America’s Got Talent: The Final Semi-Final

By Adam at August 26th, 2009.

America’s Got Talent’s final semi-final is over. In some ways this show was unfair because of how much talent was in this show. It really was a matter of luck for many of these acts. Had some of these eliminated acts appeared in Week 2 or Week 1, they may have gone  on.

The judge’s choice was a hard one that many will disagree with. For the third time in four weeks, the judges eliminated a singer. (In week three, both acts facing the judges were dance acts.) This week the unfortunate singer was Mia Boostrom. Instead, 8-year old ballroom dancing duo Erik and Rickie advanced.

Doubtless, they’ll be howls over the judge’s choice. However, I think they got it right this time. Erick and Rickie are a very talented dance duo, beyond their years, and beyond many adult acts made the show. They showed incredible energy and poise.

Boostrom sang well, but certainly wasn’t in the same league as Lawrence Beaman or Barbara Padilla. While she’s a figher who persevered and came back from last year’s Vegas elimination, the behind the scenes footage that was shown on the show, as well as her Vegas Verdict this year portrayed someone who was almost always on the edge of an emotional breakdown if things didn’t go her way.

Erik and Rickie clearly are just having a blast. Enjoy dancing together. Enjoying the moment. That really makes them a lot more fun to watch, and I think explains why they went on instead of Boostrom.

Here are thoughts 0n the rest of the Quarter Final results:

Moving On:

Barbara Padilla: As soon as Padilla stepped on stage, you knew she had it. She has an incredible story. She came back from cancer, and she and her husband adopted a child. She has vocals  better than Susan Boyle. She’s got the talent, the story, and the heart to go all the way.

Drew Stevens: The first and only wildcard act to make it to Vegas. He only showed through brief clips in the auditions. He was eliminated in the Vegas Verdicts and brought back by Simon Cowell. He didn’t have any known supporters, and Piers Morgan was right that he’s not the most talented singer in this group on par with Kevin Skinner or Lawrence Beaman or Padilla, but he really put a lot of passion and heart into his performance, and sitting a home, he really connected with me. He’s got incredible charisma, and decent talent. That could be a potent combination.

EriAm Sisters:  A wholesome trio of Seattle-based tween and teen sister singers who delivered a good performance, that’s not the best they’re capable of.  There was an apparent goof at the start of the show where both they and Stevens were brought forward right at the beginning and announced Stevens as the next to move on to the semi-finals. They assumed they’d been eliminated and graciously hugged Stevens and wished the best to all other acts before finding out they’d gone on. If it was a trick or staging from Simon Cowell, it was a kind of cruel trick.

Recycled Percussion: When seen during the audition, the group was banging on ladders and paint cans. They kept the paint cans but added a lot of different elements in terms of dressing up the team. It was  a big transformation.  And I think that it was the same type of noise, intensity, and energy that put Mario and Jenny through last week.

Going Home:

Matt and Anthony: This pairing of an okay guitar player with a truly great tap dancer was a favorite of mine. But if I’m honest, it was because of the tap dancer, not the guitar player, and I think the lack of balance in the act led to problems.

Pam Martin’s Top Dogs: I can’t help but feel that Pam Martin’s Top Dogs act was hurt by the controversial decision to allow Tony Hoard and Roary into the next round. It’s a shame because watching her last night, it was apparent that Martin had the far better dog act. She reminded us that there is talent to the dog act, and not the dog’s talent. Rather, Martin is a real dog trainer, who has developed relationships with several dogs. Her talent is training dogs to do something entertaining. And had she been on Week 1’s show, she may have moved on.

African High Flyers: A group of Kenyan-born dancers who stepped it up from the first round. They had the misfortune to follow Barbara Padilla and were buzzed by Morgan for not stepping it up enough to be competitive. To me that was an abuse of the buzzer. This is another group that may have made it in week 2 or week 3, but I think Morgan’s comments coupled with the quality of the dance acts already voted through, plus the depth of tonight’s talent really hurt them.

Ishaara:  What can I say? America’s not quite ready for Baliwood and I don’t think Ishaara was quite ready for America either. They were deserving quarter finalists, but I think they’ve got a ways to go before they’re a world class act that can be a serious contender.

The Lollipop Girls: Michael Ross of the America’s Got Talent Examiner said it best, “The judges are owed an apology. While they have been thoroughly incompetent this season, they did at least seem to recognize that America would never vote for a striptease act in this competition.Simon Cowell, however, needs to be struck upside the head with this truth a few times before the next season.” ’nuff said.

Coney Island Chris: A trainwreck of an act that after a disgusting debut in the New York auditions managed to pull off a routine that had all the dignity of Pee Wee Herman coupled with the thrills of riding the merry go-round. Fire eating has been done with far more flare than the lame performance America witnessed. Judge Sharon Osbourne even stated she didn’t know how Chris had gotten this far. Uh, Sharon, I believe that would be your fault.

The good news is that most of the judge’s mistakes have been corrected by America with only a couple weak acts still in the mix. (Grandma Lee and Tony and Roary, I’m looking at you.) The next two weeks should be truly must see TV.

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