"America's Got Talent" Semi-Finals Part 1

The first twelve performers of the twenty-four fighting for a chance to be in the top ten talents on "America's Got Talent" turned in a dismal performance last night. Some talents seemed to go backwards instead of looking for the "wow factor," as Howie puts it.

"X" is the Word on "America's Got Talent" Semi-Finals

The ever buzzer-happy Piers X'd a third of the twelve acts seen, while Sharon and Howie buzzed in with him on one particular act. Receiving the big red X from Piers were acts Future Funk, Connor Doran, AscenDance, and Kristina Young. Kristina was the unfortunate act to receive the triple X combo. Future Funk started out with a rap about their appearance on AGT, which made me wonder if they had hired the writing talent of fellow contestant CJ Dippa. Piers says they will be great...in the future. Sharon foresees the young boys having their own TV show. The judges were in agreement that the pop song choice to go with Connor's indoor kite flying was all wrong. The poetic kite flier did not have the grace he previously showed us while flying to the faster paced music. AscenDance did not kick it up a notch. They came back with the same two wall dancers as last time and the same wall, only this time it had a city outline on it. I didn't get that at all. And poor Kristina received the triple X strike out from the 3 judges when she tried to take on "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga.

This is the X-Free Zone on "America's Got Talent" Semi-Finals

The eight remaining acts did not receive any X's from the judges. The 3 acts that were just "there" last night included Christina & Ali, Antonio Restivo, and Dan Sperry. Christina & Ali were really flat while singing Mariah Carey's "When You Believe." Antonio ran around the stage making gestures while fire burned all around him until finally a couple of the girls decided to chain him up and throw him in a coffin shaped box that caught on fire. Of course, when the lid was opened Antonio was not in the box but appeared from stage right. The whole trick took way too long to perform. Dan was the biggest disappointment of the night for me. After making Howie run away from his last magic trick, his sawing off of Nick's arm was, to put it in one word, lame. I haven't seen magic like that since Chipps Cooney left. The meant to be distracting robot assistant was cool though.

The Shining (and Almost Shining) Stars on "America's Got Talent" Semi-Finals

At the beginning of the show Sharon said that since AGT and the acts are now into the semi-finals the acts need to focus on their talent, focus like a star, fell like a star, and act like a star on stage. Anna & Patryk, Taylor Mathews, and Michael Grimm are on the fence for me, while ArcAttack and Prince Poppycock are definitely heads above the rest of the semi-finalist talents. Young ballroom dancers Anna & Patryk opened the show with what they called an angry dance - the Paso Doble. Lady Gaga makes another appearance as they dance to her "Paparazzi." Taylor chose to move out of his comfort zone as acts are always pushed to do by the judges and played the piano in place of the guitar. I thought he did a wonderful job as he sang "Show Me What I'm Looking For" by Carolina Liar. He had a choir in the background shadows singing background vocals. I did not see any shaky-handed nerves when he was facing the judges after his performance as Piers suggested. Michael Grimm has been a fan favorite since day one; and while I like his personality and voice I am not rooting for any singers to be the big winner. Michael was once again sporting his signature fedora as he sang Joe Cocker's "You Can Leave Your Hat On" while female dancers did a sort of striptease around him, but, of course, they all left their hats on. Once again the "fresh and original" electrifying act ArcAttack had to perform on a separate stage so the act wouldn't play havoc with the electronic equipment on the AGT stage. Two guys on platforms made lightning bolts dance around using "swords" they were holding. At one time the bolts looked like they were playing chimes that were hanging from the front of the stage. Then a cage begins rising up from horizontal to vertical to reveal an "Elvira" zombie-Frankenstein inside. The guys began to zap the cage with her inside as they tried to "bring her to life." Howie doesn't believe that the home audience gets the full effect of the show, and I'm sure we don't, but I still find it entertaining. But people that don't understand the science involved probably don't get the danger factor and everything that is involved in this act. Prince Poppycock. Doesn't the name alone make you want to giggle just a little? Prince Poppycock is the new Queen as we hear a bit of a different side of his voice in his rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by, yes, Queen. Freddy Mercury must be enjoying this. Poppycock has made all his outrageous costumes and does all his own makeup which is just fabulous. Tonight's costume is a baby-blue sailor outfit. Now tell me, have you ever listened to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and envisioned Freddy in a baby blue sailor outfit? He prances around the stage while breaking delicate pieces of china. Piers believes Poppycock "out-camped" Freddy, while Sharon dubs him the male version of Lady Gaga.

Tune in Wednesday, August 24, at 9 pm ET on NBC to see who America voted for and will go on to be one of the Top 10 acts of 2010. Special guests will be comedian Jimmy Fallon, former AGT finalists Recycled Percussion and Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue.

"America's Got Talent" Semi Final Live in Hollywood aired Tuesday, August 24 at 9 pm ET on NBC.

* * * *

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION

Sources:

America's Got Talent