Daily Archives: 12 July 2011

Reviews, TV

Do It Live: America’s Got Talent: Season 6, Episode 13 (1st Quarterfinalists)

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Since I won’t get another chance to recap America’s Got Talent until next week, I’m trying an experiment tonight. I will be writing up the 12 performances live and posting the entire thing shortly after the show finishes. This will include my personal ranking of the acts and predictions of who will make it through.

Let’s get this started.

First up are Miami All Stars. They are the Latin dance troupe that was put straight through to the live shows as a judges’ choice. They had what I consider to be the best dance audition in the history of the show. Their music was taken out right from underneath them within hours of the live show due to licensing issues. Can they step it up and actually compete?

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TV, Views

The Good Old Days: Bette Davis Tries to Sing

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I have a feeling nighttime talk shows were much more fun in the early TV era. The stars would show up, ham it up for the audience, and trade witty barbs at the host. It was like everyone was best friends and nothing could possibly be wrong. Promotion, while the obvious motivator for appearing, doesn’t seem to have been as blatant. Maybe the host would bring up a new film, book, or record during the interview, and the promo would be over and done with in under a minute. The star would even joke about the promotion.

This leads me to a great video of Bette Davis camping it up with two big song numbers on The Andy Williams Show. She trades barbs with the host about her role in What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? and trades gag gifts with the host. It’s a hoot. Prepare yourself: singing was not the master thespian’s greatest skill. She sells these two songs anyway with style and humor.

TV, Views

America’s Got Talent: Why Hide the Truth?

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I’m not sure why America’s Got Talent has established a bizarre tradition of lying by omission. From the very first season, there has been nothing in the rules to stop a professional act from competing on the show. There are certain caveats–I believe you can’t already have a TV contract, major label record deal, or certain theatrical contracts–but otherwise, professionals are allowed to audition.

If you’re wondering how certain acts seem to disappear off the face of the Earth between their auditions and the callbacks, it’s because many of them have professional obligations that preclude them from advancing further. For example, Elew, a phenomenal power player with a gimmick about charging up his energy through electricity, will be touring with Josh Groban through Fall 2011. This meant he couldn’t even attend the Las Vegas callbacks.

It seems that this program has a problem admitting that there are professionals competing with amateurs. On the one hand, I understand why. America loves an underdog (just ask Lee DeWyze (who?)), but doesn’t actually support the underdog’s career in the long run. However, if professionals who can actually sustain a Vegas show are presented as amateurs, America might fall for them.

On the other hand, it would be nice to see some transparency around these auditions. Why lie when you’re doing nothing wrong? Are people really going to think that Prince Poppycock wasn’t as talented as he was if they knew he was already touring with the character? I think not.

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Reviews, TV

Life Lessons with RuPaul’s Drag U: Season 2, Episode 3

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This week on RuPaul’s Drag U, we learned many important lessons.

First, we learned that I always laugh awkwardly when I see anyone on TV with my haircut proportions. It happens with Rachel Maddow when she’s wearing her glasses, it happens when the nerdy singer-songwriter moves on to Hollywood on a singing show, and it happened with 2/3 of the contestants on the show this week. I don’t understand why this doesn’t convince me to change my haircut, but it doesn’t.

More importantly, we learned about bra fitting, how to get into a fight with Lady Bunny, unconventional uses for hairspray, and how to bench-press a human being.

First, Lady Bunny taught the three contestants how to properly fit themselves for bras. The traditional way is measuring across the bust, then under the bust, and subtracting to get cup size. A difference of 1 is an A, 2 is a B, 3 is a C, and so on through the sizes.

But that’s not nearly as fun as the visual guide.

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