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May 24, 2013

America's Got Talent: Vegas verdicts, episode two

by Isabelle Carreau, posted Jul 30th 2009 3:14AM

America's Got Talent
(S04E12)

Based on the comments you left on last night's review, a few of you decided to stop watching the show because the "Vegas Verdicts" process was too cruel. How can the judges tell people they are going to Vegas and not have them perform a second time before they are sent back home? How cruel is it to get performers' hopes up by telling them they are going to Vegas when, in fact, most of them will have done the trip just to hear that they weren't good enough? Why did the judges send talented people such as Kari, Ciana and Tallan home and keep acts such as the dominatrix yodeler? On a side note, we shouldn't put all the blame on the judges. I'm sure the producers are pulling a few strings.

Be truthful, even if you vouched you would never watch America's Got Talent again, you couldn't help yourself from taking a peak at tonight's episode, eh? If you decided to not tune in to watch the last "Vegas Verdicts" cruel fest but still want to know what happened, here come the results!

Acts that were sent packing to go back home:
  • I don't get the judges. They keep saying they want unique acts that can sustain a show on Vegas. Rashida Jolley (Audition show 8, her YouTube channel and her MySpace page), harpist and singer, offers just that, and they send her packing! WTF?!
  • American Idol season one contestant Kelli Glover (Audition show 7 and YouTube clips) who was sent home on Idol seven years ago, once again heard the words "you are not going to the next round." The news hit her really hard. After Idol, Kelli stopped singing for a while thinking she was not good enough. She picked herself up and auditioned for AGT just to be told she wasn't good enough once again. That girl has a good voice and should continue trying to make it. Maybe she should try for Idol again now that she has more experience and has matured?
  • Also sent home: Duo Design (Audition show 9, the duo's official website), jugglers, father/son acrobats, dancer Arthur (Audition show 7), the sister (singer) and brother (guitar) duo supposedly because the brother had another opportunity ... I wonder if the judges would have sent the duo packing if the brother had been available?

Acts that were sent packing to go to Hollywood (aka Top 40):
  • Nick lets us know that only 17 acts were sent through to Hollywood last night.
  • The Paradizo Dance duo (Audition show 1 and their official website) was the first act to learn their fate tonight. I was expecting them to be sent packing considering the huge amount of dancers this season. After the Hoff tries to show us he can act and pretend that the duo would be sent packing, the wife and husband team learn they'll be going through. I don't see them going very far considering that better dance acts went through, such as ...
  • The amazing Bollywood dance troupe Ishaara (Audition show 9, their MySpace page and their official website), as well as energetic dance crew FootworKINGz (Audition show 1, their MySpace page and their official website) are both put through. We may end up having six or seven dance numbers in the Top 40 this year. I really enjoyed Ishaara, so I hope that they get to the Top 20. They have the potential to sustain a one-hour show on the Vegas strip.
  • I'm glad the judges let through a classical musician for once. Let's hope pianist extraordinaire Jeffrey Ou (Audition show 10) doesn't magically disappear as that amazing saxophone player from a previous season. I can't wait to hear him play on a real piano and with proper lighting and set staging.
  • Eleisha Miller (Audition show 6 and her official website) may have offered a very funny and cute performance during the auditions, but she is nowhere near as talented as Ciana is right now. Again, I don't understand why judges let through some acts that aren't that good while they send home performers that have the goods.
  • Mario and Jennifer (Audition show 5) the circus performers where sent to Hollywood.
  • Marcus Terell and the Serenades (Audition show 9 and Marcus's YouTube channel) didn't make it through to Hollywood because, as the judges noted many times, the Serenades are not good enough. Marcus wondered why he still needs to audition when he's supposed to be so talented. One of the Serenades asks the judges if they would let Marcus go through as a solo act. Marcus lets the Serenades decides. They agree to let him leave his dream. The judges let Marcus go through to Hollywood alone. Talk about the ladies being supportive and allowing Marcus to have his dream.
  • With little surprise, the Voices of Glory (Audition show 1) trio is going to Hollywood to spread the message of hope and love as the judges said to them.
  • The Polish triplets who play the violin and sing (Audition show 2) go through a painful result process when Sharon tells them they are talented and beautiful, but that they have a long way to go to perfect their act. The Triplets, and viewers, think that this is it for them. They plead their case not knowing that Sharon is following a script to create tension. The Triplets are going through! I hate it when judges, no matter the show, claim that people are not good enough, or that they are unsure, just to create tension and stress. The judges would surely not like to endure that process. And it doesn't make for good TV.
  • Mia (Audition show 8) who was cut last year was given a second chance and will be part of the Top 40.
  • Also going to Hollywood: opera singer Barbara Padilla (Audition show 6 and her official website), the guy that had blood spilling out from his mouth, Pam and Viva Martin (Audition show 4), Rockin' Rory the dog (Audition show 1), 62-year-old "dancer" Carol Lugo (Audition show 3 and her MySpace page), Anthony & Matt the singer and tap dancer duo (Audition show 8), 75-year-old comedian Grandma Lee (Audition show 6),and much more. I can't believe the judges let Carol Lugo go through. She has no act! She can't win the show!

