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A supermodel, a Spice Girl, a comic cut-up, and the self-proclaimed King of all Media criss-cross the country in search of million-dollar talent.

Recaps by Chico Alexander, Lee DiGeorge & Gordon Pepper, GSNN

Host Nick Cannon
Judges Melanie "Mel B" Brown
Heidi Klum
Howie Mandel
Howard Stern
Announcer Joe Cipriano
Creator Simon Cowell
EP Simon Cowell
Trish Kinane
Sam Donnelly
Jason Raff
Rob Wade
Packager SYCOtv
FremantleMedia North America
Origins Radio City Music Hall, New York City
Web www.nbc.com/gottalent 
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Live Shows Heat 2
J
uly 30

(C-Note: some of the acts that you are about to read involve real danger in front of a live television audience. They were designed, practiced, and supervised by professionals, taking the contestants' safety into full account. They are extremely dangerous and should NEVER be attempted anywhere, by anyone, at any time.)

Last week, 12 acts brought the talent. Four of them - Branden James, Anna Christie, the KriStef Brothers, and Collins Key - were magically harmonious and in balance. The others... were just eaten alive by the greatest stage on the planet. AND WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED. Another 12 dreamers are heading to Radio City Music Hall... knowing full well that the clock may strike midnight on them tomorrow.

In the starter's box... a group of dancing acrobats that prowess themselves to be an INNOVATIVE FORCE. That's probably why they've called themselves... Innovative Force. They say they have a few surprises in store for the judges. Let's see what Missouri has brought forth tonight.

THEY SAY: Mel B loves their energy and the business of the act. Howie says "So far.. YOU ARE THE BEST ACT OF THE NIGHT!" ... Howard likes the mix of dance and athleticism. Heidi agrees with everyone, giving them two thumbs up.

WE SAY: It's a lot of jumping and a lot of cohesive twirling and, oh yeah, flying. SO MUCH FLYING. But there's a saying out there. "You Gotta Believe (In Moderation)." It was all, if you believe it, too much of everything and too much of nothing at the same time. Is it good? Perhaps. Good enough to pass to the next round? Let's see how the rest of the field does.

CIANA PELEKAI, coming off of little to no audition footage, is next up. Her dreams of being the next Beyonce or Christina have taken her from Hawaii to New York. She cites her biggest fan... her grandmother. Hopefully she's going to sing out so loud, they'll hear her back home. The song, "Next To Me" by Emeli Sande.

THEY SAY: Howie says that she has the whole package. Howard agrees, but also says that she was straining and was lost a bit. Heidi says she's a really good belter. Mel says that she's got a huge range, but she didn't need the vocal histrionics.

WE SAY: Soundalike. She will still get there someday, but not until her voice fully matures.

Keeping it moving with ALEXANDR MAGALA, a man of power, agility, and guts. The native Moldovan is parlaying his breakdancing skills into something that... well, his words, "In Vegas the judges were scared. Tonight, they will be TERRIFIED." He's adding FIRE to the mix. One wrong step could LITERALLY be his last. Suffice it to say... ahem... Alexandr Magala is a trained professional. He's consulted with experts. He's taken every precaution. And he has years of experience in dangerous situations. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ATTEMPT.

THEY SAY: First of all, Howard... Moldavia is a fictional country from Dynasty. Second... He LOVES the old-school sideshow act. Heidi was thoroughly terrified, but called it disgustingly good. Mel LOVED it, especially when he took his top off. Howie says that Alexandr is what this show is all about.

WE SAY: He didn't think this act through. I'm sure the first half was awesome, but I couldn't see it through the smoke. As for the sword... walking on his hands and doing backflips... was absolutely terrifying. I don't think America WANTS Alexandr to go through this again. The good news.. He's going to be okay.

Up in the four-spot... Local talent... New York's own pint-sized Italian Stallions STRUCK BOYZ. They've been together for four years during dance school. Their greatest support comes from.. their moms. They are the pride of Staten Island (C-Note: and yes, they do look like they're from Staten Island). But can they handle "Club Can't Handle Me"?

THEY SAY: Heidi says that they have a huge fanbase. Mel says they're naughty and a lot of fun to watch. "Spot on! YEAH!" Howie says that they're in a tough decision, just by being dancers. Howard thought it was "disturbing guys your age HAVE abs." It's good, but it was out of sync.

