AGT: Semifinals Part 2

And we’re back with the second half of our semifinals, and again, only three groups will go through, though apparently, on Thursday instead of Wednesday, so whatever.

Anyway, we get right to it tonight, and the first act to come out is…

All That.  Yay for getting the death slot!  I have made no secret of my loathing of this act, now only second to the sand man.  They shouldn’t be here due to their making top three in season one. Period.  It was funny, though, they had the gall to say “and apparently, America likes us!”  Did they forget about the fact that Sharon saved their sorry butts twice?  America clearly hates them almost as much as I do.  But anyway, lets get on to the act:  it sucked.  And this isn’t even due to my bias(okay, maybe a bit due to my bias, but I was proven right by the end of the show).  Their trick of fire on the shoes was lame, only bested
in lameness by clogging in water, which was weird.  Their act is BS, and they can leave my screen yesterday, thank you.

Sebastian and the rest of his Spanish name came next, and he was boring and off again.  You would think after seven seasons of this show, America would understand the concept of cute=/=talented, but kid after kid making it to the semis blows that out of the water.  He tried to make it interesting with dancers, but all it really did was make it painfully obvious the narrowness of his ‘talent.’

We had the first of the YouTube winners next, Puck. He did a bigger trick this time, but it was still rather pedestrian compared to other magic tricks that have come before.  I did laugh as he said, ‘don’t take your eyes off the handkerchief, and promptly covered it with a sheet.

Clint Carvalho, the second YouTube act, came back with his supposedly amazing birds.  Apparently, getting a bird to hop is amazing, because that’s what we got for the first quarter of his act.  Also, his bird can put mail in the mailbox…assuming you’ve cut a hole in the top of the mailbox.  OHOHOH!  The bird can also fly, and through hoops, to boot!  I really don’t know what America was expecting with an act that previously consisted of a bird…flying.  I think I said this before, but jumping off a building when you have FREAKING WINGS naturally is not a stunt, or a trick…it’s nothing, and this act was not good.

My favorite, Jacob Williams was next, and I had such high hopes.  Unfortunately, they were dashed when his fake nervousness and stilted delivery made way for actual nervousness and poor delivery.  It really didn’t help that his material was not as strong as it had been in the past.  He spent way too long on set up, and not enough on actual jokes.  Also: ‘I don’t have a girlfriend’ isn’t really a joke, or a punchline, and yet, the entire set consisted of jokes that ended in that.  Too bad for him.

Shanice and Maurice Hayes came out, sang their cute little song, and vanished just as quickly.  During their performance, they were drowned out by the backing chorus, and were difficult to understand.  And another singing group bites the dust, I am not sad.

After that, we had All Wheel Sports.  In a weaker season, they would have made it through no problem, but there are such strong acts still upcoming that I don’t think they really have a chance.  The biggest issue, though, wasn’t with the competition, but their opening.  They had three people bouncing around on a wall, and while it would have been neat for a few seconds, it went on for a full twenty, and they only have ninety seconds to do their thing.  When their thing is WHEELED SPORTS, they really should use that massive bike…trick thing to do some tricks and what not.  They also had a fall, but it wasn’t really too detrimental to their act as a whole.

And then, Tim Hockenberry. He may be a dark horse, swooping in behind all the variety acts to win the whole thing.  His voice is really good, and he is a polished performer, for sure.  He sang Imagine, and did an excellent job.  I am really hoping he doesn’t go through, but America seems to love them some singers, so he may do it.

The Untouchables were next, and again, if this were a weaker season, they would make it to the finals with votes to spare.  They had a great act, doing a fantastic tango, and even incorporating a quick change, but I really don’t think it will be enough.  The only thing that may save them is the adorable crying girl.  If enough people enjoy/feel sorry for her, they could move on.

And then, what everyone had been waiting for: Olate Dogs.  They had tons of tricks again, including a couple we hadn’t seen.  Three of the dogs went across the stage on a scooter, the backflipper was back, and they had a dog using a jumprope.  But the best was the over under trick the tow gus and one dog participated in.  They somersaulted over and under one another in quick succession, and it looked awesome, though just a hair under their normal polish.  Other than that, the act was very quick moving, and polished, they did a really fantastic job.

Lightwire Theater held the penultimate spot, and again the act just didn’t do much for me personally.  I can definitely see the incredible talent and effort that goes into the act, but I just can’t see myself watching it for more than the ninety seconds we get on this show.  They should and will go through, but I just don’t see it.  Their act this time was a couple of dinosaurs that had a lightsaber fight with a tiger.  There was a couple of slo-mo movements that were neat, but the nature of the lights and the costumes made the people in blacksuits very obvious, and very distracting.

Our final act of the evening was David Garibaldi and his CMYK’s.  Does anyone know what the ‘K’ stands for?  I get Cyan Magenta Yellow, but I am completely mystified by the K.  Anyway, they did their thing with the painting and the dancing and the crazy music, which all added together to make a crazy show.  Their canvases were a neon green, and only black and cyan were used on the four rectangular sheets.  They kept on moving them around, and first it looked like a river of some sort, but by the time they finished by hanging them in a row, the Statue of Liberty appeared.  It was pretty great, but if there is going to be a dark horse act getting through, it will be on this act.  It just seemed smaller than in previous episodes, I think because they only used the two colors.

So, on to expected results.  My shoulds and wills are the same this week, so I’ll be quick.

Shoulds/wills

Olate Dogs

Lightwire Theater

David Garibaldi

We’ll find out on Thursday if my predictions are correct!