And the results of the dance off:
  • Remember that dance crew Destined 2 Be (Audition show 8, YouTube clips), Euphoria, and Breaksk8 (Audition show 10, their official website and their YouTube channel) were given the same music track and twelve hours to come up with a routine. Some crews worked well together while others clashed and had issues during the practice. Before they perform, Piers tells them that they can put through one or two of them, but not all.
  • Sadly, we didn't see the full performances from the three dance crews so it's difficult for us, the viewers, to pass judgement. Sharon says that one of the groups really stood out while the others didn't match up. Breaksk8 is going to Hollywood. Can we remind Piers that he said their audition act was boring and not original enough?

We get down to the real business next week when the Top 40 audition for America's votes. I hope they group acts per categories (singers, dancers, etc.) so that we have a good mixture of acts in the Top 20. What do you think will be Simon Cowell's curveball? He said on the phone that there was a very serious problem. Do you think he is unhappy with the selections and wants a "Wild Card" selection from the public amongst the rejected acts? Or.... ? Share your theories in comments below!

America's Got Talent' Photos

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Judge David Hasselhoff.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and David Hasselhoff.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Judge Piers Morgan.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Judge Sharon Osbourne.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and David Hasselhoff.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and David Hasselhoff.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Swinging Rat Pack.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Swinging Rat Pack.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Indiggo.

    NBC

    AMERICA'S GOT TALENT Shelia-Shelia Of The Jungle.

    NBC



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29 Comments

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emoonglo

I dont know if this is the right one or not but how could the judges pick GRAMMA LEE ovrer a 16 yr old that tried 2 times she looked like a zombie maybe because she had shorts for the HOFF & Pierce it made them feel OOOOOO AAAAAAAAA it was nice to pickthe last 2 they were great YAAAAA for that

September 07 2009 at 10:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Larry Grove

I think the one thing that is really bothering me about these 3 judges is the way they judge the children. If a child has a bad performance let the judges tell the child in a nice way that they still need a little more practice and then politely send them home. But if a child has a good performance and the judges tells them that they might want to start looking for a new house for their parents and sends them to Las Vegas, then let these 3 judges remain true to their first impression of the child. Please don't tell a child how good they are and then crush their hopes like these judges did in Las Vegas. Because you never know what kind of impact that will make on these children throughout their lives. It's always amazing to me how cruel adult's can be towards innocent children.

August 03 2009 at 8:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
zack

WTF was that? they sent home talen and Ciena, But kept the glass eating guy and the whipping girl. WHY? Simon Cowell better fix that or that shows not gunna make it to season 5.

July 31 2009 at 9:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
matt

does anyone know what happened to The Comic Bots? the act that was all robots they danced and played musical instruments? i didnt see them on any list and the only thing I could think of is they were in the group that went home as soon as arriving in vegas

July 31 2009 at 9:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to matt's comment
blur

I'm pretty sure (although this is only an assumption, so don't take my word for it) that the Comic Bots were eliminated; I did not see them among the gathered Top 40 (although they DID make it past the airport, so they weren't eliminated outright).