WE SAY: Way to court the young female vote. ... and certain subsets of the OLDER female vote. They needed more moves and less pimping to the ladies? Again, they have the potential to be a top dance crew in this contest. But let's see how the field does.

Next up, the quiet, unassuming son of Moscow, Idaho, BRAD BYERS. He's a very straight laced guy who doesn't drink or smoke, but what he does with a sword will leave you speechless. His brother will join him on stage for this act, which will involve him driving over Brad with a 1000 pound ATV while Brad is lying on a bed of nails. With the help of guide tracks. AGAIN... You keep your nails in the shed. Let Brad play with his. DO NOT ATTEMPT!

THEY SAY/WE SAY: Mel B: "Ugh... WHY?!" Our thoughts exactly. Moving on.

We're closing out the first half of the show with a little talent we're safe in saying will see the next round. We hope. KID THE WIZ and his magic hat are next. Straight out the Bronx, he's pledged that this performance is going to be flaw free.

THEY SAY: Howie doesn't think it's that great with the hat drop AND the fact that he's seen this before. Howard wants to see him in a sneaker commercial. Heidi says he's got a lot of charisma (C-Note: the parting gift), and that he amped up his game. Mel says he's edgy, cool, and current.

WE SAY: You had me at the Michael Jackson salute. You lost me at the hat drop.

We kick off the second hour with FORTE, version 2.0. They met online... then one dropped out... then one joined up sight unseen. When they join their voices together, it's magical. Now to translate that magic into a performance of "Somewhere" from "West Side Story".

THEY SAY: Howard says "Quality talent". Heidi says they did that song justice. Mel B can't wait to see what happens tomorrow, but she found it very "over-the-top dramatic". Howie got goosebumps.

WE SAY: Ladies and gentlemen... the competition is ON. Great underused song choice. Pitch perfect. Harmonic. A LOCK for the next round.

It could be anyone next up, but one person it WILL be is comedian ANGELA HOOVER, who loves the mimicry. She gave it up to stay home with her kids. Tonight, she's going on stage with the support of her family doing, among others, Mel B, Heidi, and Christina Aguilera,

THEY SAY: Heidi and Mel B wonder if they really sound like that. Mel thought she was funny. Howie didn't like the material, but he loves the voices. Howard says that the material was weak.

WE SAY: Her timing is impeccable. Her voices are spot on. Singing's not bad either. She went far, but she needed to go farther.

DAVE SHIRLEY was a street performer and a stage magician. What he wants to do now is combine comedy with technology. He's left his job as a teacher to pursue his dream, putting his life, his family, and his livelihood in jeopardy, double jeopardy, and final jeopardy. He dances with screen grabs of the judges... and ends up with a bustier.

THEY SAY: Mel thought the idea was genius, but the camera movements were off. He needs work. Howie loves TellAvision more than this. Howard says he needed more precision. He needs more practice. Heidi wasn't feeling this act.

WE SAY: For the love of god, why don't you buzz the guy!

(At this point, I've thrown up my hands and quit, leaving the "we says" to Gordon, Lee, and the Lovely and Talented Evelyn)

...

This was just so....memorable...for the wrong reasons...that I have to give whole blurbs on each act.

Innovative Force (Young Dancers): The act reminded me of one of those chocolate molten lava cakes: when you get to the center, it's really good, but it's really sloppy getting to that point. Yes, the stunts were flawless, but the choreography to get there was boring and sloppy - just like the cake without the fudge.

CIana Pelekai (Sings 'Next To Me' by Emeil Sande): The wrong song for a number of reasons. #1. If you can't hit the notes to the point where you have to drop the song down a full step down, you should avoid doing it - and she did struggle on the high notes. #2. If you listen to the lyrics (relationship) and see the age of the singer (12), it sounds very disjointed - though we'll get so see a singer selecting a much worse song later on down in the show. That being said, she does do a solid job on the song, and as it was hinted earlier on, we're going to see some train wrecks later on...

Alexandr Magala (Likes to eat swords and kill himself in the process): The danger acts have a very small margin of error on the show: you make a mistake and you're done. Alexandr makes 2 mistakes; 1. the act with fire was a huge step backwards from his audition acts and 2. he slips up twice, the second one forcing him to stop his act and getting the judges to wince. We don't get to see him carted off to check for internal bleeding, but his chances of advancing just suffered from cardiac arrest.

