Thanks for visiting!

GSNN Primes
America's Got Talent
Season 4
NBC
9p ET Tuesdays & Wednesdays

SS Monday SS Tuesday SS Wednesday SS Thursday SS Friday SS Weekend SS Archives Primes Lineup About Us
InSites On the Buzzer Numbers Game State of Play WLTI Block Party Video Wall Replay News Archive Contact
Previous Episodes
June 23
June 24
June 30
July 1
July 7
July 8
July 14
July 15
July 21
July 22
July 28
July 29
August 4
August 5
August 11
August 12

 

Piers, Sharon, and the Hoff are back criss-crossing the country in search of million-dollar talent.

Recaps by Chico Alexander, Jason Block, Don Harpwood & Gordon Pepper, GSNN

Host Nick Cannon
Judges David Hasselhoff
Piers Morgan
Sharon Osbourne
Announcer Joe Capitano
Creator Simon Cowell
EP Simon Cowell
Cecile Frot-Coutaz
Scott St. John
Jason Raff
Georgie Hurford-Jones
Packager SYCOtv
FremantleMedia North America
Origins CBS Television City, Los Angeles
Web www.nbc.com/gottalent 
Airs 9p Tues & Wed, NBC
Available In High-Definition Where AvailableStreaming Online

Copyright Statement
ALL ORIGINAL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1999-2009 GAMESHOWNEWSNET.COM. All rights reserved.

No infringement of copyright is intended by these fan pages; production companies of shows this site covers retain all rights to the sounds, images, and information contained herein. Copyrighted material appearing on this site constitutes fair use, and no challenge to copyright is implied. 

Web design by Jason Elliott. Logo by Chico Alexander. 

Powered by 1&1 Internet

Quarterfinals Round 3
August 18

So the first 2 weeks of performances have been somewhat less than awe-inspiring. Will this week be any better? Or by the end of the episode will we be pining for Boy Britney and Leonid the Magnificent?
 
There's no special guests this week. Just me. So let's get started with The FootworKINGz, who represent with some fierce dancing moves. The lead dancer turned his ankle during the performance, but the show must go on. Will it?
The Good: The face paint is nice. They had cool green sneakers. They had funky glow in the dark chest plates, which haven't seen before.
The Bad: The problem here is that the moves were sloppy and not on point, the dancing was not in unison, and the last move (where the guy's supposed to land on his feet and not on his fanny) was botched. And the reason why I haven't seen the lime green sneakers and the glow in the dark chest plates before wearing them in the dark, it makes you look like a glow in the dark 1980's new wave cockroach.
The Verdict: SQ Entertainment (Status Quo, who came in second during season #1 of America's Got Talent) did not get past the first round because they didn't tell a story and they were more scary than substance. The FootworKINGz did, in effect, the same style act, with even less storyline and more gimmicks. They could be squished like a bug in a rug.

Next up: Marcus Terrell and the Serenades, who haven't been serenading for too long together. The judges told Marcus to get some new Serenades. Can the new background girls take Marcus to the foreground?
The Good: The background singers are definitely more improved. They seem more unified. And Marcus blasted one heck of a money note at the end of the song.
The Bad: The issues I have with the act aren't with The Serenades - they are with Marcus. He was very pitchy for the first 80% of the song. There's also no emotional connect with the song - I know he was working the song, but the lack of facial expressions and making love with the camera made it feel like it was being sung by the numbers.
The Verdict: This performance made me wonder how the judges liked him more than Charles DeWayne last week. However, he had a very good song choice which should cater to an older voting audience. If no one sings lights out tonight, he has a legitimate shot to advance.

Pixie Mystere is not your ordinary group of 11 year olds. They combine dancing, gymnastics and contortion. Their next routine promises to be a lot harder. Can they pull it off?
The Good: Now this is what I'm talking about. The song matched the choreography. The dancing matched the rhythm. The moves were more athletic than anything we've seen from any of the other groups together. The contortions were cleverly placed in the musical piece as well. And the music was an older styled-piece, which is perfect for the voting audience.
The Bad: Eventually, sometime this season, I'll see a dance act that can form a perfect symmetrical line when they do a line assembling. No one has done it yet, and the Pixies didn't do it either.
The Verdict: This is the best dance act that I have seen during the first round. They put together a story through dance. They have a great shot to advance and I think the FootworkKINGZ could be upended by a group of 11 year olds.

