The Susan Boyle phenomenon has had a predictable effect on the new season of America’s Got Talent. The don’t-judge-book-by-cover lesson we were supposed to take away from Boyle translates, over here, as a new politeness among judges Sharon Osbourne, David Hasselhoff, and Piers Morgan. And so instead of previous seasons’ mirthless attempts by the judges to insult the bad contestants, we were killed with kindness. “Thank you very much indeed,” said Osbourne over and over again in rejecting mediocre acts. Is this the same woman who co-hosted Fox’s abysmal Osbournes Reloaded in March with creepy vulgarity? Yes; polite Sharon and rude Sharon are two sides of an act, and neither is entertaining.
Neither was two hours of America’s Got Talent, for the most part. You know how this works: the cluelessly talent-free rub elbows with the freakish novelty acts (a guy who puts a metal hook through his nose and has it emerge through his mouth). And there are a couple of amusing acts. A dog that caught Frisbees with dexterity. A dance act called FootworKINGZ that was easily better than the winner of Britain’s Got Talent, Diversity. So was the dance group the Unexpected Step Team. So was… well, just about any American dance group that hit the stage last night. It’s not difficult to be better than Diversity.
Most of AGT was tedious. The judges’ “yes” votes, enabling an act to move on to competition in Las Vegas, were so random as to be irritating. Some schmo who wrote a tuneless, witless serenade to Hasselhoff got put through to the next round. A guy calling himself the “Rock and Roll President” did barely-passable impersonations of Barack Obama and James Brown and got three nods of approval. A married couple with ludicrous face-painting danced while picking each other up. Apparently the fact that she weighed 100 pounds and he weighed 240 was stunning miracle. “One of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen,” marvelled Morgan. (How did he keep a straight face?) “So elegant,” gushed Sharon. “It moved me,” said Hasselhoff. How extraordinarily, inelegantly un-moving, I thought.
Of course, the show had to pump up its own pseudo-Boyle moment. Last night it occurred near the very end, when the trio Voices of Glory sang “God Bless America.” Piers said, “God bless you three.” Sharon teared up. Hasselhoff said, “This is what the show is about.” The trio received a standing ovation. It was certainly well-sung. Good luck, Voices of Glory.
Did you watch? What did you think?
dearest ken tucker,
i truly believe that you are in dire need for a pair of spectacles. while the two mentioned dance acts may have been good, they absolutely cannot be compared to diversity. this article is shameful and i suggest you see your opticians soon!
Gotta agree with kelly below. In three different appearances on BGT, Diversity did at least a half-dozen things I’d never seen a dance act do.
They were blow-everyone-else-out-of-the-water good.
The dance acts last night were fine, but was there any real wow factor? Any sense that there weren’t 20 other acts that auditioned that couldn’t have done the same thing?
With respect to the Unexpected Step Team: They may be going to Vegas, but I wouldn’t count on staying long. One third of the acts are told the first day that they don’t even get to perform again, and they have to keep room for the drag acts and the guy who puts an electric drill up his nose. So only a few dance acts will reach the semis.
And even they will probably not be as good as Diversity.
All I know is the host was Nick Cannon and that made it a show NOT to watch for me. Thanks for verifying it for me, Ken.
I turned the TV off after the first three so-called acts. I’d rather watch paint dry.
What’s with the hate for Diversity? I thought they were creative, fun, entertaining, and yes, great dancers.
That was 2 hours I’ll never get back!!
The only act I caught while channel surfing was some guy who could turn his ankles backwards and walk forward with his feet facing back. That was creepy and didn’t make me want to stay around for anything else.
That certainly was a “talent” with limited audience appeal.
I was shocked at the dance couple that lifted each other. While I didn’t think they were SYTYCD good, they were very entertaining and I couldn’t believe she lifted him like that (strong core muscles for him and strong legs for her).
I agree. Diversity was better than all of the dance acts last night. And I’m an American!
I thought most of the acts were rather sickning, it was more like a freakshow in a circus then a talent show.The only two acts that impressed me were the youngsters who sang America and the three sisters, if it continues to be freaky I doubt if I will watch it.
Britain’s got more talent.
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The new host is terrible. Was putting on the wig supposed to be funny? And why the jive talk?
Bring back Jerry Springer.
Wow…Mr Tucker, what color is the sky in your world? You wouldn’t know a good dance act if it came up and smacked you. FootworkKingz easily better than Diversity? You seriously don’t have a clue do you? footworkkingz had NO, and I mean absolutely NO wow factor. Diversity had it all and proved that by winning. I think someone with a small amount of knowledge of talent in their little finger would be able to see that Diversity is Astronomically better than FootworkKingz. My suggestion to you is either go get your eyes checked or step down from writing about things you know nothing about, that being talent. You probably thought that the three women who were going to teach ‘finger knitting’ were better entertainment than Diversity on BGT. That is how your article came across to me. I know that you were giving your opinion, but you know what they say about opinions. Just do us all a favor, pay better attention to what you are watching.
Susan Boyle has basically derailed all these American shows.. Susan has also eclipsed Paul Potts of BGT. Because of susan i did tune in to America Got talent only to see crappy, Circus/carnival acts. some made my skin crawl…
Susan Boyle has set new standards and these American shows are getting harder and harder to watch.
Only two acts caught my attention .. the 100 lbs female who carried her half-ton partner in dance, shows love conquers all. The other was the six or seven boys from chicago. The “glory kids” was a very good, endearing story but they cant really sing. Good school play singing. The middle child has potential but the big boy and the girl are merely Ok. Good story though. Thank God their mom pulled thru. They’ll get good rating for a while and people will tune off. I havent seen any promise of anything close to Susan. NOT THERE!
BGT fan, i disagree. ken was right. The only good thing about diversity was the futuristic accoustic music. Flawless was infact better than Diversity in my books. the FOOTWORKINGS were actually dancing, diversity was doing a lot of robotic acrobatic, well cordinated moves which does not equate to dancing.
The flying dog stole my heart.. i wish he were a person so we take him seriously.. how do you get a dog to do all that and CONSISTENTLY? He never failed once to fly and catch. SUPERDOG