‘America’s Got Talent’ rankings: Piff the Magic Dragon, Siro-A, Drew Lynch lead before live show #1

The first live show for “America’s Got Talent” is officially airing on NBC come Tuesday night, and for us that means bringing back something of a tradition! The contestant rankings! For the rest of the season we’ll be kicking off each show with our own personal picks for who we think are the most likely contenders to go far, go home, and be stuck at the mercy of viewers (well, at least those not on the west coast) to decide if they go through to the next round.

Our criteria is based simply here on a few things: Performance quality, screen time, edit, and the success rate of similar acts on the show. Sure, there’s a little bit of personal preference thrown in here, but that’s not the prevailing thing we’re looking at here.

12. Paul Zerdin – He’s actually a very good ventriloquist, but that last puppet he has was totally freaky. There’s no way America puts him through if he brings that creepy baby out again.

11. The Gentlemen – We give these two a slightly better chance just because they’re young and will probably get some of the “aww, look at them” vote. We’re not being mean, but we don’t think they are at the same level as the other acts right now.

10. Craig and Micheline – Extremely gifted dancers, but hurt by a lack of name recognition and airtime. In their original audition, their name was not even shown on television!

9. Triple Threat – This one is a little bit of an enigma. These guys are fun, but can they get the whole underdog crowd behind them? That’s really the only hope that they have, since while they’re talented, we have heard so much similar music on the show over the years.

8. Vita Radionova – Extremely talented at what she does, which are impressive contortionist routines that she turns into something more. The issue with a performer like her is that they tend to have a limited ceiling, since it is hard to continually impress fickle viewers with similar moves each time … even if you know that there are subtle differences, audiences do not catch them often.

7. Alondra Santos – She will appeal heavily to both the kid crowd and the Latino voters who are a little more familiar with some of her songs. She’d probably fare a little better had we not had the mariachi group on the show in the past, but she is one of the best pure singers left, genre aside. She also seems comfortable performing.

6. Showproject – Athletic, good-looking guys who can do impressive gymnastics feats. We almost feel like you should just combine them and Vita and create some sort of impressive super-act just for the heck of it.

5. Samantha Johnson – A very good singer. We’re not sure the show favors vocalists as much as it used to, but we would not be shocked to see two of this group have a good shot at getting through.

4. Benton Blount – He is almost exactly of the type of “America’s Got Talent” singer that tends to be voted into almost every single finale year after year. He sings the right sort of music, has the right sort of voice, and has a good story behind him. We don’t know why anyone would expect something different this time.

3. Drew Lynch – He is going to get a ton of attention as Howie Mandel’s golden-buzzer act, and he was genuinely funny the first time. Our only hesitation is that comedy is so hit-or-miss depending on your material, and we know a little bit more about what to expect from him at this point.

2. Siro-A – If this was a few years ago and we hadn’t seen so many other technology-based dance acts, they’d probably be #1 … and by a pretty wide margin. There is a little more competition now thanks to other great pasts acts, but they implement a lot of cool tricks with the lighting and do something that is slick and energetic. They may need to implement more of a story over time to their routines, but they are not at the moment of this yet.

1. Piff the Magic Dragon – Easily our favorite act of the season right now, and arguably our favorite since Kenichi Ebina. He’s obviously a great magician, but what really makes him stand out beyond that is the dry humor. He’s funny enough to be a comic, and when you combine those two and the costume (which would probably not work on anyone else) you have one of the most unique solo acts we’ve had in a long time.

Who do you like the best of the group? Vote now in the poll below, and head over here if you want to get some further TV news on everything we cover, sent right to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)