Tallan definitely deserves the attention he's been getting here (he is mega talented, for sure), but what about Jay, the spiky-haired magician? He was great! He deserved another shot as opposed to being eliminated in the freaking airport. Meh. Kari's elimination really bugged me because of how the judges were like, at her initial audition, "Forget the cruise ship! You are awesome!" and then just unceremoniously cut her, like Jay, at the airport. As annoyed as I was at the other eliminations (Rashida should have made it), hers angered me the most. She was very good, maybe not to the level of Lawrence and Kevin, but still good enough.
I'm thinking that there will be a Top 45, parallel to the Top 13 of AI. Even if there isn't, I sincerly hope that the judges, who I normally like but am angry at in this case, consider, oh, I don't know, actually having VEGAS CALL-BACK AUDITIONS next year. Is the economy that bad?

I could whine about the eight-year old, but I actually...sorta like her (ducks from objects being thrown at me), and enough people have complained about her.

On a sadistic note, I did enjoy seeing Tony eliminated. He bugged me after he called Piers something backstage (a b!tch, I think?...); as notorious a person Piers may be, he wasn't as harsh on Tony as he could have been. So, he's gone. Yay! (does a happy dance)

August 01 2009 at 5:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rebelking100

I agree that they made some poor decisions last night. I think they should have cut all the kids. Las Vegas and the LA entertainment industry isn't a place for little kids. They deserve to have a childhood not be made into some meal ticket for their parents earning money for their families like a circus monkey. Also think they should have cut both Kelli and the other girl who had her chance already. Kelli is a great singer as well as Kari Callin but you can't put them a head of people who are classically trained and who have spend their lives sharpening their skills like Barbara and the guy who sang Old man river. If they had gotten rid of all the kids and those two girls there would have been room for better talent.
Simon Cowell is probably going to tell them they need to do the wild card thing.

July 30 2009 at 10:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
terence

Rashida Jolley is finals material. Kallan's got talent and that little eight year old blew the socks off of the cute and funny piano girl with the bad voice.

July 30 2009 at 9:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Paul

I think the curveball is either a legal issue or immigration problem related to one of the top 40 acts. One act is probably ineligible to travel to or work in the live show and has to be replaced. This has happened before on idol and sytycd, it is probably the case now, too. If so, i hope an internet-based wildcard process is used to select a replacement so that at least one of the injustices that occured during the vegas week farce can be corrected.

July 30 2009 at 6:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Silvio

i think they were drunk! they rejected some amazing talents. i don't know if you agree with me, but i think the Idol girl was AMAZING. astonishing. her vocals were great. also, the dance troupe Euphoria were better than those skater wannabes. all their act was skating around and jumping on place. also, the little girl, the funny one. she used to hit the piano, not play it. i hope simon has something smart to say, because now, my expectations are really low.

July 30 2009 at 4:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
darthvile

Simons Curve is going to be huge...
He will be adding a few Britian's got tallent flops. Mainly...
and this should be no surprise..Susan Boyal

July 30 2009 at 4:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Marlene N.

I found the show last night to be of extreme cruelty the way it was done. I honestly believe that the judges knew who was going to get kicked off days before they arrived in Las Vegas. All the contestants were under the impression that they would have another opportunity to perform, and eliminated or passed through on that basis. The fact also that some of the most talented people were sent home was totally unbelievable. That included Ciana and the young guitar prodigy. I cannot using all my logic understand how an eldery man in his seventies bouncing around on the stage merited some kind of million-dollar talent, or the 62-year-old cashier who also did some dancing. I am older than her and can dance far better, but I would not consider myself a million-dollar talent. Last night proved that this show is not about talent, but is a farce.

At this point, I think the judges should be sent home, and their verdict overruled by a higher authority.

July 30 2009 at 3:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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