Jay Mattioli has been given a second chance after being told no by the judges, who know magic as well as they know mom and apple pie. Jay creates an American flag and a puppy in a box. Did he create enough votes?
The Good: I liked the music. The ladies were hot. The dog was cute. The acts were cute.
The Bad: Jay got buzzed by both Piers and Sharon because he brought a bunch of small tricks to the party. I understand that Jay may not have a lot of money, but after seeing what Drew Thomas did during his first round performance with a construction set (which I'm sure the producers helped him finance), Jay had to be thinking bigger than a bunch of parlor tricks featuring America and a cute dog.
The Verdict: If you have one shot to wow America, you have to go full force and not give a small safe set of tricks. What did Jay in was not the lack of money, but the lack of imagination. On Wednesday, Jay's going to see his chances of winning the money disappear.

BRI is looking to be the first teenage singer to move on to the next round. The 17 year old bring her piano to the party - but will it be festive or somber?
The Good: Talk about making a song your own. She takes Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face' and turns it into an old piano standard. Wow. Like Marcus, she nailed the money note. Unlike Marcus, her facial expressions showed her complete devotion and soul being poured into the song. Very nice job.
The Bad: Bri was a little off-pitch during the a capella version of the song, which scared me at the beginning. What scared me even more were the face-painted card dancers, who should forget dancing and should instead star as Jigsaw's henchmen in the upcoming Saw VI (VI VI)
The Verdict: We finally get a kiddie singer that relies less on cute and cloying and more on talent. Bri took a major risk on the song, and I think she gets rewarded by a spot on next week's show.

Who's up for some more dancing? The U4RIA Dance Crew get brought back for their second chance, amidst the judges saying no and some inside squabbling. Can they get their act together?
The Good: They told a very original story that you haven't seen before in America's Got Talent. The outfits were great, and the dancing, though not technically done as well as the other groups tonight, brought the energy and fun to the party.
The Bad: I didn't like the song selection. I don't know why you had to stick Michael Jackson and Rhianna in the middle of the set. And although this set was something that we haven't seen before on AGT, it's not the first time we've seen this specific dance set up - Kaba Modern did it, and did it better, during season one of America's Best Dance Crew.
The Verdict: This is far and away the best Wild Card group that we've seen. However, this dance crew got stuck in a dance-laden bracket and I don't see America voting for 2 crews to get in. I could see them sneaking in via the judges Wild Card. Why? Because the judges do have to justify Simon Cowell's choice of bringing in 8 Wild Card groups, which so far have been less wild and more sleep-inducing.

Dave Johnson. A man and his guitar. He gets in via a song about David Hasselhoff. Can he be the next Tom Paxton? Or will he be the next Tiny Tim?
The Good: He does a song about love and the Golden Girls. I thought it was unique and original, with the cartoons flashing behind him.
The Bad: The problem is that he ran out of gas. The song just wasn't funny enough. If you're doing something original and funny, you have to pack a punch at the beginning of the song and then build from there. The song felt like an 800 pound polar bear tip toeing across a muddy mountain ridge. It's funny at first, but once the bear slips a little, the mudball rolls down the mountain and winds up splattering everyone in it's path.
The Verdict: Sharon herself said that comedy folk music is not her thing. We're going to find out if it's the audience's sort of thing. I actually found it entertaining, and if enough folk and Dr. Demento fans felt the same way, we could have a major upset brewing.

The second half begins with Hairo Torres who is a one man dance act. Can his dance act overwhelm the other 3 dance acts we've seen so far this evening?
The Good: It's a very fun story, with Hairo being tormented by classmates. He spins around and makes some nice sweet moves, featuring him kick-standing off a wall, landing in a split and being dropped on said split on the floor.
The Bad: It took us way too long to get to the fun choreography in the set. He took a good 30 seconds to get to the real dancing, and he lost some audience before he got there. The fact that he was that good also exploited how not-so-good everyone else was.
The Verdict: He reminds me of Jon Cruz when he was on Star Search and won $100,000 as an individual dancer. Cruz then gets with SuperCr3w and wins America's Best Dance Crew. If Torres was on Week #1 or #2, he gets in, but this week, people brought in their A game and I don't think America votes in more than 1 dance group. However, I think that he's got a great future ahead of him and I think he needs to use this opportunity to make some contacts and hook up with another dance crew out there, then get on ABDC. That team would automatically be a force to be reckoned with.