Struck Boyz (Little boys who dance): If Innovative Force was a Molten Lava cake, then this was an upside down pineapple cake if the pineapple was 80% water. The choreography was a mess, the spacing was completely off, the isolations were sloppy and the body symmetry wasn't timed correctly. And just as an aside to the choreographers: when guys of legal age lift their shirt and show off their abs, it's funny and bound to get the teenage girls screaming. When 10 year old boys lift up their shirts and show off their abs on more than one occasion, it's creepy and bound to have pedophiles everywhere get their fix on the NBC replay site the next day.

Brad Byers (stops a giant high-speed fan with his tongue, and then lays on a bed of nails while a four-wheeler drives over him.): Notice that with the fan he stuck his tongue on the 'SAFE' side (the back side that won't slice anything - yes, there is a safe side). And if you notice the track, it was curved and steel supported, so anything being driven over would not be touched. So besides the fact that Brad did the two oldest, most boring, figured out tricks in the book, the act was fine.

Kid the WIz (Hat Dancer): DON'T DROP THE HAT! DONT DROP THE....nevermind.

Forte (Trio of opera singers singing 'Somewhere' from West Side Story): This is an act that SCREAMS Vegas. The first (and maybe only) good act of the evening - though I wonder why you aren't putting your clearly best singer as the lead and the sidekicks on the side. Still, it's a refreshing act - or maybe just because I was underwhelmed by what I saw earlier. Unfortunately, the underwhelming is going to keep on coming...

Angela Hoover - Not nearly as funny as she was from the opening audition. What made her funny in round 1 was that she went global. This time, imitating the judges (and Christina Aguilera) was not only too inside baseball, but it's not going to get the votes from people who don't watch The Voice and I'm afraid more people are going to be left confused than entertained.

Dave Shirley (Comedian / Street Performer): There needs to be a rule that acts have to show that what they have is more impressive than what they auditioned with. 4 acts would not have been allowed to perform, and he would have been one of them. Not only were the jokes of him dancing in various outfits NOT funny, but the sense of timing (which is vital to this sort of act succeeding when you are using screens) was completely off. You know what would be a fun act? Putting the screens and electronics on the ground and running THAT over with the ATV from Brad Byers act.

Marty Brown (Country Singer singing Shania Twain's 'Still the One'): First of all, for anyone regularly reading my columns, you know how much I detest male singers crooning songs done by female singers (and vice versa). Second of all, if you're going to do that, you can't start the song like you've had your crown jewels mutilated by a trash compactor. This was just a brutal effort that's going to result in one of my favorites being shown the door.

The Aquanuts: Like the danger acts, when you have something unusual, you can't afford to have a slip up. One head bonk and unfinished synchronized sequence later, I was wondering when they were going to let the piranhas into the pool.

Tone Tha Chiefrocca (One Hit Wonder B-o-o-t-y- singer): In the world of TV, you almost always want to have the best act in the rehearsals end the show. So when you have this...act...end the show, this is all you need to know about what the producers thought about these 12 acts. As for the song itself; I'd appreciate it a lot more if it didn't seem like Tone was on a bender listening to Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' before he was inspired. Actually, if I listen Baby Got Back, maybe it will help me forget the 2 hours that I just wasted.

OVERALL: ...I guess I have to write something here. It's going to be Forte and 3 acts that don't deserve spots. This pains me to do this, but here are our picks...

Chico's Picks: Forte, Innovative Force, Tone the Chiefrocca. Wild Card (Struck Boyz vs Marty Brown, Marty wins)
Lee's Picks: Forte, Alexandr Magala, Ciana Pelekai. Wild Card (Tone vs. Marty - Marty wins the Wild Card)
Evelyn's Picks: Forte, Tone the Chiefrocca, Alexandr Magala. Wild Card (Innovative Force vs. Struck Boyz - Force Wins the Wild Card)
G-Money's Picks: Forte, Tone The Chiefrocca (Really?), Ciana Pelekai. Wild Card (Innovative Force Vs. Marty Brown - Innovative Force wins the Wild Card)

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.