Starting Off on a Sour Note but Ending with Perfection

Starting Off on a Sour Note but Ending with Perfection by Roxanne McDonald

Yikes. The opening number, a booming spectacular featuring the top finalists singing the Kool and the Gang song “Celebration,” was an embarrassing display of “talent”. But of the top four, at least two saved the introduction to the finale, and winner Terry Fator rocks the house one last wonderful time.

Throughout the season on “America’s Got Talent,” I loved the Glamazons and had respect for the green Julienne, but yeeow. In the finale they were off-key and doing more

caterwauling than celebrating for the first few minutes, there.
But my favorites, Cas and Butterscotch, came through, as all four of the top finalists did in the fresh-as-can-be-fresh- for-a-reality-competition finale.

What I suggest by “fresh” is how nice it was to have each of the final four perform with celebrities in their area/genre, which was of course also done these last two seasons by sister show, Idol. But what was tear-jerking and newer was the use of surprise video messages by the finalists’ idols, for instance, that made us all (or most of us) tear up.

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Seven Singers Singing and One Odd Act

Seven Singers Singing and One Odd Act by Roxanne McDonald

Solo vocal- heavy “America’s Got Talent” reveals the top eight acts remaining.

So my friend emailed me and asked who I thought was going to take the “America’s Got Talent” competition this season. I had to/have to say that my favs must be America’s favs, as

all but one act making it through to the next round of finals is a vocal one, and even Sideswipe stepped it up—figuratively and literally—last night. I have no sense of who will win, though.

I can’t choose between them, but I hope beyond hope that Butterscotch and Cas Hayley are the last standing; and I’m still rooting for them, though The Glamazons were a bit spectacular visually but off vocally. Too much going on to “entertain”, which may have thrown off their focus, slowed down the progress they have made thus far improving on their voices.

Anyway.

The final eight were revealed as follows, and, as Jerry Springer made VERY clear, in no particular order:

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Which of Top 10 will Tumble?

Which of Top 10 will Tumble? by Roxanne McDonald

“America’s Got Talent” revealed the top ten; and those top ten revealed who might possibly be going home first.

The Duttons are a huge Kennedy family-like ensemble with more than their share of talent on violins and voice. After

some standard family is everything and family is love [and family is nine related individuals working hard to get along] discussion, they perform “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” with amazing accuracy and energy.
Robert Hatcher is a lovely singer with the voice of Luther Van Dross, his grandpa thinks. Because the senior is in the hospital and because he has supported and encouraged Robert to keep on keeping on through all those years of working in the sewers, Robert hopes he will be proud tonight, as he sings “Because You Love Me.”

The Calypso Tumblers are gorgeous to look at and cool to listen to, as they discuss their backgrounds and titter about how when their Caribbean hometown friends all tuned in to watch, the whole town went into blackout. They perform some old-fashioned acrobatics that they have taken from the sidewalks of Santa Monica to the big stage…much to our delight.

Jason Pritchett also talks about this being the dream come true, etc., etc., and adds that it would be good to make a living at it. He should have no problem finding something [once he tightens and polishes his act] in the Country milieu, proving this as he sings “When You Say Nothing at All.”

Butterscotch is an enigma. She really is. She discusses having come from a place where she was studying Classical in Davis, California, and went beyond to meld and merge classical and beat-box and deliver what is uniquely Butterscotch…that which I can see as one of three or four who will take the title in this competition.

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Lazy Legs and the Plus-sized Pussycat Dolls

Lazy Legs and the Plus-sized Pussycat Dolls by Roxanne McDonald

You might think there’d be nothing new in the way the judges critique the kinds of typical contestants for “America’s Got Talent.” But the fourth installment had a couple of intriguing if not evocative twists.

I am on record as finding “America’s Got Talent” to be a horrible hybrid, a pitiful impersonation, an unnecessary knock-off of Idol + Gong Show.

But treatment number 4 not only surprised me but brought me to that place usually reserved for really good reality TV

talent, romance, or drama.

So there was a contortionist who was so skilled that he elicited several eeews from the crowd as well as the judges.

There was seductive singing group one, who fell short, and seductive singing group two, who wowed the hell out of us with their outfits matching their mutated style (shoo-bop meets hip hop), and a few really bad and another few quite good solo singers.

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America’s Got Some Angry Judges

America’s Got Some Angry Judges by Roxanne McDonald

We’ve got a British sweetheart, a UK brat, and a sulking American actor…angry at how some of the most absurd acts are going through.

With the first couple of installments of “America’s Got Talent,” the emphasis at first seemed to be more on the judges than on the talent or their authentic search for it.