Next up, it's a bunch of hamsters...oh wait, it's not THAT sort of G-Force? Guess not. Will they be as successful as the hamster movie with Katy Perry's 'Hot N Cold'?
The Good: I give them credit for being a young rock group. The quitars were in sync and the drums were strong and on point.
The Bad: However, being fair here, my eardrums wanted to go to Katy Perry's house, find the rest of her material, and cover it with sludge. Piers buzzed them for good reason, and when answering Nick's question of 'What sort of ogre buzzes 3 young girls?' with 'An honest ogre', it cements Piers' credibility. Their vocals were much stronger on the audition, while this time around, the voices sounded closer to the G-Force hamsters.
The Verdict: It's an honor they got this far. Now it's time for reality to set in. They are not going to get the kiddie vote (which goes to Bri) or the sympathy vote (which goes to Dave Johnson). But I do agree with the Hoff that they have a musical career ahead of them.

Jeffrey Ou is shy and awkward, until it comes to a piano. The judges, although wowed by his piano playing, want him to go contemporary. Can he achieve it without turning into a fondue pot filled with cheese?
The Good: He starts with a little Cannon in D by Pachelbel, then moves into Elton John territory with 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' dancing ladies. I loved the classical music playing part of the routine.
The Bad: And this is really bad - the microphone conked out so you couldn't hear the piano during the Elton John part due to technical difficulties, thanks to the dancing ladies. However, a greater problem to me is not the technical difficulty, but the choice of song itself. Bri's 'Poker Face' rendition from Lady Gaga was contemporary. Elton John is NOT contemporary, unless Ou is spending most of his post high-school activities in a 1970's piano bar.
The Verdict: The problem to me wasn't the microphone. The problem was that he was placed on the same show as Bri, who outperformed him via a combination of both singing and piano playing. However, the malfunction is going to spark America to vote for him, and I think he finds a way to sneak in the Top 5.

Now Mario and Jenny also hang out with musical instruments, but they are more specialized in destroying them. Can they take their performance to the limit?
The Good: They start by setting guitars on fire (which aptly describes my thoughts on G-Force's performance) and then juggles them. They also spin a fiery cube of death, complete with dancing. They took all of the elements that Leonid the Magnificent did, but they did them well and showed them how to do it.
The Bad: Like Hairo, it took us way too long to get to the sweet spot of the act. Their should have been less parading around and more act to see. If you break it down, we only saw dancing, guitars on fire and a juggling cube. There should have been more act to fit in during that time.
The Verdict: This is a perfect Las Vegas show...as an opener to whoever wins the show. I think they did as good as they could do in that genre. The only problem is that America doesn't vote in said genre and is more likely to put in an undeserving singer. And this week, unfortunately for them, has been loaded with good acts. If they were in week 1 or 2, they have a legitimate shot to get in, but I think they are a casualty this week.

Finally, Lawrence Beamen takes the stage with 'You Are So Beautiful'. Will America find him just as beautiful?
The Good: He's technically sound in terms of hitting the pitch and the emotional timbre of the song. His stage presence was also electrifying. And him praising everyone at the end of the song makes him look humble, which makes America wantt to vote for him even more.
The Bad: We've heard this song done thousands of times (most recently by Danny Gokey in American Idol 7) and in this version, I didn't feel the emotional fire like I have with other singers. I definitely wasn't feeling the backstage dancer, who looked more like the was performing to a stripper pole behind her.
The Verdict: I actually liked Marcus Terrell better than Lawrence. The problem Marcus is going to have is that Lawrence was better technically and he got the 12th and final spot to play. I think Lawrence is a lock to advance.

Overall: Easily the best of the audition weeks. It's going to be very tough to get your five, and I could easily see me getting 2 or 1 right here. However, that's what makes it fun. Here's what I got:

Lawrence Beamen
Bri
Pixie Mystere
Jeffrey Ou

Judges Choice: Dave Johnson Vs. U4RIA Dance Crew - U4RIA Dance Crew gets in.

That's what I think. Join us in 24 hours to see how right (or wrong) I am.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

To see tonight's episode in its entirety, or to apply to be a contestant on the next season, go to www.nbc.com/gottalent.