe it when I see it. Mike is a descendant of one of the world’s strongest men. He makes a joke about not having hair anymore. This is either going to be AMAZING or a major letdown. He does this stunt outside with his “lady friend” and two others in the car. A commercial break interrupts the stunt. He pulls it off, and it is impressive. Howard said no, which is nuts but I sorta understand-he does need more showmanship involved to headline a Vegas show. The other three say yes and Mike is through.
Acte II are two opera singers from New Orleans. They compare themselves to Beyonce, Jay Z, Xtina. They met in college years ago and call themselves “frenemies.” I think they are pretty great, but I don’t see the comparisons to those other artists…obviously they were joking. All four judges stand up. Mel B got goosies-but unlike JLo she has the courtesy to NOT use that word. Howie loved it. Heidi spoke german-like. They say they like Howard’s hair. Four yeses.
Dustin’s Dojo are two guys who are doing “martial arts.” I wasn’t sure at first that it was intended to be a joke, but it quickly became apparent. Howie and Howard say yes, Heidi and Mel B say no. Howard pushes his golden buzzer. DAMN. They were pretty funny, but I don’t think they deserved the golden buzzer. The comedy seemed too unplanned for my taste, if that makes any sense.
Blue Journey consists of Nick and Rachel, and they are using technology and projection in a dance routine. They only met four days ago. This could be a train wreck or shockingly good. And its pretty cool from my perspective. The screen is used to amplify their dance movements, and it is really hard to describe. But they might be my favorites of the night so far. Mel B calls it “dreamlike” and I think that’s a good word. Howie mentions that people have used shadows before, but never like this. Howard says their interview was terrible but the dancing made him forget about that. Four yeses.
Larry The Mime is really funny, but in a trainwrecky kinda way. The best part according to the judges was the stagehand giving a mime a microphone. Larry talks back. Larry was really Nick Cannon. I had a feeling it was Nick the whole time from the voice by the way. Wow, that took up a whole segment? I didn’t know we could have something so fillerific this early in the season.
We have our first white guy with guitar of the season. Jacob Curlee from Alabama was taken to foster care and he wanted his birth parents to visit him. This is actually really sad. But he was adopted at the age of 8. He’s good. Nothing too special, but I think he is better than most of Idol’s season 13 cast. He is singing John Mayer’s Waiting On The World To Change. His mom is really happy. And he’s crying. Okay, even if I’m not thrilled yet with his voice, I like him as a person. Howard says he’d buy his music. Howie says he seems like he lived longer than his years. Four yeses. Well deserved.
And that wraps up my first liveblog of the season! Thanks for watching with me. See you all next week, same time, same place.
