After Sharon Osbourne had a tantrum and quit the show, she was replaced by not one but two new judges. Melanie Brown, apparently a Spice Girl (Scary Spice), joins the panel along with Heidi Klum, who at one point was super and a model. Not sure either of them will add anything to the show. They are joined by returning judges Howie Mandel (comic relief but not much else) and Howard Stern (a surprisingly competent judge in his first appearance last year). The four judge panel has actually worked out well the past couple years on Britain’s Got Talent, but it’s a hit or miss prospect, typically more miss than hit.
Nick Cannon remains the host, which means we will see him foolishly extend the worst acts by joining them and pretending they don’t suck. He is generally a decent host, though.
Hopefully we can have a repeat of last year. No singers in the finals, especially lame ones who nobody’s ever going to actually listen to again. Let the other shows suffer from singing show fatigue. I want to see some variety.
With four judges, the contestants will need to receive at least three yes votes in order to advance to the next round.
David “The Cobra Kid” Weathers has been working with venemous snakes for 25 years, but he’s not dead yet. He blows up a balloon and gets a diamondback rattlesnake to strike it out of his mouth. Glad they survived, the judges vote for him.
Marty Brown talks about how the colonel was about 65 years old before his dreams came true, and now KFC is all over the world. The judges who clearly don’t think much of him before he starts singing have to change their minds after hearing him sing To Make You Feel My Love. It turns out his wife tricked him into coming on the show.
Clearly the first waste of time act of the night is Miu, who thinks she might be from Japan. Howie insists on watching this nonsense dancing of a woman possessed through to the end. Mel informs her that was not dancing.
Catapult Entertainment incorporate illusion and body magic into their dance routines. We’ve seen similar acts to this in the past (the much better Attraction is one of the front runners on this season’s Britain’s Got Talent), but their take on shadow dance is likely to propel them into the live shows.
Hype made their dance routine overnight, but they promise it is entertaining. Howie will be blown away if they put two days into their next routine.
Chuck from the Bronx eats three raw eggs, does a tequila suicide shot, then sits in a bathtub full of ice while eating the hottest pepper in the world. Despite the pointlessness of this, Howie does not buzz, but at least we get to watch him take a little tiny bite of pepper and learn that milk is the only way to get rid of the burn.
Anna Christine is a 10 year old singer and piano player. She’s 10? This is like when we first saw Jackie Evancho, whose vocal talent far exceeded her years.
3Penny Chorus and Orchestra is what you would expect. I don’t really get it and barely recognize their version of the overplayed song, but Howard, who hates orchestras, gives them a standing ovation.
Pacific Boys Choir kicks off the visit to LA with their rendition of California Dreamin. Howard, who interviewed the writer of that song, said he would enjoy that.
Special Head disappears and forces the audience to wait for him while he aligns his shockras. After obnoxiously meditating and getting buzzed by Howard, he begins floating in the air. Howard even takes his X back.
Angela Hoover does stand up comedy and impressions. She wants to be more than just a stay at home mom. She’s funny, but I’m going to have to take Howie’s word for her being a perfect impressionist.
Tone the Chiefrocca has a simple goal. He wants to be a one hit wonder. B double O TY is the song he’s going to use to do that. The crowd appreciates stupidity when they hear it. He promises to do the exact same song if he comes back. Then, of course, Nick joins him and encourages him to continue.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.
I think it is the mix of bad and good acts that make this show so worth watching, by far one of my favorite two reality shows on TV. I am interested to see if four judges is more miss than hit too but so far, so good.