But, you can’t blame Hasselhoff for being pissed this week. Just for numbers, just for kicks and ridiculing giggles, I imagine, Sharon and Piers put through a female

impersonator who wouldn’t have made it two steps onto other stages (namely, “The Next Best Thing”). Although they do show decent discretion when buzzing and voting off several other oddball numbers.

Consuelo Campbell tells us she is an academic who is going to incorporate past and present by way of a combined 6th-century Gregorian chant and rasy low Blues and Gospel. But it is all operatic, she moves in strange ways on stage, and is even buzzed on the first note—before she gets a chance to really destroy what she means to create.

She brings up the past, alright, inciting a crowd to act up so badly that we are glad they don’t have any rotten fruit on hand.

Sharon calls the act bizarre, and says that while most performers have a direction, she was all over the place.
Piers says that as she was prancing and shrieking about, he was thinking she looked like Hillary Clinton on acid.
David expected (as many of us did) a really cool style but for him it just turned out like Karaoke night.

Sideswipe is an acrobatic troupe who include in their routine some odd kick-boxing moves.

Sharon liked the aggression and of course, as Jerry Springer suspected, loves their look and swoons over how they “moooove sensationally.” She then gets the audience going when she cheekily adds that if they look this good at 9:30 in the morning, she would love to see how they look after midnight.
Piers tells them if they keep that up they could go all the way in the competition.
David calls them awesome.

Jason Pritchett has wanted to be a Country Western star since he was a kid.

Sharon claims she has certain articles of clothing at home that are older than he is, but she finds him very talented.
Piers says there was nothing wrong with the performance…it was just a bit bland.
David tells him he has a great look, a great sound, a beautiful voice, and great charisma.

Then Piers rushes them into voting, and David says, “Gawd, you are like a bad pastor…. Who made you the boss of the show? Shut up!!”

Terry Fader is a ventriloquist the judges first groan at. But when his doll, Emma Taylor, belts out a stunning Ella Fitzgerald imitation, singing “At Last”, they are blown away.

Sharon Confesses that when he came onstage she was thinking, “Oh, Lordy, Lordy,” but, she says, he is brilliant.
Piers tells them he has genuinely never seen any ventriloquist do an impression of singers. That was good, he says.
David liked it, too, he says, and asks for an a capella encore. Fader, or Taylor, does Ashley Simpson—just opening her mouth with no sound coming out.
So cute: as the guy leaves the stage, his Emma gushes, “We made it!”

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What Else Did We Expect from America’s Got Talent?

What Else Did We Expect …? by Roxanne McDonald

It’s TV, it’s reality TV, it features a wannabe Simon Cowell, and it now includes a most vociferous Sharon Osbourne. It is therefore more than “America’s Got Talent.”

I still can’t help but consider “America’s Got Talent” one tap away from being a “Gong Show” throwback, what with all the very mediocre talent on stage (rather than in a few audition episodes) and what with Piers banging on his X buzzer as if he were the gongkeeper.

And keeping to that reputation, a most controversial moment opens (well, a few contestants in) the first installment of the second season:

A little girl named Breeze does a weak singing number. Piers slams the X, and proceeds to insult the kid, her mom, and anyone else involved. Breeze had said if she won “America’s Got Talent” she would buy her mom a car. Trying to

summon the Simon, Piers says the kid is just on the show because Mom pushed her into it, so Mom could get a car.

Sharon Osbourne, not to accept anything offensive to the people or to her own pretty accepting sensibilities (I mean, she is married to the Prince of F—ing Darkness), tells Piers off then walks off. Piers follows. Hasslehoff is left on the panel alone.

Day one and the spots are on the judges and not on what should be the remarkable talent.

Okay, could we get back to the show?

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America’s Got Talent: a New Circus is Coming to Town

America’s Got Talent: a New Circus is Coming to Town–New Season, New Cast Additions, New Attitudes by Roxanne McDonald

Jerry Springer and Sharon Osbourne come in to replace Regis Philbin and Brandy Norwood. How will the changes re-shape “America’s Got Talent”?

New York Post notes that because Regis Philbin—original host of “America’s Got Talent”—found it too much to travel from New York to L.A. to do both his show and “…Talent,” Regis gave up the latter: “I’ve had a great time working with everyone on ‘America’s Got Talent…,” he told press, but, “Unfortunately, since the show is taped in Los Angeles, I underestimated the impact the heavy travel schedule would have on my daily syndicated talk show.”

