Thoughts on Britain's Got Talent / America's Got Talent

[julieandrews]

Some spoilers for Britain's Got Talent, which just ended the other day. America's Got Talent, by contrast, just started last week.

The judges for this year's Britain's Got Talent were Amanda Holden, who's been a judge since the beginning I think. I had no idea who she was before this, and still have no idea who she is outside of this, except that she's in Shrek The Musical. (No idea why she wasn't an ogre in the musical number they did though.) Michael something, who is a comedian. And David Hasselhoff.

Now The Hoff made a nice change. He's judged America's Got Talent before and this marks the first American on the British version. Whereas when you look at the America's Got Talent judges, you currently have Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne, and Howie Mandel. And it's always been skewed towards Brits.

Simon Cowell also joined BGT as a fourth judge for the semifinals and finals. Which was just kind of silly.

The best part of Britain's Got Talent is Ant and Dec as hosts. And AGT just can't compare to that. I mean, seriously, Jerry Springer? And then they brought in Nick Cannon, who I've never heard of. And who I still don't feel is authentic. Ant and Dec are just sooooo much better.

But this season of BGT was pretty rubbish overall. Most of the acts were not that good. There weren't even a whole lot that were hilariously bad. But who the 3 judges (minus Simon, supposedly) put through to the semifinals was just ridiculous. They put 4 or 5 dog acts through! Which, if you have 4 super dog acts, then sure, why not, but most of them were rubbish.

So by the time we get down to the finals, what do we have? 1 woman. 1 person who had nothing to do with music. 1 act that wasn't an individual. If you had said 'I want the young guy who sings/dances to win', well, then you wouldn't be saying anything! More than half the acts fit that description!

It completely failed as a variety show. Even though they _had_ had a pair of bellringers who were good, an awesome a capella group (more singing and more young men, but at least they were a group!), a pretty good magician. And just.. blah. If I wanted to watch a bunch of singers or dancers, there's a billion other shows to watch that on.

Which is why when I finished watching BGT and let myself watch the first episode of AGT, it was a breath of fresh air. Original acts! Women! Girls! People who don't sing! There were some amazing acts in that first episode that would've won BGT in a heartbeat. Because they were just that much more awesome than anything BGT had to offer this year.

Has the UK dried up its talent pool? Is the combo of Hasselhoff, Holden, and Whatshisname just bad at picking acts? I dunno..

I did feel really really bad for Howie at the start of the first AGT episode though. They made him really uncomfortable and then were laughing and making fun of him. I have to applaud him for sitting there afterward. I would've walked out. If you didn't see it, basically what happened was a juggler/unicyclist asked if he'd come up to be an assistant. Howie was told all he had to do was hand the guy his torches to juggle. But then the guy made out like he didn't have his balance on the unicycle, and put his hand on Howie's head to balance himself. And then held him captive that way. And then the torches got lit. So now Howie is not only trapped by this guy, but quite near flaming torches. He was pleading with the other judges for them to hit the buzzers and end it.

Security must've known something, because I don't know why they wouldn't have stepped in. But it definitely did not look like just an act, Howie in on the joke, and all in good fun. He looks seriously freaked out and then quietly steaming/ticked off inside. He refused to vote either way. Probably didn't trust himself to say anything.

It was not at all fun to watch. And if this unicyclist goes through to where I get to vote, he is NOT getting my vote. Can I negative vote him? :P

Things I'd do to improve AGT:

Ditch Piers. He was okay at first, but now I'm so over him. Doesn't he have his own show he should be off doing?
Swap out Ant and Dec for Nick Cannon. Cannon can get an after-show. The 'More Talent' that Steven Mulhern hosts.
Also, two female judges would not break some cosmic law of the universe and cause us all to die a fiery, sparkly death. Seriously. It wouldn't.

Comments

[notadoor.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you already knew this (if you don't, it makes it even more egregious) but Howie Mandel has said in the past that he has OCD with germaphobe focus, which means that he is really, really not ok with strangers touching him.

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

Oh, they make a point of saying that in EVERY EPISODE. Usually as some sort of joke. And the unicyclist used hand sanitizer (supposedly) right before his act. But that doesn't make it okay in the least.

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

Michael McIntyre - an inexplicably popular comedian who's come from nowhere about three years back. He's totally safe

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

That was it. I thought his name was alliterative, but then I couldn't think of it.

I also have a bit of confusion, because when they say 'Michael', I think they're talking to Hasselhoff. :)

[sophy.livejournal.com]

I've never seen BGT but love AGT. I thought I'd miss the Hoff when he was replaced by Howie last year, but I actually really like it better now. The sort of fake sort of real feud between Howie and Piers cracks me up and they seem to have fun with it themselves instead of having Serious Tension like some of the groupings of judges on the show have had in the past.

And the thing with Howie and the OCD. I think HE has as much fun with it as everyone else. He's honestly powerful enough of a guy that if he didn't want to run through the crowd on the way to his seat or get up and help acts who pretend to torture him - he'd be able to get away with not doing it.

As someone with OCD myself and many friends with it - I know from experience we often deal with it by making lots of fun of ourselves and forcing ourselves out of our comfort zones when it seems realistic to try doing so.

The unicyclist guy seemed to be in on that. Like, I just have a feeling they aren't ALLOWED to get the judges up there without getting their prior consent. Because so much more in the show is controlled than the TV audience gets to see just generally that it makes sense to me.

I could be wrong. But I had a feeling Howie was playing up the anger and stress the way he normally does - not to say it wasn't there, but that he was himself using it for entertainment value.

Honestly, as someone with germ phobias myself - the most hilarious moment of the show EVER for me was last season when a magician who does sort of freaky gross acts threw something nasty at Howie and he Literally jumped over the judging table and had Piers and Sharon giggling nonstop for like twenty minutes. Howie made a big show of it Not being funny - but you could tell he kinda thought it was once he calmed down a bit. :)

Just my opinion, obvs.

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

It's possible I was projecting myself too much into it. I know I'd be VERY reluctant to go up and assist anyone. Magician, clown, whatever. Not my thing. And at that point, I'd need the performer to put me at my ease and not ask me to do anything uncomfortable. Which this guy most definitely did not do. And to then be stuck there. Would not like it. At all.

Like how some people like being tickled, others don't mind it, and others hate and despise it.

[sophy.livejournal.com]

Watching last night's ep (haven't sat down to watch tonight's yet) I took note of how Howie voluntarily went up on the stage at least once and really enjoyed interacting with the performers when they engaged with him. So he's definitely more comfortable with that than he likes to make it seem.... Sharon and Piers almost never go on stage!