Enter replacement, Jerry Springer. E! News quotes the name that has been on nearly every tongue at one point another, as he says, “I’ve been around some of America’s most talented individuals on my talk show for the last sixteen

years, so I’ll feel right at home hosting ‘America’s Got Talent.’”
Says Senior VP of alternative programming development and specials for NBC Entertainment, Craig Plestis, “Jerry Springer is the perfect ringmaster to harness all the incredibly diverse talent of America’s Got Talent under one big tent.”

“To say the least, he is known for presiding over an unpredictable show where the unexpected is the typical order of the day,” noted Plestis.

Producers Simon Cowell and others also heralded the arrival of Sharon Osbourne, who would replace Brandy. The R&B star is dealing with lawsuits brought on after her involvement in an automobile accident that killed 38-year-old married mother of two, Awatef Aboudihaj, in December of 2006. So Sharon Osbourne has been called in to replace her.

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Martin the Philospher get’s Fired by Trump in the Apprentice 6

Well, it’s the 6th season of the Apprentice and to make sure his show is fresh and popular, the Trumpster has set up shop in Los Angeles.

How were the ratings??? The Apprentice crew is back and in fine form, minus Carolyn, but replaced with daughter Ivanka. It will be interesting to see how the ratings go this season. Does America still care enough to watch???

At first gander it seems hokey and special with the L.A. backdrop but once the tent is up and the boardroom is ablaze our show the Apprentice is back in it’s finest form ever!

Yes, it seems they did some polling and found the boardroom should be longer and more cut throat. It was!

Martin the Philosopher was a cartoon character for sure and while he certainly deserved to get fired just for being a nimrod, his project leader wasn’t exactly far from getting the boot himself.

While you could see Donald Trump had some affection for Martin, he also had fun at his expense by pounding on him. Ivanka Trump chipped in as did the project leader from the opposing team (the winner of the challenge). Nice twist with the opposing team’s leader sitting in! (read more…)

Caveat to Freeloading Bloggers: Don’t Copy Perez Hilton?

Caveat to Freeloading Bloggers: Don’t Copy Perez Hilton? by Roxanne McDonald

Blogger Perez Hilton getting sued for copyright infringement reminds us to check and know the cyberlaws—or maybe stop [so the implications go] dissing the big wigs….

Any publicity is good publicity, the familiar saying goes, but not, evidently, when you are self-appointed “Gossip Gangsta” Perez Hilton (pseudonym for blogger Mario Lavandeira). According to news of late, Perez Hilton is being sued for over 7.5 million by a Hollywood tabloid agency for using images belonging to them (under their copyright ownership).

It’s not unusual for bloggers to use images to draw readership. It is not all that rare that many fine bloggers are critiquing the shows, performers, or commentaries represented in those images.

But in Perez Hilton’s case, it appears he not only does a slammin’ critique, he uses photos on a blog (perezhilton.com) that are accompanied by ads that Ph “reportedly charges between $9,000 and $16,000 a week for….”

Therefore, the photo agency preparing to sue (Perez told TMZ he has yet to be “personally” served with papers) purportedly feels they deserve damages—believing “their pics have played a large part in the success and profitability of perezhilton.com.”

I suppose the lesson to bloggers, then, is that if you are very very good with your textual content and very very bad with the visual content [of others], then you might prepare for consequences?

America’s Got Talent Finale and Props to Regis

 America’s Got Talent Finale and Props to Regis by Roxanne McDonald

I know I was pretty hard on the show in general, given its tacky middle America pandering and not so successful panning of The Gong Show and other mock games, and I am sorry to say I have to be equally harsh about America’s Got Talent grand finale.

  But if to show respect at least is to write about it, to give it air, okay, then the very writing here should suffice. 

(After all, bad publicity is still publicity and all that….)I like Regis Philbin.  I give him props for being angry and bitter and hateful and getting away with it, expressing it, giving vent, by way of cheesy and acceptable humor.   (read more…)

America’s Got Talent and the Gong Show!

I couldn’t stand The Gong Show when I was growing up and it was on in syndication, and I’m having an equally hard time staying as faithful to America’s Got Talent as I am to umpteen million other reality TV shows I am utterly hooked on. 

America’s Got Talent, though, is apparently another much-needed show by middle America (get the name similarity, which is dubbed for a reason).       The Gong Show and Star Search hybrid is not as silly, nor is it as savvy (up on and aware of its nature as panning other talent shows) as I would assume.

In fact, yesterday on Reality Remix, they posted the top six episodes of the week (July, 2006) and

America’s Got Talent was Number One, with so many more million viewers than So Think You Can Dance (which took two places) and Rock Star Supernova (which of course took last as there are fewer rockers than bible thumpers in the nation—ugh). (read more…)